THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 157 



"As fast as the salt is used out of the pens these are knocked down and additional kenches 

 formed, and so on to the end. When the fish settle, which they always do, they are 'packed up' 

 by removing a portion from the after kenches and packing them on the top of those which are 

 forward until the latter extend up to the deck. After this process has been two or three times 

 repeated the settling does not amount to much." 



At the present time codfish-roe is never saved by the Bank fishermen, but all the livers are 

 carefully preserved in the "liver butts," already described. As the oil begins to make its appear- 

 ance at the 'top of the cask, or "makes out," as the fishermen describe it, it is dipped out into 

 water barrels and stowed away in the hold. Sixty barrels of liver yield from 20 to 24 barrels of 

 oil. The livers are fattest in midsummer and have least oil in winter. 



The sounds are occasionally saved by the cook, and, less frequently, the tongues, and these. 

 are the perquisites of the person who saves them. On some of the Western Bank trips, when hake 

 are abundant, the cook's profits from the saving of sounds often amount to as much as his share 

 of the voyage. 



The manner of discharging the cargo of a banker is somewhat different from that customary 

 with other vessels and should be briefly referred to. The fish are first taken out upon the wharf 

 and weighed. They are then pitched into a tank of water, or very frequently into an old dory, 

 which serves instead of a tank. Men standing around with brushes clean off the slime and dirt 

 which remain upon the skin and flesh of the fish, and they are then thrown upon barrows and 

 wheeled into the salting building, where they are either packed in kench for "water-horseiug" 

 or resalted in butts. The process of curing is described elsewhere. 



6. THE FINANCIAL PROFITS OF THE TRAWL FISHERY. 



,- 



The statistics of the Bank fishery from Gloucester are discussed in Section II, Geographical 

 Review of the Fisheries, pages 155, 156, and several examples of large fares are noticed, which 

 show the profits sometimes realized in this fishery. 



The following statement shows the result and the manner of settling the proceeds of a trawling 

 trip on the schooner Victor, of Gloucester, sailed July 12 and returned October 13, 1870 : 



71,200 pounds large cod, at 2 cents 81,424 00 



7,440 pounds small cod, at 1 cent 74 <10 



280 pounds halibut ". 3 50 



Oil sold by captain 27 20 



Livers landed in Gloucester 20 00 



1,549 10 

 Stock charges 236 57 



1,312 53 

 One-half to vessel .. 656 26 



656 27 

 One-half of one per cent, for widows' and orphans' fund 3 28 



652 99 

 General charges 29 50 



Balance to crew and skipper 621! 49 



This amount, $623.49, was shared among the crew and skipper, the twelve receiving $51.% 

 per man. In addition to his share as one of the crew, the skipper received 4 per cent, of the net 

 stock, $1,312.53, or $52.50. 



