274 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES. 



engaged iu this fishery in 1S79-'80 was sixty-four, of which twenty -three were from Maine ports and 

 the remainder from Massachusetts. These are among the swiftest and best of the fleet, and are 

 provided with the fullest amount of canvas for making a quick passage to and from the fishing 

 grounds. Nearly all of them have ice-houses arranged in the manner already described. 



The apparatus is in every respect identical with that used in the summer fishery; the vessels, 

 however, carry, as has been stated, a much smaller number of barrels than when engaged exclu- 

 sively iu salting the fish. The manner of fishing is the same as that already described, except 

 that the fish being much scarcer and their movements less regular than in summer on the more 

 northern fishing grounds, a greater amount of vigilance and perseverance is required on the part 

 of the fishermen. This is the season of the migration of the mackerel, and it is necessary that the 

 fishermen should understand how to follow the schools of fish as they make their way northward, 

 even if they are out of sight for days at a time. They cruise sometimes for weeks off the capes of 

 the Delaware and Chesapeake, sometimes venturing farther south to the latitude of Cape Lookout, 

 though they rarely find mackerel south of the mouth of the Chesapeake. Sometimes weeks elapse 

 before they find the fish. After the schools have made their appearance they follow them, and 

 when they are not visible, usually allow 5 to 15 miles a day for their northern progress, trying to 

 keep among them as they make their way northward. When among the fish it is a common 

 practice of the vessels to heave to and "jog" all night long in a northerly direction, to keep pace 

 with the movements of the fish. 



As soon as the first fare of fish is obtained, even if only a small one, the vessels make their 

 way to New York with all possible speed, for the earliest fish command much higher prices than those 

 brought in later in the season. After mackerel become more plenty the vessels seldom go to 

 market with less than 75 or 100 barrels, and it is not unusual for 250 to 300 barrels, the results of 

 one day's catch, to be taken in. The successful vessels often run into New York two or three 

 times a week, especially when the fish are most abundant off Sandy Hook.* This method of 

 fishing and marketing the fish is kept up until the schools have reached the shoals of Nautucket 

 and the spawning season in that locality begins. At the close of the spawning season, when the 

 fish again rise to the surface, or when the other schools are found on George's Bank and in the 

 Gulf of Maine, the vessels resort to the ordinary method of salting their fish, only a few con- 

 tinuing the practice through the summer of carrying their fish fresh into the markets of New York 

 and Boston. Occasionally, cargoes of fresh mackerel are taken in the spring and summer into 

 Philadelphia, and also, later in the season, to Portland. 



The spring mackerel fishery, as just described, is of comparatively recent origin, not dating 

 back much before 1870. Twenty to thirty years ago New York was supplied with fresh mackerel 

 chiefly by Connecticut smacks, which caught the fish with hook and line and carried them to New 

 York alive in wells. A peculiarity of this smack fishery was that the men fished with lines fast- 

 ened to poles, as anglers fish for trout. The object of having poles was to enable the fishermen to 

 drop the captured fish alive, and without injury, into the smack's well. 



Vessels belonging north of Cape Cod at that time rarely if ever sold their fish fresh, although 

 they often went as far south as the capes of Delaware. Their fares were salted and carried to 

 Boston or other ports in the ordinary manner. 



* Dispatches received here yesterday announce the arrival of schooner J. J. Clark at New York on Monday with 

 150 barrels fresh mackerel, which sold at from 6 to 18 cents apiece according to size, and later of the arrival at the 

 same port of the schooners Seth Stockbridge, A. M. Terry, Smuggler, and T. M. Cromwell, each with 200 barrels ; 

 Moses Adams, 300; Maud and Effie, 250; Golden Hind, 75; Fleefcwing, 65; H. A. Duncan, 20; and James A. Stetson, 

 50 barrels, which were sold at from 8 to 12 cents apiece. (Cape Ann Bulletin, April 17, 1876.) 



