38 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



southern side of George's was a kind of 'mother- place' for fishing halibut. All the halibut there 

 were large 'pea-halibut' of 200 pounds or so. On the north side there were small 'school halibut' 

 of 25 to 80 pounds." There was no great abundance of halibut on George's after 1848. 



Captain Marr speaks of some remarkable halibut tripe. On a patch of rocky bottom they 

 anchored at sundown in a little smack and the next day caught 570 halibut. He himself caught 

 80 that day. At another time (as has been mentioned elsewhere), when he was commanding the 

 schooner Clarion, Captain Marr left Gloucester on Friday at 1 p. m., and on Sunday, at 1 p. m., 

 was back in port with a fare of fish. He got to the Bank at daylight Saturday morning and left 

 on the return trip at 8 o'clock in the evening. This cargo he sold in Boston for $500 to Mr. Rogers, 

 of New. York, who shipped them in ice to the New York market. 



FISHERMEN AFRAID TO ANCHOR ON GEORGE'S. The first vessels which went to George's 

 Bank never anchored. The fishermen had an idea that it was not safe to do so, for when the 

 tide began to run the eddies were as great as those of another maelstrom. One man came into 

 port with a story that he had come to anchor on the shoal ground of George's and the tide ran so 

 fast that the water began rushing into both hawse-pipes of his vessel, which frightened him so 

 that he cut his cable and came home. The halibut vessels began to anchor in 1835 to 1837. 



FIRST USE OF PATENT WINDLASS. Captain Marr was the first man to carry a patent wind- 

 lass to George's. This was about the year 1850, when he was skipper of the schooner Julia. The 

 old captain tells the story with a great deal of glee. Before then the vessels all used hand-spikes 

 for heaving up anchor. He had stood five hours at a time, hand-spike in hand, getting up anchor. 

 The patent windlass took his fancy and he determined to try one. His fellow-skippers laughed at 

 him, and said that it would be impossible to heave up anchor in rough weather with such a 

 machine. He was not to be discouraged and started for the Bank with his new apparatus. When 

 he had filled his vessel with fish and was ready to start home he instructed his men to work delib- 

 erately and not to convey the impression that they were in a hurry. They began, and, to his dis- 

 may, the cable slipped on the barrel of the windlass and the anchor refused to yield. They worked 

 for awhile, and it finally occurred to him that if he put ashes on the barrel it would overcome the 

 tendency to slip, so he sent one of the men to the forecastle for ashes and then the anchor came 

 up merrily, and within half an hour was swung upon the bow, one-tenth of the time usually occu- 

 pied. His fellow-skippers were very curious when they saw the preparations for a homeward start, 

 and dozens of them came around him to see him heave up his anchor. His triumph was complete, 

 however, and before many months every vessel from the port was fitted with a patent windlass. 

 The skipper would stipulate for them, and fishermen coming down to ship on board a schooner 

 would always first inquire whether there was a patent windlass on board, for the saving of labor 

 to the crew was immense. At one time there were twenty-seven vessels lying at the wharf of the 

 agent waiting to take their windlasses on board. 



HALIBUT FISHING FROM MAINE POKTS. In early days there was also a limited halibut 

 fishery from Sottthport, Maine, concerning which Mr. Earll has obtained the following information: 



The first vessel from Sonthport to engage in the halibut fisheries was the schooner Pearl, 

 Capt. O. Harris, in 1844. The Pearl was a small square-sterned vessel of about 50 tons (old meas- 

 urement), carrying four or five men. They went in the fall and fished with hand-lines from the 

 vessel's deck, catching their fish usually in from 30 to 90 fathoms on the northeast edge of 

 George's Bank, generally hanging them up in the hold and spreading them loosely on the floor. 

 They usually could get a trip in from one to three days, when they would start for Portland to sell 

 what they could at from 2 to 3 cents per pound. It frequently happened that they brought in more 

 than they could sell, in which case they threw the balance away. They generally went during the 



