THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF FEW ENGLAND. 235 



2. TOE FISHERMEN. 



The fishermen who take part in this fishery are usually picked men from the Gloucester fleet. 

 A large portion of them are engaged in the mackerel fishery iu the summer. 



This fishery requires as much skill, pluck, and endurance as the halibut fishery, and men are 

 selected iu both of these fisheries ou account of similar qualifications. Not infrequently the same 

 crew will remain with the vessel in the summer when she is in the mackerel fishery, and in winter 

 when she is employed in the haddock fishery. There is so much competition among those who 

 desire to ship with a good skipper that very often his entire crew list is made out five or six months 

 in advance. 



3. THE VESSELS. 



The vessels composing the Gloucester fleet are chiefly the stanchest and swiftest of those 

 which in summer engage in the mackerel and cod fisheries. The Portland fleet is made up of a 

 smaller class of vessels, averaging from 35 to 40 tons; these in summer are engaged in the 

 mackerel or shore fisheries. The few Swainpscott and Boston vessels which take part in the 

 winter haddock fishery are marketmen and mackerelmen in the summer. A few vessels of the 

 Boston fleet have been built specially for the haddock fishery. Some of these, built in 1S84-'S5, 

 are of extra depth and large size, and are specially adapted for heavy weather. 



The rigging of the haddock catchers is precisely similar to that of the halibut catchers. Since 

 1879 many of the largest vessels of the Gloucester fleet have been employed in haddock fishing; 

 these generally carry riding-sails, and they usually have gaff-topsails. Formerly very few of them 

 carried gaff-topsails. Their outfit of nautical instruments and charts is, as might be expected, less 

 complete than that of the halibut vessels. 



Since the haddock vessels are rarely, if ever, anchored on the fishing grounds, their arrange- 

 ment of cables and anchors is very different from that in use in the halibut and George's fleets. 

 They usually have a chain cable on their starboard side, and upon the port side a cable similar to 

 that used by the George's and halibut vessels, from 150 to 225 fathoms in length, which is stowed 

 in the fore hold. One end of this cable is bent to the anchor and the other passes down through a 

 hole in the fore hatch and is coiled below in the fore hold. The anchors are like those used on 

 George's-men. 



The deck is arranged in a manner different from any that has yet been described. There is 

 usually a single gurry -pen forward of the house, and the space between the sides of the gurry-pen 

 and the house, and the rail ou either side, is so arranged that it can be divided into pens for the 

 reception of the fish. Three or four pens may be placed on each side. 



The remainder of the deck is clear, but there is a booby-hatch over the main hatch, through 

 which access is gained to the bait-room. 



The haddock-catchers do not ordinarily carry davits or a reefing-plauk. The mainsail is pro- 

 vided with an ''out-hauler" or patent reef-gear, which answers the purpose of a reef-tackle and 

 earing, and facilitates the process of reefing from the deck. A few of the larger vessels, however, 

 are provided with davits and reefing planks. 



The arrangement of the hold is also peculiar. The space which in a halibut catcher is occupied 

 by the forward ice-house is here taken up by the bait-room. The bait-room is sometimes, but not 

 always, bulkheaded off from the fore hold. It is one large compartment, with rough board benches 

 all around, on which the men sit while baiting their trawls. In the center stands a stove. In this 

 room the fishing-gear is always stowed when not in use. The after hold is generally fitted up with 



