THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND. 239 



different skippers, but tbat the differences in tbe manner of performing the evolutions are not of 

 much importance, and that the most common method is that which is here described. 



When fishing on George's Bank, the Gloucester haddock vessels are obliged by the force of the 

 tide to resort to another method of setting, which is called "double-banking the trawl." The tide 

 is so strong that the trawls cannot be set in the ordinary way, for the buoys would be carried 

 beneath the surface. Two dories are therefore lowered at once, and jointly perform the act of set- 

 ting; only two tubs are set by each pair of dories. The set is made in the following manner: The 

 men in one of the dories hold fast to the weather-bouy, while the men in the other dory set the 

 trawl. After the trawl is out, the dory which sets it holds fast to the lee buoy until by some sig- 

 nal, such as lowering the jib, the skipper of the schooner gives the order to haul. The trawls are 

 left on the bottom fifteen or twenty minutes before they are hauled. The men in the two dories 

 begin to haul simultaneously ; the anchors are thus first raised from the bottom and presently the 

 bight of the trawl and the two boats drift along with the tide, the distance between them gradually 

 narrowing as they haul. 



Haddock are often found so plenty on George's that it is not necessary to set more line at a 

 time, even were it easier to do so, since a single tub of trawl will often bring up enough fish to fill 

 a dory. Several sets of this kind can be made in a day, when the weather is favorable. 



Some of the Maine and Swampscott vessels send out only one man in a dory. This usage is 

 called " fishing single dories," and is, of course, practicable only in comparatively moderate weather. 



5. THE MANNER OF CARING FOR THE FISH. 



As the fish are brought alongside they are pitched into the pens already described. As soon 

 as the dories are discharged and taken on deck, and the vessel is under way, the men begin to 

 dress the fish. The process of dressing differs entirely from that of dressing cod. There are no 

 dressing-tables or dressing-tubs. The men distribute themselves among the pens. Four or five 

 men are engaged in ripping the fish, this operation being performed by seizing the fish by the 

 eyes or some part of the head with the left hand and ripping them down from the throat. The 

 remainder of the crew occupy themselves in taking out the liver and roes, which are saved in 

 barrels separately, and in removing the viscera. The fish are washed by pouring buckets of water 

 over them as they lie in the pens or on deck, and are packed away in the hold or left on deck, unless, 

 on account of distance from the land or mildness of the weather, it is necessary to ice them, in 

 which case two or three men go into the hold and stow the fish away between the layers of ice. 

 The fish are iced with greater or less care, according to the length of time expected to elapse 

 before the arrival of the schooner at the market. All the vessels going to La Have, George's, and 

 Cape Negro carry from 5 to 6 tons of ice each trip. 



6. PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE FISHERY. 



The vessels of the Gloucester fleet, in the winter of ISSO-'Sl, obtained, on an average 350,000 

 pounds of haddock, valued at $0,000. The schooner Martha C. obtained about 600,000 pounds, 

 stocking $11,500. The Edith M. Pew obtained 550,000 pounds, stocking about $11,000. 



Capt. S. J. Martin, of Gloucester, Mass., writes under date of February 12, 1882: "The 

 schooner Martha C. arrived yesterday with 90,000 pounds of haddock ; she was gone eight days. 

 Schooner Josie M. Calderwood, 85,000 pounds, gone seven days. Schooner H. A. Duncan, 80,000 

 pounds, gone seven days. Four vessels left Gloucester on Saturday and were back on Wednesday, 

 each with 40,000 pounds of haddock, having fished one day and a half. That is good and quick 

 work." 



