THE MACKEREL AND ITS ALLIES. iS 



6 



immense quantities, as the statistics show, and whatever their state, always 

 find ready sale. 



The mackerel fishery is peculiarly American, and its history is full of 

 romance. No finer vessels float than the American mackerel schooners — 

 yachts of great speed and unsurpassed for seaworthiness. The modern 

 instruments of capture are marvels of inventive skill, and require the 

 highest degree of energy and intelligence on the part of the fishermen. 

 The crews of the mackerel schooners are still for the most part Americans 

 of the old colonial stock, although the cod and halibut fisheries are to a 

 great extent given up to foreigners. It is particularly appropriate that 

 the mackerel fishermen of New England should have found a bard in one 

 who is above all others the poet of old New England. Whittier's " Song 

 of the Fishermen " celebrates the days in the early part of the century 

 when our fleet went yearly to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coast of 

 Labrador : 



Where in mist the rock is hiding-, 



And the sharp reef lurks below, 

 And the white squall smites in summer, 



And the autumn tempests blow ; 

 Where through gray and rolling vapor, 



From evening into morn, 

 A thousand boats (were) hailing, 



Horn answering unto horn. 



There we'll drop our lines, and gather 



Old Ocean's treasures in, 

 Where'er the mottled mackerel 



Turns up a steel-dark fin, 

 The sea's our field of harvest, 



Its scaly tribes our grain ; 

 We'll reap the teeming waters 



As at home they reap the plain ! 



Hurrah ! — Hurrah ! — the west-wind 



Comes freshening down the bay. 

 The rising sails are filling, — 



Give way, my lads, give way ! 

 Leave the coward landsman clinging 



To the dull earth, like a weed, — 

 The stars of Heaven shall guide us, 



The breath of Heaven shall speed ! 



