BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 49 



VoS. n, rVo. 4. ^VasihiiisioM, ». C. Feb. 27, I 886. 



14.-NEW EIVOIi/lND FISHERIES IIV JAIVUAKY, 1SS6. 



By W. A. WILCOX. 



With the New Englaud fishermen January may be called the vaca- 

 tion month of the year. Of the fifteen hundred and odd vessels that 

 durino- the past year were engaged on the fishing grounds, extending 

 from the Gulf of Mexico along the American coast to distant Greenland 

 and Iceland, only a comparatively small number are engaged during 

 midwinter. The crews can then rest, travel, or engage in such work 

 ashore as can be found. Many of them may be met at the country 

 store or at the fishing station talking about and comparing notes of 

 the previous year and of former years. Or he may be found with i^eu- 

 cil and tools drafting and modeling what he expects will be an im- 

 provement on that which is now generally known as the finest fishing 

 vessel of the world. Others are away in the far West, sometimes on 

 the Pacific coast, often settling down in new homes and helping to 

 develop the resources of the nation, in some cases he may be fouud 

 as the country school-teacher or as a village pastor. He easily adapts 

 himself to time and circumstances. Gloucester alone, of all New 

 England ports, actively follows the winter fisheries. During most of 

 the month the weather has been rough and unfavorable for fishing, ar- 

 rivals few and receipts light, yet in excess of the corresponding month 

 in 1885. On January 8 and another severe storm, although not so 

 long, was nearly, if not quite, as severe as the one of two weeks previous. 

 The following vessels were lost from the fishing fleets: From Glouces- 

 ter, schooner I. H. Higgins, vessel lost, crew saved; schooner Hyperion, 

 with a crew of 12 men, sailed December 7; schooner Mabel Dillaway, 

 with a crew of 16 men, sailed on December 20, was not seen after De- 

 cember 25. The last two mentioned vessels, with all hands, have been 

 given up, and are supposed to have been lost in the gale of December 

 25 to 27. 



The schooner Gertie Freeman, of Newbury port, was wrecked off New 

 Castle, N. H. ; crew saved. Schooner Nimble, of Boston, was lost on the 

 Graves just outside of Boston Harbor. 



The schooner Alice M. Gould, of Portland, Me., was wrecked off Jor- 

 dan's Point, jMe. 



In addition to the above-mentioned losses to the fishing fleet, many 

 coasting vessels were lost, and nearly all vessels that were exposed re- 

 ceived more or less damage. 



Probably no other industry carried on in this country shows yearly 

 such a large loss in life and property as the New England fisheries. 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 8G 4 



