182 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



law cannot be passed to compel attention to the safety of the men, pub- 

 lic opinion must be invoked to organize relief associations for the miti- 

 gation of the existing evils. It would, perhaps, be considered out of 

 place for me, who have had no experience in bank fishing, to give an 

 opinion adverse to what is said by one brought up in the business (Capt. 

 J. W. Collins), who attributes the loss of many of the vessels to capsiz- 

 ing, owing in a great degree to the long masts and shallow hulls. A 

 shallow craft is certainly more liable to be capsized than a dee]> one, 

 but the spars of a schooner cannot contribute largely toward cap- 

 sizing. Captain Collins is said to be in favor of putting out a drag 

 rather than riding at anchor in stormy weather. No small craft should 

 be without one, but I doubt if it would conduce to prevent collisions in 

 the event of a fleet of vessels trying to keep head to the wind by it. The 

 canvas-bag drag is an excellent thing to ride by in the open sea, where 

 a single craft or a few craft may be exposed, and where there is plenty 

 of room to drift; but in a crowd it would not tend to prevent vessels 

 fouling with each other, as compared to riding at anchor with a long 

 scope of cable. The drag is an excellent thing to assist in changing 

 position, by reversing it with the tripping line and catching hold again. 



There are more fishing vessels run down by steamers than we hear of. 

 The remedy for this class of losses lies in steam lines adopting regular 

 courses (or lanes, as Maury called them), whereby the fishing-grounds 

 most frequented should be avoided by the steamers, and the steam- 

 routes where they cross banks should be avoided by the fishermen. 

 Fog-horns should be made to work by compressed air power on board 

 of fishermen, and every boat leaving the vessel should carry a good fog- 

 horn as well as some means to show a powerful light. As to the com- 

 pass, I should class that as a luxury which might be dispensed with 

 much better than a supply of food; any intelligent seaman can tell near 

 enough how he is heading by night or in a fog, but none can exist long 

 without food and drink. As to comparing the safety of the yacht-like 

 craft with the old-style fishing craft, I would make use of the same 

 argument as I have used for steamers in fogs, namely, "go ahead in 

 fogs and shorten the time at sea." The old banker may be a safer 

 model in a gale ; but she is so long in making her trips that she en- 

 counters more dangers in the aggregate than the sharp modern craft. 

 The subject of oil to smooth the rough water is one that should be 

 studied t)y fishermen. I feel sure that it would in many cases be found 

 useful, especially when cast over from a vessel drifting ftist, bat its 

 ntdity to vessels at anchor may be doubted; still if a crowd of ves- 

 sels should all spread oil on the rough seas, those to leeward might 

 possibly be benefited. I submit these remarks in the hope of calling 

 more attention to the risks incurred by fishermen; and I close with the 

 single remark that if more native boys of Gloucester should be used 

 and fewer foreigners, we should hear much less of loss of life and some- 

 thing more in reganl to preventing it than we now do. 



Boston, Mass., May 29, 1884. 



