312 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



season had then so far advanced that there was a constant succession of 

 furious gales. The prevalence of strong northerly winds caused an 

 unusually rapid flow of the polar current (which often sweeps down by 

 the eastern side of the Grand Bank with such velocity as to render 

 fishing nearly impracticable), and in consequence of this combination 

 of unfavorable circumstances, very little was accomplished. In the 

 spring of 1882 Captain Johnson went to this place again and had re- 

 markable success. His good fortune was soon noised abroad, where- 

 upon many of the other halibut schooners made similar ventures, the 

 result being that the eastern side of the Grand Bank was pretty thor- 

 oughly " tried over" from latitude 43° 15' to 44° 30' north, in depths vary- 

 ing from one to three hundred fathoms. At many poiuts along this 

 stretch halibut were abundant, but a strong polar current caused the 

 fishermen much loss of gear, whilst the prevalence of dense fogs, to- 

 gether with the proximity of numerous icebergs, rendered fishing in 

 that locality so hazardous that the majority of the skippers were glad 

 to resort to other grounds, even where, perhaps, the prospect of finding 

 large numbers of fish was not so good. Several of the vessels lost 

 most of their trawls before they had secured a full fare, and few that 

 fished on the eastern side of the bank returned to port without having 

 met with some damage to their gear.* The icebergs sweeping down 

 from the north, borne along by the swiftly running currents, were a 

 source of great danger to the vessels lying at anchor. Huge mountains 

 of ice would often appear suddenly out of a dense fog so close to the 

 schooners that the startled crews were frequently almost compelled to 

 cut their cables to prevent collision. Captain Johnson told me that 

 on one occasion he counted twenty-eight bergs within sight of his ves- 

 sel, and one of the number lay grounded for nearly a week — all the 

 time he remained at anchor — not more than a mile distant, in water 

 probably not less than 125 fathoms deep. It is scarcely necessary to 

 say that in a rough sea one blow from such a monster would crush a 

 fishing schooner as though it were an egg-shell. 



The fact, however, of halibut having been found in abundanco off the 

 eastern, or rather, perhaps, the southeastern side of the Grand Bank, 

 is a matter of more interest than would appear at first glance, since it 

 permits us to form a better idea of the winter habitat of certain schools 

 of this species, and also to judge more intelligently concerning the 

 spring and fall migrations, about which, heretofore, only indefinite and 

 uncertain ideas could be formed. For several years previous to the 

 discovery of the deep-water fishing-grounds, it was noticed by the 

 fishermen that, during the winter and early spring — from about the 



* Where strong currents prevail in dec]) water the buoys -which mark t lie posit Lou 

 of the trawl-lines are dragged beneath tho surface of the water by the great strain on 

 the buoy-line. These buoys, being generally soft w<hm1 kegs, are broken by the 

 pressure of the water, 'When they have been submerged to any considerable depth, and 

 the result is that there being nothing to support the buoy-line — the only means by 

 which the trawl can be recovered — the apparatus is lost. 



