134- FISHERMEN OF THE UNITED STATES. 



except in special cases, when it may be temporarily kept up. Occasionally, when anchoring in 

 this way, it may be desirable to lower the mainsail before tbe foresail is taken in. 



Anchoring in haeboe in shoal watee. — To bring a fishing schooner to anchor in a harbor, 

 if there is sufficient room, the jib or jibs are first lowered and the helm put down so that the vessel 

 shoots dead in the wind until her headway ceases. When she has stopped and begins to gather 

 sternway the anchor is let go. There are, however, quite a number of ways of doing this, depend 

 ent altogether upon surrounding circumstances. If running into a harbor with a fair wind where 

 there is a large fleet at anchor, there may not be room enough to handle a vessel in the manner 

 just described. The after sails are then first taken in and furled, and last of all the jib is lowered. 

 The anchor is let go " under foot" while the vessel is still forging ahead. Sometimes all the sails 

 but the mainsail are hauled down; at other times all but the foiesail. Indeed, the management 

 of the sails varies with the occasion, and therefore no definite rule can be laid down. 



BRINGING A VESSEL TO A DRAG. 



The act of bringing a fishing vessel to a drag is necessary only in the most furious gaits. 

 As a general thing, when this is done, the vessel is lying to under a close-reefed foresail, with, 

 occasionally, also a reefed riding-sail set on the mainmast. On fishing vessels it is customary to 

 attach the drag, whatever it may be, to the riding anchor on the port side, and for thi< reason, 

 the vessel, if she is lying to on the starboard tack, is worn around so that she will be on the 

 port tack before the drag is put out. Sometimes the seas are so dangerous that it is impracticable 

 to wear around, and in such a case the starboard tack must be used instead. The simplest form 

 of using a drag on a fishing vessel, when drifting in deep water, where there is no probability of 

 the anchor taking bottom, is only to throw out the anchor and pay out from one to two hundred 

 fathoms of cable. The foresail is then taken iu and furled, and the reefed riding-sail, or perhaps 

 the peak of the "balance-reefed mainsail," is set, in order to keep the vessel steady in the sea and 

 close to the wind. The necessity of frequently heaving the vessel to a drag in the extremely vio- 

 lent gales which the fishermen encounter has led to the substitution of several devices much more 

 effective than a simple anchor in offering a resistance to the water and keeping the vessel's head 

 near the wind. One method is to sling one or more casks or barrels, and to attach them to the anchor. 

 The casks have holes in them so that they are soon filled with water and they then offer considerable 

 resistance to the drifting craft and assist materially in keeping the vessel in proper position. Planks 

 and spars have been used for the same purpose, being slung at the ends or in the middle. Some 

 special appliances have also been made, constructed of plank, canvas, and iron. The last mentioned 

 are commonly made fast to the anchor and cable, which are paid out in the manner described. It is 

 probable that with a suitably devised apparatus much better results could be obtained by simply 

 attaching it to a hawser, without any anchor. 



The practice of carrying drags or floating anchors is, unfortunately, too much neglected on 

 our fishing vessels. The object of this form of apparatus is to prevent foundering of sea -going 

 vessels when lying to in heavy gales, especially when sails have been blown away, or when from 

 other causes a vessel has become unmanageable, or is lying in a dangerous position. Unless a 

 vessel is provided in such an emergency with some sort of a drag to be put out at the bow, so as 

 to prevent her from falling into the trough of the sea, she is liable to meet with serious disaster, 

 amounting in many cases to an en I ire loss of the ship and crew. It is believed by many whose 

 experience renders them capable of judging correctly that a large percentage of the loss by foun- 

 dering which occurs to the fishing fleet of New England might be obviated by the use of properly 

 constructed drags. As is well known, heretofore seamen have generally been compelled in such 



