MANAGEMENT OF THE VESSELS. 137 



a sufficient number of men on board to accomplish it, the vessel is hove to close alongside of the 

 dory under two sails, and in all respects this evolution is then similar to that of .shooting to along- 

 side of a seine boat. There are, perhaps, some other ways of shooting to alongside of a dory, such 

 as shooting up and tacking at the same time, thus reaching the dory and shooting to without the 

 jib to windward, and occasionally, when the winds are light, a vessel may be run alongside of the 

 dory and it may be picked up while she is going before the wind. 



SHOOTING ALONGSIDE OF A WHARF. 



This is an evolution which is constantly being performed in any of our larger fishing towns, 

 but while it is of such common occurrence and is, almost without exception, performed with an 

 astonishing degree of skill and judgment, there are so many different ways of performing the 

 maneuver, dependent upon surrounding circumstances, thai only a few of those iu common use 

 can be given here. It is. perhaps, scarcely necessaiy to s ; :;, LhuL on returning from a voyage it is 

 the ordinary practice for a fishing vessel lo go at once to the wharf where her cargo is to be landed 

 and where tLc will be refitted for another cruise. This might be accomplished, as with larger 

 vessels, by first anchoring and either being towed in by a tug or hauling in by warps without any 

 great risk or display of skill, but this would involve a loss of time and an amount of extra labor 

 which it is at all times desirable to avoid. One of the most common ways of shooting alongside 

 of a wharf, when the wind is blowing from it, is for the vessel to be kept under sail and under 

 headway until she approaches comparatively close to it and some distance to leeward. The head 

 sails are then hauled down and she is luffed to the wind, after which the mainsail is lowered. It 

 is customary at such times for the skipper, or master, to take a station where he can command the 

 scene. An experienced man is placed at the wheel, who steers the vessel in conformity to the 

 orders of the captain. Other men stand by with ropes to throw out as the vessel approaches the 

 wharf, these being fastened by persons on the wharf in readiness to receive them. The headway 

 of the vessel is thus checked and she drops into her berth. To shoot into a wharf with a free 

 wind all sails are hauled down while the vessel is yet some distance from it and she is allowed to 

 run in with bare poles. This, however, can only be accomplished with safety when there is a 

 comparatively moderate wind, or when perhaps the tide is partially ebbed, so that the vessel may 

 bring up on the bottom. It is by no means an unusual occurrence for a vessel to shoot alongside 

 of a wharf with her mainsail, and sometimes her foresail, up when the wind is blowing from it. 



LEE-BOWING ANOTHER VESSEL. 



At the present time this evolution is seldom performed. When mackerel were taken by 

 jigging or with hook and line, one vessel would sometimes attempt to draw away, or "toll," a large 

 school of fish from another. This was done by heaving to, either under two sails or under main- 

 sail, close under the lee bow of the vessel which was catching the fish and by throwing out of a 

 great amount of "toll" bait. The mackerel usually followed this bait, and the consequence was 

 that the leeward vessel soon had the best fishing. This maneuver corresponds, in many respects, 

 to heaving to alongside of a seine-boat, since the vessel must be stopped directly under the lee bow 

 of the other, but of coarse it differs in that she is not brought as close to the windward vessel as 

 she would be to the seine boat. Some twelve to twenty years ago it was not uncommon on our 

 New England coast, especially in the fall, to see from two hundied to four hundred or even live 

 hundred sail of vessels lying to, m apparently a compact mass, fishing for mackerel. This was 

 the result of one after another lee-bowing such vessels as had secured good fishing. 



