
THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 105 
The summer rig of the Georgesmen, that has just been described, is 
the same as the winter rig of the vessels that are employed in other 
branches of the fisheries; for instance, the bank halibut fishery, the 
haddock fishery, and the shore cod fishery. In summer nearly all of 
the bankers and mackerel catchers have flying-jibs. Many of the latter | 
class of vessels, and also a few of the halibut catchers, have a foretop- 
mast, and carry, in addition to the sails that have already been men- 
tioned, a fore gaff-topsail and balloon-jib. A vessel rigged in this manner 
has eight sails, and resembles a yacht in appearance ; a schooner of 75 
tons will spread nearly 1,300 yards of canvas. The necessity of mak- 
ing rapid passages to and from the fishing-grounds, and moving swiftly 
from place to place in pursuit of fish, renders it necessary to have a 
large amount of canvas to improve the prevailing light winds of sum- 
mer. : 
The size of the vessels engaged in the fisheries varies from 5 to 193 
tons, although there are but few that are more than 110 tons. The fleet 
engaged in shore fisheries is composed of vessels of the smallest class, 
from 5 to 50 tons, the average being about 20 tons. A portion of these, 
more particularly on the east coast of Maine, are old-fashioned vessels— 
a few of them are pinkies—and are not employed except during the 
season when fine weather may be expected. The greater part of the 
shore fleet, however, are the best class of small-sized vessels, and many 
of them are employed in fishing at all seasons. Many of these pursue > 
the cod and haddock fisheries in winter. In summer the small vessels 
engage in many kinds of fishing, changing from one to another, and fol- 
lowing whatever promises the best results at the time. 
The winter haddock catchers are usually all first-class vessels varying 
in size from 25 to 80 tons, averaging about 50 tons. Many of these ves- 
sels are among the finest in the fleet, and the majority of the larger ones 
are generally employed in the mackerel fishery in summer. While the 
smaller haddock schooners do not go farther than 30 or 40 miles from 
the Jand, and usually a much shorter distance, the larger ones make 
trips to George’s and Brown’s Banks, and occasionally even farther 
east.* 
The Georgesmen are all first-class vessels, averaging a little more than 
60 tous, the extremes being from 40 to85 tons. These vessels, like all, 
others that are employed in the winter fisheries, are heavily ballasted 
with rocks or iron (generally with the former); the ballast is covered 
with planks, which are fastened down in the most secure manner. 
Above this platform the hold is divided by bulkheads and partitions 
into sections or pens, in which the fish are packed away in ice, or salted. 
Although the vessels undoubtedly fish on George’s Bank the greater 


*Trips are made to the western part of Nova Scotia, and during the winter of 
1880-81 many of the large vessels went as far as Le Have Bank, where haddock were 
foundin great abundance, some of the vessels getting as many as 500,000 to 600,000 
pounds each during the winter, most of which were caught on this bank. 
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