﻿352 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



takino- it into about eighteen inches' depth of water, and throwing it out, when it is 

 washed clean, and then transported to ' the fence,' as the enclosure is called where the 

 fish are dried. It is then placed in ' water-horse ' ; that is, it is staked up in a pile, 

 with the skin up, to drain ; thence it is taken to 'the flakes,' to be dried. The flakes 

 are a series of horizontal hurdles, at a convenient height from the earth for the shores- 

 man and his hired men to spread, turn, and take off the fish, — the labors of the vessel's 

 crew ceasing with the ' washing-out.' 



" Two good ' fish-days,' with a subsequent airing of a few hours, — when the fish are 

 sold, they being now more heavily salted than formerly, — are sufiicient to preserve them, 

 and this process is called ' Albany drying ' ; it is, however, by this mode now considered 

 sufficiently cured for any market. Last year, the fish thus prepared was sold at from 

 19 shillings, or ^3.16|, to ;^3.50 per quintal; this year it commands about ^ 3f per 

 net hundred-weight, and is always sold for cash." 



Besides these immense quantities of codfish which are taken at the Grand Bank and 

 salted and dried, large numbers are brought fresh into all the markets along the sea- 

 board, and thence are distributed throughout the interior of the State. At Duxbury, 

 in 1836, there were ten market-boats, having forty men on board, which took from 

 48,000 to 50,000 fish. At Provincetown there were also ten boats thus engaged. Bos- 

 ton market is supplied with codfish by about fifteen or twenty small schooners and a 

 large number of boats. 



By the kindness of Captain Nathaniel Blanchard, of Lynn, master of one of these 

 smacks, I am enabled to furnish the following facts, by which some idea may be formed 

 of the amount of fresh codfish brought to our market. He has presented me the re- 

 sult of his labors with a vessel of twenty-five tons, and a crew of six men, for nearly 

 five months, commencing October 24, 1836, and terminating March 20, 1837. His 

 account exhibits the number of fish taken, and the price obtamed for the same, for each 

 day during that period. From this minute statement, I am able to ascertain that the 

 largest quantltij taken any one day was 7,124 pounds, on the 13th of December, which 

 sold for five shillings per hundred = $ 59.39. The smallest quantity taken any one day 

 was 337 pounds, on January 16th, which sold for twelve shillings = ^ 6.67. The small- 

 est receipts were on March 20th, when 359 pounds were taken, which sold for ten 

 shillings six pence = ^5.92. The whole number of pounds taken during the period 

 mentioned was 194,125. The entire receipts for the same were ;^ 3,026.14. 



My old friend. Captain Nathaniel E. Atwood, has also furnished me with an account 

 of his cod-fishing, with a crew of five men, from December 26, 1846, to May 8, 1847. 



