80 FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. . 
fastened to the sight of the gun connects with the powder in the 
bomb, the act of firmg exploding the bomb. One pound of ordinary 
gunpowder is required for the gun and the same amount for loading 
the bomb. The harpoon is loaded into the gun to the lower or 
unattached ends of the flukes. The gun, of course, loads from the 
muzzle. Each steamer carries one gun. 
A harpoon can be fired with accuracy a distance of 50 yards. One 
shot is sometimes sufficient; if a vital spot is reached, the whale is 
killed instantly. Sometimes it is necessary to shoot twice with a 
harpoon similar to the one above, and occasionally for the second or 
third shot a harpoon without flukes, or a ‘‘shooting lance,” as it is 
called, is used. A line 4 inches in circumference and from 25 to 40 
fathoms long, called the “‘foregoer,” is attached to the end of the 
harpoon and in turn is spliced to the main line, 6 inches in circumfer- 
ence and 360 fathomslong. The latter line reels out over a winch on 
the forward part of the boat as the whale tries to escape. It is some- 
times necessary to play the whale five or six hours, and occasionally 
it is necessary to fire three harpoons into it before it is captured. 
The harpoons are usually extracted from the whale, straightened, 
and used again. The whale is towed to land as soon as killed, but 
should there be several in sight an effort is made to get the others 
before taking any ashore. A proficient gunner on a whale steamer 
commands good wages. 
Hoop nets and pots——Hoop nets, or “ring nets,’ as they are com- 
monly called, and pots are used exclusively in catching crabs. The 
output with hoop nets far exceeds that with pots. A hoop net con- 
sists of two hoops, one 3 feet and the other or lower one 24 feet in 
diameter, placed 14 inches apart and connected with netting, netting 
also being around the bottom of the lower hoop to hold the crabs. 
The net, of course, collapses when set on the bottom. Bait consisting 
of clams is placed in a small knit bag tied to one of the hoops. The 
most important points in the State where hoop nets are used are 
Bay Center, Tokeland, and South Bend, in Pacific County, and 
Westport, in Grays Harbor County. 
Pots are more generally used at Utsaladdy and Dungeness, in 
Island and Clallam Counties, respectively. While hoop nets are 
sometimes set on the inside of Grays Harbor and Willapa Harbor, 
it is the general practice to set them in the Pacific Ocean a few hun- 
dred yards from shore. Occasionally a fisherman will set his nets 
2 or 3 miles from shore, but the best catches are made just outside 
the breakers. 
It is usually necessary to cross a bar in going to and from the fishing 
grounds in the ocean, and this fact makes it one of the most hazardous 
of the State’s fisheries. This, together with unfavorable weather 
conditions, reduces the number of trips possible for a boat. The 
nets are generally set in strings of 20 to 30, placed 200 to 300 feet 
apart and in from 5 to 8 fathoms of water. If the crabs are plentiful, 
the nets are fished continuously; this would mean an interval of 
about an hour in fishing the same net. Each net is located by means 
of a buoy; sometimes two, but more often one man goes to a boat. 
The pots used in catching crabs vary in style, but their general 
appearance is somewhat similar to the eastern lobster pot, except 
for having a flat top. They vary from 3 to 4 feet in length, 15 to 
30 inches in width, and 14 to 20 inches in height, and have a funnel 
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