[73] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 163 



cork-rope of the seine, tlie fishermen gather in on the twine of the latter, 

 and, by dexterous management, turn the whole body of fish into the 

 bag provided for their reception, and where they can be kept alive, as 

 jireviously mentioned, until such time as they can be properly cared 

 for. The mackerel having been transferred to the pocket, its outer edge 

 is usually raised slightly above the water. When the vessel is rolling 

 and there are many fish in the pocket there is often considerable strain 

 brought to bear on the outriggers, which, however, being supported 

 by guys or tackles to the standing rigging, rarely break. It may be 

 assumed, perhaps, that the enormous catches of some of the mackerel 

 schooners in the summer of 1881 are due very largely to the use of this 

 implement. Never within the history of the fishing business of New 

 England have so many fish been caught or so much money made by a 

 single vessel in the mackerel season as has been the case in the year of 

 1881. The schooner " Alice," of Swan's Island, Maine, is reported by 

 the secretary of the Boston Fish Bureau to have taken 4,900 barrels 

 of mackerel, the value of which exceeded $28,000. The schooner "Ed- 

 ward E. Webster," of Gloucester, caught 4,500 barrels of mackerel, stock- 

 ing more than $20,000. A long list of other large catches might be 

 added in proof of the efficacy of the mackerel pocket, but for obvious 

 reasons they are omitted here. 



16. — Taking care of the fish. 



The manner of oaring for the fish is very similar to that upon the 

 mackerel schooners fishing in the old way with jigs, excepting that a 

 larger quantity is likely to be taken at once, necessitating much more 

 haste in salting or dressing them. When haste is necessary, the process 

 of "plowing" is usually deferred until after the fish have been salted. 



Mr. Gordy thus describes the method of dressing on a seining 

 schooner: "The men engaged in dressing are divided into gangs gener- 

 ally of three men each. Each gang has two wooden trays about 3 feet 

 square and 6 or 8 inches deep; these are placed on the tops of barrels; 

 one is called a 'gib- tub' the other a 'splitting-tub.'"* 



Except on the seiners, the mackerel when caught are put into bar- 

 rels, and the splitting is done upon a board laid across the top of the 

 barrel, rather than in a "splitting-tub." One man of each gang splits, 

 the other two gib, or eviscerate, the fish. The tub of the man who 

 splits, of course, contains the fish to be split. With a scoop-net the 

 splitter, or one of the "gibbers," from time to time, fills the spUt- 

 ting-tub from the pile of mackerel lying upon the deck. On the side 

 of the splitting- tray next to the "gibbers" is aboard about 6 to 10 

 inches wide, called a "splitting-board," on which the splitter places the 

 fish as he cuts them open. He takes them in his left hand (on which he 

 has a mitten) round the center of the body, head from him, and with the 

 splitting-knife splits them down the center of the back. As fast as he 



•Also called, especially in Gloucester, "gft-keelers" and "splitting-keelers." 



