174 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [84] 



were employed on board the vessels belonging to the American fleet. 

 The vessels engaged in this fishery carried very large crews ; in fact, 

 larger than have ever been carried by other vessels. Not unfrequently 

 a schooner of 80 to 100 tons would carry twenty men, and, in some in- 

 stances, twenty-four. Among the crew were generally three or four boys, 

 sometimes five, from ten to seventeen years of age. These boys fished 

 from the extreme ends of the vessel; they were frequently very success- 

 ful, and by the training in this fishery fitted themselves to take respon- 

 sibilities in the fishing fleet at a much earlier age than otherwise would 

 have been possible. At sixteen or seventeen years of age many of the 

 boys ranked among the first of the crew to which they belonged, and it 

 sometimes happened that the command of a schooner was given to the 

 most enterprising before they were out of their teens. 



24. — The vessels. 



Prior to 1848 the mackerel fleet was made up exclusively of the old- 

 fashioned square-stern schooners registering from 25 tons to 80 or 90 

 tons, old measurement, and of pinkies registeriug from 20 to (JO tons. 

 Newburyport had a large fleet of pinkies, registering, old measurement, 

 from 40 to GO tons. Most of them carried a flying jib. 



From 1848 to 1850 the necessity for swifter vessels was felt, and vari- 

 ous experiments, which are described in the chapter on the schooner, 

 were made. From this time on all the vessels added to the fleet were 

 of improved model, approximating, more or less closely, to the modern 

 type of the fishing schooner. These vessels were in those days known 

 as '' sharp-shooters." As early as 1855 the character of the fleet had 

 become very much modified, there being a large percentage of modern- 

 built vessels, and the pinkies and square-stern schooners were retained 

 only by conservatives and by the smaller ports, especially those on the 

 coast of Maine. Many of these old vessels had by this time been with- 

 drawn from the mackerel fishery and employed in other branches of the 

 fisheries. As early as 1870 the old square-stern vessels and pinkies had 

 entirely disappeared from the fleet, most of them long before that date. 



The mackerel-hookers, when fitted out for fishing, had the decks 

 clear. Upon the starboard side of the vessel were arranged line-cleats. 

 These were in early times small narrow cleats of pine nailed to the in- 

 side of the waist, but after the introduction of finer vessels the fisher- 

 men became more careful, and substituted a complicated, ladder-like 

 arrangement, consisting of two long horizontal strips, which were crossed 

 by from eight to twelve shorter vertical strips or cleats, with projecting 

 ends, an arrangement of this kind being secured between each pair of the 

 top timbers. On the top of the rail was nailed the bait-board, in which 

 were cut grooves arranged for the reception of a supply of jig bait, 

 which was cut into bits ready for use ; these grooves cannot be easily 

 described. Upon the bait-board, or upon the edge of the rail, were 

 fastened so-called " snapper cleats," ingenious contrivances, of elastic 



