PACIFIC COD FISHERIES. 61 
a chute rigged up at the outer end of the dock. When a dory is 
full it is rowed out alongside the vessel and the fish pewed over the 
rail. As the vessel’s rail is a considerable height from the surface 
of the water when she first begins loading, it is generally necessary 
to rig a stage about midway between the surface of the water and 
the top of the rail. The fish are then pewed onto this stage, whence 
one of the crew pews them over the rail onto the deck, where another 
man pews them into the hold. This method is very expensive, as 
it requires a large number of men, is quite slow, and also injures 
the fish through the excessive number of times that the pew is driven 
into them. 
In 1912 one company had square rope nets made similar to those 
used by cargo vessels in handling small packages. A small one is 
placed in the forward end of the dory and a larger one in the after 
end, space for the boatman to stand being left between the nets. The 
fish drop from the chute into these nets. When the dory arrives 
alongside the vessel the cargo hook is lowered over the side. The 
four corners of the net have been drawn together at the top and these 
are slipped over the hook, the vessel’s donkey engine started, the net 
with its contents lifted over the rail and lowered into the hold, 
where it is emptied by catching the hook in the meshes at the back 
of the net and starting the engine again. As the net comes up it is 
emptied, after which it is swung over the side and lowered into the 
dory, when the operation is repeated with the other net. By this 
method a vessel is loaded in about one-third the time previously 
required, while but. few fish are lost alongside the vessel owing to 
carelessness in pewing. Another advantage is that it is not neces- 
sary to pew the fish after they are thrown into the carts. 
There is a considerable loss of fish in passing them from the dock 
to the dory, especially in rough weather, when the dory is bobbing 
up and down like a cork. The use of chutes with closed sides and 
built-in sections, so that they could be lengthened or shortened as 
the tide ebbed or flowed, would save a considerable part of the pres- 
ent wastage from this cause. 
If the net method is not employed the best way would be to have 
medium-sized secows for transporting the fish from the dock to the 
side of the vessel. With these the waste would be almost negligible, 
as they would be so much larger than the dories that practically no 
fish would be lost overboard while the scow was pitching and rolling 
in the swell alongside the deck, and owing to the greater weight and 
size of the seow the work of loading could be carried on in weather 
too rough for dories to work. 
