THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 105 



The summer rig of the Georgesmeu, that has just been described, is 

 the same as the winter rig of the vessels that are employed in other 

 branches of the fisheries ; for instance, the bank halibut fishery, the 

 haddock fishery, and the shore cod fishery. In summer nearly all of 

 the bankers and mackerel catchers have flying-jibs. Many of the latter 

 class of vessels, and also a few of the halibut catchers, have aforetop- 

 mast, and carry, in addition to the sails that have already been men- 

 tioned, a fore gaff-topsail and balloon-jib. A vessel rigged in this manner 

 has eight sails, and resembles a yacht in appearance ; a schooner of 75 

 tons will spread nearly 1,300 yards of canvas. The necessity of mak- 

 ing rapid passages to and from the fishing-grounds, and moving swiftly 

 from place to place in pursuit of fish, renders it necessary to have a 

 large amount of canvas to improve the prevailing light winds of sum- 

 mer. 



The size of the vessels engaged in the fisheries varies from 5 to 193 

 tons, although there are but few that are more than 110 tons. The fleet 

 engaged in shore fisheries is composed of vessels of the smallest class, 

 from 5 to 50 tons, the average being about 20 tons. A portion of these, 

 more particularly on the east coast of Maine, are old-fashioned vessels — 

 a few of them are pinkies — and are not employed except during the 

 season when fine weather may be expected. The greater part of the 

 shore fleet, however, are the best class of small-sized vessels, and many 

 of them are employed in fishing at all seasons. Many of these pursue 

 the cod and haddock fisheries in winter. In summer the small vessels 

 engage in many kinds of fishing, changing from one to another, and fol- 

 lowing whatever promises the best results at the time. 



The winter haddock catchers are usually all first-class vessels varying 

 in size from 25 to 80 tons, averaging about 50 tons. Many of these ves- 

 sels are among the finest in the fleet, and the majority of the larger ones 

 are generally employed in the mackerel fishery in summer. While the 

 smaller haddock schooners do not go farther than 30 or 40 miles from 

 the land, and usually a much shorter distance, the larger ones make 

 trips to George's and Brown's Banks, and occasionally even farther 

 east.* 



The Georgesmeu are all first-class vessels, averagings little more than 

 GO tons, the extremes being from 40 to 85 tons. These vessels, like all 

 others that are employed in the winter fisheries, are heavily ballasted 

 with rocks or iron (generally with the former) ; the ballast is covered 

 with planks, which are fastened down in the most secure manner. 

 Above this platform the hold is divided by bulkheads and partitions 

 into sections or pens, in which the fish are packed away in ice, or salted. 

 Although the vessels undoubtedly fish on George's Bank the greater 



* Trips are made to the western part of Nova Scotia, aucl during the winter of 

 1880-'81 many of the large vessels went as far as Lo Have Bank, where haddock were 

 found in great abundance, some of the vessels getting as many as 500,000 to 600,000 

 pounds each during the winter, most of which were caught on this hank. 



