KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [52] 



of barrels.* Vessels which take their fish fresh to market carry from 175 

 to 250 barrels ; those intending to salt their fish carry from 175 to 500 

 barrels, about one-third of this number being filled with salt, which is 

 used in curing the fish, and serves in the meantime as ballast. 



Wellfleet has a three-masted schooner, the " Carrie D. Allen," em- 

 ployed in the mackerel fishery ; her burthen is 175 tons, and she carries 

 25 men.t 



14. — Apparatus and method of fishing. 



(a) The seine-boat and its fittings. — The boats used by the Gloucester 

 fleet in the purse-seine fishery are built after a peculiar model and solely 

 for this purpose. The present form of the seine-boat was devised about 

 the year 1857 by Messrs. Higgins & Gifford, boat- builders, Gloucester, 

 Mass.f The seines had previously been set from square- sterneil, lap- 

 streak boats, about 28 feet in length, and resembling in shape an ordi- 

 nary ship's yawl. 



The seine-boat, as now in use, resembles the well-known whale-boat, 

 differing from it, however, in some important particulars. 



The seine-boat, according to Mr. Gifford, must have three qualities : 

 (1) It should tow well; consequently it is made sharpest forward. A 

 whale-boat, on the other hand, is sharpest aft, to facilitate backing 

 after the whale has been struck. (2) It should row well, and this qual- 



* Vessels which carry a mackerel pocket or "spiller" are provided with outriggers 

 on the starboard side and other necessary arrangements for its proper management. 

 All of the seiners also have an outrigger on the port side, by the fore rigging, to fasten 

 the seine-boat to. 



tThe three-masted schooner " Carrie D. Allen," of Wellfleet, Capt. Darius Newcomb, 

 arrived at Gloucester, June 18, 1874, with 900 barrels of mackerel. Ouly vessel of her 

 class in the coast fisheries; 175 tons, carries 25 men. — (Cape Ann Advertiser, June 26, 

 1874.) 



tCapt. George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, Mass., claims to have been the first to 

 design and introduce the form of seiue-boat now universally employed in the mackerel 

 fishery, and which has been used to some extent in the menhaden fishery since 1857. 



In 1856, wh^e engaged in fishing for menhaden, he carried two boats, one of which 

 was a whale-boat of the ordinary type. The latter, which he used for a "second boat,'' 

 proved very serviceable — rowing and towing Easily, and turning quickly — and was 

 much better adapted for seining than the old-fashioned square-sterned seine-boats 

 which were in general use at that time. Captain Merchant therefore conceived the 

 idea that a decided improvement could be made in seine-boats by building them on 

 the same general plan as the whale-boat, through making them somewhat wider than 

 the latter, especially towards the stern, so that they would be better able to bear up 

 the seine. Having decided on the dimensions required, Captain Merchant wrote to 

 Mr. Higgins (now tho senior partner of the celebrated boat-building firm of Higgins 

 & Gifford, Gloucester, Mass.), who was then at Provincetown, desiring the latter to 

 build a boat 21 feet long and according to the plan submitted, and which should be 

 ready for the season of 1857. 



Many of the old fishermen laughed at the idea of attempting to use a sharp-sterned 

 boat for purse-seining, declaring that it would upset while the seine was being "pursed 

 up," that it would tow under, and making other unfavorable predictions. Notwith- 

 standing their croakings. they soon became convinced of the good qualities of the new 

 boat, and in the following years hastened to adopt the same kind themselves. 



