[75] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



17. — Running for the market. 



Those mackerel schooners engaged in market fishing find it desirable 

 to make their passages with the utmost speed, but rapid passages in 

 summer are, of course, much less dangerous than those made in winter 

 by the haddock and halibut vessels. Great expedition is used by all 

 mackerel vessels, since the season is short, and they feel obliged to take 

 advantage of every opportunity. In the case of salted fish, however, 

 there is no such anxiety to sell, and the chief desire of the skipper is to 

 land his fish and to return to the fishing ground with no unnecessary 

 loss of time. 



It often happens that mackerel-catchers who are not engaged in the 

 fresh-fish trade take a big haul, 200 barrels or so, when they have but 

 few barrels to put them in and scarcely any salt. In such cases it is of 

 the highest importance to reach home if possible, or at least some large 

 fishing port where barrels and salt can be obtained, and all the sail that 

 can be spread or that the vessel will carry is set. 



18. — Landing the cargoes. 



The mackerel are hoisted out on the wharf by a horse, the duty of 

 the crew being to hook on the barrels and to roll them to the proper 

 places on the wharf, after they are landed, where the barrels are gen- 

 erally stowed on their heads ready to be opened. Jn seasons of abun- 

 dance, and when the men have become exceedingly fatigued from their 

 labors in catching and dressing a fare of mackerel, it is often the case 

 that the skipper will hire a number of longshoremen to take the fish 

 out of the vessel. At such times, too, the shoremen are employed to 

 plow the fish, and also to assist in packing them, since the fishermen 

 find it more profitable to hire men to do this than to remain ashore and 

 do it themselves. For, in the mean time, they may be fortunate enough 

 to catch a fare of two or three hundred barrels of mackerel. 



In the days of hook and line fishing, the landing and packing of 

 mackerel was carried on much more leisurely than at the present time. 

 At first it was customary for the men composing a crew to hoist the 

 mackerel out on the wharf by tackles ; but within the last fifteen or 

 twenty years it has been found more profitable to employ a horse for 

 this purpose, since the work of discharging can be carried on much 

 more rapidly than before, and with less tax upon the energies of the 

 men. The several processes of unheading the barrels, culling, weigh- 

 ing, and packing the mackerel have been fully described in another 

 chapter and need not be repeated here. 



19. — Financial profits of seining. 



The following tables, copied from the annual reports of the Boston 

 Fish Bureau, show the large catches and "stocks" by the mackerel 

 fleet in New England waters for the seasons of 1880 and 1881. 



