[223] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



1815 TO 1820. — A MACKERELINGr TRIP IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THAT 



FISHERY. 



"I was ten years old when I made my first fishing trip. We went to 

 Cashe's in a deck-boat of 20 tons. Capt. Daniel Robinson was skipper 

 and I was cook. There were six of us, all told. We went at the halves, 

 and all shared alike, the privilege of cooking and the glory of being 

 skipper being considered in those days ample compensation for any ex- 

 tra labor or responsibility. We took about 40 barrels of mackerel, sav- 

 ing only the large bloaters, which we slat into the barrels; the small 

 fish Ave slat into the lee scuppers and stamped them up with our boots for 

 bait with which to toll the fish. Afterwards we chopped bait with a 

 hatchet, until Gunnison, of Newburyport, invented the bait-mill, a god- 

 send to the fishermen, who could now smoke and spin yarns while on 

 watch, instead of chopping bait. A story is told on the best of author- 

 ity, of one skipper, Andrew Burnham, who had been a great "killer" in 

 his time, that after the bait-mill came into use he was unable to sleep 

 without the sound of the hatchet chopping bait, to which he had been 

 so long accustomed. It is said that they tried pounding on the anchor 

 stock, and tramping with their big boots on deck above his head, but 

 all to no avail. There was an element lacking in the noise they made, 

 and he wooed the somnolent god to no effect, and was obliged to retire 

 to private life on a farm, in the 'second parish', I believe. 



"We cooked in the old-fashioned way, in a brick fireplace with a brick 

 chimney, and a wooden smoke-stack or funnel, which was intended to 

 carry oil' the smoke, but did not always do so. The crane, pot-hook, 

 Dutch oven, and trencher were all there, and all brought into use, as I 

 well remember. We baked short-cakes on the trencher, bread in the 

 Dutch oven, and hung our kettle on the crane, with the pot-hook, to 

 make coffee or tea. 



"We had fine weather, and everything passed off finely except the 

 smoke, which refused to pass off at all, and under a less resolute com- 

 mander than Skipper Robinson would doubtless have assumed command 

 altogether. No casualties occurred except the burning of a few short- 

 cakes, while 'Bijah (it being his first voyage) paid tribute to father Nep- 

 tune, and was himself again. We were gone three days. Arriving ou 

 the fishing grounds we made but one 'berth,' catching and dressing un- 

 til everything was full, when we hoisted the foresail, for jib we had 

 none, and bore away for 'Squam, arrived in the channel, dropped anchor, 

 furled the sails, and went home to see the folks." — (The Old-time Fishery 

 at 'Squam, by Gideon L. Davis, in the Fisherman's Own Book, pp. 41, 42.) 



1819 to 1859. — Reminiscences of "uncle* oeorge davis con- 

 cerning THE EARLY MACKEREL FISHERIES OF ANNISQUAM. — 

 FIRST BAIT-MILL ON CAPE ANN. — SOUTHERN MACKEREL FISHERY, 

 ETC. 



" Uncle" George Davis, of Annisquam, Gloucester, says that in 182L 

 he helped make the first bait-mill that was ever made in Gloucester. 



