144 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



sails went up before the anchors were turned. The "Ameri- 

 cans," as the provincials then termed them, Yankee was only 

 a term of contempt, were the swifter to be under way. I ex- 

 pected to see a regular fight in the exit, but all else seemed to 

 be forgotten save the dead race for the fishing-grounds. It was 

 as silent as a vast regatta, with a marvellous skill in steering, so 

 as to have every bit of advantage, to blanket and keep from 

 being blanketed. In an hour or two after we had broken into 

 the open water of the Gulf, the thing had parted into two fleets, 

 those of the Cape Ann group and those of the Province ports, 

 with unbroken water between them, and by night they had the 

 round of sea between them. I have never seen such a striking 

 difference between the works of kindred men. 



The difference between the New England and colonial ships 

 which I saw exhibited in the sailing fleets which were gathered 

 in the Gut of Canso and went forth to the Gulf interested me 

 greatly. I studied the shapes, the size, and the seamanship of 

 each without getting much light on the matter. It was then as 

 now easy to see the difference, as specimens of the two varieties 

 of boats lay near each other; it was indeed plain enough when 

 they were sailing miles apart; but I have never been able to 

 state the difference in a way that would enable a builder to 

 profit by the analysis. Taken separately, the forms, rims, and 

 sides of the hull, the spars and masts, the sails and the men, are 

 indistinguishable, but in the assemblage they are both as di- 

 verse as wild and tame beasts of the same species. While on the 

 Labrador shore, I met a Nova Scotia skipper who was also a 

 shipbuilder, and asked him why they did not build their boats 

 after the Cape Ann model. "We do," he said, "we have been 

 doing it for fifty years or more; what we build are exactly like 

 the Gloucester men until the damned Yankees come again." 

 I came to the conclusion, which may be true, that the differ- 

 ence is due to the way in which the work is done. In the Pro- 

 vinces it was, and I believe is, the custom for the fishermen to 

 build their own vessels alongside of their houses, using their 



