124 SPOKT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



sixteen to twent}'' men are requisite for the manage- 

 ment of the ship and boats. They start from 

 France between the 1st and 15th of March, and 

 the ships repair at once to St. Pierre^ -where the 

 passenger-fishermen are landed. The lads and 

 apprentices fill up the number on board, and it is 

 their business to look after the work of drjdng the 

 fish on shore. The crew then set sail for the Bank, 

 and cast anchor in forty to fifty fathoms of water. 

 The fishing-boats are then launched, and every night, 

 manned by five men each, they go to lay the long 

 trot lines, each furnished with five hundred hooks. 

 Every morning the lines are drawn, and the fish 

 opened, washed, salted, and laid on board in the 

 hold. The rest of the crew remaining on board fish 

 with bottom lines. The first fishing-season ended 

 (which is from the 15th to the 30th of June), the 

 catch is taken to St. Pierre to be dried, whilst the 

 vessel, furnished with a fresh supply of salt and bait, 

 returns to the Bank for a second fishery. Occa- 

 sionally there is even a third crop, and that is taken 

 to France, salted only and not dried. The fishing 

 on the Great Bank is much harder work and far 

 more dangerous than that on the coast. It demands 

 experienced sailors and brave men, for it is carried 

 on in a sea which is never at rest. The loss of men 

 and boats is frequent, on account of the squalls and 

 fogs. The coast-fishery forms sailors, but the Bank- 

 fishery hardens them. 



