THE COD-FISHERY 



considered. A storm rises suddenly just when the boat 

 is well-nigh full of fish representing the whole of a 

 man's day's work. A slight slip, or stumble, or roll on 

 the part of the fisherman -just the least little bit of 

 awkwardness that, in a somewhat larger craft, would pass 

 unnoticed and the hapless dory capsizes, no matter 

 how carefully the fish have been stowed. At least there 

 is a day's pay thrown away and God help the poor 

 boatman if, encumbered as he is by oilskins and thigh- 

 boots, he is not man enough to reach and right his boat 

 again ! 



Or there is that awful fog for which the Banks are 

 celebrated, caused, so the geographers tell us, by the 

 meeting of the warm water of the Gulf Stream with the 

 current which is called the Cold Wall, and is really a 

 stream of melted Arctic ice brought down by the 

 Labrador current. The unfortunate dory-man is not only 

 cut off from sight of everything, but, if he has finished 

 his fishing, will soon be chilled to the bone through 

 inaction ; for he can do nothing but sit still, listening 

 anxiously to the sirens and hooters of larger craft that 

 may be in the vicinity, and wait, either till the fog lifts 

 or till he is run down by a passing steamer unless he 

 has the luck to drift towards some friendly smack that 

 will take him aboard. 



Yet, despite such drawbacks as these, it is easy to see 

 why hand-line codding dies hard ; take the year through, 

 an individual fisherman can earn more money at it than 

 by the other means mentioned, though owners and 

 master-men may gain less ; for the dory-man, being alone 



103 



