248 SEA FISHERIES 



II 



Now the reader can perhaps bear up against the 

 Chinese puzzle of the engagement of sailors for the 

 long-distance fisheries. I will explain in succession the 

 manner of engagement by shares, engagement by the 

 task, and engagement at fixed wages. In the two first 

 cases you will find we must allow for advances deducted, 

 you may be sure, from the expected gross profit which 

 may be "lost advances," "advances to rank," which 

 vary as to amount, or " pure gifts " of 2 to 16, or 

 earnest money (God's pence, denier a Dieu), amounting 

 to anything between 8s. and ^4. The engagement 

 by shares presents three aspects : there is " the engage- 

 ment by the fifth," customary at Fecamp ; " the engage- 

 ment by the mitigated fifth," practised at Saint-Malo, 

 and the "engagement by the third," also a Saint-Malo 

 custom, but now dying out. 



In the " engagement by the fifth " the general expenses 

 are deducted from the gross profits and the net profit 

 is divided by five. Four-fifths go to the shipowner, 

 one-fifth to the crew. This fifth is divided thus : the 

 captain, two or even three parts ; the mate and the 

 curer, one and a half parts ; the captain of the dories, 

 or bo'sun, one part and 4 ; the bow hands of the 

 dories, one part; "novices," three-quarters of a part; 

 the boy, half a part. Finally, the best fishers obtain 

 premiums taken from the crew's fifth. 



The " mitigated fifth " is a better system for the crew, 

 who obtain certain sums in addition to their shares of 

 their fifth. The captain may draw three parts and 

 5 per cent, of the gross sales; the mate one and a 

 half parts and 4 fr. 50 (33. 9jd.) per thousand cod ; 

 the curer, one and a half parts and 4 fr. (33. 2|d.) 



