FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 205 



one skate is out another is knotted to it, and the performance goes on until 

 all of the trawl is disposed of. When the end of it is reached it is bent to 

 the last anchor and buoy, these also being thrown, the process is completed. 



The first crew are usually nearly done with their work by the time the ves- 

 sel has let go her sixth dory, so she immediately turns back and picks up this 

 and the other boats in succession. This done, she lies by until it is time to 

 haul, when the vessel is run along from buoy to buoy, dropping each dory 

 near its own trawl. The holding up of an oar is a signal that the men have 

 finished hauling their trawl or want help, seeing which the vessel runs down 

 and receives the cargo or takes the boat in tow. 



The act of "picking up" a dory while under sail is a manoeuvre requiring 

 considerable skill, and it occasionally happens that the boat is struck by the 

 vessel and the occupants are thrown into the water. An accident of this 

 kind happened in my own experience in the Summer of 1879. Running 

 the vessel to leeward of one of our dories, I put the wheel down, intending 

 to tack short of her and lay to with the jib to windward while she came 

 alongside. The vessel ranged further ahead than usual, and struck the dory 

 a glancing blow with her bow. I should have righted the wheel and cleared 

 her, but a man sang out that she was all right, and, as I could not see her 

 myself, I supposed she was, until another exclaimed, "My God! she's hit 

 the dory, and there's three men overboard." 



The jib had caught aback at this time, and as the wheel was rolled hard 

 down, I shouted, " Heave out that lee dory as quick as you can and pick 

 them up." Running to assist in getting the dory out, I saw two of the 

 men climbing over the vessel's bow. They came to help us, exclaiming, 

 "Sank's* in the water; let's hurry up." Although we made all possible 

 haste, by the time the dory was well clear of the vessel's side with two men 

 pulling their utmost, I saw the other dory uninjured on our weather quarter 

 and "Sank" standing in her dripping wet, his face streaming with blood. 

 Like the others, he had attempted to jump and catch the bowsprit rigging, 

 but the vessel's bow was falling, and something struck his head, cutting a 

 gash more than an inch long, and knocking him backward into the water. 

 Fortunately he was not stunned, and when he rose to the surface he grasped 

 the gunwale of the dory and hauled himself into her. Nothing daunted by 

 his mishap, his first words to his shipmates were: "I'm the proper lad to 

 go haddocking;t it don't bother me much to be run down." The words 

 were uttered with a carelessness of tone, and a quiet laugh that showed an 

 utter disregard of such dangers. 



*A young man whom, on account of his proficiency in singing hymns, we nicknamed 

 " Saiikey," and tills had l)ocome aljbreviatcd into " Sank." 



tVessels employed in the Winter haddock fisheries almost always set under sail, and their 

 men are therefore moi-e liable than any others to this particular accident. 



