fisheemen's memoeial and eecoed book. 61 



Trailing was one of the means used to catch mackerel in the olden 

 time, and one of our old fishermen informs us that when a lad, he 

 distinctly remembers of being out in Boston Bay, one day, in a boat 

 with his father, when he saw a vessel which looked very strangely to 

 his young e3'es, and, bo^Mike, he asked his father what sort of craft 

 it was. 



"That's a trailer, my boy, and we'll speak with him," was the re- 

 ply. 



They sailed quite near, and they observed that the vessel had out- 

 riggers of long poles on each side, commencing forward at about 

 seventeen feet, and tapering off to five feet aft. At the ends, lines 

 were fastened, about twenty fathoms long, with a sinker of four 

 pounds, and hook below. To each of these lines were attached a 

 bridle, reaching to the side of the vessel, where the fishermen stood 

 to feel the bites. This particular vessel was from Hingham, and had 

 been out four weeks without receiving even a bite, and the skipper 

 said he was going to give it up and go home. 



In 1812 a large school of Spanish mackerel visited this Bay, and 

 so plenty and numerous were they, that they would bite readily at 

 the bare hook, and seize upon small bits of line hanging from the 

 vessel. Standing-room boats were then mostly in use, of from fifteen 

 to twenty tons. These rooms held from fifteen to twenty barrels, and 

 the crews would catch them full in a few hours. Mr. Timothy Rog- 

 ers, at Kowe's Bank, bought most of these mackerel, fresh, after being 

 dressed, at two cents per pound, salting them in his'buildings, and 

 the business, which lasted two months, was a lively one. These mack- 

 erel did not continue on this coast but a few years, and have now 

 almost entirely disappeared. There were a few caught, with the oth- 

 er mackerel, as late as 1825, since which time it is very rare to see 

 one during the entire season. 



The present mode of catching mackerel by drifting and tolling 

 with bait, did not come into general use until after 1812. The gear 

 for catching, previous to that, was a white hempen bob line, as it was 

 called, and the style of fishing was termed " bobbing" mackerel. 

 These lines were some seven fathoms in length, with a leaden sinker 

 two inches long, and shaped like a thin pea-pod. At one end was a 

 ganging about a foot long, for the hook. Every few minutes o3 

 would go the hook, and extra hooks were always in readiness to re- 

 place those lost. This mode continued until the year 1816, when 

 Abraham Lurvej', of Pigeon Cove, discovered a method of running 

 lead around the hooks, and which were afterward called jigs. This 



