4 I O HIS TOR Y OF con A SSE T. 



two pailfuls of water to soak out the blood preparatory to 

 the salting-down process. 



When the vessel is back again the fish are not found 

 very plentiful ; but the skipper throws out bait now and 

 then or the men throw it out, while a few fish are hauled 

 in at intervals. When it gets dusk no more fishing for 

 that day is possible. The sails are furled and the boom 

 is crotched and a lantern is hung in the main peak hal- 

 yards ; thus she floats for the night. All hands go down 

 into the cabin to drink a cup of strong cold tea and to 

 munch some hard bread or to eat the hard bread crumbed 

 into water sweetened with molasses. No cooking is done 

 to-night, for the fishing has been so good that no one 

 would "knock off" to build a fire. In a few minutes all 

 are on deck again to finish dressing their fish. 



Then comes the salting. Each splitter takes a candle 

 and an old two-tined table fork down into the hold. He 

 makes a candlestick of the fork by jabbing it into the 

 inside of the hogshead halfway up the staves, holding 

 the candle between the tines of the fork. This gives 

 light upon the fish as they are packed into the bottom of 

 the hogshead. Getting his salt tub ready, the splitter 

 shouts to his gibber above at the hatch, " Fish ho ! " The 

 gibber empties a wash barrel of split fish upon the deck 

 beside the hatch, and begins to drop the fish two at a time 

 lying skin against flesh into a tub of salt in the hold. 

 The splitter, now become Salter, takes one fish in each '> 

 hand, rubbing them flesh downward into the salt ; and then 

 placing them together again as they were, skin against 

 flesh, he packs them into the bottom of the big hogshead 

 in the light of the candle, skin up in plenty of salt. 



After the salting down the decks are washed, the oil 

 trousers are taken off, and faces and hands are bathed in 

 salt water. The scratched hands sting with the salt, but 

 fres-h water is too scarce for such use. 



The watch is set and the rest of the crew so below to 



