1994 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



THURSDAY, September 20, 1877. 



The Commission met. 



The examination of Mr. ATTWOOD was resumed. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Question. Have you been engaged in the cod fishery? Answer. Yes. 



Q. How early and how extensively was this the case? A. My first 

 voyage was made when I went to sea in 1820. I then proceeded to the 

 Labrador coast. I have been there a good many years since I might 

 say from year to year. In 1820 and 1821 I .fished on that coast ; in 1822 

 I made a trip in the North Atlantic ; in 1823 I was again on the Lab- 

 rador coast ; in 1824 I was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and I was also 

 there in 1825 and 1828. I suppose I might go on in this manner until 

 18G6. 



Q. Have you been cod-fishing on the Newfoundland Banks? A. 

 Yes; I was during four seasons on the Grand Banks. 



Q. When was this ? A. I do not know as I could tell you that just 

 now, but I think that I first went there in 1833. 



Q. How extensively is the cod-fishing business carried on from and 

 in the neighborhood of Provincetown ? A. We have a fleet of vessels 

 48 in number this year from Provincetown on the Grand Banks, and in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence we have 17 vessels, which numbers together 

 will give the total number so employed coming from Provincetown this 

 year. 



Q. Whereabouts in the Gulf of St. Lawrence do your cod fishermen 

 fish ? A. Now, I am told they go to the Magdalen islands for the pur- 

 pose of procuring herring on their first coming into the bay, and after- 

 ward they go to Bank Bradley, fishing mostly there and also sometimes 

 over toward the west shore. They go down sometimes to Bank Orphan, 

 but they depend more particularly on Bank Bradley for their catch. 



Q. Is there any cod-fishing, to your knowledge, pursued by American 

 vessels anywhere within three miles of the shore? A. Not in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence ; but on the coast of Labrador, of course, all the cod 

 are taken inshore. 



Q. How is that done? A. My first voyages were made to that coast. 

 The vessels anchor in a harbor, and when the caplin come in the cod 

 come in after them, and boats are sent out from the vessels to catch the 

 cod. 



Q. They are also caught there now by seining? A. Yes; some sein- 

 ing for cod was done when I was there, but I went in vessels which 

 caught the fish with the hook. 



Q. That was north of Mount Joly ? A. North of Mount Joly we fished 

 early in the spring, in a few harbors, to the westward of Blanc Sablon. 

 Every year we went there we passed through the Strait of Belleisle, 

 and by Cape Charles, going up to what we call Grosse Water, although 

 I do not now find that name on the chart. 



Q. Excepting up there, do American vessels fish for cod anywhere 

 within three miles of the shore, to your knowledge? A. No. 



Q. Is fresh bait essential to the prosecution of the cod fishery, and 

 what bait was in former years used in cod-fishing! A. We have been 

 extensively engaged in cod-fishing for a good many years in Province- 

 town; I suppose that this has been the case ever since it was a settled 

 place. About 1819 or 1820, we had no vessels on the Grand Banks; 

 and when I first went to sea in 1820, 1822, and 1823, my first three voy- 

 ages were made to the Labrador coast, because we did not then have a 

 single vessel on the Grand Bank; but afterward we began to send ves- 



