AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1995 



sels there. In 1852 we had 63 vessels which prosecuted the rml tuiicrv 

 on the Grand Bank; in 1853, we had 81 vessels; in ]8.->|,s7 \, ,-....- 

 in 1855, 83 vessels, and so it went along tor .years; but in 1HM i had 

 the largest fleet of which I have any remembrance, for we then IIHI! HI 

 vessels in all, of which 19 were fishing with trawling-liin*M in M.. (iulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and the rest were on the (Irand Bank*. Them- veiwln 

 which went cod-fishing that year carried with them 4,WH barrt?U of nail 

 clams, and brought home 93,603 quintals of fish. 



By Mr. Uavies: 



Q. This relates to Provincetown? A. Yes: to our town alone. That 

 bait was sufficient to catch 93,<>G3 quintals in 18<Wi. We had *7 cod- 

 fishing vessels ten years before. The year when I went on the Hankn 

 we carried and used clams altogether. " Sometimes when ve&HeU would 

 get short of bait, or their clams would not prove very good, one vemrl 

 would help another; some would secure their cargoes before they bad 

 used all their bait, and if there was any prospect of bait getting nbort 

 we would catch what birds we could, and sometimes cut bait out of <the 

 stomachs of the fish, this being a species of what we call bank clam*; 

 they are mussels of considerable size, and they made very good bait on 

 certain grounds. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. You, then, had no fresh bait except that which wan obtained on 

 the Banks themselves ? A. No. From year to year we carried clams 

 for bait. 



Q. Is there an abundant supply of clams to be found about M*AM- 

 chusetts? A. Along our New England coast there are any quantity of 

 them. A great many are found from the State of Maine down the COM! ; 

 there are a great many about Portland and Cape Cod, and on Kwe t 

 County coast. 



Q. Then there is an ample supply of clams on the American coast ! 

 A. Yes; provided that our banking fleet want clams for bait another 

 year they can get just as many as they desire. 



Q. What other bait do the cod-fishers take from home : are any w|nid 

 found on our coast? A. Squid are very uncertain on our coant ; 

 about Barnstable County, or north of Cape Cod, where I twiil?, mrat 

 years they are quite plentiful. In the days of my boyhood, for n &o< 

 many years, they were so plentiful that they ran ashore in s'i.-h * 

 abundance that they became a perfect nuisance. It was Impo* 

 over so large an area of flats, to bury and take care of them, am 

 had to put up with the inconvenience; but when the blue II 

 made their appearance on the coast the squid became *MI 

 scarcer. In 1867 1 spent the summer investigating our tWi 

 the coast, and I remember very well that I did not MM- a i 

 during the whole summer in or about Provinoetown Harti 

 About five or six years ago, however, the squid came ' 

 abundance, and they were as plentiful as I ever knew 

 were vast quantities of them on the coast; but since I 

 become scarcer and scarcer until this year, when there an> 

 them there. I am told that one vessel which went from . 

 Grand Banks this year obtained some ten barrels of H|iii 

 side of us, near Chatham, and, putting them in ice. t 

 Grand Banks ; but the squid are scarce on our side. 



Q. That took place on the south side of Gape < 

 catch a good many there in weirs. 



Q. Are squid to be found on the Grand Banks ?- 



