2214 A.WARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



think. I was but a youngster at the time, and I went fishing on our 

 shore. 



Q. How did you do that year? A. Xot much of anything. Prob- 

 ably during the whole season we got 150 or 200 barrels; the mackerel 

 were not very plentiful that year. The next voyage I made was in 

 1842 in the bay, in the Tremont. 



Q. How much did you then take ? A. We packed out 47 barrels. 



Q. For how many did you fit out ? A. About 250 barrels. 



Q. What was the trouble? A. There were no fish in the bay. 



Q. How long did you stay there? A. We went out on the 8th of 

 July, and we arrived home on the 8th of November. 



Q. Where did you try in the bay ? A. We tried in every possible 

 part of the bay where the fish went ; then we did not go up ab ove 

 Gaspe, but around Banks Bradley and Orphan. 



Q. And the Magdalen Islands? A. Yes; and to all the offshore 

 grounds where the fish were generally found. 



Q. Were there many American vessels in the bay then ? A. The 

 fleet was very few in number. 



Q. They had not begun to send large fleets into the bay at that time ? 

 A. O, no ; very few Gloucester vessels were then there in my recol- 

 lection. 



Q. And the American vessels then in the bay were not very many ? 

 A. They were very few. Most of the American vessels which were 

 then sent to the bay came from Newburyport. Our fleet had not begun 

 to increase much then. 



Q. Where were you fishing from 1843 to 1854 ? A. On our shore. 



Q. How did you do on the whole ? A. We did generally a fair busi- 

 ness ; the fishery there was better then than it is now. 



Q. What did you catch ? A. Mackerel and codfish ; during the early 

 part of the season we fished for cod on George's Bank, and during the 

 latter part of it we fished round our coast. 



Q. Did you try in the bay at all during those 11 years from 1843 to 

 1854 ? A. Not to my knowledge. 



Q. Between 1843 and 1854, did you go into the bay at all ? A. I did. 



Q. When did you do so ? A. In 1851. 



Q. Were you there at the time of the gale ? A. Yes ; I was there 

 with James Pattillo. 



Q. How much did you take that year? A. We packed out somewhere 

 about 480 barrels. 



Q. Where were they caught ? A. Some of them broad off Gasp and 

 on Banks Bradley and Orphan, and along there. We fished more to 

 the nor'ard then than now ; I do not think we caught any of them at 

 the Magdalen Islands. 



Q. Where were you at the time of the gale? A. In the bight of the 

 island ; we got about 7 leagues from the shore that night before the 

 gale came on. It was all of that distance off, and we were in 27 fathoms 

 of water. 



Q. That gave you an offing of over twenty miles? A. Yes; we were 

 right off St. Peter's. 



Q. What did you do when the gale came on ? A. That morning when 

 it was blowing heaviest we laid to under a reefed foresail. We found 

 that the tide, which was running fast, was taking us into the bight of 

 the island, and we laid to under a two reef foresail. 



Q. Is there only a two-reef foresail ? A. We have what is called a 

 second, third, and first reef. 



