AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2383 



Q. Now, when did you first go in charge of a vessel ? A. I had charge 

 of a vessel thirty-three years. 



Q. You took charge of a vessel 32 years ago ? A. Yes. 



Q. That was in 1845, was it ? A. Before that. I had a vessel built 

 in 1843, and 1 had had charge of a vessel then two or three years. 



Q. Did you sail out of Stonington f A. I sailed out of Noank, Con- 

 necticut, every time. I never failed to go out of the port, and always 

 from the same custom house too. 



Q. Now, in what kind of fishing have you been engaged during this 

 long period ! A. Halibut-fishing. 



Q. Substantially that has been exclusively your occupation ? A. 

 That has been all my business up till the last two or three years, until 

 I gave up the business, and gave it into somebody else's hands. 



Q. Where have you caught your halibut ? A. The majority of them 

 on Nautucket shoals. 



Q. What other places? A. Upon the Georges, in May and June and 

 part of July; and for seven years, two trips a year, I have been over 

 on to Brown's Bank. I have been in sight of Seal Island twice, and 

 Cape Sable two or three times. 



Q. With those exceptions, it has been on the Georges and Nantucket 

 shoals? A. What we call the Southwest Georges. 



(}. Those are nearer ? A. Yes. 



Q. What is the course of the halibut business when do you leave 

 port, for instance ? A. We leave about the middle of March. 



Q. Then you go first to the Southwest George's? A. Southeast from 

 Nautucket shoals. 



Q. How long do you usually fish there ? A. Till the 1st of May. 



Q. Then after the 1st of May you go to the George's? A. Yes, sir; 

 we stay until July. The last of July we are on the northeast part of the 

 George's. 



Q. Then where ? A. For the last seven years I have gone across to 

 LaHave and to Brown's. 



Q. Before the last seven years where did you go in the autumn ? A. 

 We used to quit. I didn't know anything about coming over to this 

 shore at all for halibut. 



Q. How is the halibut business carried on now from the places in that 

 region ? A. It is not carried on at all from Noank, because there is only 

 one vessel fishes at all, and she has only been one trip this season. This 

 same vessel was to Mobile all winter. 



Q. These halibut you carry fresh to market ? A. Yes, all fresh to 

 New York. 



Q. Your vessels are smacks, are they? A. Yes, with wells in them. 



Q. About how often do you run into New York? A. About once a 

 month. One trip a month is about the biggest we can do. 



Q. What kind of bait do you use ? A. I don't know how to answer 

 you whether to say menhaden, hardheads, pogies, or what. 



Q. You mean the same thing, do you? A. Yes; it is pogies or men- 

 haden. I suppose you all understand it. It is one kind of fish alto- 

 gether, but has a good many names. 



Q. 1 want you to state to the Commission how long you keep that bait 

 in ice. You have a special way of icing it, haven't you ? Now, how 

 long are you able to keep it in the way you prepare it for use ? A. Well, 

 do you want me to plan out an ice-house ? 



Q. No ; how long can you use it iced in the way you ice it ? A. Well, 

 the way I have put it up to preserve it 1 have fished with it when it has 



