2384 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



stood in ice 33 days, and have caught fish with it jnst as well as when 

 we first commenced to fish with it. 



Q. Then you are able, with iced bait, to go out on those shoals of Nan- 

 tucket and the George's catching until you go back to New York ordina- 

 rily. You required no fresh supply ? A. We never pretend to make 

 any fresh supply. 



Q. You never did all these 40 years ? A. No. 



Q. Now, tell these gentlemen how you prepare that bait to keep it so 

 well. A. I have an ice-house. The ice is cut 22 inches square in our 

 State the way we take it in. We stow two cakes in breadth and three 

 in length in the house, whether it is 12 inches thick or 20 inches thick. 

 We leave a whole tier in the bottom. Then we take these pogies and 

 put them four inches thick ; then about the same thickness of fine ice, 

 as fine as we can pound it snow would be better. We put the same 

 thickness of ice that we have of fish. Then we put another tier of fish, 

 and then some ice again, till we stow from 7,000 to 10,000 of these fish 

 right in one house. Then we fill all round the sides and all over the 

 top with the fine ice, and then cover it with canvass to keep it. I have 

 fished with it when it has been 33 days, and it has been good bait to 

 fish with. 



Q. Now you have a floor of cakes of ice ? A. Yes, we call them in 

 our vessels bed-rooms. 



Q. What is the depth of pogies you put on ? A. About four inches. 



Q. Then four inches of fine ice! A. Yes. 



Q. Ground up? A. We pound it as fine as we can with the axe: we 

 have no mills. 



Q. Then four inches of ice, then pogies, then ice again ? A. Yes, we 

 fill it full. 



Q. What is the advantage of that mode of preparing the ice? A. It 

 is all frozen solid and good. The top of the ice, when it gets frozen, 

 bears its own weight, and it is not on the fish. It forms a kind of a 

 crust upon the fish, and there is no air gets through it, I suppose, and 

 it does not make any weight on the fish underneath. 



Q. In case there is any melting, what is the effect on the bait? A. 

 When it begins to melt and the crust breaks away the fish begin to decay. 



Q. You avert that or prolong the period by your mode? A. Yes. 



Q. If the water forms there does it draw up ? A. No, it goes down, 

 the sides. We have it stowed so that the water that forms goes each 

 side of this house. 



Q. It runs off ? A. Yes. 



Q. Is your method of preserving this fish practiced in any other place 

 than your region of New London and Noank ? A. 1 am not acquainted. 

 I have seen Cape Ann fishermen stowing bait, but I never went in for 

 the science of their stowing it. There is too much wood around the vi- 

 cinity of the bait. I have seen them stowing herring. I never saw 

 them stowing pogies. 



Q. Now, you say you have been to Brown Bank one trip ? A. I have 

 been about two trips a year for seven years. 



Q. Did you use the same bait, prepared in the same way ? A. Yes. 



Q. You had no occasion to go in for bait ? A. No. 



Q. You never had ? A. No. 



Q. Where is Brown's bank? A. It is south of Cape Sable, about 

 forty miles from land. 



Q. You have been about two trips a year for seven years? A. Yes. 



Q. Have you been to LaHave Bank? A. I have been about the same 

 number of trips. 



