AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2391 



Q. How many boats are there fishing out of Tracadie! A. Nineteen, 

 including ours. 



Q. What size boats; how many men t A. They averaged about four 

 men, I should think. 



Q. How did you happen to get your vessel stranded ? A. A gale of 

 wind came up on the 21st. We parted both chains and went ashore. 



Q. You hope to get your vessel off? A. Yes; I think we shall. 



Q. Now have you seen the mackerel vessels there this summer ? A. 

 Yes ; occasionally we have seen them pass up and down. 



Q. What is the greatest number you have seen any one day! A. I 

 have seen as high as 30 sail. 



Q. Do you know at all what luck they have fishing? A. Well, I think 

 the general average has been pretty poor. 



Q. Tell all you know about that A. Well, the highest trip I have 

 known or heard of is 350 barrels, and very few at that. 



Q. What vessel got that ? A. I can't tell you that ; but I can tell 

 you of the George B. Loriug that got 250 barrels. I can't tell the name 

 of one that got 350 barrels. 



Q. Do you know about the result of the fishing of any other vessels ? 

 A. I was aboard the Wildfire six weeks ago. She had got 100 barrels 

 and had been in the bay about a month ; she had 21 men. 



Q. Any others ? A. That is all I know. 



Q. If you have any information about any other vessels, either suc- 

 ceeding or failing, you may state what you know. A. Well, I heard 

 that the mackerel fishing in the bay had been a failure, as near as I can 

 hear. 



Q. Were you in the bay last year ? ^ A. Yes. 



Q. At the same place ? A. Just about the same voyage ; we were not 

 fitted quite as well as we were this year. 



Q. What did you do last year, buy or catch ? A. We came mostly to 

 buy ; we caught 20 barrels. 



Q. With boats ? A. We had one dory and the vessel's boats. 



Q. Has your experiment this year been successful ! A. No ; it has 

 been poor. 



Q. Would it have been successful if you hadn't lost your vessel ? A. 

 No; we would have lost money if we hadn't lost our vessel. 



Q. What have been the average prices of mackerel this summer at 

 Tracadie I mean after it is cured. Give us the highest and the lowest 

 prices you have known. A. The highest sold for $10.50, that is for 200 

 'pounds of fish after they were cured. 



Q. What is the lowest? A. $3.50. 



Q. What is the average? A. About 87.00, I should judge. 



Q. Now, you have been fishing for mackerel in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence in former years a good many times I believe f What was the first 

 year you were in the gulf? A. The first year I was in a schooner called 

 the Saline. 



o. 'What year! A. '57, I think, as near as I can tell. 



Q. You must have been a boy of 14 ? A. Yes ; that was when I first 

 commenced. 



Q. When were you first a skipper yourself! A. I think in '64. 



Q. How many trips have you made to the bay as skipper? A. Two; 

 last year and this year is all I have ever been master. 



Q. When you were here before you have been as shares man ? A. Yes. 



Q. But you have been a skipper in mackerel vessels elsewhere? A. 

 Yes ; I have been on our shore. 



