2448 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



No. 44. 



EDWARD A. Gooorxs, of Portland, Maine, called on behalf of the 

 Government of the United States, sworn and examined. 



By Mr. Dana: 



Question. You are in what vessel now ? Answer. The Esperanza. 

 Q. You are in here accidentally ? A. Yes. 

 Q. You came in here for a harbor ? A. Yes. 

 Q. You are bound home ? A. Yes. 

 Q. You have got through your fishing ? A. Yes. 

 Q. Now, when did you begin to go fishing? A. When I was 14 years 



old. 



Q. You were born in the year ? A. 1834. 



Q. That would make it 1848 when you went fishing ? A. Yes. 



Q. Where were you living then ? A. At Trenton, Maine. 



Q. That is the custom-house district of Ellsworth ? A. Yes. 



Q. At that time when you first went fishing where did you go ! A. 

 I went to Grand Manan. 



Q. How many years were you fishing off Grand Manan ? A. Seven 

 years. 



Q. Until yon were 21 ? A. Yes. 



Q. Were you a skipper any of that time? A. No; I was always a 

 hand. 



Q. Seven years you were a Trenton fisherman off Grand Manau ? A. 

 Yes ; Grand Manan and Nova Scotia. 



Q. Now, where did you first go when the season began ? A. In the 

 spring ! 



Q. Yes. A. Aronnd Nova Scotia. 



Q. To what part? A. Digby, Petit Passage, and Brier Island. 



Q. For what ! A. Codfish. 



Q. That was spring fishing ! A. Yes. 



Q. During these seven seasons in the spring, when you caught cod off 

 that part of Nova Scotia, where did you catch them ! How far from 

 land! A. The principal part 12 miles from land ; we judged 12, 14, or 

 15. 



Q. Did you ever know of the distance being measured any time ! A. 

 Only once ; around the island. 



Q. What was the nearest to land that you ever fished ? A. Four 

 miles. 



Now, bow do you know it was four miles ? A. Well, there was a lit- 

 tle dispute there. The natives of the island made a complaint to a man- 

 of-war that the American fishermen fished within three miles of the 

 land ; and the place they called within three miles was " Gravelly Bot- 

 tom," on the southeast part of Grand Manan, right off from Grand 

 Manan, at the southeast end. They measured, and found it was four 

 miles from the nearest land to where the American fishermen fished. 

 Inside of that is deep water. On that it is shoal. 



Q. So yon were fishing on a shoal ? A. Yes ; shoal water. 



Q. It turned out to be four miles! A. Yes. 



Q. That is the nearest you ever went T A. Yes ; the nearest I ever 

 flwhed in an American vessel. 



Q. And your codfish you caught twelve or fifteen miles off ? A. That 

 is the nonroHt we could judge. 



Q. While yon were fishing for cod there what bait did you use! A. 

 Herring. 



