2538 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. What did you do in 1863 ? A. I then went two trips ; was out 5 

 mouths ; caught 1,003 barrels ; average price, $9.07 ; stock, $9,101.8L 



Q. And 1864? A. I then made one trip; was out for 5i months: 

 caught 1,126 barrels; average price, $10.75; stock, $12,104.82. 



Q. Were all the prices which you have given for 1862, 1863, and 1864 

 American currency prices ? A. Yes. 



Q. 1864 was your last year in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ? A. Yes, as 

 skipper of a vessel. 



Q. And during the two last years you were there you shipped home 

 mackerel ? A. Yes. 



Q. How ? A. By packet from the Strait of Causo. 



Q. What did you pay ? A. $1 a barrel freight to Gloucester ; that 

 was in currency. 



Q. In what way did you ship mackerel home in 1864, and what did 

 this cost you ? A. By packet; and I think it cost the same for freight, 

 but I am not sure of that. 



Q. During the 13, years you acted as skipper, I believe you caught 

 6,018 barrels of mackerel, and your average catch per year was 469 bar- 

 rels I A. I have not figured that up. 



Q. Did anybody ever sail out of Gloucester who was more successful 

 than yourself in catching mackerel ? A. Well, they all said that I got 

 a pretty large share. 



Q. Without showing any modesty about it, did anybody catch as 

 many as yourself? A. I think not. 



Q. Was Andrew Leighton as near you as any one ? A. I think that 

 for the number of times I was fishing I got more than he did ; but then 

 some years he was longer in the bay than I was, and got as many as I 

 did, if not a few more. 



Q. You stocked over 1,100 barrels in 1864? A. Yes. 



Q. What did you do afterwards ? A. I went into the fishing busi- 

 ness, and fitted out vessels. 



Q. What was the style of the firm in which you first were ? A. 

 Eowe and Smith. 



Q. How long were you in it ? A. Three years. 



Q. This was in 1865, 1866, and 1867 ? A. Yes. 



Q. What is the name of your present firm? A. Smith & Gott. I 

 went into this firm in 1868. 



Q. What has been you business in this firm ? A. I was in the same 

 business as previously the cod and mackerel business. We are fish- 

 buyers and we ship fish to the West. 



Q. I have a statement respecting your mackerel business in the firm 

 of Smith & Gott, both on the United States shore and in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, but you have not given me a statement of your business during 

 the years when you were in the first firm ; why did you not do so ? A. 

 When I came away I had only 2 or 3 days to look over my old books, 

 and I did not have access to the old books of the other firm for the pur- 

 pose. 



Q. You have a statement made up from the books of your present 



