AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 3393 



Franklin and his vessel lay 100 yards apart. The skipper of the A. J. 

 Franklin said " mackerel were scarce ; he did not do much yet." He 

 was at the bait box. The crew were preparing for fishing on the star- 

 board side, which is the invariable usage. David Beckman says " we 

 were on the starboard bow of the A. J. Franklin She had her mack- 

 erel lines out, and they were heaving bait. She continued trying for 

 mackerel till after the Ida E. fired the second time, when the crew hauled 

 in their mackerel lines, hoisted jib, trimmed their sails, and stood off 

 out from the fleet, and set staysail. Thomas Herman says, four of the 

 crew of the A. J. Franklin were fishing for cod-fish the skipper was 

 throwing bait for mackerel, and threw his mackerel lines others were 

 on the rail on the starboard side, looking over. She was hove to, jib 

 down, foresail and mainsail up, and sheets off on port side. Peter 

 Heckman states that he saw some of the crew of the A. J. Franklin 

 trying to catch mackerel they threw their lines over the starboard side 

 they threw bait over to raise mackerel they were throwing bait with 

 lines over, trying for mackerel, as the Ida E. approached the crew after 

 she fired, hauled in the lines, hoisted jib, and stood off the shore. The 

 crew cheered and shouted as they got out of the fleet, and set their 

 staysail. George W. Nass says that he saw some of the crew of the A. 

 J. Franklin heaving bait, and they had mackerel lines out on the star- 

 board side. She was hove to, jib down, mainsail and foresail to port, 

 as is usual in fishing for mackerel she was then within two miles of 

 Broad Cove shore, and about three miles to the westward of Seawolf 

 Island. When the Ida E. came from the westward, the witness heard 

 skipper Nass call out something to one of the other vessels the reply 

 to him was that it was one of the cutters. The A. J. Franklin then 

 hauled in her mackerel lines, and hoisted her jib, and stood to the north- 

 ward, and then set her staysail. 



" Neither this witness nor any of the others ever saw any mackerel 

 caught, nor any fish thrown over from the A. J. Franklin. 



"The case for the prosecution is strengthened by certain declarations 

 of the crew, which were not objected to at the hearing, and being against 

 their interest as sharesmeu, are receivable, I think, in evidence. 



" Captain Tory testifies that he heard several of the crew of the A. J. 

 Franklin say on the day of the seizure at the Strait of Canso, that after 

 he left their vessel at Broad Cove, they advised Captain Nass to clear 

 out of the Bay, and go immediately home that Capt. Tory would find 

 out they had been fishing, and seize them, and that they would lose their 

 fish, to which Capt. Nass replied, that he would like to try a few days 

 longer that Capt. Tory had been aboard, and was not likely to trouble 

 them again, or such like words. 



" Sullivan heard one of the crew make a like declaration ; and McMas- 

 ter heard one of the crew say, that after the A. J. Franklin was seized, 

 that they had caught mackerel the morning Capt. Tory boarded them 

 off Broad Cove. 



"Of the depositions for the defence, that of Regis Eaimoud, who was 

 first mate of the IdaE., merely repeats what has been already statt-d- 

 that Capt. Tory, after he boarded the A. J. Franklin, assigned as his 

 reason tor not seizing her, that he had found no fish taken that morning, 

 and did not think they had been fishing. The seizure, obviously, re- 

 sulted from information subsequently received. 



" The depositions of Capt. Nass and two of his crew, go much further, 



and deny a fishing or preparing to fish altogether. They allege that the 



jib was letdown to prevent their running into another vessel that was 



ahead. On no day, say they, between the 1st and 15th October, had 



213 F 



