4 FISHERMEN'S MEMORIAL AND RECORD BOOK. 



all their accompaniments of disaster and discomfort, requiring the 

 steady hand at the wheel, the firm purpose to meet and overcome 

 obstacles, the determination on the part of these bread-winners to 

 meet the perils which encompass their pathway over the trackless 

 waters, to ride out the storm, if possible, or, under canvas, to keep 

 their little craft safely afloat, until the danger is past and they can 

 once more resume fishing. Danger lurks in the track of the fisher- 

 men during the inclement season, and they literally take their lives 

 in their hands when they sail away on their winter t.rips. 



Since the introduction of trawl fishing, some twelve years since, 

 another peril has been added to the fisheries, viz. : that of being lost 

 from the dories while visiting trawls, or estrayed during the fog 

 which oftentimes shuts in on the fishing grounds, enveloping them 

 like a pall. Then the dorymen find it extremely difficult to discover 

 their vessel. A fresh breeze springing up renders the situation still 

 more dangerous, and notwithstanding the efforts made on board, by 

 the firing of guns, blowing of horns, ringing of bells, and the con- 

 tinued cruising about in search of the missing men, the fact of not 

 being enabled to find them, and being obliged to give up the search 

 and return home, is too often the case. There are chances of being 

 picked up by some other vessels of the fleet, or by some merchant- 

 man ; and there are instances on record where these trawlers, after 

 having given up all hope of finding their vessel, with a perseverance 

 which is characteristic of the fishermen, have been fortunate in shap- 

 ing their course for land, and succeeded, after a wearisome row of 

 two or three hundred miles, exposed to constant dangers, and suffer- 

 ing for food, in reaching the shore in safety. Such instances, how- 

 ever, are rare. The majority of those who thus get estrayed from 

 their vessel, pay the penalty with their lives ; and it does not require 

 a very vivid imagination to portray the sufferings these men must 

 endure, adrift as they are in a dory, on the vast expanse of water, 

 with death by starvation, or to be swallowed up by the waves, con- 

 stantly staring them in the face, each hour rendering their hope of 

 escape less encouraging, adding to their discomforts and decreasing 

 their powers of endurance. Many a bold-hearted fisherman, with 

 the love of life strong within him, with youth and hope and brig'ht 

 prospects, ere he left his vessel in those fog-benighted regions, has 

 had all these hopes and aspirations suddenly quenched, upon finding 

 himself either alone, as is sometimes the case, but most generally 

 with one companion, adrift on the Banks, and nearly exhausted in 

 their efforts to find the vessel, which to them is the ark of safety. 



