i68 



FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 



to begin. But the fish were very uneasy in the seine ; sunk to the bottom 

 with such force that the boat was on the point of capsizing, although we 

 placed eight men on the other gunwale to counterbalance the mackerel. At 

 one time all went smoothly enough to haul in on the seine and make the 

 purse smaller and smaller to prevent the frantic rushing of the mackerel. 

 But suddenly they sank again to the bottom, careened the boat over so that 

 we took in a quantity of water. We were scarcely ready to place ourselves 

 on the other gunwale when we felt that the boat suddenly righted itself and 

 lay still. The most knew what had happened ; it was that the mackerel 

 succeeded in breaking the old seine. Through a large hole, which became 

 larger and larger, about the whole school escaped ; and although we in all 

 haste hauled in on the fragments and tried to form a new purse, we suc- 

 ceeded in saving not more than 5 in the whole 500 barrels. 



At 9.15 we set sail for the nearest port; it was considered useless to at- 

 tempt to mend the more than half worn-out seine. After a day's quick sail- 

 ing, we reached Boothbay in the evening. In the harbor lay a schooner 

 just arrived, which was filled to the rail with fresh-caught mackerel. The 

 crew worked the whole night in preserving them. With resignation our 

 crew saw this work. Had we had a better seine, we would also have had 

 remunerative night-work in salting some hundreds of barrels of mackerel. 

 The next morning I left the vessel, to return to Gloucester by steamer and 

 railroad. 



