MASSACHUSETTS: BAENSTABLE DISTRICT. 233 



ture forth only 011 those days when the sea is calm. The codfish which are taken are salted and 

 sold in the village. 



In the cod fishery carried on in spring and fall twelve or fifteen men participate. The spring 

 season opens about the 15th of April and lasts two months. In fall, fishing begins about the 

 middle of October and is continued for about a month. In the spring of 1879 an unfavorable 

 season the average daily catch of each fisherman was about 10 fish, while 50 was about the 

 average number in the fall of 1878. All cod taken in this fishery are salted, and usually sold in the 

 village at a price seldom varying widely from $3 per quintal. 



The spring mackerel fishery, engaged in by nine men, begins early in May, and continues for 

 one month. In fall, twenty-two men fish for mackerel during a month or six weeks, beginning 

 at any date between the 20th of October and the 10th of November. Somewhat less than 150 

 nets are employed in spring, but in fall about 300. In the spring of 1879 each fisherman captured 

 from 120 to GOO fish, while in the preceding year not more than 700 were taken by each man during 

 both seasons. The mackerel are packed in ice and sent principally to New York. 



Four or five menhaden nets are owned in the village, but have not been used for three or four 

 years. They were formerly employed in capturing bait for Gloucester vessels. 



There are only two fishermen at North Truro who make a business of lobster-fishing, each 

 of whom owns about 50 pots. One fishes from April to September, the other from May to the 

 middle of July. The lobsters are sold both in Boston and New York and are usually shipped 

 by rail, but sometimes in smacks which come from Proviucetown at irregular intervals. In 1879 

 about 7 cents apiece was received for them ; in 1878, 8 cents. 



The four men. engaged in extracting dogfish oil produce about 350 or 400 gallons annually 

 as the result of their combined industry. The oil is sold in Proviucetowu. 



At the time of the greatest prosperity of the village, about thirty years ago, there were twelve 

 or fourteen vessels hailing from North Truro. They were all cod vessels, and made regular trips 

 to the banks. Each crew consisted of four men, who shipped on shares, and a number of boys. 

 In winter the vessels were laid up in Parnet harbor in Truro. With the decline of the business 

 they were sold one by one, and joined the fleets of Wellfleet and Provincetown. The Volante and 

 the Alterato (?) were among the last that hailed from North Truro. 



When the vessel fishery declined, the inshore grounds were still well supplied with fish, 

 and the waters adjacent to North Truro swarmed with boats of all descriptions. It was not 

 unusual, according to Mr. Harvey Collins, looking from the beach, to see three hundred or four 

 hundred boats filled with men and boys busily engaged with hook and line. Many of these 

 boats belonged at North Truro, but perhaps the larger proportion came from Provincetowu and 

 Truro. With the advent of bluefish and the introduction of gill nets the hook-aud-line fishing 

 gradually decreased, until it assumed its present limited proportions. 



Prior to ten years ago many New London smacks came to North Truro and the vicinity to fish 

 for lobsters. In those days the "hoop-pot" was in general use. The North Truro fishermen 

 usually fished from boats with one or two pots, but the New London men attached buoys to their 

 pots and set a great many in all directions. The new pots are much more destructive than were 

 the old ones, but nevertheless lobsters were so much more abundant when the latter were in use 

 that many more were taken in a season than now. Fifteen or twenty years ago it was not unusual 

 to sell a boat load of lobsters for 1 cent apiece. 



About thirty years ago a breakwater was built on the outer bar, opposite the village. It was 

 triangular in section and ballasted below with rocks. Unfortunately, however, it lasted only two 

 or three years, being speedily destroyed by ship-worms. 



