10 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



form and all of planed hard pine. The pitchy nature of this wood prevents it from becoming 

 water-soaked, as either white pine or spruce will, and consequently it does not absorb the bad 

 odors that tome from stale fish, and which, carried on from trip to trip, doubtless aid very much 

 in causing the rapid deterioration of fish packed in pens made of spruce or white pine. In other 

 respects the ice-houses of the Long Islaud halibut schooners do not, at the present time, differ 

 materially from those of the Gloucester fleet, though, of course, as they are smaller vessels than 

 the latter, they have a less number of pens and smaller space for cargo. 



5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING. 

 THE APPARATUS. 



BOATS AND THEIR FITTINGS. Every Gloucester halibut-catcher, with perhaps one or two 

 exceptions, carries six dories. Most of them are of Salisbury build, and are 15 feet in length 011 the 

 bottom. They are now sometimes made with an extra set of timbers and stouter gunwales than those 

 ordinarily used in the cod fishery. They are stowed in the usual manner, being ' nested" three 

 on a side, on the main deck. When the vessel is making a passage they are usually turned bottom 

 up and lashed, and this is frequently done iu heavy weather when the schooner is at anchor on the 

 Bank to insure the greater safety of the boats. In addition to the trawl-lines, each dory, when it 

 leaves the vessel on the banks to set a trawl, is supplied with the following articles : Painter, stern- 

 becket, stern painter, two or three pairs of woolen nippers, " hurdy-gurdy" or trawl-winch, trawl- 

 roller, sail (a sail is not always taken), compass, water -jug, thole-pins, two pairs 9-foot ash oars, 

 iron gaff, dory knife, one or two halibut killers, bailing scoop, dory plug, two anchors, two buoy- 

 lines, and two buoys. A sail is rarely carried except in summer; not always then. Some dories 

 are not provided with a compass or a water -jug, though most halibut fishermen carry one. 



For description of articles which form the equipment of a dory, such as, nippers, hurdy-gurdy, 

 trawl roller, &c., see chapter on fishing apparatus, where also may be found descriptions of the 

 various apparatus used on the vessel which have not been mentioned here. 



The New York halibut catchers formerly carried no dories, but instead three open, square- 

 sterned, clinker built, round-bottomed, keel boats of the yawl pattern, about 15 or 16 feet in length. 

 The term "yawl pattern," as used here, applies to the ordinary form of yawl boat carried at the 

 stern davits of coasting and fishing vessels. It is quite distinct from the "yawl" of British 

 writers, which is always a sharp-sterned boat. Two of these were stowed on the deck, one on each 

 side, and one was swung on the davits at the stern. Their construction renders it impossible to 

 nest them. The practice of carrying dories was adopted, however, iu 1874, according to Tripland, 

 and at this time he says they are exclusively used, each vessel carrying two or three of these boats. 



TRAWL-LINES. A trawl is composed of several parts: (1) the " ground-line," which is anchored 

 at each end and lies on the bottom; (2) the "gangings" (pronounced ganjings), which are about 5 

 feet long, have the hooks attached to one end of them, while the other end is bent into the " beck- 

 ets" on the ground-line ; (3) the beckets, made of short pieces of manila line, and are fastened to 

 the ground-line ; (4) to mark the position of each end of the trawl when it is set, a line, called the 

 "buoy -line," extends from the anchor at the end of the ground-line to a buoy at the surface of the 

 water. 



The ground-lines are commonly tarred cotton, weighing from 28 to 32 pounds to the dozen. 

 The ganging-lines weigh from 14 to 16 pounds to the dozen. A section of line 25 fathoms in length 

 is called a "line." Fishing-lines are generally arranged in packages containing twelve of these, 

 or their equivalent, six " double lines," each of which is 50 fathoms long. Such a package is 



