FEESH HALIBUT FISHEBY. 47 



For several years that part of the Grand Bank between 44 and 44 40' N. latitude, and 51 and 

 51 30' W. longitude, was a favorite resort for halibut catchers. At first, as has been stated, the 

 halibut were found abundant all the season, but after a few years they could be caught in large 

 numbers only in winter and spring, when migrating across the Bank from east to west. On this 

 ground Capt. William Thompson, in the Mary Carlisle, in March of 1871, caught the trip which gave 

 the largest share to each one of the crew that has ever been made in the fresh-halibut business. 

 The schooner White Fawn caught a fare of 44,000 pounds a few days later (starting from home 

 March 31) in 43 30' N. latitude and 50 30' W. longitude. 



The vessels continued to fish on the Western Bank and Grand Bank in winter and spring, 

 changing to Saint Peter's Bank and the inshore ground about Newfoundland, Labrador, and Anti- 

 costi in summer, and back to the Grand Bank in autumn, until 1875, when the deep-water fisheries 

 along the borders of the outer banks became for the first time generally understood by the fisher- 

 men. In April of 1874 the schooner G. G. Kidder caught a good fare in 90 fathoms, about 44 30' 

 N. latitude, on the western edge of the Grand Bank. The schooner Sarah H. Cressy was fishing 

 near her on a flitching trip, and found halibut very plenty for a few days; but when they grew 

 scarce, the vessels were not prepared with sufficient cable to follow the fish into deeper water, 

 even had it been known they were there, which may be doubted, for it was generally believed 

 then that when halibut passed beyond a certain depth they left the Bank. 



I went on a fresh-halibut trip to the Grand Bank in the schooner Ocean Belle in March, 1864, 

 while the Howard was building. On that occasion we caught our trip of 55,000 pounds from 44 

 08' to 44 16' K latitude and from 51 10' to 51 20' W. longitude. We were absent from home 

 four weeks, and each man shared within a few cents of $100. 



In the latter part of January, 1875, while in the Howard, I caught a good fare, for the season, 

 on the same ground. The weather was very boisterous while we were on the Bank and on our 

 passage home. A large part of our fare was caught by setting and hauling trawls at night. We 

 were seventeen days on the home passage, which was the longest, hardest, and most fatiguing I 

 ever made. We encountered on our way home a succession of westerly gales, which, with the 

 severe cold of that winter, made it extremely difficult to get to the westward. As an instance of 

 the great severity of the weather, it is only necessary to say that a first-class Beverly vessel, the 

 schooner Sarah H. Putnam, which went to the Grand Bank that winter on a "fresh trip," was forty- 

 two days making the passage home. That is the only instance of a Beverly vessel being engaged 

 in the fresh-halibut fishery of which I have any knowledge, and she made only one trip. We were 

 detained from sailing on our second cruise that winter by easterly winds for two weeks or more, 

 and when we reached the Grand Bank, about the 15th of March, the whole of it to the northward 

 of 44 25' N. latitude was covered with heavy masses of field-ice. * 



Two or three weeks previous to our arrival on the Bank halibut were very plenty in latitude 

 44 20' to 44 25', in 50 to 55 fathoms on the western part of the Bank. They were moving quite 

 fast to the westward, but nevertheless a number of the vessels got large fares in a very few days. 

 When we arrived in this locality the fish had left, probably being driven by the ice-floes which 

 slowly drifted to the southward, reaching at one time as far south as latitude 43 40', in the middle 

 of the Bank, and causing the fishermen much anxiety and more or less loss of gear by unexpectedly 

 drifting on their vessels in the night. On one occasion a number of vessels tried to skirt the ice 

 and get around it so as to reach the northwest part of the Bank, but toward night of the day on 

 which the attempt was made a northeast gale and heavy snow-storm came on, and we all lay to 

 under the lee of the ice, which made the sea very smooth. The next day we found the floe had 

 been driven so far south by the gale that we did not again attempt to get by to the northwest of 



