FEESH-HALIBUT FISHEEY. 55 



evening from the westward, and Nathaniel Greenleaf said that he had been farther in that direc- 

 tion than we had, between Saint Peter's and Green Bank, but got no fish, neither did he see any 

 vessels. But as the weather had not at any time been clear enough to see more than three or four 

 miles, he, like myself, missed seeing the vessels which, as I afterwards learned, were on a large 

 school of halibut only a few miles farther to the westward than we had been. He ran to the south- 

 southeast down to 44 20' north latitude, and in about 48 fathoms. We went the same way the 

 following day, and cruised up and down the Bank, seeing several vessels in the same predicament as 

 we were, .seeking for halibut and getting few or none. Finding halibut very scarce, and intending 

 to go after codfish on the next trip, I concluded to_go home and not lose any time looking for 

 them. We made a short trip and obtained only a small fare of 17,000 pounds. Some of the 

 halibut catchers found good fishing that winter and spring (1876) on almost the extreme southern 

 part of the Grand Bank, from about latitude 43 N. and longitude 50 40' W. up to latitude 43 

 30' N. and longitude 51 52' W. The best fishing in that region was during March and the first 

 of April. 



Late in the spring or early in the summer of the same year, Capt. Thomas F. Hodgdon, in the 

 Lizzie K. Clark, got becalmed on the Southwest Prong of Banquereau. He sounded, and having 

 got bottom in less than 100 fathoms, determined to anchor and have a set. He found halibut very 

 abundant in that locality all summer and autumn, and continued to fish at or near the same place 

 with uninterrupted success. After he had made a couple of successful cruises, however, other 

 skippers found out where he got the halibut, and the remainder of the year that ground was the 

 most generally resorted to of any. Excellent halibut fishing was also found that summer by 

 Capt. Thomas Goodwin, in the schooner Polar Wave, to the southward of Sable Island, in 150 

 fathoms, and near the longitude of 60 W. Captain Anderson, in the schooner William T. Merchant 

 (and who was lost in the great gale of December 9 and 10, 1876), caught some very fair trips to 

 the eastward of Sable Island, in latitude 44 4' and longitude 59 6', on the fall-off of the 

 Western Bank, in about 150 fathoms Halibut were also found in deep water on the northeast 

 part of George's Bank, and many of the hand-liners brought in good fares from that locality. One, 

 I think, got 60,000 pounds. Ther*> were also a few good fares of halibut taken on the eastern part 

 of Banquereau. 



Previous to this, in 1875, and possibly the year before, Capt. Edward Morris, in the schooner 

 Gertie Foster, got one or more good fares on some small ridges or "spots" off Liscomb, Nova 

 Scotia. These grounds, which are about 20 or 25 miles from the land, are so small that they have 

 never been generally resorted to for halibut, and, with the exception of two years at the most, the 

 species has not been found abundant there. 



After I returned from cod fishing, in the autumn of 1876, I went on a fresh-halibut trip. We 

 tried at first in company with the schooners Augusta H. Johnson and Chester B/Lawrence, on the 

 Western Bank, to tl-e southward of Sable Island, in about longitude 60 20' W. We did not 

 find enough fish to induce us to stay, and as soon as the weather, which was very rough, permitted 

 us to do so, we ran to the eastward ; the Johnson went with us as far as the Southwest Prong of 

 Bauquereau. We afterwards learned that the Chester E. Lawrence shifted a few miles farther to 

 the eastward on the Western Bank, and found excellent fishing much better than was obtained 

 on Bauquereau. We found the schooner Edward Grover on the prong when we got there, and 

 before the weather was fine enough to fish, the schooners Andrew Leighton and Daniel A. Burnham 

 came also. The weather was exceedingly bad and fish scarce ; besides, we did not have cable 

 enough to ride out a gale in the depth of water where halibut could be taken, and consequently 

 had to work at a disadvantage, setting almost wholly under sail, being able to fish only in the 



