THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 171 



that could be made to serve as a table. On the top of this tool-locker stood the medicine-chest. 

 On each side of the cabin were two bunks, and around the cabin in front of these bunks ran a low 

 locker seat, the interior of which was used as a receptacle for leads, hooks, and other fishing gear. 

 Under the two forward bunks was also a space devoted to the storage of rigging and fishing gear, 

 and still more room was obtained in a small space aft of the cabin, under the vessel's stern. In 

 order to make the cabin higher than would be possible otherwise, its ceiling is a sort of box placed 

 on the quarter-deck, called the house, and too well known in sailing vessels of every description to 

 need further notice. Under the cabin floor was a small coal bin, reached by a hatchway. 



The furniture of the cabin was not extensive. Upon the forward bulkhead, in the center, 

 hung an octagonal eight-day clock, and to starboard of this an aneroid barometer. Below the 

 clock was a kerosene lamp depending from a nail, but so contrived that when set upon a table it 

 would swing upon pivots and maintain a vertical position despite the rolling of .the vessel. On 

 a couple of hooks above the aneroid usually hung the charts. On either side of the companion 

 way was a large mariners compass, so placed as to be visible to the man at the wheel through a 

 hole cut in the after-side of the house. One of these was less sensitive than the other and intended 

 for use in heavy weather. The starboard binnacle was the one most commonly used. This was 

 illuminated at night by a lamp, arranged for universal motion by swinging on gimbals. 



Four men slept in the cabin, selected by lot. The captain gave up his bunk for my accommo- 

 dation, and " turned in" in the port bunk with one of the men, while the two after bunks were occu- 

 pied each by one man. To sleep in the cabin was not regarded as any sign of rank, and, indeed, 

 some even preferred to sleep in the forecastle. The cabin folks went forward to their meals, and 

 those from the forecastle came aft to chat when there was no work to be done and when they 

 couldn't sleep, and the greatest harmony prevailed at all times between the forecastle and the 

 cabin. 



THE DECK. In the extreme forward parts of the vessel's deck are placed the anchors, cables, 

 and windlass. Aft the foremast is the little house that covers the companion-way into the fore- 

 castle. On the starboard side of this is the funnel from the galley stove, while on the port side 200 

 fathoms of the strongest hawser are coiled. Placed on edge on the main deck are thick planks, 

 fencing off shallow compartments, and called "checker-boards." These serve to keep the fish, 

 when thrown on deck, from sliding back and forth with the rolling of the vessel and becoming 

 bruised. Two hatches pierce this deck: one just aft the forecastle companion leads into the fore- 

 hold, and in fine weather is always covered with a grating of wooden bars; the other, the main 

 hatch, leads into the main-hold. These hatches are usually open in order to furnish ventilation, 

 but in wet weather or heavy sea they are closed and made water-tight by tarpaulins fastened 

 securely over them. In the waist of the vessel, on either side, are piled the dories, one inside the 

 other, and the lower one always held in place by lashings fore and aft. Besides these belongings 

 to the main deck, several barrels, containing water or provisions, were placed between the fore 

 and main hatches and securely lashed. A small gun, called by the fishermen a " swivel," was also 

 placed between the main hatch and the starboard dories, and was used in foggy weather to signal 

 to the dories the position of the schooner. 



On the quarter-deck was a row of large butts (ordinary molasses hogsheads), called "gurry- 

 butts," fastened in front of the house. These, three in number, were used for storing the fish 

 livers. The center of the quarter deck is taken up with the house, with a narrow space left on 

 each side for a gangway. On the house a very characteristic structure was observable. A thick 

 plank ran around the sides and after ends as far as the companion, scarred as if by innumerable 

 choppings with a knife. It was on this plank that the bait was cut into pieces of the proper size. 



