198 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Capt. W. H. Oakes, of Gloucester, tells us that be made a trip to George's Bank for cod in 

 1835, in the schooner Accumulator. "This was one of the earliest trips for cod to those fishing 

 grounds. If there was a previous trip it must have been made by Capt. George Watson, who 

 entered the George's cod fishery at about the same time." 



When Captain Oakes first went to George's Bank, in 1835, it was considered dangerous for 

 vessels to lie at anchor. They were accustomed to heave up anchor with every fresh breeze. 



As early as 1840, vessels went to George's for cod in January and February. They were laid 

 up only between November and January. 



As early as 1845 Captain Marr remembers to have seen one hundred and forty sail of vessels 

 on George's at one time. 



In good weather the vessels made a very quick trip. In or about the year 1860 the schooner 

 Bounding Billow went and returned within four and one-half days, bringing 65.000 pounds of cod 

 fish and 5,000 pounds of halibut. In 1856 the George's fishery was very successful. 



In 1861, states the Cape Ann Weekly Advertiser, from fifty to seventy-five vessels sailed for 

 George's about the 20th of January. 



In 1863, in February, according to the Gloucester Telegraph, about forty vessels were fitting 

 for the George's fishery. 



In 1873 a writer in the Fisherman's Memorial and Record Book wrote: "There are now two 

 hundred and fifty sail engaged in the business, whose average valuation is $6,000. The trips 

 brought in during the best part of the season will average $700, and stocks of from $1,500 to $2,000 

 are not infrequent j while the Grand Bank fishery, comparatively a new branch of the business, 

 often discounts from $3,000 to $4,000 on a single trip; the result of the energy and pluck of our 

 fishermen." 



5. THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 



By TAELETON H. BEAN. 

 1. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC COD. 



THE SPECIES DISCUSSED. The cod fishery of Alaska has nearly ended its second decade,* yet 

 it was not until the summer of 1880 that we knew positively what species of Oadus is the object of 

 the fishery. Most writers have referred to it under the name of Oadus macrocephalus, which was 

 bestowed by Tilesius upon the Kamtchatkan cod, the figure of which suggests that it was based 

 upon a deformed individual. Cope, in 1873, described the young of the common Alaska cod as a new 

 species, Gadus auratus, from specimens collected by Prof. George Davidson, of the TJ. S. Coast Sur- 

 vey, at Unalashka. Steindachner, in the Proceedings (Siteungsberichte) of the Vienna Academy, 

 LXI, 1, 1870, adopts the name 0. macrocephalus for a large cod taken in De Castries Bay (mouth of 

 Amur River), Siberia. In this example the length of the head is contained exactly three times in 

 the total length to the extreme end of the pointed caudal peduncle. The same proportion may, how- 

 ever, be found in any place where large numbers of Gadus morrhua are taken, and it can readily 



This was written in 1880. 



