THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND. 241 



9. THE HADDOCK FISHERY FIFTY YEARS AGO. 



A writer thus describes the haddock fishery from Gloucester Harbor in the early part of the 

 present century: 



"The fitting out of the fleet for the haddock fishery commenced about the first of April. The 

 first move was to run the boats on the beach, or landing as it was then called, and have them 

 calked and graved. The latter process consisted in applying a coat of pitch to the bottom and 

 burning it down with a tar-barrel, which gave a smooth and glossy surface. Painted bottoms in 

 those days were very rare. 



" The time occupied in makiug a haddock trip was from two days to a week, the fish being 

 mostly taken on Old Man's Pasture, Heart's Ground, and Inner Bank, about twelve miles off of 

 Eastern Point. The fish were taken to Charlestown for a market and purchased by the hawkers, 

 among whom were Johnny Harriden, Joe Smith, Isaac Rich, and others, who took them over to 

 Boston in hand-carts and retailed them at a good profit. The codfish were generally salted. The 

 smallest were cured for the Bilboa market, and the largest were made into dun fish, as they were 

 called, for home consumption. They were kept on the flakes several weeks, and thoroughly dried 

 until they became of a reddish color, and were highly esteemed as an article of food. The baking 

 season commenced in July, and the pollock fishery was prosecuted from September to the middle 

 of November. Each boat carried three men skipper, forward hand, and cook, who went at the 

 halves, as it was called, the crew receiving one-half the gross stock, and the owners the balance."* 



8. THE HAKE FISHERY. 



BY G. BROWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS. 



The capture of hake is a branch of the shore fisheries, and is by no means as distinct an 

 industry as those which have been already described. It is generally carried on from June to 

 November along the New England coast north of Cape Cod, chiefly by small vessels of 20 to 40 

 tons, and which at other seasons of the year are often hauled up, though some of them engage in 

 the winter shore haddock or cod-fishery or in the fall herring fishery, and in the spring are more 

 frequently employed in the cod-fishery before the hake make their appearance. The hake fishery 

 is also carried on from small boats. 



The men engaged in the hake fishery are of the class described in the chapter on fishermen 

 as the shore fishermen of Maine. 



1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



The coast of Maine is a favorite region for the hake fishermen, almost every settlement along 

 its whole extent having some small boats or a few vessels engaged in this fishery. The fishing is 

 also carried on in Ipswich Bay by boats from Rockport, Pigeon Cove, Folly Cove, Lane's Cove, 

 Annisquam, and the Isles of Shoals. 



About the mouth of the Bay of Fundy there is excellent hake fishing, and around Prince 

 Edward Island the hake are very large and abundant, and some of the Maine vessels occasionally 

 visit this region to engage in the capture of this species. In 1878 and 1879 several vessels from 

 Bristol, Me., were thus employed. 



* Fisherman's Memorial and Record Book, Gloucester, 1873, p. 73. 

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