TIIH MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 291 



States National Museum, and among them is one factory-made rimmer, with a polished walnut 

 handle and a curved iron shauk about one-quarter inch in diameter; into the forward end of the 

 shank is fitted a small cutting blade about 1 inches in length, tapering to a point at the heel, and 

 with a square-cut forward end. There are also other styles made by the fishermen, some having 

 steel and others having copper blades, and one specimen made of wood, in the form of a human 

 leg, the extreme end terminating in a thick-set flat foot, in the bottom of which is inserted or 

 driven a silver three-cent piece, ground to a sharp edge, to be used as the knife or plow. 



G. HOMEWARD PASSAGE AND DISPOSITION OF THE FISH. 



When one of the vessels in the fleet has obtained a fare of fish, or the skipper decides to go 

 home, sometimes with a partial fare, the flag is usually set at the maintop-mast or on the main 

 peak. This custom was not so common on our coast as in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The fish 

 being salted, the homeward passage was usually performed in a leisurely manner, unless, indeed, 

 the return was made during the fishing season, and the skipper expected to make another trip, in 

 which case the utmost expedition was used, and rapid passages were made. For several years it 

 has been a common practice for vessels fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to land their fish at 

 the Strait of Canso, or sometimes at Prince Edward Island, sending the fish home by steamer or 

 freight vessels. This was only done when the vessel had obtained a large fare and there was a 

 prospect of one or two more successful trips for fish that season. By this means vessels sometimes 

 filled up three or four times in the course of the summer, obtaining, in some instances, as many as 

 1,100 to to 1,200 barrels.* 



7. FINANCIAL PROFITS OF THE MACKEREL HOOK FISHERY. 



Old-fashioned vessels were employed as seiners for a number of years from Gloucester, it then 

 being thought by many of the fishermen that swift sailers were not so necessary for this branch of 

 the fisheries as for some others. In this respect, as in many other things, there has been a radical 

 change. 



The expense of fitting out with seine, boat, &c., deterred many of the owners from sending their 

 vessels seining, and the more conservative clung to the old method of jigging until the failure of 

 mackerel in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence compelled them to adopt the seine or abandon the business. 



The influence exerted upon the settlements in the Strait of Canso in the period between 1850 and 1870, by the 

 trade thus derived from the mackerel fleet, was very remarkable. In many of the coves, on either side of the strait, 

 small villages sprang up, and large store-houses and wharves were built where the American vessels could secure 

 storage for their fish until they could be shipped, and also at the same time obtain supplies of salt, bait, provisions, 

 &c., which they required for the prosecution of their voyages. This, of course, brought a great deal of money to the 

 people of Canso, and many of the merchants who were not slow to take advantage of the circumstances became quite 

 wealthy. Those were lively times in the strait, and it was not an unusual thing to see ten or twenty sail of mackerel 

 schooners lying at Port Hawkesbury or at McNairt or some of the other coves discharging their cargoes and taking 

 on board outfits for another trip. This afforded much employment to local residents aud remunerative returns. Most 

 of the people who owned wood lands devoted their time in winter to cutting and preparing for use a lot of fuel which 

 they could readily dispose of the following summer to the American fishermen at good prices ; and whoever was 

 fortunate enough to have a small stream or brook running through his laird near the coves usually derived quite a 

 revenue from the American fishermen by charging 5 or 10 cents per barrel for the water which they were obliged to 

 fill there. 



Of late years, however, since the general introduction of the purse-seine in the mackerel fisheries, and the conse- 

 quent failure of our fishing fleets to resort to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence during the mackerel season, a great chiinge 

 has taken place in the prosperity of the settlements at Canso. So much so, indeed, that many of the wharves and 

 store-houses have been allowed to fall into decay aud become nearly worthless from disuse. Most of the coves which 

 wore formerly the scene of busy life and activity during the mackerel season now have a comparatively deserted and 

 forlorn appearence. Many of the merchants have moved away to Halifax and other business centers of the Provinces, 

 while those who remain find their business much less remunerative than it was at the time when the Strait of Canso 

 was frequented by a largo fleet of American mackerel schooners, which were engaged in fishing in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence. 



