THE HERRING FISHERY. 437 



where a supply of 40 to GO barrels is purchased. Ca.pt. D. E. Collins, iu his manuscript journal of 

 a fishing trip to the Western Bank, in the spring of 1879, gives the following account of the 

 method of icing the bait on a vessel engaged in the Bank fisheries : " Our bait-pen is built forward 

 of the cabin bulk-head, between it and the after-hatch. It is 9 or 10 feet wide by 10 or 12 feet 

 long, and holds about 60 barrels of bait in addition to the ice necessary for preserving it. The 

 bottom of the pen is raised a foot or more above the keelson. There is a partition in the middle, 

 dividing the pen into two parts, so that all the fish of one may be used before the others are dis- 

 turbed. This arrangement is important, as the fish do not keep well after they have been once 

 disturbed. The pen is built of double boards, having a door on either side at the forward end. 

 The lower part of the door is raised about 3 feet above the bottom. When bait is being iced 

 boards are shipped into grooves in the opening as fast as they are needed to prevent the fish 

 from falling out, and, when full, the door is put up on the outside and held in place by means of 

 a horizontal bar. When the bait has been secured the ice is at once removed from the pens and 

 taken on deck. As the work proceeds one cake after another is placed in a large tub, and four or 

 five men, armed with fish-forks, are engaged in ' picking it up fine 7 until the necessary quantity has 

 been broken. Others of the crew are engaged in passing the baskets of herring and fine ice to those 

 who are stowing the bait. There are generally two men in the hold, one in the bait-pen and an- 

 other at the hatchway. A layer of ice is first put upon the floor of the pen, after which a thin 

 layer of herring is added, then another layer of ice, and so on until the pen is nearly full. The 

 whole is covered by a quantity of ice varying from 6 inches to 1 foot in thickness, according to 

 the season, the pen to be opened last having the largest quantity." 



Bait iced in this manner will keep about three or four weeks, after which the vessel must return 

 for a fresh supply. The fishermen of Long Island Sound have a practice of "gutting" a portion 

 of the fish, and claim that in this way they are enabled to keep them for a much longer period. 



When bait is scarce the vessel frequently sails without having secured a full supply, as it is 

 desirable to reach the fishing ground as soon as possible. 



The vessels fishing on Western Bank use herring almost exclusively, and make from one to 

 three trips to the land to purchase a fresh supply while securing their load of codfish. The ves- 

 sels engaged in the Grand Bank fisheries frequently make five or six "baitings" during the season; 

 but they depend largely upon capelin for four or five weeks, beginning with June 15, and on 

 squid from the middle of July to the 1st of September, as these are abundant during their respect- 

 ive seasons, and the cod are thought to prefer them. 



Captain Collins states that there is often considerable competition between the captains of the 

 vessels that are in search of bait. When a number of them reach a harbor at the same time, be- 

 ing anxious to secure their bait at the earliest possible moment, underhand methods are sometimes 

 resorted to, and the price is often carried far beyond what the fish are actually worth. On April 

 23, 1879, he was obliged to pay $2.25 a barrel for herring, and three days later it sold as high as 

 $3.25 at Ketch Harbor, Nova Scotia. The Provincial fishermen are fully aware of the dependence 

 of the Americans upon them for their supply, and they frequently take an undue advantage of it. 

 They are certainly greatly benefited by the trade, and those engaged in the capture of bait are 

 reported as more successful than those engaged in any other branch of the Provincial fisheries. 



6. STATISTICS OF THE HERRING FISHERY. 



The following table shows the number of vessels and other details of the herring fleet from 

 New England ports in 1880. It does not include the hundreds of small boats employed in the 

 fishery, but only decked vessels over 5 tons burden. 



