THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 319 



months for their complement of fish. During all that time 

 their crews are the good geniuses of the little havens in 

 which they are anchored, and the ''skipper" and his medi- 

 cine-chest are in continual demand. 



The itinerary of these visitors is somewhat as follows: 

 September, leave Labrador for the Mediterranean ; thence 

 in December to their homes ; then cargo of slate or ore pos- 

 sibly to Hamburg; in March, to Cadiz for salt; then to 

 Labrador by June, and so on back again. Once home in 

 the year, if all goes well. They make a modest living, and 

 are able to retire before old age incapacitates them. Some 

 are lost in the " roaring forties/' the latitudes in which they 

 mostly ply their calling, and many are the stories of heroism 

 and suffering on these vessels that the sea could unfold. 

 On one occasion a skipper, deserted by his crew at Bonne 

 Esperance, sailed his square-rigged schooner across the 

 Atlantic alone to Gibraltar with a cargo of fish. Sometimes 

 they will carry fish to the West Indies or Brazil, and then 

 possibly return with molasses to St. John's before taking 

 a final cargo to the Mediterranean. I have seen a vessel 

 leave in late October with ice on her sides, and every one 

 muffled up. In three days she will run into the warm 

 atmosphere of the Gulf current, the men will be in their 

 shirt-sleeves, and a few days later they will be eating fresh 

 fruit in Spain. A very favourite holiday among these men 

 is to get a lift across as far as Genoa, and perhaps work 

 a passage out from Gibraltar, or come out again by way of 

 England. 



Naturally there is considerable rivalry in making quick 

 passages. The westward passages are always longest, 

 the prevailing winds in the North Atlantic being from 



