280 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



vessels, and 499 fares were landed. The business may be 

 classed in two departments, a portion of the fleet making 

 short trips and bringing in their fares fresh, to supply the 

 fresh fish trade, and the rest of the fleet making longer 

 trips and dressing and curing their fish as they are caught. 

 This business employs the best class of fishing vessels known 

 to the waters of the coast. A modern * banker,' of aver- 

 age tonnage, costs about $8,800. Such a vessel, manned by 

 a crew of twelve men and making nine trips to the Banks, 

 being at sea 302 days, will require an expense of $1,023 

 for trawl gear, $1,824 for vessel's expense, $1,426 for provi- 

 sioning, and $1,135 for general charges, such as ice, bait, 

 salt, etc. The man who ventures on a trip in a * trawler' 

 finds little of the * pleasing content' described by the early 

 voyager. For him at least there is little of romance in 

 'the apostles' own calling.' Life on the banks he finds a 

 constant round of drudgery, so long as he is able to make 

 his daily rounds. He must rise early and work late in 

 order to visit his trawls, remove his fish, rebait and reset 

 the lines, and take care of the day's catch. Tossed on the 

 waves in his frail dory, at greater or less distance from his 

 vessel, he is subject to perils unknown to the fishermen 

 of the olden time. His frail boat rides like a shell upon 

 the surface of the sea, but in experienced hands no descrip- 

 tion of small sea craft is safer. Yet a moment of care- 

 lessness or inattention, or a slight miscalculation, may cost 

 him his life. And a greater foe than carelessness lies 

 in wait for its prey. The stealthy fog enwraps him in its 

 folds, blinds his vision, cuts off all marks to guide his 

 course, and leaves him afloat on a measureless void. In- 

 stances are on record of many a wearisome trip, of days 

 and nights without food or water, spent in weary labor at 

 the oars, at last to find succor from some chance vessel or 

 by reaching a distant port; and imagination revolts from 

 the contemplation of the hardships experienced, the hopes 



