296 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



of the painter and be in the vicinity of the larger boat 

 when it is making a set of the seine around a school of 

 fish. It is their task to take into their dory the free 

 end of the purse line after the seine has been cast into 

 the water from the larger boat, and to get it in readiness 

 to be taken aboard that boat after it has made the circuit 

 of setting the seine. 



When the seine boat leaves the schooner the cook takes 

 charge, he usually being the only man left aboard the 

 vessel. An efficient man can perform marvels of seaman- 

 ship aboard one of these vessels when occasion requires. 

 He keeps the vessel in the vicinity of the other boats 

 that no time may be lost in picking them up, if the mack- 

 erel disappear from the surface before a set can be made. 

 On auxiliary schooners the cook is assisted greatly by 

 the motive power of the engine and by the aid of the 

 engineer. 



The arrangement aboard the seine boat is for the cap- 

 tain to steer the boat, which he does by standing aft with 

 an oar twenty to twenty-two feet long. Two of the crew 

 stand just forward of the seine, which is piled up across 

 the boat making a heap of seine four feet wide and be- 

 tween five and six feet high. One of the men passes 

 ' ' bights " of the seine to the other whose business it is to 

 cast the seine as far as possible over the rail into the 

 sea. The latter person is called the seine-heaver, and is 

 usually noted for his strength and endurance. The farther 

 the "bights" of seine are cast from the boat the less the 

 other part of the seine will draw on the rail and retard 

 the progress of the boat. Another man stands aft of the 

 seine and throws the corks overboard. The other mem- 

 bers of the crew are seated at the oars. They row the 

 boat under the captain's direction with great speed, if 

 necessary, to a position near the fish, a little to the left 

 and slightly ahead of the fish if the latter are in motion. 



