EVOLUTION OF THE FISHING SCHOONER 313 



panionway, in the after end of which the binnacle was 

 usually located. A rude fire-place, built of brick or stone, 

 served for heating and cooking. The culinary operations 

 were of the most primitive sort. Berths were arranged 

 around the cabin, which were also equipped with a board 

 table and locker seats. Sometimes this apartment was 

 painted, but generally its dingy hues were attributed solely 

 to smoke and grime. A rude log windlass worked by hand- 

 spikes, heavy hemp cables and a long tiller were details 

 of equipment that continued in use until near the middle 

 of the present century, though in the meantime fishing 

 vessels had undergone material changes in other respects. 

 There was in these early schooners no attempt at ornamen- 

 tation except in rare instances, when a broad white or yel- 

 low band stretched along the side, or when representations 

 of windows were painted on the stern. Ordinarily they 

 had only a plain gannon-knee head and were coated with 

 tar, at least as high as their bends. They had long floors, 

 with barrel-shaped bottoms, and excessively full ends. 

 This form continued in vogue until early in the nineteenth 

 century. 



* ' A long high-steeved bowsprit, two rather short, clumsily 

 made masts the foremast stepped well forward a main- 

 topmast, and rather short mainboom, projecting just be- 

 yond the taffrail, constituted the more important features 

 of the spar plan. The hemp sails had very little angle 

 to their peaks; they were baggy and ill-formed, when con- 

 sidered from present standards, and one marvels how such 

 vessels, with no light sails and with such a diminutive sail 

 area, managed to make passages to and from the distant 

 banks or, stranger still, to European ports. Only three 

 sails were usually carried jib, foresail and mainsail; but 

 the desire for supplementary sail area in light winds led 

 to a modification in the rig, to the extent of having in ad- 

 dition a single square foretopsail and sometimes a flying 



