[37] WOEK OF FISH COMMISSION STEAMER ALBATROSS. 15.') 



wbeu a suddeu fog-, accompanied by a strong breeze, came up, and 1 waw 

 no more of them. 



" Last spring- trap-iishing for mackerel at Westport, Nova Scotia, 

 was very good. I realized $4,000 from one trap." 



Leaving this vessel, we started ahead. At 9.30 saw numerous por- 

 poises. At 1 p. m. sighted, off Mount Desert Eock, the mackerel fleet, 

 about 150 in number. At 3 p. m. boarded the schooner Nannie E. 

 Waterman, of Welllleet, Mass. Capt. D. T. Pierce stated as follows : 



" We have been out from home fifteen days and have caught 20 bar- 

 rels of mackerel. The largest catch I have heard of, taken by any one 

 vessel, was 185 barrels. All the mackerel I know of have been seen be- 

 tween Cashes' Ledge and Mount Desert. The last fish I have heard of 

 was caught three days ago. A large majority of the vessels of the fleet 

 have caught nothing this trij). The fish caught are small, the proi)or- 

 tion of large ones being about a quarter. 



" Mackerel first strike this coast in the spring, about the 25th of March, 

 about 60 miles outside of Cape Henry, and arrive on Cashes' Ledge 

 about the 25th of June. The last fish are taken in Boston Bay about 

 the 10th of November. I never knew of any being caught in the win- 

 ter. I never knew them to fail to come for the last twenty years. 

 Schools at this season of the year are mixed, the large and small ones, 

 running together. I do not think that there is any scarcity of fish; 

 they are always in abundance on some sections of our coast at certain 

 seasons of the year. I do not think that anything that man>can do can 

 affects their abundance. Seven years ago they were plenty ; the next 

 year, scarce. Their food consists in part of what is known among fish- 

 ermen as ' cayenne,' only seen when the water is very smooth. It 

 then appears to skip out of the water. It is too small to be seen readily 

 with the eye, but when taken from the stomach looks like pepper, and 

 seems to burn the intestines after the fish is dead." 



I told him what we had done for the benefit of the mackerel fleet, 

 and described the course we had taken, its object, &c., which he prom- 

 ised to communicate to the rest. 



Having taken on board a supply of coal and provisions, we left the 

 navy-yard at 2.45 p. m., August 28, and proceeded to sea. The weather 

 was pleasant, with light airs from southeast, but the wind increased 

 during the night, and at daylight the Ibllowiug morning was blowing 

 a fresh breeze from northeast. 



Two hauls of the dredge were made in 105 fathoms on the northern 

 part of George's Bank, after which we were obliged to cease work and 

 lay to, as it was blowing a moderate gale, with heavy seas. The vessel 

 while ho ve-to drifted rapidly to the westward, and at 2 a. m. on the 30th 

 we fell in with large bodies of mackerel about 10 miles E. by S. from 

 Cashes' Ledge. The wind moderated during the night and we steamed 

 slowly to the eastward again. At 9.24 a. m. we cast the dredge in 99 

 fathoms, latitude 42° 32' N., longitude QS<^ 17' W. Four hauls of the 



