[17] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 661 



and where the fog's are so dense and so long-continued, it is not sur- 

 prising that many fishermen go astray in their boats and are exposed 

 to untold suffering, perhaps death, owing to the fact that they are un- 

 able to hear the fog signals made on board of the schooner they have 

 left, and which they vainly strive to find. The local papers in the fish- 

 ing towns frequently record the loss of men in this manuer, and the 

 escape of others from death, simply by a hair's breadth, after enduring 

 the most unheard of suffering from exposure, hunger, and thirst. Vari- 

 ous devices have been resorted to to remedy this evil, such, for instance, 

 as carrying cannon to fire in foggy weather, but heretofore these means 

 have failed to prevent the frequent recurrence of disaster. The chief 

 objection to cannon is, that their discharge involves a certain amount of 

 danger as well as expense; therefore, they are not usually fired until 

 it is deemed absolutely necessary — that is, often not unless it is thought 

 a dory has gone astray, and then it is frequently ineffective because the 

 lost men have got too far from the vessel to hear the sound. Another 

 thing, the sound of a cannon is so short that its direction, even if the 

 report is heard, is very difficult to determine. What, therefore, is 

 needed is an implement that can give out a -nearly continuous heavy 

 blast, or a succession of short, heavy blasts, powerful enough to be 

 heard at a considerable distance, and repeated at such short intervals 

 that no difficulty may be experienced in determining its location. 



PRESERVATIVE FLUIDS AND PAINTS. 



The continued prevalence of heavy fogs on the fishing grounds off 

 the Atlantic coast renders it difficult to prevent sails from mildewing. 

 As a result the fishermen have used preservatives to a greater or less 

 extent, especially on the sails of vessels engaged in the bank fisheries. 

 Many of the Gloucester fleet have their sails so prepared as a prevent- 

 ive against mildew and rot. 



Copper paint, of various brauds, is extensively used on the bottoms 

 of fishing vessels to prevent the planking from being injured by boring 

 worms, and also to prevent fouling. There is probably not a single 

 fishing vessel of any size that is not painted with copper paint on its 

 bottom. 



CHAFING GEAR. 



Since the introduction of larger and more neatly rigged vessels than 

 those which were formerly employed in the fisheries, more attention is 

 now paid to the use of various kinds of chafing gear to prevent the rig- 

 ging from being injured. The ordinary equipment of this material is 

 represented in the collection exhibited. The strad is probably orig- 

 inal with the New England fishermen, and is remarkably well adapted 

 for application to a cable to prevent chafing in the hawse-pipe and 

 across the stem and head-stays. 



