FRENCH COD FISHERY. 179 



though prices are always quoted in francs, payment is made in 

 dollars. 



Frencli cod fishery. — This industry is principally prosecuted 

 by vessels averaging from 120 to 200 tons each, which are equipped 

 at the northern ports of France and leave there each year on the 1st . 

 of March ; some proceed at once to the Newfoundland banks, but the 

 greater number go first to St. Pierre for herring, and they all return 

 to St. Pierre for a second supply of bait in June. The vessels anchor 

 on the banks, while bultows are laid out in large undecked boats, some- 

 times as far as 6 miles from the vessel. This system is attended by 

 frequent loss of life, the boats being unable at times to return to the 

 vessels, and the latter occasionally go down at their anchors. 



On the west coast of Newfoundland the vessels follow the fish from 

 south to north till the caplin have disappeared, when they repair to 

 the several ports at which the catch is to be cured, and after the vessels- 

 are moored the crews fish with bultows off their respective anchorages 

 till the end of the season. 



On the northeast coast of Newfoundland vessels have a position 

 assigned to each for a term of five years, and they proceed direct from 

 France to these posts, where they are moored. The crew then fish 

 with seine, hook and line, or bultows. As a rule the fishery season 

 does not commence before the 18th of April and ends about the mid- 

 dle of October. Vessels are fitted out for the Great bank, with a dry- 

 ing factory at St. Pierre or Miquelon, or to fish in the vicinity of St. 

 Pierre and Miquelon, or for the Great bank, but with no drying fac- 

 tory ; in the last case the vessels are fitted for preserving cod in salt. 



Vessels carrying salting apparatus are compelled to export the 

 whole of their catch during the season to France, but are permitted 

 to go to St. Pierre when full and tranship their fish to a trading 

 vessel if they wish to continue fishing. 



St. Malo and Granville principally engage in the drying industry ; 

 vessels with salting apparatus usually belong to Dieppe and Fecamp. 

 A vessel fitted out locally is called a " goelette," and is usually less 

 than 90 tons in size, working in connection with a drying factory; 

 those at St. Pierre are schooners, and carry 6 dories. 



The fisher}' named " la grande peche " is practiced on Great bank, 

 St. Pierre and Banquereau banks, as well as on the east and west coasts 

 of Newfoundland ; that named " la petite peche " is carried on along 

 the coast in wherries or dories, which go out in the morning and re- 

 turn at night. 



In the bank fishery the schooner, on arriving at the fishing ground, 

 anchors, having a hemp cable with sufficient iron cable on the anchor 

 to prevent chafing on the bottom. Here, besides the danger from bad 

 weather, there is the chance of being run down by steamers, and it is 



