52 FISHBEMEN OF THE UliflTED STATES. 



the vessel by observing her motion through the water. The old-fashioned log was seldom cana 

 on the fishing vessel, though at present the patent log is in general u^e. 



Another important accomplishment which is sooner or later acquired by the young man 

 is anxious to be a skipper is to become familiar with the shape and character of the bottom on the 

 fishing-grounds and along the approaches to the ports which he frequents. This is learned by 

 sounding and thus ascertaining the depth of water and the nature of the bottom, and again by 

 a study of the charts. All of these branches of navigation a smart boy learns long before he is of 

 age, and, as a rule, they are acquired on board of the vessel as opportunity offers from day to day. 

 In some of the larger ports, such as Provincetown, there are, in winter, schools of navigation which 

 offer opportunities to study this science. These schools are usually well attended; but, of course, 

 lessons there given are of little value unless they are practically applied on shipboard in the 

 summer. 



Besides the skipper who instructs his crew in navigation, there are frequently experienced 

 navigators among the crew who become the instructors of their younger associates. Such instruc- 

 tion is always given as a matter of good fellowship and without remxmeration. The fishermen of 

 Few England, as a class, are acknowledged to be excellent navigators, and from the fishing com- 

 munities have been drawn thousands of masters of merchant and coasting vessels in all parts of 

 the United States. 



During the late war between the States, fishermen were, in some instances, employed in the 

 Navy as sailing-masters, this position requiring the highest grade of seamanship and skill in navi- 

 gation. Some of them rose to still higher positions. From their intimate knowledge of the coast- 

 line fishermen are recognized to be the best local pilots, and they are often called upon to act in 

 that capacity by vessels unable to procure regular pilots. 



Although the results of the present system have been in the main satisfactory, it cannot be 

 denied that there are many masters of fishing vessels who are shamefully deficient in their knowl- 

 edge of navigation, and who are unable to ascertain their position at sea with even a fair degree of 

 accuracy or to shape their course with a definite knowledge of where they will strike the coast. 

 There' are instances of vessels bound for Gloucester from the Banks or Bay of St. Lawrence 

 making land south as far as Montauk Point or the mouth of the Chesapeake. 



The schools of navigation should be more generally encouraged and supported. A system of 

 examining and licensing the masters of fishing vessels would be of great importance. There is no 

 reason why this should not be insisted upon in the fishing fleet as well as in the case of the mer- 

 chant marine, for the fishing schooner carries a larger crew in proportion to its size, and is generally 

 a more valuable piece of property. 



TEAiwiNft OP Cape Cod pisheemen.— Freeman, in his history of Cape Cod, thus speaks of 

 the training of the young fishermen of that district: 



" Whales, that formerly were so common on this coast, must now, if sought, be looked for in 

 distant waters. The other fisheries are prosecuted with success; and the merchant service has 

 from the first been indebted to Truro for some of its most able ship-masters. The youth of the 

 place are often scarcely of age when they rise to the command of a vessel. It has been remarked 

 that though the youth and strength of a place be employed two-thirds of the year in obtaining, by 

 hardy and audacious toil, the wealth of the seas beyond the line, and even on the further side of 

 Cape Horn ; and, though early habits and the love of voyages occasionally prosperous induce the 

 employment, the business is often precarious. Great dangers, and hardships, too, are often encoun- 

 tered; but they who survive them are generally successful in acquiring good estates. We must 

 here be indulged in quoting from the English traveler of 1807 his relation of an incident that 



