58 FISHEEMEN OF THE UISTITED STATES. 



visited. Mr. Scudder went to Greenland on a three months' cruise; Mr. Osborne to the Grand 

 Bank on a three months' cruise; Mr. Newcomb to the Western Bank on a three weeks' cruise. 

 Other representatives of the Fish Commission have for three years been accustomed to visit almost 

 every vessel as it entered the harbor of Gloucester on its return from a fishing voyage, and the 

 same system of visiting the vessels has been, to a less extent, carried on upon every part of the 

 coast ; and, almost without exception, these gentlemen have been received with courtesy, all infor- 

 mation given them which they desired, and usually intelligent interest shown in the work in which 

 they have been engaged. 



It is due to the fishermen to say that they gave their services without the offer or the hope of 

 remuneration of any kind. A number of the fishermen of Grimsby, England, two or three years 

 ago, kept logs of their voyages in a similar manner, but it was in consequence of oflfers of valuable 

 prizes. It is but fair to say, however, that many English fishermen and boatmen have manifested 

 the same spirit of appreciation of scientific work to which we have just referred as having been 

 displayed by the fishermen of the United States, and some of them, like Oapt. David Gray, of 

 Peterhead, have made for themselves excellent reputations as observers. 



Enterprise. — The enterprise of the New England fishermen is strikingly manifested by the 

 manner in which they stand ready to adopt new improvements in the methods of fishing. There 

 are, of course, conservatives among them, but the most enterprising of the class are ready to adopt 

 at once any device which seems to promise greater efficiency in the prosecution of their business. 

 It is not in this place necessary to describe in detail the manner in which improvements have been 

 brought about. We need only refer to the rapid and general adoption of the patent windlass on 

 the off-shore vessels; to the sudden changes from the old methods of drailing for mackerel to that 

 of catching them with jigs, and again from that method to the use of the purse-seine; to the 

 extensive and speedy adoption of steamers in the menhaden fishery ; to the improvements which 

 during the past one hundred years have been brought about in the model of the whale-boat, and 

 within one-quarter of that time in that of the seine-boat ; to the energetic manner in which gill-nets 

 bave been brought into use in the cod fishery, and the equally great improvements which have of 

 late years been made in other fisheries. 



Hardihood and daring; seamanship. — There is no hardier or more daring race of seamen m 

 the world than the sailor fishermen of ISew England. Their training begins at an early age and 

 their constant occupation on board the boats and vessels soon gives them a perfect familiarity 

 with the waves and the winds in all their phases of manifestation. There is no coast upon which 

 the winds and weather are more changeable and more trying to the endurance and skill of the 

 seamen than that of North America from Floridp. to Davis' Straits. There are no fishermen in any 

 other part of the world who venture so far from the shore at all seasons and carry on their fisheries 

 to so large an extent in the open sea, hundreds of miles from any harbor. Then, too, there is no 

 vessel whjch requires so much skill and judgment in its management as the American schooner; 

 none which is, perhaps, more capable of remarkable achievements when properly managed, and 

 none which is more liable to disaster when in the hands of the unskillful. In the same way the 

 favorite American fishing boat, the dory, is peculiar in its demands upon the pluck, strength, and 

 keenness of the person who is controlling its movements. Certain other boats, such as the whale- 

 boat and the seine-boat, which are exclusively used in certain branches of the American fisheries, 

 require less skill to prevent disaster in their use, but quite as much in their proper and successful 

 management. The last-mentioned boats may be regarded as the special development of the inge- 

 nuity and observant experience of the fishermen. In no instance have the fishermen of other 



