SAILOR FISHBEMBN OF NEW ENGLAND. 77 



houses without paying one's bill was thought very praiseworthy. Among the narratives of per- 

 sonal adventure there were a great many stories of conquests among the fair sex, especially of 

 flirtations and intrigues in the various harbor-ports frequented by fishermen. 



"In addition to these were yarns, often listened to with close attention by a crowd collected 

 forward or down aft. The story would often be merely the adventures of some sailor or the plot 

 of some robber story of dime-novel circulation. Sometimes the hero was placed in the first person, 

 or, in other words, the story-teller represented the adventure as his own. More often, however, 

 they belonged to an imaginary hero, who was invariably called Jack : sometimes the supernatural 

 powers were invoked, thus adding to the complication of the plot. Among their stories fairy 

 tales had a place: I noticed several that I recognized, notwithstanding their new dress, as 

 nursery tales told to me when I was a boy. In all these tales the imagery was such as a fisherman 

 author would imagine. It was homely; comforts were those regarded by him as such, and beauties 

 were those which were beautiful to him. Thus, in a version of Beauty and the Beast, the father, 

 all tired and wet, was led into a warm kitchen, where a dry suit was hanging before the fire ready 

 for him. He was then conducted into a warm dining-room where he found a good supper of beef- 

 steak awaiting him. After supper he ' turned in.' In all the fairy stories Jack used to slay the 

 dragon, and, after he had exposed the deceits of his rival, all hands made a triumphal march to 

 the church, where he was married happily to the king's daughter. 



" MxTSio. — Somewhat akin to yarn-spinning was ballad singing, which, however, was less fre- 

 quently indulged in, since singers were scarce, while any one could tell a story. The song was 

 always a solo, and the words, in the form of a ballad, the story of some shipwreck, of sailor-life, or 

 of some kindred subject, to which they listened intently. 



'• Caeds. — As might be expected, one of the favorite pastimes was cards. On the evening of 

 the very first day out from Gloucester, as I made my way forward to the knight-heads, I found a 

 group of six playing ' forty-five.' They paid five cents each for the privilege of playing, and then 

 the man who made forty-five points first won the stakes. Later during the cruise the game of 

 * loo' began to create a great stir and for several nights the players continued their game far into 

 the night. This was however effectually opposed by the other inhabitants of the forecastle, who 

 were unwilling to have their slumbers disturbed. Various other games of cards prevailed at 

 various times, and among them cribbage seemed quite a favorite. Card-playing, however, finally 

 died out from the fact that the cards became utterly worn out and no other pack could be procured 



"EOTTTINB OF LIFE AT BAITING STATIONS. 



"Filling WAtbe. — ^While in harbor the fisherman's duties are extremely light and his time is 

 left almost entirely free for any form of diversion that may suggest itself. Any work that in the 

 vessel's economy may need doing he must, however, perform. One of these duties is the replen- 

 ishing of the water supply. As often as the vessel goes to land all the barrels are overhauled 

 and the empty ones are filled. This process, known as 'filling water,' was performed several 

 times by our crew. I remember it most distinctly at Cape Broyle on the occasion of our first visit. 

 We anchored at two or three o'clock well up the harbor and not far from a shelf of rock, over which a 

 pure mountain stream ran down into the sea. This stream dropped down from the rocks above in 

 a small cascade and furnished nice water and a convenient place for filling the barrels. Soon after 

 the anchor had been let go and the sails snugged up for a short stay, the skipper gave out the 

 order to bring up the water barrels and ' fill water.' Two or three barrels were then put into each of 

 the three dories and the men then rowed away to this natural reservoir. It so chanced that the 

 men forgot to bring a funnel with them from the vessel. Any one else in this condition would 



