94 FISHEEMEN OF THE UNITED STATES, 



old, and in some instances by the time he is eighteen years of age. A man who has not become a 

 skipper by the time he is forty-five years old is usually thrown out of the more arduous fisheries and 

 seeks employment in those requiring less exposure and fatigue. Skippers, especially those engaged 

 in the mackerel and summer-market fisheries, often retain their positions until they have attained a 

 ripe old age: Oapt. Chester Marr, for instance, over seventy years of age, and a great-grandfather, 

 is still actively engaged in the summer fisheries, and Capt. King Harding, of Swampscott, who is 

 one of the most successful masters in the well-known Swampscott market fleet, still holds his promi- 

 nent positiqn. It very frequently occurs, however, that a skipper after reaching middle age engages 

 in some more lucrative employment on shore. If he has been suflciently fortunate in his career 

 as a fisherman to have laid up the necessary amount of capital he may become a vessel-fitter: 

 otherwise he is likely to- take some responsible position on shore in connection with the curing or 

 packing of fish. It is estimated that not over 12 per cent, of the skippers of the Gloucester fleet 

 are over fifty years of age. This is rather an exceptional case, for the fisheries of Gloucester 

 are more arduous than those of other places. At Provincetown and some other ports there is 

 a much larger percentage of elderly men in command of the vessels and among the crews. In 

 talking with several elderly fishing captains of Provincetown we have gained the impression that 

 the career of activity and usefulness is much longer now among fishermen than it was at the 

 beginning of the present century. The Provincetown fisheries are not especially laborious or peril- 

 ous, yet we are told that fifty years ago a man forty-five years old was considered aged and only fit to 

 sit around on shore and chop kindling wood and perform other household tasks, while now a man 

 of fortj'-five is regarded as in his prime. This, of course, may readily .be accounted for by the differ- 

 ence in the character of the accommodations on shipboard and the better quality of the food which 

 is now provided.* As regards the actual longevity of men who have erugaged for the whole or part 

 of their lives in the fisheries it is probably not less than that of men engaged in any other outdoor 

 pursuits. In Gloucester one may find dozens of hearty old men who have spent thirty or forty years 

 at sea, and similar instances may be found among the whaling captains of Kew Bedford and Prov- 

 incetown; and especially is this true in the case of the retired fishing captains of Maine, of whom it 

 is a common saying among their associates that "they never die until some one kills them." Even 

 in Nantucket may still be found many veterans of the whale fishery so many years ago discontinued. 

 Of course, in considering these facts, we must bear in mind that the general average of longevity 

 has much decreased in consequence of so many fishermen having lost their lives by accident in the 

 period of their greatest vigor and health. 



46. THE FINANCIAL PROFITS. 



Division of profits. — In another section the manner in which the fishing vessels are fitted 

 out is discussed, and the business arrangement or "lay" according to which the expenses of the 

 outfit are divided and the proceeds of the year's work distributed. Here it is only necessary to 

 speak of the manner in which the fishermen are affected by these various business arrangements 

 and of their personal relations to the fishery capitalist. 



The more extensive and more profitable the fishery, the more necessary and natural is the 

 division of the persons engaged in carrying them on into two classes — the. capitalists and the 

 fishermen. 



* lu the opinion of Capt. Gideon Bowley, of Provincetown, in his yonth men got unserviceable for sea after they 

 jrot to forty-five years, and were thought old men. A man after forty-five could not get a berth on Bank vessels. Now 

 they go up to sixty. After forty-five he staid at home, made fish and tended lobster pots. Capt. Bowley attributes 

 Ihis partly to the use of liquor. He has been on the Grand Bank when the vess«l carried two barrels of Medford rum. 



