116 FISHERMEN OF THE U:!!flTED STATES. 



tude of Sable Island, and was, therefore, directly in their course. Much of this ice was very heavy, 

 and a collision with i\ especially when a vessel was running at great speed, would result in almost 

 certain destruction. Many narrow escapes from disaster occurred to the halibut fleet while on the 

 passage home, but as most of the fishermen were aware of the presence of the ice they generally 

 managed to escape without any serious loss. 



Vessels engaged in the Newfoundland herring fishery have been surrounded by field ice for 

 weeks at a time,* while on the passage home, and many thrilling tales are told of such narrow 

 escapes from disaster. Doubtless some of the losses of vessels engaged in this fishery have been 

 the result of collisions with ice, although none of the crews of the missing schooners have been 

 left to tell the story of such disaster. 



The vessels engaged in the cod fishery about Cape North, north end of Cape Breton Island, 

 sometimes meet with considerable difficulty from drifting field-ice and are often driven from the 

 fishing ground. In one instance a vessel started her planking by collision with ice in that vicinity 

 so that she sprung a leak, and only by great exertions was kept afloat until she reached a place of 

 safety. More or less difficulty is also experienced by vessels engaged in the Magdalen herring fish- 

 ery. They encounter drifting ice on their passage to those islands in the spring, and, although we 

 have no accounts of any serious disasters, the immunity from such may be ascribed to the extreme 

 vigilance of the fishermen. Vessels fishing on the Flemish Cap are very much exposed to contact 

 with icebergs even as late as July. 



Perhaps no other vessels are so much exposed to danger from ice as the halibut fleet of New 

 England. They meet with many drifting icebergs and, occasionally, with large masses of field-ice, 

 on their route to the northern grounds. In the spring. of 1880 several vessels which started for 

 Greenland were obliged to give up the voyage and return to the Grand Bank on this account. 



Ice, freezing in masses on the vessel's sails and rigging in extremely cold weather, is, perhaps, 

 more to be dreaded than collision with floating ice. 



In the winter season the temperature is often so low that every bit of flying spray congeals 

 wherever it strikes, and the vessels soon become so loaded down that they are almost unman- 

 ageable. This is one of the commonest perils of the winter fisheries, and one that requires great 

 fortitude and resolution to overcome. Any neglect to improve every opportunity of freeing the 

 vessel from ice would soon result in her foundering. Sometimes, for days and nights together, 

 the men must remain on deck, constantly employed in pounding the ice and always at the immi- 

 nent risk of being swept overboard. Vessels sometimes arrive in fishing ports so badly "iced up" 

 that it is impossible to lower the sails or to bring them to an anchor. » 



Dangers to whaling vessels. — On the homeward passage the Arctic whaling vessels, in 

 thick weather, are in constant danger from icebergs, especially about Hudson's Bay, Cumberland 

 Gulf, and Davis Straits. There is less danger on the outward passage, as the "watch on deck" 

 is more eagerly on the lookout. On the homeward voyage, however, when the approach of whales 



* Twenty-four days in the ice. — Schooners Hereward and Eattler, which left this port for Newfoundland for a load 

 of frozen herring in December last, got frozen in while on the homeward passage, February 9, in Fortune Bay, and 

 remained there eleven days. Got clear the 19th, and went into the ice again the same day and remained there until 

 March 3. Schooners S. C. Noyes, of Newburyport, and Charles A. Eopes, of Camden, Me., were also in the same 

 predicament. Captain Pennington (of the Hereward) made a drawing of the scene, in which the four vessels are 

 visible fast locked in the ice, and the crews of the Hereward and Eattler busily engaged in getting some provisions 

 from the S. C. Noyes, which lay at a distance of 3 miles. The ice was so rough that they were obliged to carry the 

 flour in bags, and the men with the bags on their backs, and the captain with the empty barrel to put it in when it 

 reached the vtessel, makes a lively scene. It was a tedious experience for all hands, and glad enough were they to 

 get clear of their icy bonds. Fortunate it was that the Noyes could supply them with flour, otherwise the men wonld 

 have suffered for this necessary of life. — Cape Ann Advertiser, March 17, 1876. 



