136 FISHERMEN OF THE UNITED STATES. 



men who were to leeward : In October, 1878, the schooner Marion, of Gloucester, was lying on the 

 southern edge of Banquereau at anchor in 150 fathoms of water. The dories had been out to haul 

 the trawls, and all had succeeded in reaching the vessel except one, which had been detained to 

 leeward, and, at the time of starting for the vessel, was more than a mile distant. The wind had 

 been blowing fresh all the morning and was increasing rapidly. There was but little prospect of 

 the dory reaching the vessel. The ordinary expedient of paying down another dory, attached to a 

 buoy and line, was resorted to and more than a thousand fathoms of buoy-line paid out. The men 

 in the dory succeeded in getting hold of this, but unfortunately the line parted and only one thing 

 coiild then be done to rescue the men. This was accomplished as follows: The foresail was hoisted 

 and then the jib, which had been guyed out on one side so that the wind would catch it aback and 

 fill the vessel away. The anchor, having firm hold on the bottom, did not at once break out, but it 

 finally let go its hold, after which the vessel ran to leeward and the men and dory were picked up. 

 When vessels are at anchor in shallow water on rocky bottom, the anchor sometimes becomes 

 caught in the bottom, or " rocked," as it is called. It is then necessary that sail be set, and, by 

 tacking back and forth, it may be possible to clear the anchor and thus prevent its loss. 



SHOOTING ALONGSIDE OF A SEINE-BOAT. 



This is a maneuver peculiar to the mackerel fishermen engaged in purse-seining, and it is one 

 which requires a considerable amount of skill and judgment in its execution. To shoot a vessel 

 to, or to heave her to, alongside of a seine-boat so that she will stop headway almost at a given 

 point, or within a few feet of it, requires an intimate knowledge of the peculiarities of a vessel, and 

 a skillful management of sails and helm, especially since this must be done under different cir- 

 cumstances, which vary with the strength of winds, tides, and sea. The ordinary method is 

 the same as heaving to under two sails, which we have already described; at other times, perhaps, 

 only under the mainsail, the evolution being performed in such a manner that the vessel shoots to 

 close alongside of the seine boat, so that a rope may be thrown to the men in it, the vessel at the 

 same time stopping short at that point. Long practice and an intimate knowledge of the vessels 

 has enabled our fishermen to perform this evolution with a precision and exactness truly sur- 

 prising. 



SHOOTING ALONGSIDE OF A DOEY. 



In some branches of the fisheries, especially the haddock fishery, the shore cod fishery, and, 

 occasionally, in the halibut and bank cod fishery, the vessels make "flying sets," or, as it is more 

 frequently termed, " set under sail." This particular method of setting trawls will be discussed 

 elsewhere. It is unnecessary to go into details here further than to state that the vessels, instead 

 of being anchored, are kept under sail while the trawls are being set and hauled. While the 

 fishermen are out in the dories setting and hauling, the vessel is managed by the captain and 

 cook, and whenever one of the dories has finished the operation or has secured a load of fish, the 

 vessel is shot to close alongside of it, so that it may come on board at once. This evolution is 

 often performed when there is a strong wind and quite a rough sea, and it requires the same 

 amount of knowledge and skill in handling the vessel as it does to shoot alongside of the seine- 

 boat. In the latter case,though it is not absolutely necessary that the vessel should shoot so 

 close to the dory or stop so short, the feat is more difficult because there are only two men to 

 manage the vessel. As a general thing the vessel is shot to, or hove to, with her jib to windward, 

 and sometimes the fore-sheet is eased off, so that the vessel makes a drift nearly at right angles 

 with the direction in which she heads. At other times, especially in rough weather, when there is 



