® 
6 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
fisherman and a reliable man. It is not a rare occurrence to find among the crew of a halibut 
schooner several men who have been masters of vessels. In the Gloucester fleet were employed, 
in the census year, 646 men, a large percentage (187) of whom were of New England birth, with a 
still larger percentage (393) of Provincials, a considerable number (103) of Scandinavians, and a 
very few Portuguese, French, and Irish. Some vessels are commanded by Swedes and Norwegians 
and manned almost entirely by men of the same nationality, men of these countries seeming to 
take very kindly to this branch of the fisheries. A number of the most enterprising skippers are 
natives of Maine. There is no branch of the fisheries which demands of the men employed in it 
more skill, endurance, and courage than the halibut fishery. ; 
The crews of the Connecticut and Long Island vessels are made up, in large part, of men 
from the ports to which the vessels belong, especially the three or four men who are sharesmen. 
The remainder of the men are hired, and are less responsible, and, as a rule, less efficient and 
daring than those employed in the Gloucester fleet. 
4, THE HALIBUT VESSELS. 
The schooners which are employed in the fresh-halibut business have always been chosen 
from among the stanchest and swiftest in the Gloucester fleet. Their average tonnage is from 75 
to 80 tons, and they are, as a rule, better vessels than even those now employed in the George’s 
fishery. The smallest vessel employed in the fresh-halibut fishery in 1880 was the Alice G. Won. 
son, of 64 tons, while others registered nearly 100 tons. A writer in the Barnstable Patriot of 
March 25, 1856, says: “The Gloucester vessels now engaged in the halibut fishery on the Banks 
number forty-six. They are generally fine vessels of about 80 tons, and are manned by hardy, 
experienced, and bold crews of about twelve men each.” 
A vessel engaging in this fishery is fitted out in a somewhat peculiar manner. To enable her 
to anchor in great depths of water and to ride out furious gales, which she is sure to encounter 
in the winter, she is provided with a cable of great size and strength. This cable is of manila, 8} 
to 9 inches in circumference, and from 375 to 425 fathoms in length, spliced together in “strings,” 
each of which is usually 50 to 100 fathoms long. Most of the cable is coiled upon the port side, for- 
ward, where it fills the entire space between the forecastle compauion-way and the rail, the coil 
being 6 to 7 feet in width, 9 to 10 feet in length, and having a height of about 33 or 44 feet. This 
mass of rope seems immense, and would weigh, when wet, probably about 4 tons. A new cable 
(dry) of 400 fathoms weighs 6,266 pounds. As a rule, 50 or 75 fathoms of this cable are coiled on 
the starboard side of the companion-way, in order that it may be ready to bend on the starboard 
anchor, which is rarely or never kept bent at sea. 
The anchors are, of course, unusually heavy. They are the ordinary long-shanked anchors 
carried by fishing schooners, with a wooden stock which passes through an eye in the end of the 
shank. These anchors weigh from 525 to 725 pounds, according to the size of the vessel. A vessel 
of 80 tons would carry three anchors averaging about 675 or 680 pounds in weight. One of the 
three, which is taken for a “spare anchor,” is kept ready for emergencies, being stowed upon the 
deck. Some of the halibut vessels are provided with unusually large and powerful windlasses, for 
use in very deep water. 
The hold is fitted up in a peculiar manner, as shown in the accompanying diagram of the port 
side of a halibut schooner, of which the following is an explanation: 
