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62 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
beneath the surface of the water by the great strain on the buoy-line. These buoys, being gen- 
erally soft-wood kegs, are broken by the pressure of the water when they have been submerged to 
any considerable depth, and the result is that there being nothing to support the buoy-line, the 
only means by which the trawl can be recovered, the apparatus is lost. ~ 
The icebergs sweeping down from the north, borne along by the swiftly-running currents, 
were a source of great danger to the vessels Jying at anchor. Huge mountains of ice would often 
appear suddenly out of a dense fog, so close to the schooners that the startled crews were fre- 
quently almost compelled to cut their cables to prevent collision. Captain Johnson told me that 
on one occasion he counted twenty-eight bergs within sight of his vessel, and one of the number 
lay grounded for nearly a week—all the time he remained at anchor—not more than a mile distant, 
in water probably not less than 125 fathoms deep. It is scarcely necessary to say that in a rough 
sea one blow from such a monster would crush a fishing schooner as though it were an egg-shell.* 
The fact, however, of halibut having been found in abundance off the eastern, or rather, per- 
haps, the southeastern side of the Grand Bank, is a matter of more interest than would appear at 
first glance, since it permits us to form a better idea of the winter habitat of certain schools of this 
species, and also to judge more intelligently concerning the spring and fall migrations, about which 
heretofore only indefinite and uncertain ideas could be formed. For several years previous to the 
discovery of the deep-water fishing grounds it was noticed by the fishermen that during the winter 
and early spring—from about the middle of January to the last of April—the schools of halibut 
met with on the body of the Grand Bank, between 43° 30/ and 45° north latitude, appeared to come 
from the east or southeast side of the Bank, and almost invariably moved steadily, but slowly, 
across the ground in a westerly or northwesterly direction. A vessel might obtain remarkably 
good fishing for two or three days, perhaps for a shorter time, but the halibut would suddenly 
disappear, and none could be taken. It frequently happened that on such occasions a change of. 
position—the schooner moving 5 or 6 miles in the direction which the fish were known to be 
going—might result in the school being overtaken again and the capture of a full fare. In some 
instances a skipper might be able to “keep run” of the fish for several days, and while they were 
passing over a distance of 20 to 30 miles, and many statements could be cited of a character to 
verify this assertion. As it may be a source of wonder to many how any intelligent idea could be 
formed by the fishermen of the direction in which the halibut were moving, the following explana- 
tion should be offered. The custom is for the Grand Bank halibut schooners to fish with trawls, 
each about 2 miles long. As has been explained elsewhere, these are set out from the vessel, from 
which as a center they radiate in the form of astar. A school of halibut approaching from the east 
would first be caught in great abundance on the lines set in that direction, while the trawls on the 
west side of the vessel would get comparatively few fish. On the next set the catch might be 
pretty equally divided, while succeeding hauls would show that the fish had moved so far that 
only the “tail end” of the school could be reached by the farthest ends of the western trawls. As 
soon a8 this occurred any intelligent skipper, understanding the habits of the species, could form 
a tolerably definite theory as to how fast the halibut were moving, and also the course they were 
pursuing. 7 
Notwithstanding it was apparently well known that the halibut were migrating at such times, 
only the most vague and indefinite ideas were formed as to the place from which they came or 
whither they went. No one seems to have entertained the thonght that they “hung around” the 
edges of the Bank, in deep water, after leaving the body or shoaler portions of the ground. That 
* During the summer of 1885, while this is being printed, the majority of the Gloucester halibut vessels are fish- 
ing on the eastern side of the Grand Bank. 
