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THE BANK HAND-LINE.COD FISHERY. 125 
Prior to the Revolutionary war Gloucester, Marblehead, Beverly, and other Massachusetts 
ports had employed in the Bank fishery many square-sterned vessels of this rig, some of which 
survived until the latter part'of the first half of the present century. The square-sterned schooners 
of the olden time had high quarter decks, corresponding to the old-fashioned poop deck, and, in 
later days (when they had grown to be considered as antiquated in structure, and the lower quarter 
decks had come into fashion), they were known as “‘heel-tappers,” the name referring to the resem. 
blance of the high quarter decks to the heels of boots. 
In 1731 there were 5,000 or 6,000 men employed in the fisheries of Massachusetts; a large 
portion of them undoubtedly in the Bank cod fishery. In 1741 there were no less than 400 fishing 
vessels owned in Massachusetts—160 in Marblehead alone. The average size of these vessels was 
50 tons. There were also at least 400 ketches, shallops, and undecked baats.* 
In the present century the vessels used for hand-lining have been mostly of the same build 
a8 those employed in other branches of the fisheries, and the change of methods and manner of fish 
ing were generally not accompanied by any change in the structure of the vessels. In some 
instances, however, the hand-line cod-fishing vessels have been built much larger than those 
cinployed in other branches of the Atlantic food fisheries, and in a few cases these vessels have 
been rigged as three-masted schooners. These large schooners are often employed in some branch 
of the merchant carrying-trade in winter and are somewhat fuller in the midship section, and have’ 
proportionately greater carrying capacity than the average fishing vessel. The Lizzie W. Mathe. 
son, of Provincetown, one of the largest of the Bank hand-line fleet, is a three-masted schooner of 
193 tons register, and has a carrying capacity of 5,000 quintals of fish. ’ 
This fishery is carried on entirely in the summer months, and, consequently, there are among 
the dory hand-liners, as well as among the trawlers, many vessels below the grade of the average 
Gloucester schooner. A vessel is fitted out for dory hand-lining in the following manner: Her 
anchors are lighter than those of a halibut trawler, or even those of a cod-trawler, weighing from 
250 to 400 pounds for a schooner of 75 to 100 tons. To the anchor is usually attached a piece of 
chain from 30 to 35 fathoms in length, by which it is connected with the manila cable. The cables 
are lighter than those used on the halibut schooner, and their length, including that of the chain, 
is about 200 fathoms. A chain is substituted for a hawser next to the anchor, in order to avoid 
chafing upon the rocky bottom, upon which the vessels usually lie at anchor. To the upper end of 
the chain is fastened a warp, a rope 24 to 3 inches in circumference, which is of less length than 
the depth of water, and is attached to a large buoy, usually a 50 or 60 gallon cask, which is thrown 
over when the vessel is at anchor. The object of this arrangement is to float up the lower end of 
the cable and to keep it off the bottom. When a greater amount of cable is out other buoys are 
attached at a distance of 50 or 60 fathoms apart, it being undesirable that any part of the hawser 
should touch the bottom. 
Many of the hand-liners, especially those from Cape Cod, coil their “riding cable” upon the 
starboard side of the forward companion-way instead of upon the port side, which is the universal 
custom on Gloucester vessels.. Hand-liners carry no ballast except salt, water, bait, and provisions. 
The hold is divided into compartments, in which the salt is stowed and the fish are packed. The 
manner of fitting up these compartments varies in vessels from different ports and in different ves- 
sels from the same port, and cannot be definitely described, some vessels having simply the bulk. 
heads extending from-side to side of the hold, while others have the compartments between the 
*Sabine, p. 131. Sabine makes a distinction between vessele and ketches or shallops. It is probable that by 
vessels he means achooners, since there appeara to be no other good reason for not calling the ketches and shallops by 
the common name of vessel. 
