LABRADOR AND GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 141 
were plenty during the capelan school. The bait boat would seldom go fishing. The fishing boats 
were baited out of her. We had one of the crew to throat, one to head, and one to split, and a salter 
in the hold of the vessel salting them as they came down. On our arrival on the coast of Labrador 
very few could be caught until the capelan came in, and then the capelan schools of cod came in also. 
The capelan school lasted about three weeks. After they went away we picked up fish very slowly. 
After the capelan had finished spawning the fish slacked off, and we used to say that the cod were 
‘capelan sick,’ 
“Yn the spring of 1821 we started, about the 10th of May, for the coast of Newfoundland; 
being ahead of the capelan school, we fished with clams about the Straits of Belle Isle and 
Bonne Bay. When it was time to go north to meet the capelan school we left the Newfoundland 
fishing and fished in Indian Harbor on the south side of Grosswater Bay. Here we remained. 
until we had consumed all our salt, excepting a few hogsheads. We got about 1,200 quintals of 
fish, which was considered a good fare. Then we came down into the Straits of Belle Isle and went 
to a place called Pinwire, where we washed our fish cut and took them ashore to dry them on the 
rocks. We had to turn and dry them on both sides. I think we staid here about four weeks. 
We then took our fish aboard for home. On our arrival here, the fish were not dry enough for 
market and we went to Gloucester and took them out and dried them over again, and then carried 
them to Boston where we sold them.* My share of the voyage amounted to $83. 
“In 1823 I again shipped for the Labrador fishery in the schooner Favorite. I think we carried 
160 hogsheads, or 1,280 bushels of salt. We sailed from Provincetown about the middle of May, and 
proceeded first to the northern coast of Newfoundland, making a stop at the Bay of Islands where 
we commenced fishing with clam bait, which we carried with us. We were too early for the capelan 
school. After fishing here eight or ten days we proceeded and arrived at Indian Harbor, on the north 
side of Grosswater Bay. Soon after we arrived the capelan came on the coast, and while they 
remained we wet nearly all our salt. The school lasted about three weeks. Having some salt left, 
we proceeded homeward, stopping at the Straits of Belle Isle at a place called Henley’s Isle. The 
capelan were gone, and we were compelled to fish with launce, or sand-eels. We used up all the rest 
of the salt, excepting a few bushels; left the coast and proceeded on our voyage homeward, 
arriving about the 20th of September. 
“In 1824 I shipped on the schooner Independence, of Boston. We sailed for the Gulf of Saint 
Lawrence on the 27th of April, but could not get into the Gulf on account of the ice. We first 
harbored at Barrington, near Cape Sable; then we moved eastward and anchored in Liscomb’s 
Harbor. By the next move we got to Canso, where we remained several days, the northern part 
of the strait being filled with ice. After some days of southerly wind the ice drifted northward, 
and we made another move, harboring again at Port Hood, where we were detained a few days. 
We were bound for the Magdalen Islands. A few days later the ice cleared away, so that we 
could reach the Magdalen Islands, and we anchored in Gridley’s Harbor. We went out into the 
Gulf and brought back a part of a fare of fish, which was cured by a French fisherman on the 
island. He received 10 per cent. for curing them. We then went over to Bank Bradley, fishing 
*Mr. Daniel Sayward, of Gloucester, Mass., in describing the topsail schooners employed in the Labrador 
fisheries, said: ‘‘ Several of this class of vessels, belonging at Newburyport and Provincetown, resorted to Cape Ann, 
during the first half of the present century, to cure their fares of fish, which had been caught at Labrador. At first 
the favorite locality for curing was at Wheeler’s Point, on ’Squam River, but afterwards some of the schooners visited 
Gloucester Harbor for this purpose. The vessels generally arrived home from Labrador about September. A flake 
yard was hired, and the crew, who remained on board, ‘handled’ the fish and prepared them for market. The time 
necessary for the proper curing of a Labrador trip was usually about five to six weeks.” It would seem from this 
that, as a rule, the fish were not dried any before reaching Gloucester. 
The crews of the vessels, according to Mr. Sayward, were hired. 
