THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 173 
come in sight, the skipper changed the course to north. In an hour or two after this the light 
appeared on our starboard bow. A very little longer to NW. and we should have missed it entirely. 
DESCRIPTION OF DORY,—The dory may fairly be said to be one of the safest forms of small 
boats. It is a flat-bottomed boat, sharp at the bow, but with the sharp point of the stern trun- 
cated, and with very flaring sides. In cross-section it is a flat-bottomed letter V. In longitudinal 
section it is elliptical, sharp pointed in the bow, and cut square across astern. 
They are a lap-streak boat, provided usually with three seats, and having thole-pins in place of 
stationary row-locks. To the bow and stern are fastened painters, to be used in retaining the 
dories by the vessel’s side or in securing them op deck. The seats are not fastened in, but are 
merely laid upoi ribbands running round inside the dory and nailed to the ribs, in order that they 
can be easily removed when the dories are to be placed on deck “spoon-fashion.” In the bottom 
of the dory is a plug, kept in the dory by a rope. This rope passes through the plug, and is held 
from slipping by a large bight in its end. It is manifest that this bight is far more than is neces- 
sary to keep the rope from slipping through the plug. It has another and more important purpose 
than that. When the dory is overturned in the sea and her bottom lies upward, the smooth surface 
presents nothing to which the struggling fishermen can cling. This bight is the only thing project- 
ing through the bottom of the boat, and while not a very firm support, has doubtless formed the sole 
dependence of more than one poor fellow. I heard of a narrow escape before this bight was thought 
of. One dory was overturned in a hard storm; one of the occupants was at once washed away 
and drowned; the other managed to force the plug out of the hole, and then continued to hang on 
all night by putting his fingers into the hole. In the morning he was rescued, his fingers worn to 
the bone from the chafing. 
SHIP-CHANDLERY.—In preparing for a voyage every want must be anticipated and prepared 
for. Although the fishermen are not very distant from land, yet that land is not the place in which 
to procure supplies at low cost, or, indeed, at times at any cost. All needs of rigging must be 
supplied. The halyards and sheets must be strong, the sails looked to and their weak spots exam- 
ined. Spare anchors, cable, extra blocks, ropes of various sizes, bolts, chains, and all the other 
hundred things that belong to a vessel must be placed on board. The tool-chest must be looked 
over, and a good supply of nails, screws, &c., taken on board. The medicine-chest must also be 
overhauled and the medicines ascertained to be present in the proper quantity. 
GEAR FOR FISHING.—Besides providing a full set of the various ship-chandlery, all the 
lines, hooks, and other material necessary for constructing trawls must be taken, and a supply 
of the implements used in trawling and in dressing fish. Three kinds of line were used in the 
construction of the trawl; also hooks, small iron anchors, and buoys for indicating the end of the 
trawls. Dories, wood for dory plugs, thole pins, thwarts, and spare oars to supply broken ones, 
hooks and lines of proper size for catching bait if a chance were offered, knives for bait-cutting, 
dory knives, splitting knives, and throating knives, gaffy, gob-sticks and pews, tubs for trawls, 
dressing tubs, splitting tables, nippers, rollers, powder for the swivel, a horn and a bell for fog, 
are among the thousand things to be looked to before the vessel’s departure. 
SALT AND ICE.—For the preservation of the fish a large amount of salt was carried—in our 
case 160 hogsheads—stowed away in the hold, and there being very useful as ballast. This was 
coarse salt, of the kind known as Trapani salt. This salt, the skipper explained, was of a better 
quality than Cadiz salt, which is used somewhat, for he claimed it was coarser and stronger. 
Besides salt, the vessel’s outfit also included ice. Thisis purchased at home by vessels fishing 
near Gloucester, but the Grand Bankers generally expect to obtain the ice that they will need either 
at Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. In the former place we obtained a supply at the rate of $2.50 
