THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 175 
- In Newfoundland the water is obtained directly from mountain streams that everywhere run 
down over the rocks into the sea. The process of filling, which is somewhat interesting, is described 
elsewhere. F 
é€. APPARATUS AND MODE OF USE. 
GANGING HOOKS.—In the early days of this fishery, and down to quite recent times, the modes 
of fishing were very different from those in vogue at present. Trawling, the method now most 
universally followed, was not till recently introduced, and the old fashion of hand-lining prevailed. 
Of late, however, the idea of connecting a large number of hooks into one string and letting these 
all fish at once has superseded the old method of one line, or at most two, to each man, and with the 
best results. In preparing the trawl the crew usually worked together, sitting on the deck in any 
convenient place during our beautiful July days in the Gulf of Maine. The helmsman at such 
times lolled on the wheelbox and watched the busy fellows, lending a voice now and then to the 
small talk and often spinning a yarn for the others’ benefit. The first operation in traw]-making 
was “ganging hooks.” The day after our departure was Sunday, and the men abstained from 
work, but early on Monday morning they brought out the “ gear” and prepared for work. The 
“ ganging line” was first cut into pieces 3 feet in length. Provided with a supply of these gang- 
ings, and with a stock of No. 14 cod hooks, each man began fastening a hook to the end of 
the line.* 
‘The hooks, after being ganged, are “‘moused,” to prevent them from catching into one another, 
and then laid in a pile until the pile contains 300 hooks. They are then fastened in a bunch and 
another pile is commenced. By mousing the hooks is meant winding the ganging line two or 
three times round the hook toward its point. 
FASTENING GANGINGS TO THE GROUND-LINE.—The share of each man in the ganging of 
hooks was 750 hooks. ‘This number most of the crew finished in a single day. On the following 
day, which was Tuesday, the work of the crew consisted in fastening the ganged hooks to the 
ground:line. This was strong tarred cotton line. At intervals of every fathom the free end of a 
ganging was joined to this ground-line. They parted the strands with a sort of small marline- 
spike, called a “pricker,” passed the ganging through the hole and then made the knot. 
Though this method of attaching the gangings to the ground-line was used altogether by our 
crew, they told me of another knot not unknown among cod-fishermen, but in common use among 
‘“‘haddockers.” In making this a bight is first formed in the end of the ganging and laid upon 
the ground-line. The short end is then wound two or three times around both ganging and ground- 
line and passed through the bight. Finally, a heavy pull on the long end of the ganging draws 
the bight tightly over the short end and keeps the whole knot firmly in position. I was told that 
the knot first mentioned was usually preferred, because it was impossible for this to slip along the 
ground.line, while the latter knot at times gave trouble in that manner. 
The ground-line was in sections, each three hundred fathoms in length, and each dory was 
expected to prepare as its equipment five of these “strings.”- For convenience, each one of these 
sections was kept in a tub, made by sawing off a barrel at the first hoops above the middle. In 
some cases two tubs were made from one barrel, when barrels were scarce, but it is the fashion to 
inake only one good, ‘“‘high-toned” one from one barrel. From the fact of one section being always 
coiled away in one tub, the terms “tub-o’-trawl” and “ three- hundred fathoms of trawl” mean the 
same thing. Very often the fishermen used the term “ tub-o’-trawl” as a unit of linear measure- 
ment, estimating objects as distant “six tubs-o’-trawl,” &e. 
*The method of ganging hooks for cod trawls is described in the chapter on Apparatus. 
