THE GEORGE’S BANK COD FISHERY. 195 
the deck the gangings are detached, as previously described, and their place is supplied by a new 
pair, the line being immediately thrown over again. The fish are then unhooked, the hooks 
rebaited for future use, and th® tongues are cut out and thrown into a compartment in the line 
tub; in this manner the number of fish caught by each man is recorded; the tongues aré. counted 
out at night, and the captain notes the record of each man’s count on a.slate or in a book, as will 
be explained elsewhere. Each man marks the halibut he catches witb some peculiar mark of his 
own. The proceeds for each man depends upon the number of fish he catches. The George’s 
fisherman, however, rarely speaks of the number of fish he catches, but the number of tongues he 
has caught. After the fish are unhooked they are thrown into the gurry-pens, where they remain 
until a strong tide or nightfall gives the men an opportunity to dress them. A skillful crew, when 
there is good fishing and other favoring circumstances, may catch from 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of 
round-fish in a day. Seventy-five thousand to ninety thousand pounds of round-fish is considered 
an excellent fare, while 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of split-fish is also a good fare. 
A round-fish is one which has simply been eviscerated, while a split-fish has its head and 
backbone removed and is salted. 
Larger fares of fish have been obtained. In one instance 124,000 pounds of round-fish were 
brought in by the schooner 8. R. Lane. In the Fishermen’s Memorial and Record Book and on the 
files of the Cape Ann Advertiser may be found instances of extremely large fares of fish, many of 
them, too, the result of only a few days’ fishing. 
6. CARE OF THE FISH. 
At the present time the fish are usually brought in from George’s split and salted, both in 
summer and winter. Before 1875 it was generally customary to bring in the fish round in the 
winter, splitting and salting them on the shore, but this custom has gradually been discontinued, 
and but few trips of round-fish are now landed. When brought in round the fish are gutted with- 
out splitting them, a handful of salt being put inside of each. A few of those last caught are iced. 
The process of salting and dressing is precisely the same as that upon the Grand Bank, and 
is described in the chapter referring to that fishery. The George’s-men use less salt in curing than 
the Grand Bankers, since it is necessary to keep the fish for a much less time on the vessel. The 
gurry is kept in the middle compartment of the gurry-kid. It is thrown overboard as soon as the 
vessel gets under way to shift her position or to leave the Bank. 
The total amount of ice carried by fifty-eight schooners exclusively employed in the George’s 
fishery in 1870 was 3,478 tons. This gives an average of about 60 tons for each vessel, and, 
assuming that the average number of trips would be ten, it would therefore appear that 6 tons of 
ice is carried to a trip. The amount varies greatly with the season; a vessel that would carry 3 
or 4 tons in winter would require 10 or 12 tons, possibly more, in summer, since in the latter 
season the ice not only melts more rapidly, but is used for preserving bait as well as fish. As the 
total number of vessels engaged in the George’s fishery was upwards of one hundred, it will be 
seen that 6,000 tons or more of ice were consumed in this fishery for the year named above. 
The return to port and the disposition of the cargo is in every respect similar to that of the Grand 
Bankers. The vessels are in no special haste to gain the market, and consequently are not obliged 
to take such risks as the halibut schooners and haddock catchers. The peculiar dangers of this 
fishery. have been described in the chapter on disasters. The lay in use in the George’s fishery 
and the manner of fitting out the vessels will be described elsewhere. From nine to thirteen trips 
are usually made in the course of a year. The average number is perhaps eleven. 
