THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 219 
All of the above vessels are owned in San Francisco by a few men. The present value of the 
fleet of 1879 is $105,300. These vessels are fitted out by their owners; the outfit of 1879 having cost 
$49,400 exclusive of the fishing-gtation and the curing establishments in or near San Francisco. 
The fleet, or some portion of it, is constantly employed in the cod-fishery from April 1 to 
November 1. During the interval between November and April some, at least, of these vessels are 
engaged in other pursuits. One small vessel is employed exclusively in the fishery and winters at 
the Shumagins. 
The great bulk of the fishing is done by vessels owned in San Francisco, and we have little 
-information of any others; but there have been, from time to time, small schooners from other 
ports. We have already referred to the voyage of Captain Haley to the Hoochenoo Bank in 1879. 
These fish were sold in Wrangell for $100 per ton. In the fleet of 1866 were two or three small 
schooners fitted out at Victoria, British Columbia; these vessels fished with very fair success on 
the grounds immediately north of Naas River, on the coast of Alaska, where, and somewhat farther 
to the northward, they reported numerous cod banks. There was, however, no home demand for 
the catch, as an inferior fish, caught in Barclay Sound, had possession of the Victoria market. A 
portion of it was sent to Portland, Oreg., and sold well.* I have just been informed by Major 
Morris, special agent of the Treasury Department, that no vessels are now engaged in the cod 
fishery except vessels owned in San Francisco. 
THE FISHERMEN.—The captain of the vessel receives a fixed sum per thousand for the whole 
number of fish caught. Each of the crew receives a stated price per thousand for the fish he 
catches, the captain keeping each man’s account separate. The Shumagin fleet of 1879, with a total 
tonnage of 756, carried one hundred and fourteen men. The smallest number on any one vessel 
was five, and the largest nineteen. There are no separate seamen—all take part in working the 
vessel. The Okhotsk fleet of 1879 employed one hundred and thirty-three men for an aggregate 
tonnage of 1,207. Of these two hundred and forty-seven men about one-third are Americans. 
More than one-half are Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. The remainder is made up of Irish, 
English, Germans, Russians, and Portuguese. The proportions of nationalities vary with each 
vessel, and have not been more closely ascertained. On the large vessels they have, besides the 
fishermen proper, a dress-gang composed of headers, splitters, throaters, and salters. “The header 
removes the entrails and the head; the throater cuts the throat and rips the fish; the splitter 
splits the fish open, removing a portion of the backbone, while the salter salts them and piles them 
in the hold.”{ This dress-gang receives a fixed sum per month in an ascending ratio from the 
header to the splitter, and besides this they receive the regular price per thousand for any fish 
that they catch in their moments of leisure; the salter, however, has little time, and the splitter 
none atall for fishing. At the Pirate Cove fishing-station the fishermen furnish their own gear 
(not the dories, however) and receive their board, lodging, and fuel free. They are paid a fixed 
price per thousand for the cod, none of which must be under 26 inches long, and they dress their 
own fish on shore, four of them combining to dress their united catch in concert. The person in 
charge of the station keeps an account of each man’s fish as he gaffs them onto the wharf. At 
Kodiak the same plan is followed. with the exception that the buyers of the fish furnish all the 
gear; they, of course, pay a less price per thousand for the dressed fish. The rule is to make one 
voyage annually, although the vessels which go up to bring cod caught for them by others make 
two or three trips between San Francisco and the Shumagins. In 1868 the Porpoise attempted 
two trips to the Shumagins, but she took only half a fare on the second. 
“Cutts: Fishing grounds of the North Pacific, p. 8. 
t San Francisco Post, 1876. 
