THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND. 241 
9. THE HADDOCK FISHERY FIFTY YEARS AGO. 
A writer thus describes the ,haddock fishery from Gloucester Harbor in the early part of the 
present century: 
+ “The fitting out of the fleet for the haddock fishery commenced about the first of April. The 
first move was to run the boats on the beach, or landing as it was then called, and have them 
calked and graved. The latter process consisted in applying a coat of pitch to the bottom and 
burning it down with a tar-barrel, which gave a smooth and glossy surface. Painted bottoms in 
those days were very rare. . 
“The time occupied in making a haddock trip was from two days to a week, the fish being 
mostly taken on Old Man’s Pasture, Heart’s Ground, and Inner Bank, about twelve miles off of 
Eastern Point. The fish were taken to Charlestown for a market and purchased by the hawkers, 
among whom were Johnny Harriden, Joe Smith, Isaac Rich, and others, who took them over to 
Boston in hand-carts and retailed them at a good profit. The codfish were generally salted. The 
smallest were cured for the Bilboa market, and the largest were made into dun fish, as they were 
called, for home consumption. They were kept on the flakes several weeks, and thoroughly dried 
until they became of a reddish color, and were highly esteemed as an article of food. The haking 
season commenced in July, and the pollock fishery was prosecuted from September to the middle 
of November. Each boat carried three men—skipper, forward hand, and cook, who went at the 
halves, as it was called, the crew receiving one-half the gross stock, and the owners the balance.”* 
8.—THE HAKE FISHERY. 
By G. BRown GooDE AND J. W. COLLINS. 
The capture of hake is a branch of the shore fisheries, and is by no means as distinct an 
industry as those which have been already described. It is generally carried on from June to 
" November along the New England coast north of Cape Cod, chiefly by small vessels of 20 to 40 
tons, and which at other seasons of the year are often hauled up, though some of them engage in 
the winter shore haddock or cod-fishery or in the fall herring fishery, and in the spring are more 
frequently employed in the cod-fishery before the hake make their appearance. The hake fishery 
is also carried on from small boats. 
The men engaged in the hake fishery are of the class described in the chapter on fishermen 
as the shore fishermen of Maine. 
1, THE FISHING GROUNDS. 
The coast of Maine is a favorite region for the hake fishermen, almost every settlement along 
its whole extent having some small boats or a few vessels engaged in this fishery. The fishing is 
also carried on in Ipswich Bay by boats from Rockport, Pigeon Cove, Folly Cove, Lane’s Cove, 
Annisquam, and the Isles of Shoals. 
About the mouth of the Bay of Fundy there is excellent hake fishing, and around Prince 
Edward Island the hake are very large and abundant, and some of the Maine vessels occasionally 
visit this region to engage in the capture of this species. In 1878 and 1879 several vessels from 
Bristo}, Me., were thus employed. 
* Fisherman’s Memorial and Record Book, Gloucester, 1873, p. 73. 
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