260 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
determine the kind of fish which he may see sporting at night, he is thus often enabled to learn 
the whereabouts of certain species, such, for instance, as the mackerel and their abundance, even 
when they do not come to the surface during the day. The mackerel is a remarkably capricious 
fish, and perhaps for many days in succession its presence cannot be detected in its favorite haunts 
while daylight lasts, and the fishermen therefore seeks for it in vain, but as soon as the sun sets 
and darkness appears over the sea the schools rise to the surface and the fish continue to disport 
themselves in this manner until near daylight, when they again sink out of sight. 
For many years after the introduction of purse-seines it was considered impracticable by the 
fishermen to catch mackerel in the night, but at last some of the more adventurous skippers, hav- 
ing a favorable opportunity for night fishing, and deeming it possible to catch the mackerel, made 
an attempt and met with even better success than they dared to anticipate. Thereafter they fol- 
lowed up this method of fishing whenever a good chance occurred, but as it usually resulted greatly 
to their personal success, as well as increased their reputation among their fellow fishermen, on 
account of the additional amount of fish caught, they were by no means anxious to tell that part 
of their catch was made in the night, since, if they did so, all the other mackerel fishermen would 
at once come directly into competition with them. As a matter of course, however, the fact of 
mackerel being seined at night could not long be kept a secret, and the result was that one after 
another began to adopt this practice until in the fall of 1881 it reached its climax, nearly every 
vessel in the fleet engaging to a greater or less extent in night fishing.* ° 
Previous to this time the public at large were not, it seems, aware that such large quantities 
of mackerel were taken in the night, though it was on record that night fishing had been previously 
attempted, and with good results.t 
The method of seining wackerel in the night is as follows: The vessel being on the fishing- 
ground, if the night is favorable, she is allowed to sail slowly ahead while a man goes aloft to the 
foremast-head and keeps a lookout for the fish. If the signs are peculiarly favorable, perhaps two 
or more men may be aloft for this purpose. These lookeuts are the men who have the watch on 
deck, and, not infrequently, the skipper may be one of them, his ambition to succeed often impell- 
ing him to remain up during the entire night, constantly keeping on the alert for fish and watching 
the movements of surrounding vessels. The remainder of the crew—those having a watch below— 
are thoroughly prepared and dressed in their oil-clothes ready to jump into the seine-boat at a 
moment’s warning. If the fish are not seen in the first of the night, the men off duty lie down on 
the cabin or forecastle floors or stretch themselves on the lockers, and endeavor in this way to get 
what sleep they can, unless, indeed, they may be busy on deck in caring for the fish taken the 
* Mr. A. Howard Clark, writing under date of October 28, 1881, says: ‘“‘ During the past few weeks the mackerel 
fleet have taken some good hauls during the night, as the fish have been difficult to catch by daylight but have rarely 
failed to show themselves on dark nights. When the moon shines it is impossible to see them, but when the night is 
dark or starlight they can be plainly seen from the mast-head, and sometimes from the vessel’s deck. Heretofore, in 
night fishing, the methods have been the same as by day, but recently, owing to the difficulty of seeing the fish from 
the deck or the boat the lookout at the foremast-head has given directions to the men while setting the seine. In 
this method the seine-boat is towed astern of the vessel, and when ready to ‘give ’em twine’ the dory is allowed to 
drift astern with one end of the seine while it is boing thrown out from the seine-boat. When ready to go around the 
school the order is given from the mast-head to ‘ go ahead;’ the scine-boat is cast loose from the vessel and the seine 
brought together in the usual manner. Still another improvement in the methods is likely soon to be adopted in this 
night seining, and that is in the use of large lanterns to show their position to the men while setting for them. The 
schooner Northern Eagle tried this new method last Tuesday night and found it to work splendidly. It was probably 
the first attempt to use lanterns for such a purpose. Two schools of mackerel were secured, one at 10 o’clock and the 
other at midnight, both together yielding 160 barrels. The lantern was the ordinary large signal light used by fishing 
vessels.” 
+ We hear of one vessel with a catch of 100 barrels in one week, and of several with catches ranging from 30 to 
60 barrels. Another vessel made a good haul in a seine, one moonlight night recently, a new feature in this fishery. 
(Cape Ann Advertiser, October 19, 1877.) 
