530 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [40] 



bends aft considerably at the head so that it often has a very marked 

 curve. The sails are baggy, often made of hemp duck, but cotton can- 

 vas is coining into more general use. A jack of 30 feet in length will 

 be about 10 feet wide and 4 feet deep. 



The following are the details of a so-called galloper, the Zephyr (built 

 at Placentia Bay in 1878), which was seen by the writer lying alongside 

 a wharf at St. John's (see plate V). 



She is a carvel-built, decked, keel craft, with a rather full bow above 

 water, but finer below; raking curved stem, a sharp floor, round 

 bilge, father easy lines aft, no overhang to counter, and a raking 

 heart-shaped, square stern ; the rudder is hung outside and is worked 

 by a short tiller. She has a good sheer, is flush-decked, with bulwarks 

 and rail. Her general appearance, so far as the hull is concerned, indi- 

 cates good sea-going qualities, and a fair amount of speed. With the 

 addition of a more graceful rig, a projecting cut-water or head, and an 

 overhanging and well formed stern, she would compare not unfavorably 

 with many of the small vessels built in the United States a few years 

 ago, and would doubtless surpass them in some highly requisite quali- 

 ties. * 



She has a windlass just abaft the foremast, which is worked by a 

 crank. Under deck, forward, is the forecasfle, a rudely constructed 

 apartment, uupainted, with three bunks. The fire-place and chimney 

 are built in the most primitive manner of slabs of rock, so discolored now 

 by soot and smoke that it is difficult to tell the character of the material. 

 The chimney is surmounted on deck by a large wooden funnel, and on 

 each side of this is a hatch (3 J by 3 J feet) which serves as an entrance 

 to the forecastle, the lee hatch being generally closed and the weather 

 one used when the vessel is at sea. The coamings of these are only 3 

 inches above deck, and in rough weather it is probable that the fore- 

 castle is anything but dry and comfortable. There are numerous 

 hatches, which afford entrance to different parts of the hold, where are 

 stowed various kinds of fish, bait, etc. The main hatch (5 by 4J feet) 

 is situated between the masts. Immediately abaft the mainmast is a 

 double hatch, its total length being 5 feet 8 inches, and width 3 feet 

 10 inches. Aft of this and just forward of the trunk is a large hatch 

 extending almost the whole width of the deck, it being 10 feet long 

 athwartships, and 2 feet 9 inches fore and aft. Many of these boats 

 also have another small hatch on the port side of the mainmast, through 

 which entrance is gained to the bait-pen, where herring, etc., are kept, 



* This little schooner enjoys a good reputation, not only for sail-carrying power and 

 safety in a sea-way, but also for speed, if we accept the statements of her skipper, 

 who claims to have made some rather quick runs in her along the coast when, of 

 course, the conditious were favorable. On one occasion he states he ran from St. 

 John's harbor to Cape Race— a distance of about 58 miles — in six aud one-half hours, 

 and another time from St. John's to Baccalieu— a distance of about 31 miles— in four 

 hours. 



