360 



FOREST AND STREAM 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 Fish Culture, the Protection of Game, Presrvation of Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a healthy interest 

 in Our-i 09R Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



Sowzt and <§trmin ^nhUHfunq f$0inpm(g t 



AT 



103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 



Terms, tive Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 



+ — > 



A discount of twenty per cent, for live copies and upwards. Any person 

 sending us two subscriptions and Ten Dollars will receive a copy of 

 Hallock's "Fishing Tourist,'' postage free. 



♦ 



Advertising Hates. 



In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 25 

 eents per line. Advertisements on outside page, 40 cents per line. Reading 

 notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in double column 25 per cent. 

 axtra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 

 10 per cent, will be made; over three months, 20 per cent; over six 

 months, 30 per cent. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JAN. 15, 1874. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 

 , Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Ladies a»-e especially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 

 pared with '.are fill reference to their perusal and instruction. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor as with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the. aim of this paper 



become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they Avill 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 iend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department o the paper that 

 may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent, in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 



OltARLES HALLOCR, 



Managing Editor. 



OUR FLORIDA EXPEDITION. 



JUST as we had began to bewail the probable loss of our 

 Forest and Stream Commissioner at the bottom of 

 the deep blue sea, we were gladdened by the announcement 

 of his safe arrival at Mosquito Inlet, Indian River, and two 

 days subsequently at New Smyrna, Florida, after a tedious 

 passage of twenty-five days from Barnstable, Mass., in a 

 coasting vessel. We give a brief extract from his hurriedly 

 written note : — 



" Will not trouble you with details of my cruise, of the 

 beating about in the gulf stream for nearly two weeks, 

 while my soul was sickening at the thought of the precious 

 days going, gone forever ! I am filled with wrath ar d dis- 

 gust unutterable, but shall try and make up for lost time. 

 Shall commence to gather and hoard away all information 

 upon the various species of birds, quadrupeds, fishes, &c, 

 for your use in special columns another season. The 

 Florida papers are making very favorable mention of our 

 expedition, and the "Floridian" speaks of it as a great un- 

 dertaking. Expect to reach St. Lucie in ten days." 



St. Lucie will be the headquarters of our correspondent. 

 Thence he will penetrate to and explore regions almost in- 

 accessible, including Lake Ochechobee, of which latter he 

 has already written extensively and minutely in these 

 columns. These investigations will continue until April, 

 and be aided by all necessary attendants and apparatus. 

 He has two boats, tents, two men, the complete ordinary 

 outfit of a sportsman, photographic apparatus, with 100 

 negatives, and a stock of artist's materials— all of Which 

 were taken with liim from New England— and also an In- 

 dian and native Florida guide, with swamp ponies, etc. 

 His labors include commissions to collect specimens of 

 Natural History and Indian relics for the Smithsonian and 

 other scientific institutions. Altogether, the expedition is 

 fitted out at considerable expense, and for the object sought 

 to be accomplished, will prove itself eventually of consider- 

 able importance, and attach some credit to the enterprise of 

 Forest and Stream, under whose auspices alone it has 

 been instituted. Both government and private enterprise 

 have essayed explorations from time to time into the in- 

 terior of Florida, but the information gained has been so 

 far of little practical value or benefit, even when most need- 

 ed, as it was during the seven years' Seminole War. How 

 frequently we shalfbe able to hear from our correspondent, 

 we cannot say, as there will be intervals of time when ac- 

 cess to mail facilities will be impossible. However, the 

 material furnished will be voluminous in the aggregate. 

 He will write over the signature of "Fred. Beverly." 



THE ANGLO-AMERICAN CHALLENGE— 

 THE COMING POINTER AND SETTER 

 FIELD TRIALS. 



THE interest taken by our gentlemen sportsmen, owners 

 of pointers and setters, in regard to the challenge 

 published exclusively in the Forest and Stream and ad- 

 dressed to ourselves and to no one else, by Mr. R. L. Price and 

 the Rev. J. Gumming Macdona, is unabated. We are as- 

 sured that the challenge will be accepted by some of our 

 most distinguished sportsmen who are pleased with the lib- 

 eral and fair manner in which the challenge is worded. 

 These gentlemen having been convinced by us that it would 

 be better for all parties concerned to withhold their names 

 from publication until the precise rules and regulations 

 governing such field trials are published, sportsmen will 

 kindly wait patiently until we shall receive the information, 

 by which they may be governed as to the nature of the con- 

 test. It would be perfectly within our capabilities to print 

 sundry laws on English fieid trials, but as we have every 

 reason to know that they are not those Avhich will be en- 

 forced for 1874, by producing them in our columns we 

 might only confuse our readers. We trust in our next issue 

 to be able to publish the revised code, as some slight 

 changes have been made since the last field trials. 



It may be well for us to state at once that we can enter 

 into no discussion in regard to the character of the field 

 trial matches on the other side of the water, not having been 

 present on the ground. One thing is certain, however, that 

 once engaged in the contest, according to the English rules, 

 we must abide by their laws. We feel very certain, from 

 the high character of tlie gentlemen who will engage in this 

 interesting contest, that everything will be arranged in the 

 most pleasant manner, no matter which country wins. 



One point especially worth mentioning in regard to Mr. 

 Price's challenge and which may have escaped the notice 

 of those not familiar with English cover shooting is, that 

 Mr. Price purposes the use of ground in one of the wildest 

 parts of Wales. This shows not only great courtesy, but 

 liberality on the part of the challengers, because the Eng- 

 lishman' with his dogs, especially trained and broken for 

 open shooting in the "stubble" and turnep fields, would 

 undoubtedly beat any American bred dogs, not accustomed 

 to this kind of shooting. Bala is in the county of Merioneth, 

 North Wales, where is situated the beautiful lake named 

 Bala; it is some four miles long by one in breadth, the prop- 

 erty of SirWatkin W. Wynn, Bart, and it is this gentleman 

 who has kindly consented to lend his grounds and game for 

 the Anglo-American field trial matches. The face of the 

 country closely resembles the northern portions of the State 

 of Pennsylvania, as parts of Wynnstay are sterile, barren 

 and rocky with a low undergrowth, not unlike that found 

 in the counties of Elk and McKean. 



When these interesting trials which have been placed 

 exclusively in our hands by Mr. R. L. Price and the Rev. J. 

 Gumming Macdona are fully arranged, and everything 

 known in regard to them by the gentlemen who on our side 

 are now desirous of taking up the challenge, we shall pub- 

 lish the same in the fullest details. As acting for our Ame- 

 rican friends and English sportsmen, we .intend to be most 

 careful ^.nd circumspect in regard to it, and will take no 

 step that will militate for or against either party, we 

 think this proper caution will be applauded in the end. 

 We might, if we pleased, say a great deal of the preliminary 

 business of this challenge, the same having been already 

 arranged by us in oui office, but we refrain from doing so, 

 for the reasons before distinctly stated. 



■ ■#»»- — 



THE GLOUCESTER FISHERMEN. 



TENNYSON'S In Memoriam, the most mournful poem 

 of the century, devoted as it is to recording the loss of 

 a cherished friend, is hardly more elegiac in character, nor 

 causes greater sadness than the reading of the plain prose 

 which, in The Fishermen's Memorial or Record Book, tells 

 of those brave men who in the pursuit of their dangerous 

 calling, have been engnlfed in the seas which surge along 

 our northern coast. 



The little bark leaves the port, glides on the quiet seas, 

 just ruffled by the breeze, and no one scarce heeds the de- 

 parture. She is absent for a week or month, then away 

 across the headland she appears again. The watchful eye 

 of the wife, the mother, the daughter knows the vessel, 

 though to you she seems but as a mere speck on the ocean. 

 The vessel nears the shore. "Thank God," cry the poor 

 women folk; "they, our husbands, our fathers, our broth- 

 ers, have escaped the perils of the Georges or the Banks." 

 Now the craft is better discerned, but her flag, that poor 

 little bit of ragged bunting, where is it? It droops at half 

 mast! Some one who trod that deck, who sprang once as 

 lithe as lithe could be up the rattlines, who threw the 

 hook, or worked the dorey, or the trawl, is no more, and 

 has been lost at sea, 



"Who shall the mourners be, 



That soon must weep sad tears for him 



They never more must see?" 



Mr. George H. Proctor's book, the Fishermen's Memorial 

 and Record Book, written in Gloucester, the headquarters 

 of the Massachusetts fishermen, gives to us matter of the 

 most inieresting character. People read habitually of the 

 dangers of the fisherman's life, and hardly appreciate it 

 until the sad facts are brought before their eyes. From 

 1830 to 1873 sailing from this single port of Gloucester, 

 1,437 men have lost their lives in their vocation of fish- 

 ing, and 286 vessels have foundered. Eveiy winter month 

 has its vicissitudes, but of all of them the February gale of 



1862 was the most terrible. On Monday evening, Febru- 

 ary 24th, says Mr. Proctor, "a terrible gale from the north- 

 west suddenly burst upon the fishing fleet on Georges, when 

 there were about seventy sail at anchor very near each 

 other. In this gale one hundred and sixty-two men and 

 ninteen vessels were lost." The storm of 1871 was almost 

 equally disastrous, 140 souls having perished with nine- 

 teen vessels. This past year has not been without its vicis- 

 situdes; from January to July 1, forty-one lives and twelve 

 vessels have been lost from Gloucester alone. 



The great dangei arises from causes which may be ex- 

 plained as follows: The vessels following closely one 

 another, all flock to one place, and if the fishing is good 

 they anchor there. The wind howls, the snow comes 

 down like a pall, and the sea rises. The vessels try to ride 

 out the storm at anchor, a craft loses her anchor or her 

 cable parts, and away she goes with fearful speed. If she 

 then strike another fishing vessel, the doom of both is 

 sealed, there is not the slightest hope; there is a crash 

 heard for an instant amid the mutterings of the storm, and 

 the two vessels with their crews find a watery grave. One 

 who was in the fearful storm of 1862, tells the story of the 

 danger: "The darkness was impenetrable, and a more dis- 

 mal night I never passed. Once in a while the storm would 

 lull; then we could see the lights of the fleet, but this was 

 not often. The hours passed heavily along: they are indel- 

 ibly impressed on my memory, and will not be effaced 

 until death claims me. During the night, a large vessel 

 passed quite near us. We could see her lights, her spars 

 and sails, as she sped swiftly along on the wings of the 

 storm. Glad enough were we to have her pass us, and I 

 trembled at the thought of our fate had she struck our 

 little craft. The morning at last breaks, when the skipper 

 cried out, 'There is a vessel adrift right ahead of us!' On 

 she came. The drifting vessel was coming directly for us; 

 a moment more and the signal to cut our own hawser must 

 be given. With the swiftness of a gull she passed us, so 

 near that I could have leaped aboard, just clearing us, and 

 we were saved from danger. We watched the doomed 

 craft as she sped on her cruise. She struck one of the fleet 

 a short distance astern, and we saw the waters close over 

 both vessels. Almost as Ave gazed, they both disappeared. 

 Then we knew that two vessels of the fleet would never 

 return to port." 



Another great danger is that which the dorymen under- 

 go. In visiting their trawls, launching their frail boats, 

 the fishermen are often lost during the fogs which enshroud 

 them. "The chances of a man thus adrift on the seas are 

 small," Mr. Proctor states, "and that the majority of those 

 who get estrayed from their vessel pay the penalty with 

 their lives." Our authority advises, in order to lessen dan- 

 gers of this character, that each dory should be provided 

 with sufficient food and water to sustain life for several 

 days. 



Leaving these sadder incidents of the fishermen's life, 

 from the Memorial Book one can gather a great deal of in- 

 formation in regard to the various fish sought for, and their 

 methods of capture. Mr ckerel were first caught about 1812 

 with a bare hook, Avhen in 1816 one Abraham Lurrey dis- 

 covered a method of running lead around the hook, and 

 invented the jig. Small lines and fly lines only came into 

 use in 1823. Bait mills were not used until 1820; before 

 that time the fishermen's heels ground up the bait. From 

 the dozen jiggers of 1812, small and poor craft, sprang the 

 fleet of two hundred clipper schooners used by Gloucester 

 in the mackerel fisheries of to-day. 



Cod fishing was first practically tested in 1821 in the Bay 

 of St. Lawrence by our Gloucester folk. At first to anchor 

 on the Banks to fish was thought to be fraught with dan- 

 ger. Brave old salts thought the current would drag their 

 vessels under water, and it was only in '21 that they found 

 out how to fish when at anchor on the Georges. But this 

 important branch of fishery only became a permanent busi- 

 ness in 1835 or '36, when halibut Was added to cod. In 

 1846 more halibut were caught than codfish; now it is the 

 reverse. It is not only on our own coasts that our hardy 

 fishermen gain their bread. Sometime ago the Forest and 

 Stream recorded the fishing adventures of some of our en- 

 terprising Gloucester fishermen on the coasts of Greenland 

 and Iceland. In 1872 six vessels were engaged in the 

 business, and made successful trips to Iceland. But last 

 year arriving at a bad season of the year, our fishermen 

 had poor luck. 



The profits derived from these fishing enterprises are 

 quite remarkable. A Grand Banker averages nine trips in 

 a year, and the trips vary from $8,000 to $17,000, $12,000 

 being about the average. All depends upon hitting the 

 right market, (see our article in last number on the German 

 sea fishing.) Some of the exceptional trips and money re- 

 sults are worthy of mention. In 1866 with a season's fish- 

 ing on the Banks a schooner made $22,000. In 1871 a 

 schooner on a single trip sold her catch of cod and halibut 

 for $5,361, each of her crew r making $213. Time occupied 

 in making the trip, five weeks. In mackerel fishing the 

 money made is sometimes even larger. In 1865 a schooner 

 absent about five months made a net stock amounting to 

 $13,728. The cook's share, was $582. The gross receipts 

 from fish sold are called the stock. The men who sail the 

 vessels, who reap the harvests of the sea to day, are quite 

 different from those of only twenty-five years ago. Then the 

 fishermen were mostly native born. To-day there is a large 

 admixture of hands coming from the Provincial waters. 

 Between the two styles of vessel those from the L T nited 

 States and from the Provinces, there was a marked differ- 

 ence. The former sailed a clipper-built and well appointed 

 craft, the later had only clumsy vessels, and were far be- 



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