The best and simplest solution was to crush the shells with the shoes but 

 this was not without inconvenience. The shells and debris collected on the 

 deck, which was only rarely cleaned, and the deck was soon covered with a 

 layer of broken shell with sharp edges which damaged.it rapidly. Scattered 

 in all parts of the ship by the boots of the fishermen, the decomposing debris 

 gives off an offensive odor and became a source of pestilence. Finally, the 

 broken fragments of shell adhering to the flesh of the mollusk frequently wound 

 the men baiting the hooks and are the origin, with hooks infected by rotten bait, 

 of the numerous sores which are one of the scourges of the banks. 



Fishing maps drawn up for the use of vessels on the Grand Banks inform 

 the captains about the abundance of Buccinus on the various parts of the bank. 

 This mollusk, which likes particularly sandy bottoms, is found everywhere in 

 the Platier region, southeast of Grand Bank, while it is rare or totally absent 

 in the north and west. As a result the fishing campaign almost always started 

 on Platier, where the captains were surer to be able to find a good initial sup- 

 ply of Buccinus . The fishing then extended, in search of better catches, to 

 the diverse regions of the bank propitious, at the same time, for the capture of 

 squid and Buccinus . The boats returned, in general, to the eastern part be- 

 fore ending the season's fishing. At times when they went to Saint-Pierre for 

 herring, the bait of the first fishery, they began fishing, on the contrary, on 

 the western part of the bank, making toward the south and ending on the east- 

 ern part. 



The substitution of Buccinus for bait during the first and second part of 

 the fishing season, which Saint-Pierre and Miquelon could not furnish to the 

 cod vessels because of the Bait-Bill coming in force, reduced one of the major 

 reasons for landing at Saint-Pierre. Nevertheless, it was necessary for the 

 bank vessels to discharge a part of their catch during the season because of 

 insufficient hold capacity. 



In the years following adoption of Buccinus for bait, the metropolitan op- 

 erators sought to free themselves of the obligation of landing at the colony 

 which involved, with the cost of unloading, a considerable loss of time. They 

 accomplished this by taking advantage of the improvements during this period 

 in rigging and equipment which permitted a considerable increase in tonnage. 

 Thus the three-masted vessels attained a size from 300 to 350 tons with 

 crews of only 30-32 men. Thus an equilibrium was established between the 

 carrying capacity of the vessel and the season's catch. From this time the 

 entire catch could be brought back to France, with no more reason for the 



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