The first operation, in which all the fishermen participate, is that of 

 gutting the fish, the crew of each dory cleaning its own fish. 



Each cod is fastened by the head on a steel point solidly fastened to the 

 rail of the boat so as to hang the cod vertically before the operator. He in- 

 serts his knife in the stomach, opens it with an upward movement and it emp- 

 ties its contents at once. From these, the livers and roe are saved while the 

 rest is thrown overboard. 



The gutted cod are thrown to a wooden pen on the deck where an appren- 

 tice seaman performs the heading. 



While the work on the cod progresses, the dorymen, their cod gutted, 

 start baiting their trawls. 



This is not a little affair, for each crew of two men has to check and bait 

 1500 hooks for the next set and may be obliged to untangle tubs of line which 

 are sometimes terribly snarled. In good conditions, good fishermen seldom 

 snarl their lines in hauling; but there are always some careless and clumsy 

 fishermen. These often have no other way of straightening out their lines 

 than to take off dozens, sometimes hundreds of hooks; so it happens they spend 

 hours and sometimes have not finished when the dories are ready to leave a- 

 gain. They are then obliged to go out with only part of their lines, which 

 earns the compliments, to the point and energetically expressed, of the cap- 

 tain or the fishing mate. 



Baiting the lines is followed by a lunch for which the men generally re- 

 ceive a quart of wine, biscuits or bread, and butter. Since the rules exist- 

 ing on all boats of the great fishery require a cook free from all other duties, 

 the bread is made daily on most of the vessels and replaces partly or totally 

 the biscuits. 



After lunch, the daily cycle is repeated with the departure of the dories 

 to set the lines. 



While the dorymen have gutted their fish and are proceeding with the 

 baiting of their lines, the work on the fish continues on the deck and in the 

 hold by the rest of the crew. 



In the pen where they have been thrown, the gutted cod pass to the hands 

 of the header. Seizing a cod in both hands, he detaches the head by a 



88 



