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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



MUZZLING A JIB IN A SOUAIX 



In winter weather, fishing can be carried on only in the lulls between squalls. At this season 

 schooners are stripped for heavy weather, topmasts and light sails being left ashore. 



still remains, as no orthodox fisherman 

 would work in any other way. They are 

 all born gamblers and always look for- 

 ward to the "big trip." 



I have been on voyages where the men 

 drew $70 each for a week's work, and on 

 others where they made but $45 in two 

 months. The Goddess of Luck has 

 something to do with the fisherman's re- 

 muneration, but the men who fish steadily 

 throughout the year with hard-working 

 skippers usually make a good income, 

 though it is never commensurate with the 

 risks they take. 



The crew, or "gang," of a Banker runs 

 from sixteen to twenty-five men. A 

 schooner "running ten dories" would 

 have a crew sufficient to man ten dories 

 with two fishermen in each. In addition to 

 these twenty men, there are the skipper, 

 the cook, a deck-hand, and, if the vessel 

 is an auxiliary, an engineer. In some 

 vessels neither deck-hand nor engineer is 

 carried. 



no favorites on a bank schooner 



All navigating is done by the skipper. 

 The men are primarily fishermen, but 



they are under the skipper's orders and 

 must help to sail the vessel, to steer and 

 keep a lookout, and to set and furl sail. 



On passages to and from the Banks, 

 the fishermen take regular turns in stand- 

 ing a watch at wheel and lookout. With 

 a gang of twenty men and two men to a 

 watch, this period is not a very long one, 

 as a rule, but in bitter winter weather, 

 with a hard breeze blowing, an hour at 

 wheel and lookout is long enough. I 

 have known times when ten minutes at 

 the wheel required relief to thaw out 

 fingers and toes numbed with zero frost. 



When sail has to be set or made fast, 

 all hands are called. If the men are 

 asleep and it is only a small job that re- 

 quires four or five hands, the whole 

 crowd is turned out to do it. By doing 

 this, no favorites are made and no one 

 can complain that he is being imposed 

 upon. I have seen twenty men roused 

 from slumber to take in a jib — a job 

 three fellows could have done — and the 

 skipper saw to it that no man loafed 

 below. 



During the run-off to the "grounds" 

 the fishermen are busy overhauling their 



