20 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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THE WINTER GULES 



In winter, the gulls surround the fishing vessels by hundreds 

 During the summer they are not so common. 



is allowed to drift astern. The painter 

 is made fast to a pin in the schooner's 

 taffrail and the dory is towed along by 

 the schooner. As the other dories are 

 launched, they are dropped astern, made 

 fast to each other, and towed by the 

 schooner (see illustration, page 13). 



When all the dories are overside, the 

 skipper, at the wheel of the schooner, de- 

 termines the direction in which he wants 

 to set his lines, and the dories are let go, 

 one at a time, as the vessel sails along. 

 A schooner "running" ten dories will have 

 them distributed at equal distances along 

 a four- or five-mile line and Number One 

 dory is often out of sight from the posi- 

 tion of Number Ten. 



When the last dory has 

 been dropped, the skipper 

 will either "jog" down 

 the line again or remain 

 hove-to in the vicinity of 

 the weather dory while 

 the men are fishing. 



\\\ the dories, when the 

 schooner has let them go, 

 one fisherman ships the 

 oars and pulls the boat in 

 the direction given him 

 by the skipper, while the 

 other prepares the gear 

 for "setting/' 



The end line of the first 

 "tub" of baited long-line 

 is made fast to a light 

 iron anchor to which a 

 stout line and buoy -keg 

 is attached. This is 

 thrown over into the 

 water, and the fisherman, 

 standing up in the stern 

 of the dory with the tub 

 of long-line before him, 

 proceeds to heave the 

 baited gear into the sea 

 by means of a short stick 

 which he holds in his 

 right hand. 



With this "heaving 

 stick" he dexterously 

 whirls the coils of line 

 and hooks out of the tub 

 and the long-line goes to 

 the sea-bottom. 



Three or four tubs, the 

 lines joined together, may 

 be set in this fashion, and 

 another anchor and buoy is made fast to 

 the last end. The long-line now lies on 

 the bottom of the sea and is prevented 

 from drifting or snarling up in bottom or 

 tidal currents by the anchors at each end. 

 The fishermen in the dory hang on to 

 the last anchor until it is time to haul the 

 gear, or they may leave it altogether and 

 pull back aboard the schooner again, leav- 

 ing the location of their lines to be 

 marked by a flag or "black-ball" thrust 

 into the buoy-keg attached to the anchors 

 at each end. 



READY FOR THE HAUL 



The lines may be "set" for periods 

 varying from thirty minutes to half a 



