LIFE ON THE GRAND BANKS 



25 



become strained and sore with the jolting 

 and swinging. To eat and sleep under 

 such conditions as the fishermen do calls 

 for unusual stamina. 



The living quarters in fishing-schooners 

 are in forecastle and cabin. These apart- 

 ments are lined with bunks — possibly six- 

 teen single bunks forward and four to 

 six double bunks aft. 



The galley is located in the after part 

 of the forecastle and the mess-table is 

 fitted between the foremast and the wind- 

 lass-pawl-post. All hands eat their meals 

 in the forecastle. 



The skipper lives aft, in the cabin. In 

 some schooners he has a little room to 

 himself, but in a good many he sleeps in 

 an open bunk like the fishermen. The 

 galley stove keeps the forecastle warm, 

 and a small "bogey," or base-burner, 

 heats the cabin. 



As fishermen are constantly wet, the 

 stoves are kept continually fired to dry 

 out sodden clothing. 



THE FISHERMAN FEASTS LIKE AN EPICURlT 



Though it is a hard, cold, and hazard- 

 ous existence, yet the fisherman's life has 

 some compensations. The cooks carried 

 are masters of the culinary art and the 

 meals provided are of the most luxurious 

 description. All the staples and all the 

 luxuries go aboard a fishing vessel, and 

 the scale of victualing is Biltmore style 

 without the silver and cut-glass. 



A fisherman is always hungry, and in 

 addition to three square meals per diem, 

 he indulges in a "mug-up" between times 

 from the "shack locker," or quick-lunch 

 cupboard in the forecastle. Tea and 

 coffee are always on the stove. 



With stoves going below, it is always 

 warm and pleasant in cabin and fore- 

 castle, and a fisherman's bunk, with a 

 good thick quilt or blanket and a straw 

 mattress, makes a snug sleeping place. 

 One never sheds many clothes on retir- 

 ing; the discarding of boots and jacket is 

 enough. 



The cabins and forecastles are clean 

 and well kept. Vermin is a fisherman's 

 horror, and the writer has known men of 

 questionable cleanliness to be sent ashore. 



There is a certain spirit of independ- 

 ence to the fisherman's life which makes 

 it attractive. He is under no master but 



5%^^ 



A TYPICAL FISHING VESSEL SKIPPER 



THE BANKER S COOK 



This deep-sea chef will feed a hungry crowd 

 of twenty-five men with a plentiful variety of 

 well-cooked food, three times a clay, in fair 

 weather or foul. 



