350 HISTORY or THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Barrels are provided by the slioresman to contain their store of fresh water, but all sub- 

 sequent cooperage is paid for by the crew. 



" A fair passage to the Bank is made in a week ; and on their arrival there, they 

 generally ' lie-to, and try for fish ' ; and when they ' strike a school,' as the phrase is, 

 they anchor. The depths at which they fish are various, from thirty to sixty fathoms ; 

 but generally from thirty-five to fifty fathoms. When fish are plenty, a fare is made up 

 in about six weeks ; tliat is, when they have ivet^ or expended, all their salt. Fish 

 caught with mackerel-bait -are larger than those caught with clams, for the supposed 

 reason thai a larger bait of mackerel can be put upon the hook than of clams ; and the 

 largest fish take the largest bait. "Whatever may be the reason, however, the fact is 

 incontrovertible ; and the proportional difference is about thus : fish caught with clam- 

 bait will average about twenty-five quintals to the thousand fish, and those caught with 

 mackerel-bait about forty quintals to the thousand. 



'' This is a general result ; but there are occasional variations from various causes, 

 the principal of which, is in the different depths at which, the fish are taken, — the 

 largest fish, being taken in the deepest water. The flesh of a sea-bird called a ' hag- 

 don ' is a fine bait for codfish, and is frequently used. 



" The equipment of the fishermen is singular and grotesque. Over their common 

 dress they wear a pair of ' petticoat-trousers,' made very wide, and descending to the 

 calf of the leg ; generally they are made with, an insertion for each leg, but sometimes 

 like a woman's petticoat, with no intersecting scam, and are of course canvas or oil-cloth. 

 A. pair of thick cowhide boots, of a russet color, and with soles an inch or more thick, 

 reach quite to the knees, with tops to turn up and cover the thighs. The barvel, or 

 leather apron, extending from the breast to the knees, and the tarpauling hat, complete 

 the costume, which secures to the occupant perfect immunity from the assaults of the 

 element in which he procures his subsistence. The hands are preserved from the cut- 

 ting of the fishing-lines by a sort of digitless woollen mittens, called ' nippers.' Each 

 man tends two lines, and tliey generally fish near the bottom of the sea ; but sometimes 

 the codfish will ascend to mid-water, or even much higher, in pursuit of herrings, cape- 

 lines, and other fishes of that class, which swim in immense shoals near the surface ; 

 and in such cases the labors of the fishermen are much lightened, and the fish taken 

 with much greater celerity. 



'^ In the day-time, during the first fare, all hands generally fish ; and at night, the 

 crew is divided into watches that fish alternately ; but circumstances create variations 

 in this mode ; such as the scarcity or abundance of fish, the inclinations of the skipper 

 and crew, &c. During the season of the second fare, the fish feed principally in the 



