B42 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jxms 23, 18»8. 



WITH THE "AL FOSTER' 

 To the Fishing Banks. 



NE of the hottest mornings of 

 !. a record-breaking simoon 

 that swept over New York 

 city and the coimtry in 

 general last summer, 

 ¥ found my wife and myself 



embarking on the fine iron 

 fishing steamer Al Foster, "pride 

 of the sea and river," as the ad- 

 vertisements have it, bound for the 

 : I Banks. The day was following on the 

 s heels of a night so fiery hot that neither 

 of us had been able to sleep, barring a 

 few cat naps caught just before day- 

 break, and we had debated long and with as much energy 

 as the weather would permit whether it would not be 

 wise to give up our long planned trip, but at last, simply 

 on the strength of our .previous resolution, the day was 

 won for the Banks. 



The Al Foster lay at the end of a long wharf, Pier 7, 

 North Eiver; that reaches out Jerseyward, where the 

 waiters of the Hudson mingle with the salt tide of _ the 

 Upper Bay. As we hurried down the long, roofed vista, 

 we could hear her whistle tooting persuasively to us and 

 others similarly minded to move our pegs a little faster, 

 and not wishing to be left we increased our speed and 

 soon were aboard. 



Once on the boat, and ensconced in good seats on the 

 second deck, we found that we had made a grave mis- 

 take in imagining that there was any danger of our 

 being left behind and any great necessity for hurrying. 

 A fishing steamer never leaves any one behind, provided 

 he is in sight, more precious to it is the one late sinner 

 than the ninety and nine pimctual passengers who are 

 safe aboard. We learned this fact as we watched 

 the late arrivals hurry 

 down the wharf, and saw 

 Captain Al Foster (for 

 whom the boat is named) 

 lean far out over the hur- 

 ricane deck rail and beck- 

 on to the tardy and per- 

 spiring, and encou) o 

 them by word of moiii : 

 to greater exertion. As . 

 long as one was in sight | 

 he held the boat. Finallv. « 

 however, the last sinne 

 was gathered into the foJ- 

 the lines cast off, and 1 1 

 boat's nose pointed oceaj 

 ward. 



It is important to secure 

 a good position on a fish- 

 ing boat when one first 

 comes aboard, for it is not 

 custom ary to ch auge at ter- 



wards, and such an at- a .-. h id chwi n 



tempt would seriously in- 

 fringe on the rules of etiquette that here obtain, as it 

 would be sure to interfere with some one else's elbow 

 room, and reduce his preempted space. We had been 

 fortunate in getting seats in the extreme bow next the 

 flagstaff, and, facing aft, were jarotected on both flanks 

 and the rear hy the railing from too close contact with 

 om- fellow passengei"s, while we had a good oiDportunity 

 to observe them, which, incidentally, was one of the 

 objects of our trip. 



We had brought along sketch books for amusement, 

 and as soon as we were well ofl: my wife produced hers, 

 secure in the conviction that no one could look over her 

 shoulder from behind (unless by climbing the flagpole) 

 and began shyly to sketch a group that took her fancy, 

 measuring with her pencil and looking up and down in a 

 way that artists have. 

 Three dudes in boiled sliirts and decidedly out of touch 

 with Captain Foster's 

 family of fishermen, per- 

 sisted in getting in the 

 way and causing her no 

 little annoyance, but they 

 didn't get their pictures 

 taken— there is abundant 

 material of that kind in 

 the pages of Puck and 

 Life, and we had. no need 

 for it. 



Beyond the dudes was 

 an interesting assemblage 

 of men, women and child- 

 ren, for the second deck 

 is the family stroiighold 

 on the Al Foster. There 

 was a fine-looking Ger- 

 man and his two grown 

 daughters, next them a 

 group of an old lady, a 

 husband and wife, the 

 latter with her baby, and 

 several unattached young 

 people of either sex. 

 Then came three or f oui- 

 masculine friends wlio 

 preferred the shade of 

 the awning-protected 

 second deck to either the 

 upper sun-searched deck 

 or the main deck where 

 there was scarcely elbow 

 room. Then there were 

 several more women with 

 babies, men with small 

 boys, and small boys 

 alone, half a dozen 

 ,, ... couples, and a sprinkling 



ot lone mdividuals who made up for their lack of friends 

 by their friendship to their art. This deck was neutral 

 territory for the rod fishermen and the hand-liners. The 

 mam deck was by common consent the rallying point of 

 the latter, while the upper deck was given up exclusively 

 to rods. This division of the forces was dictated by ex- 

 pediency. The hand-Uners would no doubt have pre- 

 ferred lishmg from the upper deck, but the rod men 



COMPIJOATION.S. 



knew that this would cause a greater tangling of lines 

 than ever, and effectually tabooed them from that sacred 

 spot. It might be well to add that women were not to be 

 found on either the upper or ma,in decks. These were 

 reserved for past masters of the craft who fished with 

 untiring assiduity as though their lives depended on it, 



CAPT. AX> FOSTER. 



md had no time for the frivolities of conversation. They 

 only stopped fishing when compelled to by the moving of 

 the boat to different grounds, or to unravel a tangle. 



This was the atmosphere of the picture: family parties, 

 men with their wives, sweethearts and babies on the 

 middle deck, and men enjoying sweet communion with 

 their art alone on the other decks. One point differenti- 

 ated these excursionists from other excursionists, and 

 that was the subtle sense of good fellowship that i)er- 

 vaded the assemblage. The knowledge of a common 

 bond of union seemed to knit the various sorts and con- 

 ditions of men into one family. It would liave gratified 

 the heart of a philanthropist to see so many good-humored 

 and orderly people together, each mindful of the other's 

 comfort and careful not to infringe on his rights with a 

 discriminating appreciation of what were his rights that 

 was altogether unusual. Of course there were exceptions 

 to this rule, as must be the case with every rule, but the 

 atmos]jhere of friendly fellowship was very noticeable. 



While we were talking and sketching the Al Foster 

 had slipped down the Upper Bay, through the Narrows, 

 and was now off Sandy Hook. The old fishermen began 



to grow imeasy. Numerous green and parti-colored 

 baskets were opened, lines taken out, together with 

 sinkers, hooks, etc., and rods jointed. The typical salt- 

 water fisherman's basket is a tool chest and work basket 

 combined. It contains scissors, needle and thread, files, 

 knives, wire, awls and many ' other handy little tools. 

 The fishermen pride themselves on the completeness of 

 their outfits, and next to fishing love tinkering with their 

 tackle. Each man had secured a half dozen or so 

 "bunches" of clams from the bait dealer on the main 

 deck, and these had been plentifully sprinkled with salt— 

 "to make them tous:h," it was explained. The fishermen 

 now began dissecting these, throwing away the eyes and 

 soft parts, and only keeping the firm yellow fiesh, which 

 is both palatable to the fish, and moreover will not easily 

 be stripped from the hook. 



Half an hour later the boat was off Long Branch, and 

 Captain Foster, who had been in and out of the pilot 

 house at frequent intervals all the morning, gave the 

 signal to slow up. The order to reverse followed and 

 finally the anchor was dropped. But long before the 

 anchor was down half a hundred lines were overboard in 

 the white spume that rushed forward from the screws, 

 and already several fish were pulled in. The lowering of 

 the anchor was attended by a maneuvering of ropes in 

 our immediate proximity, and this had delayed our efforts 

 to get our lines overboard. Moreover, the artist was not 

 familiar with the operation of baiting the hooks of the 

 hand line she held, and had to have assistance. At last, 

 however, both lines safely reached the water without a 

 tangle, and soon after each gave violent twitches in the 

 effort to fix the hook in an unseen but plainly felt denizen 

 of the briny deep. AU around the soimd of battle could 

 be heard. From the upper deck the rod men with adroit 

 cast and accompaniment of whizzing reel sailing through, 

 the air, sometimes to a distance of 200ft. To their solo 

 parts several hundred brother anglers responded with a 

 chorus of swishing lines and plunking sinkers. The lines 

 were continually becoming entangled, as might have 

 been expected. But there were very few hard words and 

 as a rule the most aggravated snarls were untangled 

 quickly and with good humor. 



Soon after the fishing began one hand-liner on the 

 second deck hooked a fine fluke, or flatfish, as large as a 

 dude's straw hat, and hauled it nearly to his deck. His 

 line, however, had become entangled with a fisherman's 

 on the lower deck and the fish hung in mid air a few 

 seconds. Then it gracefully flopped off, struck the gang 

 rail and disappeared in the sea after swimming around 

 half a minute in plain sight near the surface. Under 

 these aggravating circumstances most men would have 

 indulged in profanity, but our friend the fisherman never 

 opened his lips. He philosophically rebaited his hooks 

 and tried again. The only expressions of disappointment 

 to be_h^rd were made by sympathizers who saw the 

 accidenfTrom the different decks. 



After half an hour's fishing at this spot the anchor was 

 raised and we steamed further down the coast. Neither 

 my wife nor I had caught a fish, though we had had nu- 

 merous bites and had had our hooks frequently stripped. 

 At this spot the fish were mostly smaU blackfish, and we 

 could not get the knack of hooking them. 



After running perhaps a mile the anchor was again 

 lowered and the batteries of the three decks put in action. 

 Numerous exclamations called om- attention to the fact 



TYPICAL FISHERMEX. 



that larger fish had been foimd, and we saw them coming 

 tip over the side with scarcely a pause. One could look 

 down the side of the boat and see a fish in air all the time 

 and frequently half a dozen. They were blackfish and 

 bass, nice feUows, running up to 4 or 51bs., "flukes" and 

 "ling," sea robins and skates. These last two fish were 

 very unpopular among Capt. Foster's family, and wei"e 

 promptly returned to the sea after being put hoi^s de com- 

 bat. At this anchorage the kind fates took pity on the 

 two neophytes in the art of sea-fishing, and several fish 

 were brought up to their corner of the second deck in 

 quick order. This fishing was, however, seriously inter- 

 fered with by a little Dutchman on the deck below who 

 persisted in trying to manage two lines at the same- time, 

 which was an art entirely beyond his ability. 



His two lines were constantly becoming entangled with 

 his neighbor's lines, the anchor chain or with each other. 

 He threw out recklessly and hopefully, but apparently 

 without looking, and if any other line was near enough, 

 he caught it. It is needless to add that this man caught 

 nothing else. At last one of his lines which had become 

 fouled with the anchor chain several times gave out and 

 he departed with his remaining line to the opposite side 

 of the boat, after which we had better luck. 



While the boat was moving to its third anchorage we 

 ate lunch, which we had brought along with us. It was 

 flavored with ginger-ale secured from one of the waiters 

 who moved backward and forward assiduously attending 

 to the thirst of the fishermen. The "handsome waiter^' 

 was in demand, for the day even on the water was hot, 

 and beer and "soft drinks" from the bar below flowed 

 freely down many a tliirsty gullet. 



At the next anchorage the fish bit well, too, and the 

 decks were soon covered with flopping victims to the clam 

 appetite. 



Captain Forster circulated freely among the fishermen, 

 and was in and out of the pilot house Like a Jack-in-the- 

 box. His thin, expressive face showed constant change 

 of emotion, according as the fish bit well or not, and he 

 took the keenest interest in his passengers' success. No 

 doubt his financial interest in the boat makes him work 

 hard to make each trip a success; but aside from that 

 I can imagine him doing just as nicely for the profit of 

 those Avho depend upon his skill for finding the fish. 

 Captain Foster is fifty years old and has followed the 

 seas since the early age of seven. He is a successful 

 navigator, never having met with shipwreck or serious 

 accident, and he loves the sea and sea-fishing with that 

 intensity that makes the master in any line of life. 



About haK past two the sky became overcast, and the 



