222 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
stood in that direction. When near the center of the fleet we hove to 
and waited the approach of several of the vessels which were steering 
for us, and the captains of which were apparently anxious to communi- 
cate with us. A little later Oapt. Eben Lewis, of the schooner J Edith M. 
Rowe , came on board. Captain Lewis, who is well known as an ener- 
getic and skillful fisherman, and who was one of the first to sail for the 
fishing ground this spring, said he had been cruising for nearly two 
weeks, and had sailed over the entire region from the position in which 
we then were (lat. 37° 23' N., long. 77° 45' W.) southward to the lati- 
tude of Cape Hatteras and eastward to the Gulf Stream. In all this 
cruising he had not seen any mackerel nor heard of any vessel getting 
that species. About ten days previously he had caught a school of 
menhaden in his purse-seine nearly in the latitude of Body Island. 
During the afternoon several other vessels of the fishing fleet spoke 
with us, and their captains reported substantially the same facts as 
given by Captain Lewis. None had seen any mackerel, nor had they 
heard of any being taken. 
During the evening the fishing fleet all headed to the northward. 
We beat to windward also about 6 or 7 miles, and at 1.34 p. m. hove 
to and threw out u toll bait” for mackerel, but did not succeed in en- 
ticing any alongside. The trial was continued for forty-five minutes, 
when we got under way and ran southward a distance of 22 miles, where 
we again hove to, and made another attempt to “ raise” fish with “toll 
bait,” but with the same result as before. We also put out hand-lines 
for bottom fish in the same position, but caught nothing except spiny- 
backed dogfish. In the evening we hove to under the mainsail, all other 
sails being taken in, and set one herring and one mackerel gill-net ; 
the former was set at the surface and the latter sunk to a depth of 2-J 
fathoms. The main-boom was guyed out so that the vessel made a 
square drift, and the nets were set at a “ swing ” to windward, the inner 
end of the warp being fastened at the mainmast. The position of the 
vessel was lat. 37° 04 / N., long. 74° 37' W. 
Ai)ril 9 the weather was fine and clear, with a moderate easterly 
wind. The nets were hauled at 5 a. m.; six river herring, or alewives, 
were caught in the mackerel-net, and fifteen alewives and two mack- 
erel were taken in the herring-net, the average length of the mack- 
erel being 12 inches.* 
There were seven mackerel schooners in sight in the morning, the 
majority of them steering to the eastward. Captain McFarland, of the 
schooner Emma W. Brown , spoke with us. I told him that we had 
taken two mackerel in our nets. 
At 7.30 a. m. the small surface towing-net was put out and a consid- 
erable quantity of copepods (mackerel food) were taken in it. We then 
filled away and ran to the southward 15 miles. A man was stationed 
at the mast-head to keep a lookout for schools of mackerel, but no in- 
* These mackerel were the first taken of the season. 
