BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 225 
Shortly after separating from the Nellie M. Davis we spoke with the 
schooner Robert J. Edwards , of Gloucester. Her captain reported see- 
ing menhaden abundant in the water during the previous night. 
Throughout the day on the 12th we worked to windward, making a 
northerly course. The fishing vessels in sight were going in the same 
direction. At 6.30 p. m. all sail except the mainsail was taken in; we 
hove to on the starboard tack and set two gill-nets in 22 fathoms of 
water, our position being lat. 37° 32' K, long. 74° 52' W. 
During the 13th the wind was easterly, increasing from a moderate 
breeze at daylight to a very fresh breeze in the evening. 
At 5.20 a. m. hauled gill-nets. Only two butterfish were caught. 
After the nets were in we got under way and worked to the eastward. 
In the afternoon the wind had increased so much, being accompanied 
by a rough sea, that the mainsail and the head-sails were taken in and 
the vessel was hove to under the foresail. 
April 14 the wind continued easterly, with a rough sea, during most of 
the day. At 10 a. m. we got under way and headed north-northeast 
close hauled by the wind. We continued in that direction throughout 
the day, having a man stationed aloft to look out for schools of fish. 
The prevailing easterly wind and rough sea were considered unfavor- 
able conditions for fish to school at the surface. 
We saw no fishing vessels until 4.30 p. m., when a schooner was seen 
to windward heading to the southward. Soon after four or five other 
fishing schooners were seen standing toward us from the southward. 
We made no attempt to “raise” mackerel with “toll-bait” during the 
day, since there was little probability of attracting them to the surface 
with an easterly wind blowing. During the day we made an average 
course north-northeast (magnetic) and sailed a distance of 45 to 48 
miles from the position left in the morning. At 7 p. m. the head-sails 
were hauled to windward and the vessel was hove to for the night. 
From the 14th to the 18th of April the weather continued fine, and 
during that period we were almost constantly cruising between paral- 
lels 36° 20' and 38° 50' north latitude, and the meridians 73° 50' to 75° 
25' west longitude. 
On the night of the 17th, about 10 p. m. (lat. 36° 45' NT., long. 74° 
50' W.), two schools of fish were seen “firing” in the water, which we 
supposed to be mackerel. Gill-nets were set in the immediate vicinity 
of those schools, but no fish were taken in them. The failure to catch 
any specimens was probably due to the unusual amount of phosphor- 
escence, which caused the nets to resemble sheets of fire. With the ex- 
ception before named we saw no indications of schooling fish in our 
cruising during the period before mentioned. 
We were in almost daily communication with vessels of the mackerel 
fleet between the 14th and 18th, and since the researches of these 
schooners extended over practically the whole area north of Hatteras, 
and the information obtained of them was bo the effect that they had 
Bull. U. S. F. O., 87 15 
