BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 343 
ser than it would be if there was a strain upon it. Therefore, as the ves- 
sel stood back and forth the men at the capstan reported, in answer to 
the captain’s inquiries, if the warp was “ coming after her,” and, if so, 
another tack was made. When the slack of the warp was in, the ves- 
sel was hove to on the port tack, with the jib sheet eased off and the 
helm hard down, and the captain proceeded to assist in heaving at 
the capstan until the bridles were inside the trawl- warp roller . 1 The 
end of the dandy bridle was then cast off from the trawl-warp by the cap- 
tain, who took it aft, passed it through the chock on the port side of 
the taffrail and thence to the dandy winch, upon which it was fixed so 
that it would wind up without slipping. 
The captain generally heaves in most of the dandy bridle alone ; 
sometimes he is assisted by one of the crew, and for the last few feet 
two or three men may lend him a hand. In the mean time, as soon as 
the end of the trawl warp comes inside of the capstan, the after bri- 
dle is unshackled, its end taken off the capstan, and thrown on deck, or 
two or three loose turns taken with it around the dummy. This bridle 
has a piece of spun yarn wound around near its end, which is a mark 
whereby it can be told from any other rope at night as well as by day. 
While two of the men were unshackling and clearing the after bridle 
one hand cast off the fall of the fish tackle, took it to the forward winch, 
and hove it taut, so that it might be ready for use when needed. 
When this was done and the gear was all clear, the men returned to 
the capstan and hove away on the fore bridle — the skipper at the same 
time winding in the dandy bridle — until the beam was alongside, and 
a strap, which was spliced into the fore bridle a few feet from the trawl- 
head, was inside the roller. The after end of the beam was then hove 
snug up to the taffrail and secured. While this was being done two 
men had hooked the fish tackle into the strap on the fore bridle and 
began to heave away on the forward winch, lifting the end of the beam 
and the trawl-head over the rail. As it swung in, the trawl-head was 
lowered on deck and secured in its place. If there is any sea going, a 
guy (one end of a rope which is fast to the main shrouds) is rove through 
the trawl-head by one of the men, who takes a turn with the stopper 
around the main rigging, to prevent the forward end of the beam from 
swinging across deck. The next thing is to get in the net. If there 
is much weight of fish in the trawl, the end of the “ cod-line” is taken 
to the capstan and the cod end is brought nearly alongside. This is 
done in order to take the strain off the upper part of the net, which 
therefore can be more easily gathered in by the men. But when the 
catch is not large and the sea is smooth, this part of the work is gener- 
ally omitted. All hands then gather the net in by hand, standing a few 
1 When there is a strong lee tide it is impracticable to work a vessel up over her gear 
in the manner above described, and in such cases all that can be done is to heave the 
smack to on the port tack and get the gear by main strength, and it frequently hap- 
pens that two or three hours are required to get a trawl up and the fish on deck. 
