384 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION.. 
the gear, and steering when it was necessary for all the others to be at 
work. 
Thursday , July 1. — At 3.45 a. m. the w^atch came below, called the 
skipper, and told him that the admiral was hauling. As the skipper 
tumbled out of his berth he gave a quick glance , around to see if all of 
the crew were up. His eye rested on the third hand, who, having been 
on watch all the first part of the night, was naturally very sleepy, and 
was still slumbering in profound unconsciousness of the admiral’s or- 
der. But the sleeping man was quickly brought to a realizing sense of 
the situation, and swarmed out of his berth in obedience to the order 
of the skipper, who shouted in stentorian tones: u You Tom, here; 
rouse out here and haul the trawl. 77 All hands were on deck and at 
work in a remarkably brief space of time. No minutes are wasted in 
preparing for the day's duties ; there is no stopping to wash, not the 
faintest attempt at personal cleanliness, even the boy cook is begrimed 
with coal dust, smoke, and soot ; it is evident that little is thought of 
refinement, even such as may be obtained from a dip in a bucket of 
salt water. The main idea is to catch fish, and the toil and hardship in- 
cident to this vocation, the necessity that always exists for tumbling out 
u all standing, 77 and rushing on deck, serves to make these men — as 
well as all other fishermen, the world over-— rather indifferent while 
fishing to the simplest forms of neatness, which to people on land are 
considered indispensable. 
When, in obedience to the call to work, as on this occasion, the half- 
wakened fisherman springs out of his bunk to the cabin floor, he real 
izes, first of all, the necessity of getting on deck with the least possible 
delay ; therefore, with eyes still half closed, he gropes for his boots, 
pulls them on, snatches his hat from some convenient place where it 
has been put, and jams it on his head. This, if the weather be fine, 
completes his equipment, but, if it is stormy, oil clothes are also donned. 
In either case, the least possible time must be occupied, and frequently 
the men are not fairly awake until after they reach the deck. 
When the end of the trawl-warp was inside the roller, the skipper 
looked over the vessel’s side and exclaimed, “ She’s capsized again! 77 
meaning that the trawl was upset, which he could easily tell by the 
bridles being crossed. 
It was explained by the skipper, in answer to my inquiry, that the 
capsize was caused by the vessel, when working up to the gear, bring- 
ing the warp taut in the opposite direction from which the trawl was 
being towed over the bottom. This turned the trawd over on its back, 
bringing the beam underneath, and a twist in the bridles, since the for- 
ward end of the beam is aft ; the position can therefore be told as soon 
as the upper ends of the bridles are in. The dandy bridle was cast off' 
the trawl-warp, and a stopper put on the after bridle, which was then 
unshackled. Bypassing the ends of these around the forward bridle, 
outside of the smack’s rail, the turns were taken out so that they led 
clear. 
