THE FRENCH SARDINE INDUSTRY. 
11 
they may also have to leave earlier if the tide would otherwise beach them. The 
best fishing is in the early morning, and the boats are often back to port by 9 or 10 
o’clock with full fares. 
When waiting on the fishing-grounds (at night, early in the morning, or at any 
other time) the fishermen place one of the long oars obliquely upward and backward 
from the bottom of the boat to the rear mast (where it is fastened), and over this they 
spread a sail. Under this shelter they sleep or rest. 
When a boat arrives on the fishing-grounds the rear mast is taken down and the 
boat is headed toward the wind. If fish are present a net is shot and slowly towed 
by means of a short line attached to the cork line and fastened in the stern of the 
boat. When there is no wind, or when the wind is from an unfavorable quarter 
with reference to the water currents, the sails are lowered and the crew row the 
boat. In the sardine fishery at Sables d’Olonne, where large boats are used, the nets 
are not towed therefrom, but are pulled by means of rowboats. 
Bait is always used in the day fishing, being necessary in order to attract the 
fish to the vicinity of the boats and into the nets. The casting of the bait, on the 
proper use of which a great deal of the success of fishing depends, is always done by 
the master or “patron,” who stands in the stern of the boat on a little platform and 
uses the flour and roe as required. When the fish have come toward the surface 
and are on one side or the other of the net his object is to cast the bait in such a way 
that they will rush against the net and become gilled. 
Considerable skill and experience are of course necessary in managing the net 
and in having it hang properly in the water and not become folded or wavy owing to 
currents or tide. Unless the net is straight or gently curved, the fish will see and 
avoid it. When a net contains fish and is ready for hauling, it is taken in the boat 
and the fish are removed from the meshes by gently shaking the net or by hand. 
The fish are put in a compartment in the bottom of the boat. When large catches 
are made other receptacles are provided. 
In summer fishing, when sardines are abundant, the fishermen often let one net 
go adrift when it is full of fish, trusting to pick it up later, and put out another net. 
Indeed, a boat may have fish in three nets at one time, though this is rarely the case. 
The sardines are often found in a more or less compact body, and the boats will 
be concentrated in a comparatively small area, at times so close together that the 
operation of the nets would seem almost impossible and the chance of catching fish 
very improbable. The entire fleet of a given port — consisting of several hundred 
boats — may be at work on one school and fishing literally en masse instead of indi- 
vidually. This is shown in a measure in the upper figure of plate 2. 
No ice or other preservative is used on the fish, which are landed a short time 
after gilling. The fish reach port in good condition, and are often at the canneries 
within one or two hours after capture. Should the failure or unfavorable direction 
of the wind threaten to delay the arrival of the boats, and hence impair the quality of 
the fish, the crews row leisurely back to port. 
Soon after reaching port the nets are spread for drying, being hauled to the top 
of the masts and suspended between them for this purpose. When all the fleet has 
arrived and the nets are spread, the view of the maze of blue nets, sails, and masts is 
most interesting and unique. 
