34 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
“loughtak” iii piles, then rudely but rapidly scraping, with blunt knives or stone flensers, the hair 
off in large patches at every stroke; the skin is then air-dried, being stretched on a stout frame, where 
in the lapse of a few weeks it becomes as rigid as a board. Whenever wanted for use thereafter it 
is soaked in water until soft or “green” again, then it is sewed with sinews, while in this -soft 
condition, tightly over the slight wooden frame of the bidarka or the heavier frame ot the bidarrah. 
In this manner all boats and lighters at the island are covered. Then they are air-dried thoroughly 
before oiling, which is done when the skin has become well indurated, so as to bind the ribs and 
keel* as with an iron plating. The thick, unrefined seal oil keeps the water out from 12 to 20 hours, 
according to the character of the hides. When, however, the skin covering begins to “bag in” 
between the ribs of its frame, then it is necessary to haul the bidarrah out and air-dry it again, 
and then re-oil. If attended to thoroughly and constantly, those skin-covered boats are the best 
species of lighter which can be used in these waters, for they will stand more thumping and pounding 
on the rocks and alongside ship than all wooden or even corrugated-iron lighters could endure and 
remain seaworthy.! 
IV.— THE COD AND HALIBUT FLEETS. 
16. The cod vessels . — The cod fishing fleet of the Pacific is fully as varied in the 
characteristics of its vessels as the whaling fleet, and probably more so. A consider- 
able number of'the clipper fishing schooners built in New England have been taken to 
California in past years and utilized for prosecuting the cod fishery of the Pacific. 
Vessels of this class are not engaged in the cod fishery at present. The cod-fishing 
vessels now employed are usually of much greater dimensions than those sailing from 
New England. Large two-masted and three-masted schooners, of types ordinarily 
employed in the merchant marine, are engaged in the cod fishery. They usually act 
simply as freighters. In the spring they carry to Alaska the men and material for 
prosecuting the fishery, and bring back, as occasion requires, the products which are 
obtained by the fishermen, who have stations on shore and fish in dories at a short dis- 
tance from the land. 
Large schooners and barkentines, and an occasional brig or bark, prosecute the 
cod fishery in the Okhotsk Sea. In 1888 only two vessels (the Tremont and Jane A. 
Falkenburg ) were employed in this distant fishery. The barken tine Tremont is 328.31 
tons. On two occasions she has made the passage from the Okhotsk Sea to San Fran- 
cisco in 18 and 21 days, respectively. The last-mentioned passage was made in 1888. 
The barkentine Jane A. Fallcenburg is another of the Okhotsk Sea fleet. She is 295.10 
tons register, 170 feet long, 25 feet beam, and 12 feet deep. 
The three-masted schooner Hera is probably the largest vessel ever employed in the 
American cod fishery. She is 369 tons, has\ two decks, between which are storerooms, 
galley, and ample accommodations for the crew. She carries a crew of 37 men and 
3 boys, has 24 dories and 260 tons of salt when starting on a cod-fishing trip. She has 
brought in a cargo from the fishing banks of 188,000 fish, equal to 300 tons, or 5,360 
quintals of cured cod. Her dimensions are as follows : Length between uprights, 132 
feet; beam, 29 feet; depth of hold, 12 feet. 
The schooner John Hancock , for many years employed in the cod fishery (but which 
was engaged in the coasting trade in 1888), was formerly a naval steamer. She was 
Commodore Perry’s flagship in 1856, when he visited Japan. 
*The use of the word “keel,” quoted in this connection, is not strictly correct, since neither the 
bidarka nor the bidarrah has a keel. Probably the writer had in mind the inside longitudinal frame 
or keelson. 
t “Our Arctic Province,” pages 453, 454. 
