80 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
rule they were heavily rigged, aud were extremely unsafe in the severe gales to which 
they were frequently exposed. Many foundered at sea, going down with all their 
crews, and the loss of life and property was often appalling. The very general belief 
that this type of vessel was the best for speed led to its general adoption, speed being 
an important factor in nearly all of the ocean fisheries. 
As early, however, as 1882 the IT. S. Fish Commission called attention to the 
faults of this form and rig of fishing vessels, and a change was vigorously urged 
through the publication of letters in the newspapers printed in fishing towns. 
Later, in 1886, the Fish Commission schooner Grampus was built on new lines. She 
was a marked innovation on the prevailing ideas concerning the building of fishing 
vessels, being deeper, and also less broad and fiat in her after section. It is to the 
credit of those interested to say that they soon saw the advantage of having safer 
and swifter vessels, and since the date last mentioned the most radical changes have 
occurred in form and rig. The very best talent has been brought to the work of de- 
signing fishing craft, and it is safe to assume that at present no other country has a 
fleet of sailing fishing vessels so swift or so beautiful as those recently turned out from 
the shipyards of New England, while their seaworthiness has been correspondingly im- 
proved. Already the old type is rapidly being superseded by the new, and the change 
will probably be quite complete in a few years in those branches of fishery where 
speed and seaworthiness are specially important factors. As a result, not only will 
there be a marked reduction in loss of life and property by vessels foundering at sea, 
but the fisheries will be vastly benefited by having vessels so much swifter than those 
formerly , employed . 
Mention may appropriately be made of the introduction of the cutter rig on small 
craft. Until recently the schooner rig has been practically universal north of Cape 
Cod, but within the past three or four years a few vessels of about 15 or 18 tons have 
been rigged as cutters or sloops with what is commonly called a double-head rig. 
These craft have been built on flue lines, and have in some cases been so swift that yachts 
have been copied after them. 
The number and tonnage of the vessels of different rigs employed in the fisheries 
of each New England State are shown in the next table, the vessels fishing and those 
transporting being given separately. The special facts disclosed by the table are: 
(1) the great preponderance of the schooner in the New England States as a whole, 
and especially in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; (2) the employment of 
ships, barks, and brigs only in the fisheries of Massachusetts; (3) the relatively large 
number of steam vessels in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and (4) the restriction of 
the cat rig to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The proportion of each rig is as fol- 
lows: Schooners, 78.21 per cent: sloops, 11.09 per cent; steamers, 5.71 per cent; barks 
2.46 per cent; cats, 1.95 per cent; ships, 0.32 per cent, and brigs, 0.26 per cent. The 
square-rigged vessels are all employed in the whale fishery, the steamers chiefly in the 
menhaden and oyster industries; sloops have always been in more general favor in 
Connecticut than elsewhere; the cat-rigged vessels are small, generally only a little 
more than 6 tons each, and what are commonly called boats. The almost universal 
adoption of the schooner rig for fishing purposes is well known and emphasizes its 
fitness for American waters. 
