196 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Vessels sometimes run into New York without a. tug, but the large number of 
vessels in the lower and upper bay and harbor makes the passage unsatisfactoiy 
and even dangerous. A short distance below the city the Ashing vessels usually 
leave their boats at the ice houses built to supply this Ashery and make arrangements 
for taking ice aboard on their return from market. The average sized vessel carries 
10 tons of ice, valued at about $2.50 a ton. The vessels are accustomed to stop at 
the docks near Fulton Market, where the dealers act as agents for the Ashermen in 
selling the Ash, charging 12^ per cent commission on gross sales. At the time of the 
suspension of the Ashery iii 1887 about 75 or 80 per cent of the business was in the 
hands of three dealers. Owing to the perishable nature of the Ash, and the great 
importance to the Ashermen of being on the lishiug-grounds, the vessels are unloaded 
with all possible haste, half of the crew being employed in the hold in counting the 
Ash into baskets and half carrying the Ash from the A^essel to the dealers’ stalls or to 
the carts of peddlers; the captain and the agent of the dealer remain on the deck and 
keep an account of the Ash as they are landed. 
The Arst fresh mackerel are usually landed in New York during the Arst week in 
A])ril; fares have, however, been brought in as early as March 22. When once the 
Ashery has regularly begun, the vessels arrive in quick succession, and in fifteen or 
twenty days the Ashery is at its height. The Ashery continues without special change 
until the 15th or 20th of May, when a part of the Aeet withdraws from this branch, 
returns home, and reAts for the summer Ashing. By June 1 the Ash have gone as far 
north and east as Block Island, and the season at New York is over, the vessels 
taking fresh Ash after that time usually landing them in Boston. 
The Ash are always sold by number and not by weight. The price naturally 
varies with the supply, size, and season. During the few years elapsing before the 
suspension of the Ashery, the Arst Ash to arrive usually brought about 10 cents each. 
When the market has been glutted, the price has fallen to a ridiculously low Agure, 
sometimes only 50 cents a thousand. Beference is made elsewhere to large quantities 
thrown away in 1885 on account of an oversupply. 
It is somewbat singular that, although New York has always controlled the trade 
in fresh spring mackerel, that city has never had a vessel engaging in the Ashery. The 
Ashery has been carried on wholly by New England vessels, which go south for a lim- 
ited period in the spring, then reAt with barrels and salt in i>lace of bins and ice, cruise 
for mackerel on the New England shore, the coast of Nova Scotia, and in the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, landing a certain part of the catch fresh in Boston, Gloucester, and 
Portland when taken sufficiently near port to warrant it. 
THE FISHERY IN 1885, 1886, AND 1887. 
The history of this Ashery during the two or three years immediately preceding 
its suspension is of very great interest to Ashermen, legislators, and others, and 
may be appropriately referred to at some length in this place. While most of the 
information that can bo given has already become a matter of history, and is well 
known to the Ashing interests, it is chieAy to the results of the Ashery during these 
years that one must look for the reasons which Anally led to the suspension of the 
business by Congress. 
In 1885 the Aeet started south at the usual time. The schooner Mollie Atlams^ of 
Gloucester, sailed March 4, which is reported to be the earliest recorded date for the 
beginning of this Ashery. On March 28 the Arst fares of fresh Ash were landed in 
