The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-05-24
Shad and Herring Fishing in the Upper
Chesapeake.

Mr.. j. z. Matthews, one of the editors of the
Baltimore american, recently paid visit TO the
Old Bay fishing shore, near lIavre de Grace, and
pleasantly relates the manner in which shad and
herring are taken in the head waters of Chesa
peakc Bay. Hauling with the seines one or two
miles long, although profitable few years ago.
when fish were more abundant, has been aban-
doned by nearly all the leading fishermen, who
have established themselves on "loats" near the
middle of the Bay, two miles below Havre dc
Grace. The floats are thus described:
These insular structures are called floats, be-
cause they rise and fall with the water, although
they are firmly held in their places, and have no
motion except as they are raised or depressed by
the flow or cbb of the tide which is so gradual
as not to be perceptible. Four strong upright
beams, called ''grousers," are driven down into
the bottom of the river, and are allowed to pro-
ject ten or twelve feet above the water These
are the anchors of the float, and they are placed
at a distance from each other corresponding TO
the size of the structure which they are to sup
port. The float owned by Messrs. A. Il. Brown
" Co., proprietors of the Old Bay Shore, is 15G
feet long by 81 in width. First there is IL sort of
raft $50 feet long made Of logs, 81 feet in length
laid cross.wise. On top of these are spliced logs
$50 feet long, and laid lengthwise. The logs are
securely fastened at their intersections
with strong iron bolts, about five tons of two
inch iron rods being used in this part of the
work This raft or float is moorcd to The upright
posts already described and the fastenings are SO
adjusted AS to permit it to rise and fall with the
tide. The water at this point in the river at mean
low tide is about six feet deep, and when at this
stage the logs of the float arc within about three
feet of the bottom.
On top of the raft are three water-tght scows
about tive feet in depth, which cover a good deal
of its surface, and form what may be described
as the body of the structure. The scows are
securely boted to the logs of the RATS, and are
laid over with floor of strong oak planks.-
This is the deck Of the float, and corresponds in
dimensions with the underlying raft. On the
| cast side there is a swinging platform called an
"apron," made of twoinch Stats, laid half an
inch apart, which extends from the deck some
thirty or forty feet out into the water, the free
end resting on the bottom This partly submerg-
cd inclined plane is the shore on which the seine
is landed, and the men stand upon ii while they
draw the writing mass of imprisoned fish up the
gentle slope, and snugly land them on the deck.
All the space on deck not required for the land
ing of the seine is covered with the various build
ings necessary for the lodging of the men and the
proper handling of the fish. To comfortably
dispose of population of tifty-two men and six
horses on floating platform150 feet in length
and 81 feet in width, and leave room for hauling
in the seine, and storing away its contents, is
Il task which nobody but an experienced fisher.
man would undertake
There is a long shed divided into apartments,
one of which is used for cooking another as
dormitory for the men---the hunks being arrang-
cd in perpendicular sections, as in sleeping car,
another as an Office dning-room and dormitory
for the proprietors and clerks another as shad
house, where the newly-taken fish are kept; and
still another where herring are cleaned, sailed
| and packed in barrels for market AT each end
of the float there is stable large enough to
| shelter three horses, and Immediately in front of
these stables are the capsans towhch the horses
are hitched when they draw in the seine. From
this brief mention of the structures on deck il
will be seen that there is not much superiuous
room on fishing float, and that it is intended
as q place for hard, rough work, rather than
pleasure retreat for genteel idlers. Although
the labor is somewhat exciting, and there is the
element OF uncertainty about 1t that gives to
games of chance their principal charm, yet peo.
pie who love the comforts and luxuries of life
had better make their homes elsewhere than on
a fishing float.
GIGANTIC NET.
The float being located near the channel,
much shorter seine can be used than when the
shore was the base of operations, and there is no
necessity for dragging IL over so large an area of
river bottom. The seine used at Mr., Browns
float is $50 fathoms Is, eco feeD in length, twenty
feet wide in the middle, and tapers somewhat
towards the ends. 1t is further heightened by
rope $50 feet long attached to the other end, and
q rope 600 feet long attached to the other The
shorter rope is called the Gland wing" because
the end remains fastened to the float; the long
er rope is called the "boat wing" because 1t is
carried around with the seipe, aud is fastened to
the capstan when the boat comes home. The
network of the seine has a stout rope for its ul-
per and lower border. The upper rope has cir
cular pieces of cork fastened TO it at intervals
of two or three feet, which make IL float on the
water; the lower rope, having no buoyancy,
drops to the bottom, thus stretching the net,
and keeping it in u nearly perpendicular posi-.
ton.
The correspondent then describes the trips he
made in stanch boat engaged in laying out the
seine, and says:
When the boat made it's circuit and came back