Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-14
.oen ia seldoun found. IWith the maiori-

of man ia seldom found. With the maiori- tv of thenn the season opens in February or March. and codfsh and haddsck from Nantucket shoals, the Block Island grounds, | around Montauk Point, and of Sandy Hook | are brought into Fulton slip by the thou sand. This is the sslive" fish season. As warm weather approaches and it is impos- sibIe to keep the fish in the water, some of | the vessels go into the transportation of | Holsters from eastern ports, and some go 1 to the South and follow the bluefsh up the 1 coast or engage in the eastern pound fish cries but by far, the largest number com tinue codfshing in the deep water of Man. tucket and Block Island, dressing their catches and storing them in ice.
 At 8 rough estimate there are. perhaps three hundred fishing vessels that have oc- casion to 10 to Fulton market many times during a tWelvemonth. This does not in dude transient craft. These vessels are
 manned on an average by six men. The Fulton market dsalers sell all fish on com mission, weighing them and setting Ithe prices themselves. Boston fish dealers buy their fishermenIs cargoes outright, and the latter are allowed to do their own weighing. l This is system which many of the New York fishermen would be clad to see adopted at Fulton market, but it is doubtful
 if that corporation will ever employ such g
 method, for as thsy now conduct the busi- ness fortunes are within their grasp. The average wages paid to the common hands of the Fulton market cod smacks are from $25 l to $50 per month An average load of fish
 is 2,oo0. If sharesman makes $500 out of
 @ seasons fishing he is considered to have done remarkably well. Some of them do
 not clear $500 in whole year.
 A fishing smack is vessel of deep draught of water as compared with her size. In her l center is ''well' for the carrying of live fish, It is this well that gives the vessel 8
 claim to the name of smack, for, although
 a smack may be 8 schooner or sloop, yet a schooner or sloop is not smack unless she
 has we'll. This well is simply water tight box, occupying perhaps one-sixth of the
 vessels space, and made of heavy timber. This box is framed to the bottom of. the
 craft, extends across her amidships, is about
 fourteen feet long, and four or five feet be-
 tween joints. From the top of this box 8 well curb of planking, calked, leads to the
 deck of the vessel. This curb is usually
 about three feet by six. The fish are thrown
 into the well through it, and are scooped out 1 of it into the huge box cars n Fulton market
 slip.
 smack is made of great draught in pro 1 portion to her size, in order to give her kee | Q good hold on smooth water in rough ses
 and to sink the well below the water line o1
 the vessel. Good-sized holes are bored
 through the bottom of the ship into tho
 well in sufficient number to insure a perfec
 circulation of water through that compart
 ment and thus preserve the lives of the yes
 sells cargo, for in the Hive -fshing' seaso1
 three thousand and, in very cold weather ! even five thousand good-sized cod ar' brought to market in the well, being a times so crowded that if 8 long pole b. showed down through the curb to the bottom , of the well the mass of fish will keep it in al ! upright position. well, however, is oftel i, overcrowded, particularly in the early fal !. when the water has not yet attained lo1 . temperature. Dozens of smacks bound t Fulton market from Block Island or Nan l tucket shoals have found their fish dying b . the hundreds as their vessel approached NeN !, York through the warm waters of Long k . . land Sound. The only course left is to crow ! on sail, clear the well as closely g ,, possible of the dead and dying and invok |. | the aid of the nearest tugboat. Frequently U even with all these precautions. the mai :. . portion of the cargo is transferred to th ' more spacious quarters of the box cars, onl to die in 8 few hours from distemper. Wit 7 ! the fall fishermen at Sandy Hook the loss c 5 fish from o1ercrowding seldom occurs, fo 2 the vessels, being kept from the fshin . banks much of the time by storms, are s near their market that they fud it conves ient to run in frequently and put eat the n l catches.