Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-06-17

UP. so that a handsome fare. of fish
may sometimes be taken in q few
hours, although the yeSs Il may almost
Immediately after be driven off the
ground by the storm.
The men handle the travis with
great dexterity. The smack is an
chored, and the fishing wineries put
out filled with the "gear" to be
"wet.." Each boat is managed by
man who rows off from the vessel TIL
he is lost to view in the ever-present
fog. The spinning tide, another ever
present feature OF Nantucket shoals,
soon carries him well aStern of the
smack. and then he casts over his
trawl buoy and lets down the head an
chor. taking care 10 have his sheath
knife ready in case of accidents, for
the fouling of the trawl, which IS fly
ing out of the boat as she is borne
away on the tide, would upset the
light craft as quickly as a fash fof
lightning. The fisherman throws The
trawl out with his right hand, using
his thumb and forefinger or ST *.
His strong arm keeps shower OF &c
and baited hooks in the air e.. e
time until the bottoms of the ss,E
reached. when he throws over ~ -
anchor, to which his boat ~
moored, and then calmly Seating
self in the stern, two mileS\trom II -
smack in the cherries fog, he unwinds
a heavy halibut line with ten-pJund
sinkeT, and whites away the time in
the hope of taking one or two of these
fish. 1t is in still, lonely and exposed
positions, when cold winds and Seeth-
ing tides make the iisherman'S life one
of dreariness, attended with constant
danger, that tobacco comes to his so ace.
All the fishermel chew and smoke
without stint By-and-bye the tide
slackens and turns off at right angles,
preparatory to running with its accuS-
toned violence in the opposite direc-
ton. A blast from horn or a shot
from a gun on board the smack warns
the fisherman that it is slack water
and time to haul on the traWl. He
heaves up his anchor, and works with
will, coiling away his trawl as he
takes it in. Then, no matter how cold
the day is, nothing but warmth OF
body is felt, for the mind is bent
wholly on what the draHing of the
lottery will bring forth. Sometimes
the hooks, as far as the eye can see
under water, come up laden with hand
some cod, haddOck, pollock, and occa-
sionally halibut. Every hook gene
rally has something, for it is poor bot
tom indeed that cannot furnish even
a conger eel, a "kriss konnere" or
dogfish. Beautiful spOnges and shells
come to the surface. together with all
the varied brio brac of the bottom of
the sea, for trawl is a perfect scav-
enger, picking up rocks and
delaying work, SO that the tide begins
to run strongly again, and the boat
man has TO cut loose and pull for his
life to reach the smack. A horn is
kept blowing on the vessel till all
the boats have returned from their
mornings work. Then dinner is eaten,
gears are re-baited, fish are dressed,
and the "set " in the afternoon is re-
peated. Boats are occasionally lost in
this fishing, and men who have missed
their smacks have been picked up by
merchant vessels far out to sea. The
work goes on increasingly until fare
of fish is caught, and then comes the
welcome order to take to the boat5.
All hand aEe~> out the sails witPe3
will, eve nch OF caAnya~ l;S. sprad
the reid bf slaughter are scSrnDedy
from tin decks, and the vessel isl
washed Il stem to stern.
The tri p to Fulton market begins.
and in fw hours the flying craft
runs clear the Jog AGA sSlnto ely
ilized weaeEef once d 1aEing
passages and the week in en-. b ork
are the fishermen's halcyo-. (which
he more than pays for ~. p encoun-
tering the dangers Drm, tide,
shoals and coll sions ont Ie eyer-shift-N
ing shoals of Nantucket.
The Cowboys Toy.