The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-21

schoopers, anchored on the banks, in
| yawls and dories to take cod with single
lines. The Newhaven men, ON arriving at
the grounds, float and anchor; that il,
they sail lazily at about the rate of four OF
| i've miles an hour, reefing their ''lug''
sails according to the wind, away from the
anchored end Of cod line. which is al
hooks are twenty-one feet apart, and three
buoys only, one at each end, with q center
buoy, each surmounted BY red or black
flag, are used for the entire line-length.
The work is usually begun after midnight
at snch time az will enable the crew to
| "Jock" lights, famboyants, and ordinary
flash lights are used; and the effect with a
large fleet, on a moonless night, 10 az
though innumerable sea volcanoes were
sending forth. in regular pulsation, tiny
flashes of flame. Four men are required to
with herring, and one .'pays OUT the line.
In ''haddockin' -. seven men comprise q
boats crew, and each man owns q line to
which are attached eighty four
score OF hooks, forty.two inches
lines s0 constitute ass long Elect. aes of Gas
the total length of which is more than
seven and one-half miles! As the paddock
boats make three trips week to sea,
and paddock hooks are baited with mus
sells, which are gathered along the shores
Of the Firth, unused. gathering, :" done by
batting add largely to the earnings Of the
fshermen's wives. BY an interchangeable law
the wives and daughters of each had
dockin' crew. bait the crews lines, receiv-
ing three shillings sixpence per line, OF
twenty-four shiliings sixpence, per "aeet;''
these cannot favor their sweethearts with
the labor. but must give it to the women
folk of their married companions: The
paddock elect of lines is Shot just as
the day is breaking. As they snap and
fly like whip-cords into the sea, many
mans hand. But this does not put them
sair about" as they cheerily answer you.
while drawing the savage barbs from their
flesh with their teeth. The paddock lines
are not permitted to remain under water
but half an hour, and are scarcely ever
| All the herring taken by Newhaven fish
ermen are sold for fresh consumption in
Edinburgh and its suburbs, the greater
portion hawked as "Caller (fresh) her
ring!'by the Newhaven fish-w wives themselves.
Quest for these delicious fish is made in
posite Newhaven itself to the open sea be-
You'd the famous Bass rock, the 'season"
continuing from July IS, to the 7th of Sep
TENDER. If the boats are going long
distance, they depart at day-break, if but
fifty or sixty miles, they leave at noon.
ture against the dark emerald background
of the bold Fifeshire hills to the north.
Each boat carries a fleet of from fifty to
sixty nets. each net about sixty yards long
and eighteen yards in width, and the crew
of each boat as it passes out to sea are en-
slowing away the nets in the hold ready for
paying out on arrival at the fishing grounds.
Here they drift with the tide until the in
slant the 'sun ta' ks tn hill,' that is, the
moment it begins to disappear behind the
horizon. The Joined nets, which are pro-
yided with buoys every forty yards, are then
are hoisted that the little craft, which con-
tinues to drift with the tide, may not be
run down by passing channel steamers;
supper is had; and all, save one lookout,
turn in to their hunks for sleep until two
O'Clock in the morning.
All OF the Newhaven folk live we'll. 1t ls
their boast that not even the gentry excel
them. The women bring from the city a
good many dainties to give variety to the
coarser food; they are noted for cooking
fish and always secure the choicest for their
own homes; and the fishermen, either on
short or long cruises, provide bountiful
locker, as know from personal experience
and enjoyment. At every breakfast we
we're furnished boiled or mashed potatoes,
ham and eggs, or fish, salt or fresh, white
bread from the Edinburgh bakeries, and
dinner appeared that universal comfort of
the Scotch lowly kail-brose or cabbage
broth, great platters of duff and syrup,
mountains or boiled beef and potatoes and
more floods of tea. At supper there were
fresh Or sailed herring. oat-cakes, cheese
was bountiful supply of good butter; and
if one became hungry between meals there
was always toothsome smack of cold
| fish or cold boiled beef with mammoth
| Chunks of bread, and hearty welcome to
boot.
Newhaven people are best seen during the
daily market hours between seven and nine
by sea wall, with sides 500 feet long, for
ever covered with drying nets and gear, has
only one little entrance; but into this have
come perhaps half a hundeed boat-loads
of fish. As many more boats are floating
fishermen viii be seen; and these are e rest st.
| ing contentedly from their nights labor at
sea. The remainder have gone home and
| ''turned in" for good sleep. The women
relieve them of all responsibility the mo-
ment the boats are docked. They even go
SO far as to carry the purse and dole out
| what Jack or Sandy shall spend while
ashore. The fish have been got out of the
boats and are ranged in boxes, which hold
about 100 pounds each, in the open space of
curious old Main street, fronting the har-
Dor. In this will be seen more than thou
sand people, 600 or 700 of whom are fish
wives, the remainder comprising hucksters,
| children, curious tourists, rifraff from Edin-
burRh and a half dozen blatant auctioneers.
These get sixpence per pound sterling value
on sales. All fish are sold outright to the
highest bidder for cash; and if the wives
of an entire boats crew should be sellers of
fish they must purchase their fish in the
open market. precisely the same as any
other huckster who may come to buy. The
best prices are secured at an early hour;
getting to the guidwives of Edinburgh be-
fore breakfast time, being counted an ad-
vantage. There are innumerable odd
characters buying here besides the
fishwives-weazened old men with
hand baskets, women and men with dom
keys and carts smaller than themselves,
saucy lads and saucier lasses, bareheaded,
barelegged and brave in their strength and
why's. But for 300 years, just as it will be
with those who come after them as long as
Newhaven, Edinburgh and the Firth of
Forth are here. the fishwives have been
those who, undisturbed and unruffled by
time and change, trundle daily away from
Nowhayan niar with pina-tentha of all the