Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-10-07
TONS OF FISH BAIT.
CATCHING MENHADEN OFF The
COAST or NEW ENGLAND.


Pitching his voice high the lookout at
the masthead of the menhaden steamer
shouts out gleefully: "A SCHOOL, a
,choolr' and immediately all Is ouslie
and excitement on board.
..As this is q new experience 10 you.
.ir, you shall nave seat with me In my
boat"
THANK you, captain; am only too
eager to see the fun.
The crews now take their places IN the
,eine boats, while two OF the party,
known as drivers, go out in advance In
little thirteen foot boats to learn the
direction In which the school Is moving
and to mark out its size. The jolly cap
tain--a true type Of the traditional Cape
Colder, square built. sturdy, genial, MS
face brouxed by years Of exposure to
sunshine and sea breezes and very intel
ligent withal-takes his place at the in
zide bow oar in one of the seine boats,
and the mate q corresponding position IN
the other, and by the time they reach
the school the drivers describe the move
ments Of the fish.
They now begin throwing out the
seine, each boat going in an opposite d.
raction around the school, the drivers In
the meantime splashing the water to
keep the fish from escaping. Soon the
boats meet, and all hands now pull at
the purse line. the net and cork line
The steamer is brought alongside, and
after the fish are driven well together
the net is fastened to the steamers side
and they are baled into the hold by
means Of q large dip net run by dom
key engine.
The NEXT thing on the programme Is
to prepare the menhaden for sailing, to
be used as bait-for which there is great
demand. This is simple process. but
to me its novelty invests it with partic-
ular interest. The head Of the fish is
taken in the left hand Of the workman,
and with peculiarly shaped knife held
in the right hand he cuts slice. longi-
tudinally, from each side of the body,
leaving the head and vertebrB to be
thrown away or occasionally to be
pressed for oil. The sliyers are salted
and packed in barrels.
This opening act of the days drama
ended, Captain Williams invites me to
accompany him into the cabin, and the
jolly skipper there entertains me with
some interesting points about the fishery.
"It's queer how many different names
the menhaden is known by" observes
the skipper. Fact is, it has more ali
asses than veteran criminal-more nick
names than there we.e colors to Joseph's
coat Besides the more common name
of menhaden it is known as pogy, bony-
fish, mossbunker. hardhead, whitetish,
bunker. oldwife. bugfish, cheboy. ell
wife, alewife, fatback, greentail. wife
and yellowtail shad. It's about as long
as the common sea herring. but is deep
er and more robust looking. Its aver
age length is from twelve to fifteen
inches. hardly need tell you that it is
valuable as bait fish, it excelling all
others as such; that as food resource
it is thought to have great qualities;
that its chief value is as fetilizer and
and that it is also valuable for the oil
and scrap produced by cooking and
pressing them.
For illustration, here are some min
utes made in my memorandum book
in regard to what was done in the year
1890. which was fair representative sea-
son. That year the total weight of the
catch was 5000 pounds-equivalent to
about 00,000,000 menhaden in number.
Pretty big army, Ell? Quantity of oil pro-
duced, 2,O66,396 gallons, and of guano
6S,904 tons, having total value Of
s., 034, 641. Capital invested in steamers,
ETC., and their outfit and in factories,
s., &c., S41. As compared with previous
years, however, the yield of oil was
small"
About how long, captain, does the
catching season last?'
"Well, you see, as soon as the men
haden make their appearance in the
spring. vessels start in pursuit of EN-.
and continue capturing 'em till they dis
appear in the fall. From the menhaden
oil and guano factories along the south
ern coast of New England, New York
and New Jersey shores, the fleets of
steam and sail vessels begin their cruises
early in May, chasing the fish along the
shores and in the sounds, wherever thew
can be found. The vessels seldom cruise
more'n ten or fifteen miles from land.
The total area of the ground is estimated
ut $3.50 square geographical miles.
line average steamer is about the size
Of this one. That's to say, some 10 toms
measurement, 80 feet long, II feet beam
II feet depth of hold and seven feet
draft aft and costs $4,000 1t costs not
far from $1,000 a month for wages. fuel
and provisions to run it. Like this beat.
they are screw steamers and are rugged
with one mast ard. which is fitted
with a crane for taking in the catch.
The mems quarters are in the for'castle
Ihe flsh are stored in bulk in the hold.
Inc engine house, as you see, is astern
the main hatch, with coal bunkers opcn-
ing on deck each side. All of 'em have
htted to the bulwarks on either aide
near the stern. cranes for the boats. end
towing chocks are set in the deck a,
either quarter aft. The hold or tank for
storing the fish is water tight. There
are some steamers engaged in the fishery
winch are more'n 100 feet long, carving
from twenty-seven to thirty men and
cost sao'ooo and upward. Most of the
steamers carry four seine boats.
since steamers have come into yogn.
the factories have greatly increased
lheir facilities for handling large catch
es. The first factory could work nm
only Few hundred barrels day. while