Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-07-09

wAKEMAN,s wANDERINGs.

WAKEMAN,S wANDERINGS.
Penzance and Round About-Pilchel
Fishing and Curing-ssWIping tn,
Shoe,,-Curious Cornish Suspicion
and Generosity-The Region Abou
Penzance-St. MichaePs Bay anS
| Mount.
PENzANcE, Cornwall, July 2.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
Before leaving the ancient Cornish sea
port of st. Ives my friendship with tn,
fsherfolk of the town led to the gaining
of much interesting information regard
ing the famous pitcher fishery of the bay
Brief reference was made in my preced
ing article to the coming of the shoals, tn,
character of the fish, which is very simi
lar to the diminutive Esstport (Me.) her
rings packed as sardines and given French
labels in that enterprising Yankee port
and the genuine sardine of Biscsyan wa.
GUS operations of the "huers" or watchers
and the universal excitement in st. Ives
when a shoal Is sighted.
Seines from one to two thousand feet
long are used for impounding the shoals.
They are carried in a large boat called the
seine-boat, worked by from eight to ten
men with oars. No sails are used. The
seine-b boat is attended by two smaller
boats called "towbvats," which carry
smaller nets called thwart or stop nets,
while these towboats are followed by still
another tender, rowed by strong hands,
and used for carrying men between the
larger boats or to and from the shore, as
circumstances may require.
| When the watchers upon the heights
| signal the order to shoot, both the seine
boat and the thwartboat start from the
same point From the former the seine is
cast around the fish on the outside, form
| ing large segment of a circle. From the
thwartbost this stop net is thrown, form
| ing sort of continuation of the circle,
| but the follower remains at the point of
| departure to prevent the fish from passing
through the opening between the ends of
the two nets.
As soon as the seine is shot the work of
the "blowsers" begins. Twenty to forty
of these take the warp or line at its shore
end, attach it to huge capstan and begin
drawing it inshore. At the same time an
other line called the towrope is carried
from the opposite extremity, and with this
the men in the seine boat warp the net in
ward. The nets, with the fab inclosed OF
penned in, are now brought near enough
to land to be out of the tides way and are
safely moored.
Gathering in or taking up the fish is
called "tucking." When the tide is low
the seine-boat is utilized within the
| moored seine, and has on board what is
called "tucknet." With this the fish are
scooped from the wriggling shoal and
brought 80 near the surface that they may
be dipped out of the sea in a basket.
Boatload after boatload is thus taken, un-
| til enough are secured to be handled in the
curing process between one low tide and
another, and when the shoals are large a
week of night and day work is often re-
quired.
"Tucking" at night is always an inter
esting and often a brilliant scene in st.
Ives bay; the boats Fastening to and fro,
the oals sparkling with phosphorescence
at every sturdy stroke; the subdued yet
eager activity of the fishermen as they
plunge their baskets into the water to raise
at each dip a stream of quivering silver;
| and the busy streets where the labor never
| ceases so long as the shosl holds out; and
then old st. Ives hanging like ragged mis-
tletoe from the heights above, with the
terrace lights like flashing tiara, are all
worth storing away among the pleasant
| pictures of the memory.
| From the boats the pilchsrds are taken
| to the cellars and storehouse in "gurries." F"
| These are square vessels like open boxes,
i I'll L GoI,
| salted in bulk, that is, they are built into
| huge piles, in alternate layers of fish and
salt. All this work is done by women and
| girls, who are quite as powerful in all ne
| cessary handling and carrying as the men,
and far more dexterous.
The fish are allowed to remain in bulk
for thirty or forty days. During this time
vast amount of "pickle" and oil drains
away, finding its way into receptscles
| fish are washed perfectly clean in huge
troughs, when they are put with great
nicely and in regular layers into casks,
locally called "hoghesds," of fifty-twc gal
Ions each. They are then subjected to
| strong pressure for a week, causing anoth-
| er large flow of oil, after which they are
headed up and are ready for expectation
to Mediterranean ports.
These st. Ives curers are the wives,
daughters and sweethearts of the st. Ives
| fishermen, brawny of arm, stout of frame.
among the cleanest of women at home,
not given to the unrapeatable billingsgate
of the Thsmes-side fshwives; and they get
more pleasure out of their neighbc-ly
"teas" and their Wesleyan prayer meetings
than is secured out of any manner of di-
version by any other lowly women know.
But despite the prayer meetings they enjoy
their rough larks and play, which are usu-
ally the source of discontinue to some
man of their own kind who has been
caught at some unforgivable pecadillo, or
some "oopstart" stranger whom they dear
ly love to "hustle" for awhile and then
treat to O bath in the harbor or within
some convenient vat of 'pickle" and oil.
Indeed, throughout all Cornwall all wo-
men who work at mans labor in gangs to-
gether, like these st. Ives fsherwives and
the "bal girls" or mining pit brow lasses,
seem to have a penchant for treating any
man who has secured their dislike in &c
rough way that it often merges upon
brutality.
Among their immemorial customs none
is more rigidly adhered to or more likely
to make trouble to q supercilious stranger
than the one among the st. Ives ishwive,
| of "wiping the shoe" If you by chance
step into one of these huge fish curing eel
lars. where from fifty to one hundred St
| Ives hshwomen are at work, their shfll
clack and clatter of voices are instantly
J hushed. Some substantially built middl,
aged woman advances to you and without
a word gives the toe of one of your shoe.
| a quick wipe with q bit of old rag filled
J with oil. That is all there is to "wipinl
the SHOE" If you Immediately RESPOND
with q half crown, or even q shilling
This is counted as paying your reckon
ing for satisfying your curiosity, and tn
, proceeds go into q common fund. If yol
fail to at once furnish the gratuity, yol
are suddenly surrounded and roughl..
, 'hustled," in the meantime coming ii
, contact with rough knuckles and hard el
bows, which these fshwives know how t
a savsgely handle, and You are certain to q
! last land in the bay or the more disagreea
i BILE 'tpickle'' and oil vat.
1t is not more than eight miles acros
from st. Ives bay on the north to Mount
\ bay on the south of the Cornish penin
= sula. On the latter stands Penzance, an,
q | setting forth in that direction 1 foun'
= that just beyond St. Earth the highway
! diverged. Being in doubt as to the righ
y one, / approached q group of miner
cottages for inquiry and secured anothe
illustration, among hundreds that hav
y come to my notice in Cornwall, of tn
!, = ineradicable suspicion which possesse
the Cornish intellect regarding all thing
. which seem tc SAVIOR of Inconsistency, q
= we'll as unhesitsting hospitality and ger
q erosity, even when the object of the sam
seems to the Cornishman to be wholly a
unworthy one.