Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-10-14
DEEP SEA FISHING.
More Peril Than Sport Where
Big Catches Are Made.
Racing for Market through $500
Miles Of Thick Fog and Ieebergs.
A Life Full Of Danger. With Small Gain to the
Common Fisherman.

A Lie Full Of Danger, With Small Gain to tn,
Common Fisherman.
GLorcEsrER, Mass, Oct. i3.-Fishins
for pleasure and for business are very diff
ferpnt things, as any one may suppose
Here il is done mainly for business \
more perilous, daredevil life is not led any
where in the world than BY the Gloucester
fishermen II is said that i soldier at the
front has seven chances of escape agains,
one of the man who goes to the fishing
banks for living. One hfe per week has
( been the average tribute TO the fisheries
7 from the homes of Gloucester for a century.
This years loss so far is light last years VI as
81 men. sc in 1890, 1876 in 1856. l3l in 1884
and 2o9 in 1883. In 1885 only 35 lives
were demanded. That was the lowest tax
in any year for a generation. The sacrifice
of life since 1880 has been 1924 men.
There are seasons for fish. but fishing
goes on all the year. Boats 20 out from
this port for cod every month. The hall
but season lasts about half year and the
season for mackerel frcm three to six
months When boats 90 to the banks the
schooner rig is usually employed. Shoe
fishing Is done in sloops and small light
boats and occupies fishermen only part of
the year.
The light boats keep nearly always close
to the coast, and are busiest when cod and
haddoek come in To feed. II is more like
sport to fish in light boats than in heavy
ones, for the fishermen can get home easily,
being seldom more than days sail away.
When the big fellows go out, there is no
telling when they will return.
Some of them 90 to the shores of Iceland,
others to the Gulf of st. Lawrence. At
certain times of the year they cruise south
as far as Hatteras, and their eastward
range extends anyw here from 100 to 800
miles off shore. There are certain fish
ing grounds which are sought at stated
times by vessels going out from Glouces-
ter. 1t thus happens that over certain
area of sea in the fishing season the boats
are engaged 10 fleets rather than singly. If
the catch should be good the prime object
of the fishermen Is to reach market as soon
as possible. The first boat home is the one
to get the best price for its fish.
Whenever a large fleet is engaged. the
last boat home might almost as well not
have gone to the banks at all. The mar
ket is flooded By that time and prices have
dropped low as hardly to pay for the
trouble of catching the fish. Consequently
it is always a race home from the fishing
banks for the fishermen. They pay no
heed to the weather when they have fish
aboard and start for market. Every inch of
sail they have is crowded on and is kept out
through the thiekest of fog and the most
terrific of gales.
A good portion of the mortality among
fishermen has come from wreck on the
way home. Sometimes disaster has re-
suited from collision with other boats and
sometimes with meeting icebergs well out
to sea. Only few weeks ago a fleet of
vessels fishing for halibut OFT the coast of
Iceland completed their work there and
started home Two of the largest boats
were very well matched, and sharp rivalry
existed between them to see which would
get home first. They put on all sail and
left the fishing ground together for the
home port, $500 miles away.
One of them came into the harbor here
and reported bad weather all the way down
the coast with heavy fog, high winds and
icebergs. from which the boat had several
narrow escapes Nothing was
ever heard of the other. The rest of the
fleet came trailing home several days
behind the leader and had to dis
pose of their fish the best they could in
falling market. There was difference of
about 3 cents per pound in the prices OBJ
tanned by the first boat and those that came
last. This made big difference with boats
carrying from 200 to 800 tons of fish.
Cod fishing is the steady industry of the
Gloucester boats The range of this fish
is from the Arctic sea to Chesapeake bay
and from the breakers along shore to from
80 to 30 miles out. In the early spring fish
ing on the spawing grounds is very profita-
BILE Some of the boats come into port
with record of catches averaging 400
pounds daily to a man. Shore fishermen
who go for cod along in the feeding grounds
at about the same season often bring in
hauls of fish averaging more than 200
pounds per man. The cod lives in water
at temperature ranging from 80 degrees
to " degrees. seeking the shadows in win
ter and the depths in summer. In August
and September there is fishing for cod over
a range 100 miles long.
The largest fish are caught with the trawl.
Boats 90 to the banks for them at this time
of year At the Georges bank, the favorite
fishing ground for cod just now, the best
fish are found, the meat being whittier and
less fibrous than in cod found anywhere
else. Any good fisherman by looking at
the meat of cod can usually tell where it
was caught. The color and fibre of cod
at the New foundland banks are much darker
and coarser than cod caught
off the Gulf of st. Lawrence. There is
something in the feeding grounds at
Georges which seems to make better fish
for food purposes than anywhere else. At
anv rate, this is no doubt true in regard to
cod.
Fishermen sometimes have TO pay dear
for trying to bring superior food to market.
A gale on Georges Banks Is certain to
carry death with it. The water there is
shallow and always rough and the current
is very swift When fog settles down or
high winds come boats very often drag their
anchors, and nothing can stand in the way
of heavy schooner let loose among fleet
in gale at this fishing ground. The travis
wkh which fish are caught need to be
heavily weighted in order to remain on
bottom as the fishermen intend Otherwise
the current would wash them out
People who fish for sport may he sur
prised to know that the men who fish for
business IUliN BhilpNt tAAt Hsn tau I've
drowned. Travis are set early in the MORN
ing aud taken in at night. Old fishermen
say that fish that are caught in the travis
soon after they are set often die before the
travis are hauled up, and that they die
from drowning. Some Of them go so far
as to claim that there is difference in the
taste. the ish caught on trawl and
drowned being much less palatable than the
fish caught on line and hauled into the
boat at once.
Cod fishermen find strange things in the
stomachs of cod It is not at all uncom-
mon for clam shells to be there. The list
of things found il a long one. Among
them may be mentioned dolls heads, scis-
sors. brass oileans. corn cohs, finger rings.
boot heels and scraps of clothing. There
is a well-authenticatei story Of the loss of
a wedding ring in the wreck Of the Pauline
Burnham off Chance Cove, Newfoundland,
in 1861. A reward of ESQ was advertised
for the return of the ring Some years
later. after the death of the owner, the ring
was found in Goldfish caught by Nova
Scotia fisherman, and was ,inly returned to
tie owners son, who paid the reward.
Stones are frequently found in the storn-
aeEls of cod. and many fishermen believe
that they are swallowed for ballast. The
probability is that they are taken by the cod
together with some form Of animal life, and
As the result of accident rather than inten-
ton. Georges and Cape God fish are the