Passaic City record., 1893-10-07

tion to the Government. The hooks
are adapted to halibut fishing.
The lines are strong, made of kelp,
called Nereocystis lutkeana for easy
reference by scientific men. The
hooks are made of two shank of wood,
lashed together at the ends. Iron
barbs are fastened to the end of one
shank and the other shank is rudely
carved in the likeness of fish. Some
of the hooks are made of sharks teeth,
some of splinters and others of hem
lock knots. The materials used are of
the simplest kind. The iron barbs, OF
the sharp teeth, are lashed on with
strips of white cherry. One kind of
line is made of spruce root and is very
durable. The singing gear and the
snood of the more recent halibut fish
ing instruments are made of tarred
cotton. with slot swivels, hemp gang
ings and galvanized iron hooks. By
the aborigines even walrus whiskers
are utilized in the manufacture of
gangings. The sinkers we're made OF
ivory and the lines of strips of whale
bone
A gruff old sea captain from Prov
incetown on Cape Cod stroked his long
gray beard and spent an hour at the
cabinet where was exhibited the lines
and hooks of the old cod-fshers.
Provincetown is the home of homes
for the fishermen of the Atlantic coast.
It is ultima thule of every Goldfish that
swims in Vineyard sound or the bay to
the West, The lines are rough-look-
ing and the hooks are of no recently
improved pattern. But they hook fish.
Captain Lemuel Cook sent line to
the exhibit which he used from 1872
to 1880. He is famous old fisher
man, known from Hyannisport to the
far side of Nantucket. The old man
from Provincetown talked with
strong flavor of Goldfish and his voice
was husky sea voice. He looked with
contempt at the display of silk lines,
nickel-plated sinkers and FURNISHED
hooks. sI tell you what" he said,
ssthar air not SO many Goldfish caught
nowadays as thar was when Lem. Cook
and all of us had our way. Thare air
too many steamships and no easy times
like we used to have
From the single hatch bedarka of
the Alaskan natives, built of drift
wood and covered with the skin of
female sea-liOn, to the new fishing
craft designed by Captain Collins of
the commission, is long step. The
evolution Of the fishing craft is pic
tured in cabinet just south of the
north entrance to the Government
building. The first of the fishing yes
sells which came to America was the
Sparrow Hawk, which met an untimely
end off Cape Cod. She sailed across
the water in 1926, struck q reef and
went to the bottom. Her old hulk,
which had been embedded IN the sands
for nearly two and q half centuries,
was uncovered in 1853 and put on ex-
hibition in Boston Common.
The steamers Albatross and Fish
Hawk, which are in the service of the
United States commission, are the
latest models of the fishing vessel.
Captain Collins's model Is of fishing
schooner of moderate dimensions and
is being largely copied on both coasts.
It's hull is built after the model of
racing yacht and the rigging is adapted
to the needs of q fishing vessel. It
combines the speed qualities of . yacht
and the seaworthiness of fishing
schooner. Safety is also taken into
consideration.
The United States is far ahead of the
Nations of the world in maintaining
fish commission and caring for its
fishermen. A museum has been estab-
lished devoted to ichthy yology, and the
steamers of the fish commission cruise
all along the coasts of the United
States to collect specimens of fish life.
Hatcheries have been established IN all
the States of the Union and every year
the work grows in its scope.