The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-08-11

per. None knows SO well where to find
these fish, and none SO well how to set his
net about them as Captain Latham. As a
consequence, when Captain Latham drops
anchor on the grounds, he becomes the
centre of the whole fishing fleet Other
smacks anchor near him; the small boats
from the shore gather around, and the
captains of steamers with fishing parties
from Philadelphia get in his way. Hereby
hangs an incident.
At the bottom of the deep where we
caught our porgies and sea bass is a
wreck, about which the fish congregate
IN great numbers, and our captain is prob
ably the only man who has its ranges
and can find it. When we reached this
spot, a second fishing schooner, which
was standing across our course a mile dis
tant, Immediately changed her direction
and bore down on us, anchoring only a
few lengths away. To catch fish in net
1t is necessary to make a ''Slick,' and to
raise them off the bottom in bunch,
which is done by judiciously throwing
out bait Our captain went off in his
dory, dragged and buoyed the wreck
that is, located it, and marked its bounds
by anchoring small boats-and gathered
!
| just here, what course do the crew of the
smack take but to cut in and surround
our fish with their seine-a process very
much like swiping crop that somebody
else has got ready for the harvest. Our
| captain is mild hammered man, of sensi-
tive rather than oholeric disposition, and
his feelings were plainly hurt. He came
aboard to ponder over the lack of con-
sideration for others which some fisher
men evince He remarked, too, on the
futility of the captain of one fishing
smack relying upon the knowledge of the
captain of another as regards the where
abouts of the fish, as had been done by our
invader. Sooner or later, he held such
party would be misled. He then turned
in and slept peacefully. In the morning,
Captain Latham again called away his
dory, effected another slick" and as
sembled Il second school of fish. Stimuli
taneously, our neighbor came out with
his seine boats, hell bent, so to say. 1t
looked to one on board the Wright as if
our skipper were cooperating with the
other smack, and giving aid and comfort
to the enemy, but he was not as was
proved by the event.
As everybody can see at a glance, a man
or a group of men sharing fish in the
vicinity of wreck must be cautious how
near they approach to the submerged
fabric. for ii any projecting part of the
thing catches their net it will stay there
Captain Latham, apparently buried in
| profound thought, OF more interested in
the horizon, at which he frequently glauc-
ed, than in anything nearer at hand,
mechanically hove his bait, inseusible of
the fact that lis dory was drifting imme-
/ diately over the sunken vessel Watch
ing the proceedings, We saw the crew of
our neighbour turn themselves loose, their
seine nets describing a circle, and the
men throwing theil net overheard to beat
the band. 1t was a pleasant Sabbath
morning. The waves sparkled brightly
in the sun, breeze from the direction Of
! Santiago rippled the water, gave the
cooks stove good draft and brought
aft the od0r of bacon and hot coffee; the
schooner, scarce Strengthening her cable,
courtesied politely to a launchful of
Philadelphians hilarious with beer. Now
was heard the gentle cluck of the puileys,
the creak of the jaws of the boom
where ii straddled the mast the flap of
the. first mate underwear drying on the
main guy. Various other kinds OF things
were i'll evidence; but what were they, or
all these including beer, to porgy-iishers
who had got their net hung up ON the
! bowsprit, the catheads, the mast, booms,
and bulwarks of sunken wreck. So far
as | could determine, the men in the
boats were oblivious to the natural and
artificial beauties of sight and sound by
which they were environed In the ac-
cents of various nationalities, that of
Scandinavia predominating they could
be heard deprecating the whole business
and their language had reference to
another and warmer world than ours.
! Later in the day, with a seine that justiti-
ed the fringes on their remarks, they
rowed back to the vessel and climbed
silently aboard. Soon they were rapidly
oscillating certain brakes, communicate
ing motion to a windlass. and effecting
the result which a female connection of
mine has designated as unanchoring. We
did not see them again.
| suppose there is no vessel that catches
small fish on larger scale than the
Wright, and none that brings them to mar
ket subjected to less familiarity on the
part of their captors. 1t stands to reason
that a fish caught with the hook and flung
in the bottom of rowboat, OF strung on a
twig. or even chucked into a basket to gasp
and die, and have its burial deferred until
the sportsman reaches home, is not going
to retain its quality of freshness SO long
as one that makes a flop out of the water
into the depths of cracked ice. Captain
Latham fish are brought to the side of
the vessel, alive and unwounded in a net
or pocket" whence they are hoisted
aboard in a scoop net holding several
hundred pounds, emptied into a chute
communicating with the cracked ice de-
partment, to which they go kicking and
unreconcied, their last struggle being
smothered in more ice spread over them
If the fish known beforehand the fate that
awaits them when caught, no doubt porgy
and sea-bass theology affirms cold hell.
If | were better fisherman, or a more
gifted narrator, l might mention my own
success with hook and line; but who ever
knew me to say aught but truth or to speak
with exaggeration? 1t is fact that drew
\ /,,~ ~