The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1910-01-28
through the Strait d
Belle Isle.
Rv John K. Cotton.

put' htYddJed round the stove in the
Gels Ann Ann Seaman s Bethel. ooh,
C "a a good many, all told. Mostly
!& ss; IN the distance, though
OIL cnating himself astride a chair,
|. Stared refectively through the
LII of crimson geranium blooms
Da4 +bp window out upon the ship
ning in the harbor,
P'I Although I continued to hold up
,,fnrp me a volume of Geodetic
Srrvev Records, in which [ had
5 S studying the singular changes
y. Is the coast-line, I lost all interest
IN IN its contents, and found my eyes
=, expectantly to the rug
ged skipper.
Cape Ann fishermen up in
nortbern waters, said he, "don t
~ in for scenery much; it's most
+ balibut. Once in a while a duck
a. seal. and sometimes game and
, dicker with the EskimOs-but it s
mostly halibut.
But spring before last we ran
tbe Nancy Lee up to latitude fifty
fve degrees and ffty-six minutes.
That's about one hundred and six
~ miles east by north of Cape Har-
rgan. and not far from the queer
little settlements of the Moravians.
Twas as far up as we could get on
account Of drift ice.
The Nancy is only an eighty
tonner, and though she is Essex
milt. and as clever and able for
her tons as any craft fishing out of
this port, she was never timbered
to 0unt arctic ice in those fierce
currents and windy fogs. It's
nearly always foggy up there, and
when it blows it blows.
The sea was full Of field ice, a
good deal of it full-fedged bergs
higher than the bargee on our top
stick. Set travis ? | guess not
We didn t even try the bottom or
sind down an anchor
First blow kept us busy, then
q snow; wet, heavy snow, too that
stacked up all over the deck and
sail and weighted her down so that
We had to wear often and take it on
the other quarter to keep her trim.
And fog Twas foggy all the
time.
So we headed her back south
again, and ran until we found a
hundred and fifty fathoms of water,
about one hundred and twenty
miles east Of Belle Isle. We had
ished along here many trips be-
for, and felt quite tidy and home
like when we hove over the dories
and got the gear all out and fish
Mg.
The sun came out and shone
bright in the hue, and for nearly a
Week we found good travelling. We
had two-thirds of a trip in the hold,
when one morning up shot big Jud-
II Chisholm in the Therese Prin-
dali. and we hailed him. Twas
Oh that day, Friday, that a lot Of
poor judgment tries to hide be-
hind
" We've got only about ten
thousand fish and thirty of fetch
tls in her now = he sung out as he
few by. Going to try for bet
ter berth south a bit.
" Better berth south, en-, ?
thought [, as I watched them bear
of to sou west, his dories all nested
and made fast, both anchors taken
on deck, and the craft setting so
deep that if she had a fish in her
she had a good sixty thousand
pounds.
" Touches me Judic have a
likely catch in her already, cap n,
0lurted Page Rowe, who sat beside
NE on the house.
" Aye, spoke he again, L say
he IS on the clean leap for home by
the outside course this very min
ute. Takes a navigator to slip
through the straits
. Me too joined in Buster
Plummer. The Cape Ann Hall
but Compan's wharf is like to be
that berth south a bit we have in
Mnd. | fancy. Judic's crafty bun
Gle. He be that.
While we sat there watching
them upstaysail and up topsail run
mig off more to the westward all
The time, / calculated in my mind
The difference in the price of the
hrst spring trip landed and the
second, though twas only an
hours difference in the price Of the
nrst spring trip landed and the
Second, though twas only an hours
difference ia hailing the market.
NO fisherman likes to be shown the
way home to market.
we baited up again that day,
and the next morning the dories
began to come in with good fish
rom that night 5 set. But before
alI hands got aboard the glass Be
YAH to fall, and dropped steadily
Emtll, through that golden sun
Fhlne, all hands stared into trouble