for which the fish is being prepared. Some markets demand fish with fifty per cent of the moisture removed; others as high as sixty or seventy per cent. Fish that are used in the preparation of boneless-fish require little drying, perhaps eight or ten hours of a good day, while the fish for export trade may require a week or ten days. Every evening the fish are gathered together in small piles on the flakes and covered by a box to prevent them absorbing moisture from fog or rain.

The loss in weight in dressing and curing fish for the market varies from fifty to sixty-five per cent, according to the species, the time of year and the previous amount of salting received. Haddock and cod lose the most, cusk and hake the least. The following table shows the average quantity of each kind of fish required to make a gross quintal (114 pounds) of dried fish for the New England markets:

The cost of curing a quintal of dried fish varies with the conditions of weather, the season of the year and other circumstances; but it generally runs from 38 to 50 cents per quintal, of which 15 or 18 cents represents the cost of salt. The value of the finished product varies likewise with the grade of the fish and the season of the year. The cured cod sells at a higher price than hake, haddock,

cusk and pollock. The winter fish are worth more than fish caught in the warmer months.1 For the local and nearby markets the fish are packed in bundles of a quintal each and tied up with cords, or in wooden boxes holding from 100 to 450 pounds each. At Gloucester, Boston, Vinal Haven and Portland large quantities of dried ground fish are prepared as boneless cod and placed upon the markets in neater shape and fancier coverings than is the uncut fish.2

The preparation of boneless cod originated with the patenting of a process in 1868 by William D. Cutler, of Philadelphia. By this new process the skin, bones and refuse matter of the fish were separated from the fiber of the fish, the latter was run through a machine which thoroughly broke up the fibers into a disintegrated mass, and the new product was spread upon some hard surface, heated and pressed. The finished product was known as "dessicated fish." Within nine months, improvements on this process were devised at New York City, Brooklyn, and Provincetown. At first the inferior grades of fish were used in the production of the article, but as an increased demand arose for the food more attention was paid to the preparation of it for the market. So rapidly did the business increase that by 1875 over 500,000 pounds of boneless fish were prepared at Gloucester alone; in 1879, about 12,000,000 pounds were prepared at Gloucester, and about 6,000,000 pounds elsewhere in New England. By 1898, the New England production of boneless cod was about

1 For the year 1898 the price per quintal of large cured cod was from $4.50 to $6.25, for medium cod $3.00 to $4.00. The values of other kinds of cured ground fish were for hake, $1.75 to $2.50; haddock, $2.00 to $2.50; cusk, $3.25 to $3.62; and pollock, $2.75 to $3.00.

2 Preservation of fishery products by drying and dry-salting, p. 398.

25,000,000 pounds, most of the fish being prepared at Gloucester.

Practically all the fish thus prepared goes to the market under the designation of codfish. Of the total quantity of boneless fish, it has been stated that an average of 60 per cent is prepared from cod, 28 per cent from hake, 8 per cent from haddock, and 4 per cent from cusk. The cost of preparing and packing the smaller bricks of boneless fish is about two dollars per 100 pounds. The refuse skins and bones are sold to the companies that manufacture glue and fertilizers. This by-product of the fish amounts to a considerable sum when millions of pounds are used annually.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE EVOLUTION OF THE FISHING SCHOONER

A comparison between the appearance of citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1630 and those of Boston today would afford no greater contrast than would appear if one of the fishing craft used by the first settlers of Gloucester should arrive at T Wharf with a cargo of fish and mingle with the fleet of modern fishing vessels that frequents that great fish-market of New England. Important differences would also be seen in the furnishings of the vessels, in the apparatus used in fishing, and in the methods employed in curing the catch. The condition of the fisherman has improved greatly during the period of three centuries that fishing has been carried on along our shores, but the change has not been gradual. For the first one hundred years only one important change is to be noted, one affecting the arrangement of the sails of vessels. Old-fashioned methods of catching and curing fish that had been in use since the days of Bradford and Winthrop were employed by fishermen well down towards the middle of the last century. The most numerous and many of the most important changes have been instituted within the lifetime of the last two generations of fishermen.

The shallop, the sloop, and the ketch were the kinds of boats most generally employed by the early colonists for their fishing and coast trade. The sea-going craft of the day were of the caravel type, not differing greatly from the vessels employed by Columbus. In these ships the bows and sterns were constructed high above the waist line, the

hull was not deep, consequently so much superstructure erected on a moderate-sized hull rendered the vessel unseaworthy in windy or stormy weather, and of little use in making headway against adverse winds.

The first boat used by the settlers was the wooden canoe, made by the Indians. In Maine these were constructed by fastening strips of birch bark on to light wooden frames; in Massachusetts, the trunks of large trees were hollowed out for the purpose. The majority of the canoes were capable of holding four or five men, yet larger ones were built which held twenty, thirty, and even forty men. This boat was so light, cheap, and convenient that it became the universal oyster boat on the Atlantic coast, being still in use in some localities.

Ship's boats, called shallops and pinnaces, were employed in the shore fisheries until the colonists had boats constructed for the purpose. At Plymouth, boat-building began in 1624. In addition to the names shallop and pinnace, it is probable that the term lugger was used for the early small craft. They were small boats, often constructed by the settler in his barn or shed during the winter season and hauled to the shore for launching by yokes of oxen. The boats were usually provided with two unsupported masts, each carrying a large square or lug sail. The colonists have left us representations of much of their personal and household belongings, but there is no picture left by them of the rig and appearance of their earliest small fishing boats.

For deeper water the catch, or ketch, was employed. The Dutch called them pinkie, a term derived from the Mediterranean region and signifying round at both ends. The first ketches had one mast amidships with a square sail suspended to it cross-wise of the boat. Afterwards, a small mizzenmast was added away aft; the mainmast was then set up a little forward of amidships. The main