Fishing—Bo Years Ago
(Continued Froni Page One)
feet long, eight to ten feet wide, and
carrying from ten to welve oars each.
The larger boat is called the sea
boat and the smaller the land-boat.
*©n the stem of each is a platform,
which carries the seine, while the rope
is coiled in the bottom of the boat
stem to stem.
9 The preparation of the seine is the
mext thing in importance. This con
sists of cotton-twine made of the best
material, tied into square meshes
from three-fourths to two inches in
size; the smaller size forming the
breast or bunt of the seine, in which
’ the fish are landed, the larger mesh
extending to the staves ends of the
seine. The depth is from twenty-four
to forty feet, according to the depth
of water, and when hung on lines
fishes two-thirds its depth. These
seines are tied in Baltimore and Bos
yton, principally in the latter place,
and by machinery imported from
Prance. Before hanging the seine it
is run through a large kettle of boil
ing tar and water, and then hung out
in the sun for several days to dry,
which process renders it impervious
to water. A good seine lasts about
three years. The ropes on which the
seine is hung are made of the best
Russia hemp, and is 214 inches in
circumference. This rope is dragged
about three miles, until the twist is
taken out. Two coils of the roipe
measuring about 250 yards each, are
secured at one end of trees or posts,
and tightly stretched by means of a
block and fall attached to the other
end. Upon one of these lines are fas
tened the corks or floats, it requir
ing about 6,000 corks to float a seine
i 2,000 yards long, and the other rope
forms the bottom or lead line. The
edge or selvage of the seine is tied
or marled to these ropes with heavy
l twine, taking up three meshes of
seine and tying them to the space of
two, which shortens the length of the
seine one-third and makes the mesh
es hang diamond shape 'after the
seine is marled.
A third rope, which is fashioned to
the lead or bottom line by tails and
thimbles at intervals of from twenty
to forty yards, is run to whole length
of the seine except about 100 yards
in the center, this forms the torgle
or dead line. The hauling rope or
warp is then attached to the staves
and is about three-and-a-half inches
in circumference. .
The length of the sea-warp, or low
er end is usually the length of the
seine, that of the land, or upper end,
about one-half as long.
The seine is then ready for boating
and is placed on the platforms of the
two boats. The hauling rope is then
coiled in the bottom of the boats;
twelve oarsmen on the sea-boat and
ten on the land-boat, with oars from
twenty-four to thirty-two feet long, a
captain and seine-mender form the
crew of the boat, with a chief mana
ger going on the sea-boat.
The boats now, with seine, rope
and hands all on board, proceed to the
centree-bush, which is from one to
one-and-a-quarter miles from the
shore, where they separate; the sea
boat going down the sound—throwing
that end of the seine open to admit
the fislv coming from the sea. The
land, or -upper end, on the contrary
is curved very soon after- parting,
and the end brought much nearer the
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shore, forming a hedge to the fish
supposed to be coming up the stream.
The boats after getting clear of the
seine turn directly for the shore, and
come to the extreme windlasses at
either end, paying out their warp
as they approach.
On their arrival four horses hitch
ed to the windlasses at the extreme
ends, when the winding in of the
seine commences. When one windlass
is filled with rope they move to an
other nearer the centre, and when that
is being filled the rope from the first
is coilyd in the boat; this is continued
until all the hauling rope is wound in
and the ends of the seine reach the
shore. The boats then commence tak
ing in the seine again, and the torgle
line, which now serves to wind it in
is detached from the bottom or lead
line and wound on the windlass, while
the seine goes on the platforms of
the boats. When they have wound in
all the torgle line this brings them
to the bunt of the seine, leaving 100
yards in the water. '
Preparations are then made for
landing the haul, and all the hands
from tiie shelter and boats except the
ropers, assist in landing. The seine
is then drawn in by hand, the bot
tom line being carefully kept down
to prevent the escape of fish, when
sufficiently near the landing the bot
tom line is fastened on the edge of the
| wharf by means of iron-pins, the cork
or top line is then drawn over wharf
until the fish are securely landed.
fish are then turned out, the
seine gathered up and thrown by a
given signal into the water, the boats
' now being again ready for laying out
the seine.
The operation of saving the fish
now begins. The Herring when sav
ed whole or gross are shoveled into
half barrel tubs, holding about 200,
then emptied into slatted hard-bar
rows and thoroughly washed, when
, they are ready for the salting tray.
. About a peck of salt is thrown in, and
after being well stirred they are put
into hogsheads or vats until they are
i thoroughly saved; from these they
1 are thrown into long dripping tropghs
where they drain for one or two days
J and are then packed in barrels or
kegs, one-half bushel of salt being
required for packing a barrel. They
are then pressed with lever power,
\ the barrels filled, headed and brand
[ ed. A -barrel' will hold about five
hundred gross, 1000 cut, 600 roe, and
1 a good hand will pack about 25 bar
-1 rels a day. The cut Herring are
saved in the same way, except that
' the head and belly are taken off.
1 The Roe, or female herring being
’ the greatest luxury, are selected with
. great care, they have only the head
taken off and are packed in pickle
1 tight barrels. We have been in the
| habit until recently of salting most
j of our shad, which is done in two
ways: one by splitting them open
1 and taking off the head, backbone
[ and tail—this is the mess shad. The
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THU CHOWAN HERALD, EDENTON, N. <?., THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1951
shad split open and the head simply
taken off makes the Prime.
Fow tiie last few years we have
been shipping our shad in ice as soon
as caught, in boxes made on the
beach, 3Vi feet lonlg, 2Vi wide and
12 inches deep, holding from sixty
to ninety shad, according to their
size. We have our ice houses on the
beach and ice delivered to us at f 5.00
per ton, using from 50 to 100 tons.
The ice is crushed by a machine into
small pieces, and a layer of ice put
between each layer of shad. They are
shipped by steamer to northern cities.
Shad and Herring from the staple
product of our fisheries. In addition
we catch a great variety of other
fish, among which are the Rock,
Perch, .Catfish, Jack, Sturgeon, and
Mullet. The Rock and Perch are also
shipped in ice; the Sturgeon are sent
off to Norfolk and nearer points:
they are caught in most abundance
late in the season, thirty large ones
being sometimes taken in one haul,
measuring from five to eight feet.
I dislike to tempt the credulity of
some of our friends by stating the
size of some of our hauls; they vary
from one shad to 4,000, and from
a few hundred herring to 150,000.
The fishing commences about the Ist
or 10th of March, and closes about
the Ist or 10th of May.
The Shad commence running in
Singer Sewing
Machines
A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
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60s EAST MAIN STREET ELIZABETH CITY, N. C.
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February and are most abundant
from the middle of March to the mid
i die of April; the Herring make their
principal run between the 10th of
i April and the Ist of May. Rock and
I Perch generally precede and follow a
r run of Herring.
- The operations continue day and
! night, seldom stopping except from
1 high winds or scarcity of fish. Our
. seines are sometimes swept out of the
1 fishing grounds by strong tides, and
< taken up'badly tom, losing several
! hundred yards of seine frequently, and
requiring several days to put it in or
i der again. In order to lay out our
t seines at night, two lanterns are plac
r ed on the shore, one above and fifty
, feqt in rear of the other and directly
I in range with the centre-bush. In go
t ing out these lights are kept directly
: in range, which carries the boats to
: the centre-bush. Large lights are
s also placed at each end of the beach,
i as a guide for the boats to reach the
, shore after the seine is put out. In
dense fogs a compass is used in each
f boat. It usually requires about 60 to
> 80 minutes to lay out the seine and
7 4V6 hours to wind it in, making about
, six hours to make a haul.
. The most exciting part of it is, of
t j course the landing of the fish. When
II the seine gets within 100 to 200 yards
| of the shore with a good haul, the fish
i are seen dashing about in very direc
n I iJignil'l’l l-it 1 iYIUIMjgHk
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tion, showing their fins on the sur
face of the water, various specula
tions being indulged in on the shore
as to the number inclosed. Appear
ances however are very deceptive, as
a large Sturgeon or Rock in the seine
frightens the smaller fish and drives
them ashore.
In landing very large hauls the
seine is stopped near the shore and
a small hand seine is used to land
a portion at a time. The fish are all
cut by women, and it is a matter of
curiosity to see how dexteriously some
of them use the knife, a good hand
cutting from 25 to 30 a minute. The
usual number of hands employed on
a beach is from 40 to 50'men and
from 20 to 30 women. I have known
60 men and 50 women employed at
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one fishery.
The humber of fish taken during
the season varies irom 500,000 to
250,000,000 Herring; and from 20,000
to 50,000 Shad. I have known 4,000.-
000 Herring taken at one fishery, and
at another- fishery 110,000 shad in
one season.
There were formerly thirty large
fisheries in operation on the Albe
marle Sound and Chowan River; giv
ing employment to over 2,000 hands,
and using 20,000 or more barrels in
one season. The 'quantity of salt
used at a large fishery is from 2,000
to 7,000 bushels, and the number of
barrels and kegs from 1,000 to 5,000.
The cost of equipping and operating
a large fishery is from SIO,OOO to
(Continued on Pass Four)
PAGE THREE