The second range, less generally known, but more celebrated among sailors, includes the coast of New England, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and, above all, the island of Newfoundland, on the south coast of which is the famous sand-bank called the Great Bank, having a length of nearly two hundred leagues, with a breadth of sixty-two, over which flows from ten to fifty fathoms of water. Here the cod-fish swarm, for here they meet shoals of herrings and other animals, on which they feed. Such is, according to Lacepede, the geographical distribution of the cod-fish.
The English, French, Dutch, and Americans give themselves up to the cod-fishery on the bank of Newfoundland with inconceivable ardour. This island was discovered and visited by the Norwegians in the tenth and eleventh centuries, long before the discovery of America; but it was only in 1497, after the discoveries of Columbus, that the navigator, John Cabot, having visited these regions, gave it the name by which it has since been known, and called attention to the swarms of cod-fish which inhabited the surrounding sea. Immediately after, the English and some other nations hastened to reap these fruitful fields of living matter. In 1578, France sent a hundred and fifty ships to the great bank, Spain a hundred and twenty-five, Portugal fifty, and England forty.
During the first half of the eighteenth century, England and her colonies, with the French, cultivated the cod-fishery.
From 1823 to 1831 France sent three hundred and forty-one ships, with seven thousand six hundred and eighty-five men, which carried into port over fifty million pounds of fish, an average of about six millions annually. Two thousand English ships of various sizes, manned by thirty thousand seamen, are now employed in this important branch of industry.
On the coast of Norway, from the frontiers of Russia to Cape Lindesnæs, the cod-fishery is an important branch of trade, in which a maritime population of twenty thousand fishermen are employed, with five thousand boats.
The cod is taken either by net or line. The net is chiefly employed at Newfoundland. The net used is rectangular, and furnished with lead at the lower edge, and cork buoys on the upper edge. One of the extremities is fixed on the coast; the other is carried seaward, following a curve taken by the boats, and the fish are attracted by drawing upon both extremities of the net; and by one stroke many boat-loads are sometimes taken.
The modern cod-smack is clipper-built, with large wells for carrying the fish alive, its cost being about £1500. The crew usually consists of ten to twelve men and boys, including the captain. The line is also used for taking cod and haddocks. "Each man," says Bertram, "has a line of fifty fathoms in length, and attached to each of these lines are a hundred 'snoods,' with hooks already baited with mussels, pieces of herring, or whiting. Each line is laid 'clear,' in a shallow basket, and so arranged as to run freely as the boat shoots ahead. The fifty-fathom line with a hundred hooks is in Scotland called a 'taes.' If there are eight men in a boat, the length of the line will be four hundred fathoms, with eight hundred hooks, the lines being tied to each other before setting. On arriving at the fishing-ground, the fishermen heave overboard a cork buoy, with a flagstaff about six feet in height attached to it. This buoy is kept stationary by a line, called the 'pow end,' reaching to the bottom of the water, where it is held by a stone or a grapnel fastened to the lower end. To the 'pow end' is also fastened the fishing line, which is then paid out as fast as the boat sails, which may be from four to five knots an hour. Should the wind be unfavourable for the direction in which the crew wish to set the line, they use the oars. When the line or 'taes' is all out, the end is dropped and the boat returns to the buoy. The 'pow' line is hauled up with the anchor and fishing line attached to it. The fishermen then haul in the line, with the fish attached to it. Eight hundred fish might be taken, and often have been, by eight men in a few hours by this operation; but many fishermen say now, that they consider themselves fortunate when they get a fish on every fifth hook on an eight-lined 'taes'-line."
Hungry cod-fish will seize almost any kind of bait, and this is used either fresh or salted. The fresh bait is furnished by the herring, whiting, and capelan, a little fish which in the spring descends from the North Sea in shoals, pursued by the cod-fish. In the terror caused by the innumerable bands of their enemies, the capelans spread themselves in all the seas round Newfoundland in masses so thick that the waves throw them ashore, and they accumulate occasionally in heaps upon the sandy beach.
The principal fishery for capelan intended for bait takes place on the coast of Newfoundland. The inhabitants of these regions carry their booty to the fishermen, who make Saint-Pierre their rendezvous, with whom they find ready purchasers.
The schooners, with a fair provision of bait, leaving Saint-Pierre and other ports, take a north-easterly direction towards the great bank, and, having chosen their fishing-ground, cast anchor in fifty or sixty fathoms, and forthwith the crews give their sole attention to the lines; some of them watch the lines, which are raised every instant, the captured fish removed, and the hooks re-baited; others subject the captured fishes to a first preparation for preserving them; they are opened, the entrails removed, and the fish split in two, and piled one on the other, and covered with salt. This labour goes on as long as the fishing lasts. The sailor is on deck night and day, covered with oil and blood, and surrounded with all sorts of offal and fish-like smells. But this alone is insufficient. Boats, manned by crews of two or three sailors, are continually moving about, attending to the more distant lines, or "taes," which radiate round the ship in all directions.