The average weight of these fish is from ten to twenty, or thirty pounds.
To the inhabitants of many countries, but more especially to those of our own, the cod fishery is a very essential source of wealth. It affords occupation to many thousand persons, and employment for several hundred sail of shipping. The fishery on the great bank near the island of Newfoundland is by far the most important of any that has hitherto been discovered in the world, and the resort of fish to this spot is beyond all imagination numerous. In the year 1791 there were caught more than 750,000,000 pounds weight.
This immense bank is a vast mountain in the sea, more than 400 miles long, 150 miles broad, and, in depth of water, from twenty to sixty fathoms. It was first discovered in the reign of Henry the Seventh; and in 1548 an act of parliament was passed, by which all Englishmen were permitted to traffic and fish on the coasts of Newfoundland and the adjacent banks, without payment of any duty. In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the island of Newfoundland in the name of Queen Elizabeth; and the first English company that associated to settle a colony there was incorporated by a patent of King James the First, in 1609.
The Newfoundland fishery at present gives freight to about 300 vessels, from 100 to 200 tons' burden each. These are chiefly fitted out from the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, from Ireland, and some ports of the English Channel, as Pool, Dartmouth, &c. When these vessels arrive at the fishery, a kind of gallery is formed, which reaches from the main-mast to the poop, and sometimes even from one end of the ship to the other. This is furnished with tuns stove in at one end, into which the fishermen get, to be sheltered from the weather, their heads being covered with a kind of roof fixed to the top of the tun. The mode of fishing is by hook and line only; and the baits are herrings, a small fish called capelins ([209]), shell fish, or pieces of sea fowl. Each man can catch only one fish at a time; yet an expert fisherman has sometimes been known to take 400 in a day. As soon as the fish are caught the tongues are cut out, the heads cut off, and the liver, entrails, and spine, are all taken out. After this they are salted and piled, for some time, in the holds of the vessels, and then packed in barrels for sale, under the name of green or wet cod. When the fish are to be dried, they are conveyed in boats to the shore, where they are headed, cleansed, and salted, upon stages or scaffolds erected for that purpose. They are subsequently spread on the shore to dry; these are called dry cod, and constitute the principal object of the Newfoundland trade. The chief markets to which the fish are conveyed are those of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the Levant.
The most important fishing banks of Europe are in the neighbourhood of Iceland, Norway, and the Orkney Islands; and the Dogger-bank, and Well-bank, betwixt this country and Holland.
As the air-bladders of cod are thick and of a gelatinous nature, the Icelanders frequently make isinglass of them, similar to that which we usually import from Russia. By the Newfoundland fishermen the air-bladders are generally salted and packed in barrels under the name of sounds; and these, when good, are considered a great delicacy for the table. The tongues are prepared in the same manner and for the same purpose. From the livers, after they have become in a certain degree putrid, a kind of oil is obtained which is considered superior to whale oil ([118]), because it preserves leather longer flexible, and, when clarified, yields less vapour in burning than that. The roes are collected by the Icelanders, salted, packed in barrels, and sold to the Dutch, French, and Spaniards, as bait for anchovies and other fish. Before the commencement of the French revolution from 20,000 to 30,000 barrels of these roes were annually exported from Bergen. The inhabitants of some parts of Norway, when forage is scarce, dry the heads of cod, and, mixing them with some species of sea-weeds, give them as food to their cattle.
The London markets are abundantly supplied with fresh cod from the fishing banks adjacent to our own country. These fish are in season from the beginning of December till about the end of April; and are brought alive to the Thames in well-boats, the air-bladders being previously perforated with a pointed instrument, to prevent the fish from rising in the water. Cod should be chosen for the table of middling size, plump about the shoulder and near the tail, the hollow behind the head deep, and with a regular undulated appearance on the sides, as if they were ribbed. The gills should be very red, the eyes fresh, and the flesh white and firm.
It is generally considered that the shoals of cod confine themselves between the latitudes 66° and 50° north. Those which are caught to the north or south of these degrees are both few in quantity and bad in quality.
206. The HADDOCK (Gadus aglefinus) is a fish of the cod tribe, which has three fins tip on its back, a small fleshy beard on the under jaw, the upper jaw the longer, and the tail somewhat forked. There is a dark oval spot on each side of the body a little below the gills.
These fish seldom exceed the weight of seven or eight pounds.