George's banks has need of every resource of the sailor, if he
is to beat his way off, and not feed the fishes that he came to take.
Nowhere is the barometer watched more carefully than on the boats cruising
about on George's. When its warning column falls, the whole fleet makes
for the open sea, however good the fishing may be. But, with all possible
caution, the losses are so many that George's, early in its history, came
to have the ghoulish nickname of "Dead Men's Bank."

North of George's Bank--which lies directly east of Cape Cod--are found,
in order, Brown's Bank, La Have, Western Bank--in the center of which lies
Sable Island, famed as an ocean graveyard, whose shifting sands are as
thickly strewn with the bleaching ribs of stout ships as an old green
churchyard is set with mossy marbles--St. Peter's Bank, and the Grand Bank
of Newfoundland. All of these lie further out to sea than George's, and
are tenanted only by cod and halibut, though in the waters near the shore
the fishermen pursue the mackerel, the herring--which, in cottonseed oil
masquerades as American sardines--and the menhaden, used chiefly for
fertilizer. The boats used in the fisheries are virtually of the same
model, whatever the fish they may seek--except in the case of the menhaden
fishery, which more and more is being prosecuted in slow-going steamers,
with machines for hauling seines, and trawl nets. But the typical fishing
boat engaged in the food fisheries is a trim, swift schooner, built almost
on the lines of a yacht, and modeled after a type designed by Edward
Burgess, one of New England's most famous yacht designers. Seaworthy and
speedy both are these fishing boats of to-day, fit almost to sail for the
"America's" cup, modeled, as they are, from a craft built by the designer
of a successful cup defender. That the fishermen ply their calling in
vessels so perfectly fitted to their needs is due to a notable exhibition
of common sense and enterprise on the part of the United States Fish
Commission. Some years ago almost anything that would float was thought
good enough for the bank fishermen. In the earliest days of the industry,
small sloops were used. These gave way to the "Chebacco boat," a boat
taking its name from the town of Chebacco, Massachusetts, where its rig
was first tested. This was a fifteen to twenty ton boat almost as sharp at
the stern as in the bow, carrying two masts, both cat-rigged. A perfect
marvel of crankiness a boa