Their builders were
artists and craftsmen
Over the centuries different kinds
of boats have been used for inshore fishing for cod along the coasts of
Newfoundland and Labrador. In early times the shalloway and shallop used
and in later times punts, highrats and jacks or bullies. These were used
in handline fishing, also called hook and line fishing.
With the introduction of the
codtrap a new type of boat was needed, one rather long, broad in the
beam and somewhat shallow in draught. This was the trapskiff. It was
propelled by six oars, a seventh being used got sculling and steering.
It was probably an adaptation of the old cod seine boat which was of the
same general build but larger and heavier than the trapskiff.
Although the use of the codtrap
made a new type of boat necessary and introduced a new technique of
fishing, it did not do away entirely with handline fishing and the use
of the highrat and the bully. Indeed many of the trap fishermen made use
of both methods of fishing: the trap for the summer fishery when the cod
came close to the shore and lines for the fall fishery on the numerous
offshore shoals and banks that constitute the drowned valleys of the
Labrador coast. Moreover many fishermen never made use of the trap at
all but continued to use the handline only. They preferred this type of
fishing as involving less overhead expense and also as offering a better
chance of obtaining a good catch. The trap fisherman had to fix his trap
in a certain place or berth and wait for the fish to enter it; whereas
the handline fishermen in his highrat or bully could range over an area
having a radius of a dozen miles or more, in search of his prey.
The highrat was used chiefly for
fishing on the nearer banks and shoals that lay within a few miles of
the harbor or cove in which the fishermen had his fishing room. They
were about the size of a four- oared punt and could carry six or seven
barrels of round cod. They were fitted with a moveable mast which
carried a mainsail and a jib. A small mizzen or spanker was carried at
the sterns. The boat was steered by means of a rudder or a sculling oar
and had a crew or two men or a man and a boy.
A heavier load
The distinguishing feature of the
highrat was the plank, about four inches high, which ran along the top
side of each gunnel from stem to stern. These planks were called wash-
boards and served to increase the height of the gunnels above the water
line, thus making it possible for the boat to carry a heavier load. This
heightening of the sides of the boat gives us a clue to the origin of
the queer name of “highrat”.
According to the Oxford Dictionary
of the word “higher”, which is usually an adjective or an adverb, can
also be used as a verb, through such usage is somewhat rare. “To higher”
anything means to make it higher, just as “to lower” anything means to
make it lower. The form of the verb “to higher” denoting past time, is,
of, course, “highered”. Early generations of fishermen would sometimes
pronounce the ending “-ed” as a separate syllable. Thus talk-ed,
walk-ed, and higher-ed. Moreover in everyday speech the first “e” of
“highered” would be squeezed out so to speak, and the “d” would take on
the sound of “t”. Thus we would have higher-ed, high-rat, and more
broadly high-rat. The “highrat” boat then was the “highered” boat; the
boat whose sides were “highered” by means of the washboards as
described.
The bully was much larger size
being capable of carrying 20 barrels of round fish. They had to spars
carrying a carried a mainsail and a jib. There were no booms on the
sails as these would be in the way of fishing. In fact, there was no
need of a fore-boom an arrangement, known as outriggers were pieces of
timber four or five feet long and two or three inches in diameter. Each
boat had two. They were laid among the deck to which they were securely
fastened, one on each side of the stern. Each passed through a hole in
the stern some two feet. At the outer end of each outrigger a block was
fastened through which a part of the main sheet was rove, the sheet
being in two parts. The outrigger was an outstanding feature of the
bullies and made a main boom unnecessary. In consequence the mainsail
“as well as the foresail, when not in use, could be rolled up and tied
to the mast, thus leaving a clear space for the work of fishing.
An important feature
The bully was partially decked,
some of the deck boards being moveable. It has three undecked spaces
called respectively the fore, after and midship standing rooms. Here the
crew stood or sat, and fished and handled the boat when under sail.
There was also a space for ballast on which was an arrangement for
cooking. The fore cuddy could be used for sleeping quarters and the
remainder of the space for the storage of fish. An important feature of
these boats was their considerable depth towards the stern as compared
with their depth near the stem. This depth was obtained by building up
the keel with pieces of timber placed one on top of the other lengthwise
along the keel. They were known, appropriately enough, as deadwoods.
This depth of keel served two purposes: it prevented or at least
lessened, the drift to leeward, when the bully was sailing close- hauled
and it enabled the boat to be turned around quickly during the maneuvers
of tacking and wearing , assisted of course, by the sails and the
rudder.
Because of their build and rig
these boats were admirably adopted to the purpose for which they were
designed. This was to make available to the fishermen the off-shore
fishing grounds along the coats of Newfoundland and Labrador,
particularly the latter. At Labrador some of the best fishing grounds
were as much as 20 miles out at sea from the harbors where the fishing
rooms were located. In making the trip forth and back the boats had to
encounter short, choppy seas and strong currents and had to negotiable
narrow channels between numerous small islands. There was also the ever
present danger of sudden squalls, particularly in the fall and many
stories are told of hair- beneath escapes and losses. There was often a
lot of good-natured rivalry among the crews of the bullies, each crew
extolling the merits of its own boat and in securing a good catch of
fish.
The owners of these boats were
usually their builders as well, and naturally took a great pride in
their workmanship. They were craftsmen and artists. They did not have to
work in bits and pieces as is the practice today, but were engaged in
the whole process from start to finish . They thus had the deep
satisfaction of creating something beautiful and always useful. But they
not only built the boats; they also made their sails and rigged them. In
fact, they did everything except perhaps the ironwork which was usually
made by the village blacksmith sailmaker’s palm and needles as they were
with the carpenter’s plane and saw.
Now long vanished
The highrat and the bully have long
since vanished from the scene. As noted above, the invention of the
codtrap brought about a decrease in their use and the decline of the
fall fishery occasioned a further decrease. But what finally brought
about their total disappearance was the introduction of the motor boat.
Already in 1905 there could be heard the click, click, of what must have
been a very primitive type of combustion engine, in many of the harbors
along the Labrador coast. This engine propelled a small boat belonging
to a certain Captain Jensen who was a fish-buyer for European firms and
who arranged for the loading of the dry fish vessels some of them Danish
barquentines- that used to come to Labrador in those days to load dry
cod for Mediterranean ports. In the course of his duties Captain Jensen
was a frequent visitor to the various harbors and his boat was a
familiar sight to the various harbors and his boat was a familiar sight
to the fishermen living in them. Little did they think as they observed
the ease with which the Captain did not claim them, they were laid to
rest in the good earth in private grounds or in Church cemeteries,
Tombstones of slate or marble mark some of the graves but many have
nothing more than rough stones at either end. They themselves, engaged
as they were in a bitter struggle for subsistence, had little time or
means to devote to the dead. The present generation has, perhaps, no
such excuse. It would be an act of piety as well as recognition of the
importance of preserving the traditions and historical relics of our
Newfoundland communities, if steps could be taken to preserve and
maintain these burying grounds in decent condition, many of which are
now threatened with destruction. Should it be thought that the relics of
such humble people are hardly of sufficient importance to warrant much
attention, we may remind ourselves that it was not very long ago that
these men in their highrats and bullies, their trapskiffs and dories,
were the mainstay of the economy of this island of ours.
Evening
Telegram, July19, 1967
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