tucket Shoals, shallow and dangerous, with strong flood tides running to the northeast and ebb tides to the southwest. The Shoals include Davis Shoal, 13 miles from Sankaty Head Light, Fishing Rip, 29 miles to the southeast, and Phelp's Bank, 38 miles to the southeast of the Light. An extension of this shoal three degrees to the E.N.E. forms the famous George's Bank. Along the east and south coasts of Nantucket there are grounds within two miles of the shore which are fished on for cod and bluefish. The principal fishing grounds in Nantucket Sound are Bishop and Clark's Ledge, South West Ground, Off Hyannis, Off Cotuit, and Mutton Shoal Ground west of Nantucket.

The region off Vineyard Sound and Gay Head furnishes excellent grounds for sea bass, tautog and lobsters. The first two kinds are found in less frequent numbers in Buzzards Bay. Cod are caught on Brown's Ledge, west from Gay Head, on Southwest Ledge, 13 miles S.W. by W. from Gay Head, and on Cox's Ledge, ten miles farther out and in the vicinity of No Man's Land.

Near Block Island are cod and haddock grounds at Shark's Ledge, which lies about nine miles to the southeast, the South West Ledge, and the North Ground between the island and the mainland. On these grounds, as well as those of No Man's Land, important catches of mackerel are made in their season.

GULF OF MAINE.

The Gulf of Maine is rectangular in shape, 215 miles in length from Cape Cod to Cape Sable, with an average width of 80 miles. It is of the greatest importance to the fisheries, being unsurpassed in America for the abundance and variety of the catch of fish as well as for its proximity to Gloucester, Boston, Provincetown, Portland and other fish

ing ports. The banks of the Gulf of Maine are resorted to by the New England fishing fleet. Cod, hake, cusk, haddock, pollock and some halibut are taken. The mackerel fishery is of especial importance, the depth of the water furnishing excellent opportunity for the use of purse-seines; occasionally several hundred barrels of mackerel are taken at a single setting of the seine.

In the eastern part of the Gulf are Grand Manan Bank, German Bank, and Marblehead Bank, each on the meridian of 67° and south from Eastport, Maine. Cashe's Ledge lies 76 miles east from Cape Ann on the 69th meridian, and is 22 miles long north and south by 17 miles wide. On this ledge are three small shoals, one being only four fathoms deep, on which the water breaks in severe storms. Fippenies Bank lies about twelve miles west of the southern part of Cashe's Ledge. Platt's Bank, or New Ledge, lying 53 miles E. by N. 1⁄2 N. from Thatcher's Island, is considered one of the best cod and haddock grounds in the Gulf of Maine. Ten miles north of New Ledge is Mistaken Ledge.

Extending northeast from Cape Ann for 42 miles is a nearly continuous ridge of fishing grounds, the part nearer the Cape being known as the East Shoal Water of Cape Ann, about 18 miles in length, while the part farther offshore is called Jeffrey's Ledge, one of the famous fishing grounds of this region. The bottom consists of rocks, pebbles and coarse gravel, a favorite feeding ground for ground-fish except hake. Tillie's Bank, eighteen miles east by south from Thatcher's Island, was formerly one of the best fishing grounds off Cape Ann.

GEORGE'S BANK.

While the banks of the Gulf of Maine are offshore banks, they lie within and are smaller than the banks that extend

in a more or less continuous line from George's Bank to the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. George's Bank is a northeast extension of Nantucket Shoals from which it is separated, at the meridian of 69° west longitude, by the South Channel with a depth of less than 50 fathoms. It extends eastward to the meridian of 66°, and its width is embraced between the parallels of 40° 30′ and 42° 8'. The bottom is principally of sand, with occasional patches of gravel, pebbles and rocks. Its depth is from two to fifty fathoms. Several shoals, of which Southwest Shoal and Cultivator Shoal are well-known, are found on the western part of the bank with depths ranging from two to fifteen fathoms. The tides of George's are strong, sweeping in a circular motion over the bank. For many years it was the firm conviction of fishermen that the tides of George's would under-run and sink any vessel that should anchor on the grounds, so that it was not until 1821 that the crew of a Gloucester schooner had the courage to drop anchor on the bank and prove the falsity of the belief. On the shoals the tides cause rips, while in stormy weather the sea breaks, making navigation extremely dangerous. East of the shoals is the "winter fishing ground" for cod, where the fish appear in large numbers in February, March and April. During the roughest season of the year fishermen frequent that part of George's which, during easterly storms, gives a lee shore on the dangerous shoals. No place is more to be dreaded than this, few places have caused more shipwrecks and greater loss of life. Cod, haddock and halibut are the great staples of George's Bank, although within a few years extensive catches of mackerel have been made in July and August.

NOVA SCOTIA OFFSHORE BANKS.

Fifteen miles to the northeast from George's Bank and south from Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, is Brown's Bank