Banks did, conscientiously and at some length, following the whole process through from the catching by handline to the heading and gutting, the splitting, the salting, the washing out of the salt, the drying, the sweating and the drying again; and coming to the end of the English way of fishing he says
Lastly Let us remember their Train Oyl for by that name they distinguish it from Whale or Seal Oyle Which they Call Fat Oyle which is sold at a Lower Price being only usd for the Lighting of Lamps than the train oyl which is usd by the Curriers They make it thus they Take a half tub & boring a hole Through the Bottom Press hard down into it a Layer of Spruce boughs upon which they Lay the Livers & place the whole apparatus in as sunny a Place as Possible as the Livers Corrupt the Oyl runs from them and strains itself clear through the Spruce Boughs is caught by a Vessel set under the hole in the tubs bottom
So much For the English Fishery I shall now mention the methods of the French which are Different from ours in some of which as I said before they Excell us but more in their neatness & manner of Carrying on Business among their People than in any Superiority in Point of Curing
Their Boats are not much more than half as Large as ours much more Clumsily Built & Less adapted for sailing
Yet on the other hand their officers had talents of no common order:
The Seconde or mate of the French ships the Major or surgeon occasionaly the Captain are the People who split the Fish by which means it is never Carelessly or ill Done as is too often the Case among our People where splitting is done by the Common People the too first of these officers are not qualified for their office unless they can sing which they Do to amuse the People who occasionally all join the chorus the whole time of their Splitting I remember Coming into a french Stage & hearing Voi amante as agreeably sung as Ever I heard it by the Major & seconde the first of whoom had a remarkably good voice
These Officers being of some Consequence among the People & commonly going Pretty well Dressd have an Ingenious way of Keeping themselves Clean in the Dirty operation of Splitting they have a Case made of Bark to Cover them from their chins to their heels which Constantly stands over their Stools in the splitting table into this they Creep & Putting on sleeves & Large woolen gloves split the fish in a manner without touching it
Their Oyl they also make in a much neater manner than we do if neatness is an excellence in so nasty a thing they certainly excell us much theirs is all straind through a thin Cloth not unlike the Canvas that Ladies work Carpeting upon strechd on the upper side of a Vessel made with Poles Placd in the shape of a Pyramid Reversd under which is Placd a trough for the receiving it as it strains out
After having said so much about Fishing it will not be improper to say a little about the Fish that they catch & of the Dish they make of it Calld Chowder which I believe is Peculiar to this Country tho here it is the Cheif food of the Poorer & when well made a Luxury that the rich Even in England at Least in my opinion might be fond of It is a Soup made with a small quantity of salt Pork cut into Small Slices a good deal of fish and Biscuit Boyled for about an hour unlikely as this mixture appears to be Palatable I have scarce met with any Body in this Country Who is not fond of it whatever it may be in England Here it is certainly the Best method of Dressing the Cod which is not near so firm here as in London whether or not that is owing to the art of the fishmongers I cannot pretend to say Salmon & herrings we also have in Plenty but neither of them near so rich & fat as they are in England Halibuts are the only fish common To both places in which this Country Excells
He goes on to speak of birds from the culinary point of view, curlew, golden plover, ducks and teal, geese and partridges:
these are all good to Eat but Some birds there are that I must mention tho they have not that Excellence Particularly one Known here by the name of Whobby he is of the Loon Kind & an Excellent Diver but Very Often amuses himself especially in the night by flying high in the air and making a very Loud & alarming noise at least to those who do not know the Cause of it as the following circumstance will shew
In August 1765 as Commodore Paliser in the Guernsey a 50 gun ship Lay in this Harbour Expecting the Indians one Dark night in a thick fog the Ships Company were alarmed by a noise they had not heard before Every one awoke Conjecturd what it could Possibly be it came nearer & nearer grew louder & louder the first Lieuftenant was calld up he was the only man in the Ship Who had Ever seen the Esquimaux immediately as he heard the noise he declard he rememberd it well it was the war whoop of the Esquimaux who were certainly Coming in their Canoes to board the Ship & Cut all their throats the Commodore was aquainted up he Bundled upon Deck orderd ship to be cleard for Engaging all hands to Great Guns arms in the Tops Every thing in as good order as if a french man of war of Equal Force was within half a mile Bearing down upon them The Niger which Lay at some Distance from them was haild & told the indians were Coming when the Enemy appeared in the shape of a Troop of these Whobbys swimming & flying about the Harbour which From the Darkness of the night they had not seen before all hands were then sent down to Sleep & no more thought of the indians till the Nigers People came on board next morning who will Probably never Forget that their Companion Cleard Ship & turnd up all hands to a flock of Whobbies
Banks returned to his earlier diary form on 2 September to record a most surprising fish:
This day a Halibut was brought aboard so large that his dimensions I fear will appear incredible in England the first I took with my own hands therefore I can venture to affirm them Exact They are as follows
| From the Tip of his nose to the end of his Tail | 6ft | 11 inches |
| Breadth from fin to fin | 3 | 10 |
| Thickness of his solid Flesh By running a priming wyer through | 8¼ | |
| Breadth of his Tail | 2 | 0½ |
| Lengh of the Fin next his Gills | 0 | 10 |
| he weighd | 284 lb |
which was only 14 lb Less than an Ox Killd for the ships Company the Day he was weighd which was not till near 24 hours after he was Caught so he may fairly be said to have weighd as much as the Ox had he not been wasted as all fish do considerably by Keeping.
After this he gives a receipt for spruce beer and apart from a note on 6 September “Curlews gone” he returns to a general narrative, of which these are extracts.
We were told by the Old Salmoneer that there were Owls there as big as Turkies he indeed gave us the Claws of one which I take to be the Strix Bubo of Linnaeus tho I was never Lucky Enough to See one of them the whole time of our Stay nor any of the Shipps Company tho they were Eternally Employd at cutting wood for the Fort in temple Bay
As an Excuse for my not Stirring More from home while at this Place I mention an escape I had on the Second of this month when mere accident Preservd my Life I set out with the Master of our Ship on a Cruise to the Northwards meaning to Cruise along shore for a week or ten days where no vessel that we Knew of had Ever been we were both Extreemly fond of the Plan & Pushd out of Chatteaux with a foul wind in an open Shallop by way of putting ourselves in a fair winds way we with difficulty Turnd the Lengh of Castle Island when the wind Coming right ahead we agreed it was impossible to go any farther & we Put back into Esquimaux harbour to stay till the next morn in hope of change of wind we had Scarcely made our Boat fast along side of a snow* there when it began to Blow Very hard and that night Came on a most severe Gale of Wind which Destroyd an infinite number of boats Everywhere the French Particularly whose boats are smaller than ours are said to have lost an hundred men & three of their Ships Drove on shore a brig of Captain Derbys at Isle Bois a little down the Streights was Beat all to Peices this totaly Destroyd our scheme to the northward Sir Thomas being after that very Careful of Letting the boats go out & indeed