bait board: triangular piece of wood with two raised edges, used to cut up herring, squid, etc.
bait shed: storage place for bait on fishing premises.
ballast bed/pound: a framework of heavy logs or beams, filled with rocks, forming the crib of a wharf or breakwater.
bed/bedding: the foundation, floor, posts and beams of a fishing-stage; the two heavy timbers on each side of the frame of a boat, joined across the bottom by a floor; logs placed under a boat to roll it into the water.
birch rind/rine: bark or cortex of a birch tree used in the fisheries as a covering.
block and tackle: a combination of pulleys and ropes used to move heavy loads.
breakwater: barrier that protects a harbor or shore from the full impact of waves.
bridge: a wooden gangway connecting the waterfront stores, sheds, flakes, etc, forming fishing premises.
broad flake: platform built on poles and spread with boughs on which split cod are placed to dry; usually a larger than average sized flake.
causeway: a manmade, raised road used to cross water or provide a connection between land masses.
cladding: a protective or insulating cover applied to the exterior walls or roof of a building.
clapboard: a long narrow board with one edge thicker than the other, overlapped horizontally to cover the outer walls of frame structures.
Coaker engine: a type of engine used in fishing boats and named after Sir William Coaker, founder of the Fishermen's Protective Union.
community stage: waterfront facilities to serve the common needs of fishermen in a settlement for the landing and handling of the catch.
come-along: a gripping device used to move, lift or stabilize heavy objects.
cook room: the galley on board a ship; a large building forming part of fishing premises or room in which food is prepared and the crew accommodated.
corner board: board used to finish the corner of a building.
corner post: a post used to support the sills that form a corner of a building
cribbing: a frame or crib of logs, secured under water to form a pier, or support for a stage or stage head.
cropping shed: store on a merchant's premises in which items of personal equipment for sealing voyage are distributed.
cross-bar: horizontal timber nailed to the side of a fishing stage.
culling board: plank, or wooden table, on which dried and salted cod-fish is placed for sorting and grading.
dipping tub: wooden container in which cod are immersed in water after being headed, gutted and split.
dory: a small, wooden flat-bottomed boat with flaring sides. Dories are very stable in the water and were often used to help set and haul traps. They were also widely used when fishing with hand-lines and trawls.
faggot: a triangular stack of split and salted cod-fish constructed in the early drying phase. As fish got progressively drier, faggots increased in size from a few fish to a sizable pile.
facade: any exterior side of a building.
fish barrel: wooden container for a designated quantity of cod-fish.
fish barrow: a flat, rectangular wooden frame with handles at each end for two men to carry cod-fish.
fish-box: wooden receptacle in fishing stage where cod are placed for washing and salting after being headed, gutted and split.
fish-cask: a type of wooden barrel for the export of dried and salted cod.
fish drum: a cylindrical wooden container in which dried cod are packed for shipment;
fish house/room: (a) a small building for storing dried and salted cod; (b) a movable box-like structure to cover piled cod-fish, also called fish top.
fish pen: wooden bin for salting cod in a fishing-stage.
fish pound: wooden compartment, or container, in which cod are placed during the curing process.
fishing station: a fishing cove or harbour where a fishing crew or crews set up fishing rooms (stages, flakes, etc.,) to prosecute the fishery. A fishing station was generally a locale travelled to and fished from on a seasonal basis: Labrador "stationers" fished from the land "down on the Labrador" but lived in fall and winter in various communities on the island of Newfoundland.
flake: an outdoor platform on which fish were dried, built on posts and shores with a floor constructed of longers. In most locations they were spread with boughs, which allowed air to circulate under the fish and prevented burning of the flesh in hot weather. There were various styles of flakes used in different locations, including "beach flakes" and "bawns" where fish were laid on boughs placed on beach rocks.
flake bar: length of wood used in the construction of a drying-platform for cod.
flake beam: wooden pole placed horizontally to support the platform of a drying-flake.
flake bough: the branch of a spruce or fir tree spread on the flake to permit air to circulate under the drying fish.
flaking stick: wooden pole used in the construction of a drying platform for cod-fish.
floater fishery: migratory, schooner based fishery once common along the north-eastern coast of Newfoundland and the Labrador Coast.
floor/flooring: the horizontal surface of a fish-flake, especially the thin poles resting on the vertical shores and covered with boughs.
fully studded: in reference to a type of construction; local term for vertical plank construction. Large vertical planks or studs that are rough sawn or planed are placed next to each other on a sill at the bottom and either extend to a plate at the top or continue to the roof. Sometimes every 16"-20" a stud is mortised into the sill.
gallery: part of a fishing stage where the catch is landed on its way to the stage head.
gable: the triangular end of a wall above the eaves with a peak roof.
gump head: stout wooden pile protruding above a wharf to which vessels may be moored; similar mooring-post aboard a vessel; bollard, cleat.
hand flake: lightly-constructed platform, about four feet above ground level, used to spread and dry cod-fish.
hand-tub (handle-bar tub): wooden hand-barrow with two handles between which a tub was fitted and carried by two people. They were usually constructed from shallop's tubs -- see below. Used mainly for carrying round or green fish, and sometimes used for carrying fish manure to the gardens.
head: the seaward end of a fishing-stage or wharf; the top portion of a fish net; funnel-shaped netting through which lobster enters trap; to remove the head of a cod-fish
heading hole: a chute located under the splitting table, placed so as people working around the table could quickly kick the fish head or guts out of the stage through the hole at their feet.
hodge: one of the heavy beams used as a support in constructing a stage or wharf.
inside stage: shed on a fishing stage where split cod-fish are salted and piled.
joist: wooden beam, laid horizontally, to support and create the frame of a floor or ceiling. Sometimes used when referring to wall studs.
labry/lavry: a narrow wooden covered walkway, often forming part of a network of passages, connecting different parts of a fishing stage.
laying-room: area where cod-fish are spread to dry.
lists: rows on a flake formed by loose longers that held the flake boughs in place and between which fish were laid. Also known as "panes."
locker: a wooden receptacle in fishing-stage where cod are placed for washing and salting after being headed, gutted and split.
loft: area of a fishing-stage for storing dried cod and fishing gear. Often the site of gear repairs during the winter months.
longer/lunger: a long wooden pole placed horizontally on uprights to form the elevated surface of a drying-platform for cod-fish.
net gallows/horse: frame used to spread fish-net for drying.
net-loft: area of a fishing-stage or premises for the storing and mending of nets.
ochre: a substance composed of powdered hematite, or iron ore, mixed with some type of liquid raw material to create a rough paint. The liquid material was usually fish oil, seal oil, or sometimes linseed oil.
outside stage: part of the elevated platform on the shore at which fish are landed and prepared for salting.
peg board: piece of wood with a series of holes and corresponding numbers used to record the weight of fish catches. Pegs were placed in the appropriate holes and catches were usually recorded by the quintal.
pen board: partition used to divide sections of the fish-hold.
pit-saw: a large, two-handled saw used to cut logs into boards and planks. Two people were needed to saw, one standing above the log, sometimes on a raised platform and the other below, often in a pit.
planching/planchen/plancheon/planchion: (a) Floor-boards; the floor of a dwelling; (b) planks laid down to form the floor of a barn, fishing-stage, or the cabin or engine-room of a vessel.
plank: a long, flat piece of cut lumber used to cover the frame of a structure.
pound board: plank used to construct wooden partitions or enclosures
premises: the waterfront stores, sheds, wharf and other facilities of a merchant or fisherman.
punt: a small, wooden, round-bottomed, open boat typically used in the inshore fishery. Usually less than 25 feet in length, they are smaller than skiffs and can be powered by oars, sails or engines.
quarter: (verb) to provide accomodations to men hired as part of a fishing crew or as fishing servants. Accomodations usually very rudimentary and often in outbuildings used for fishery related purposes.
quintal: a measure of fish, either fresh or dried, weighing 112 pounds.
rafter: sloped timbers that run parallel to one another and support the roof.
rail: a long tapering pole, undressed or trimmed on two sides, used in the construction of fish-flakes, etc; especially the poles fastened horizontally on the seaward side of a stage head.
roofing felt/tar paper: heavy duty paper used to cover roofs. Traditionally, a protective layer of liquid tar was applied over the felt.
room: a tract or parcel of land on the waterfront of a cove or harbour from which a fishery is conducted; the stores, sheds, flakes, wharves and other facilities where the catch is landed and processed, and the crew housed.
sail loft/room: room on a fishing premises in which sails are stored and repaired.
salt house/store/shed: structure forming part of fishing premises in which salt is stored.
salting bin: wooden crib in which fisheries salt is stored or partially cured cod are stacked in salted layers.
salting stage/store/shed: storage building where split fish are spread in rows and salted.
salt pen/pound: wooden enclosure in which salt for curing fish is stored in fishing premises or on a vessel.
scaffold: an elevated platform on which nets are placed to dry or for storage.
schooner: large, wooden sailing vessel with two or more masts.
screwing room: area in merchant's premises in which cod-fish are pressed in casks for export.
shears: sloping poles on which nets are hung to dry; heavy logs or shores placed crosswise as support for elevated platform or flake on which fish are dried.
sheathing: a protective or insulating cover applied to the exterior walls of a building.
shed: a small outbuilding used primarily for storage.
shop: an outbuilding used for storage and as a workshop.
shore: a stout post set vertically or slanted in the ground to support a stage or wharf.
side span: wooden exterior brace on the side of a stage, which kept the side of the stage from breaking out when a large amount of salted fish was stored inside.
sill: a horizontal board that bears the upright beams of a wall.
skiff: a large, wooden, partly-decked boat typically used in the inshore fishery to set and haul fishing traps. They can be powered by oars, sails or engines.
slipway: a sloping, wooden surface leading down to the water, from which boats are launched.
splitting stage: section of fishing premises where fish is processed. A small stage built on the water where fish were gutted, headed, and split prior to salting. Splitting stages were required in unprotected locations where sea conditions posed a threat to structures built on or near the water.
splitting table: table in a fishing stage where cod or salmon are processed before salting and drying, approximately 4' by 6' in size. There were one or two semi-circular cutouts where the splitters would work; next to these cutouts would be nailed a small strip of wood, a cleat that would be used to steady the fish as it was being split. The cutout permitted the fish to be worked at on an angle as the backbone was removed.
spur-shore: a stout post, often placed diagonally to support wharf, fishing-stage, etc.
squish: slanted, not aligned.
stage: an elevated platform on the shore with working tables, sheds, etc, at which fish are landed and processed for salting and drying.
stage beam: upright post supporting a fishing stage.
stage door: entrance to a fishing stage on the landward side.
stage head: end of fishing stage which extends over the water where fish is landed.
stage-head rail: one of a number of wooden poles fastened one above the other at the end of a fishing stage to form a type of ladder.
stage longer: long, thin wooden pole used as flooring. etc, of a fishing stage.
store: a structure or area of a fishing-stage or merchant's premises in which dried cod is placed ready for collection or export; the fish store was often attached directly to the flake via a second-floor door. The second floor was often used to store fish in the summer and fall and often as a gear storage and mending area in winter and spring.
strapping: narrow, thin strips of boards used to hold materials in place, especially strapping used to hold roof felt in place.
strouter/stouter: one of several heavy posts placed vertically to support and strengthen the head of a fishing stage or wharf.
stud: a log roughly hewn and flattened on one or two sides and placed upright next to other such logs to form the frame of a wall of a building.
sunken pound: framework of heavy logs or beams, filled with rocks, forming the crib of a wharf or tage.
train house: structure on fishing premises in which cod livers, seal and whale blubber are rendered.
trim: pieces of wood, either flat or moulded, used to border openings such as windows and doors.
twine house/loft/store: upper room in building, especially on fishing premises, for the storage and repair of gear.
tub: a puncheon or barrel, sawn in half, used to hold split cod in salt.
washing tub/vat: wooden container in which salted cod are washed before drying.
water-horse: a stack of salted cod-fish piled in layers to drain, having recently been removed from salt and washed clean of it and any remaining dirt. After the piling and draining (or "pressing out") water-horse fish was taken up onto the flake to dry. Water-horse can also be used as a verb: to water-horse fish is to pile the just-washed split, salted fish in a stack to "press out" or drain. Water-horse fish was very susceptible to spoilage and had to be carefully tended for a number of days.
wharf: a wooden landing place or pier where boats may tie up and unload.
yaffle: an armful of dried or nearly dried salt fish; the amount of dried fish that could be comfortably carried under one arm. It was also used as a verb, as in to take up an armful of fish. It also had a more general usage as a verb, referring to the work of spreading, gathering and piling fish.
