After fish had set in the pound for two or three weeks during the summer months, the steps involved in making the fish began. The related architectural form of fish flakes--platforms surrounding the stage--would be prepared for the next processing step. Fish were taken out of the pound, washed very quickly in a tub of salt water, then stacked up in the stage in a simple rectangular pile known as a waterhorse, often three by three by four feet in dimension. The fish at this stage of processing was called "waterhorse fish". This waterhorse, made up of approximately 10-15 quintals of fish (1000-1500 pounds), had to be left overnight.
The vagaries of Newfoundland weather influenced how the fish actually was made, and the cool, damp summer climate obviously had determined the kinds of drying platforms necessary to process fish; thus, the form and use of fish flakes has been primarily determined by climate. The use of such drying flakes was obviously necessary in damp weather, permitting air circulation both under and over the fish as it cured.
Once the fish sat in a waterhorse pile overnight, it was hoped that the next day would be fine. If so, fish were loaded onto wheelbarrows (figure 29), wheeled out of the stage along the walkway board (figure 30) and dumped on either side of it onto the flake.
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| (figure29) Wheelbarrow used to carry fish out onto a flake;
Leslie Coles' premises, Deep Bay. |
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| (figure30) Board runway for rolling a wheelbarrow over a flake;
Dan Greene's premises, Tilting. |
These flakes that extended out to the fish stages were usually quite long; Stanley Waterman's and Leslie Coles' extended almost 100' in length (figure 31), while Dan Greene's was over 130' long.
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| (figure31) Plan of Leslie Coles/Stanley Waterman premises,
Deep Bay. |
Doug Primmer can remember spreading over 6500 pounds of waterhorse fish on the flake leading to his stage.
Waterhorse fish were placed on a waterhorse flake--a flake that was always covered with some type of boughs laid on top of the longers that formed the platform. These boughs were cut in the spring of the year near the community, or sometimes brought by the boatload from other areas. By the time they were ready to be used in the summer, their needles had usually fallen off, leaving just a springy framework on which to rest the fish. Flake boughs were laid methodically over the surface of the platform; they had to be doubled up, laying one tier over another beginning at the end of the flake. Using boughs over the normal longer covering of a flake ensured air circulation under the spread fish, speeding up the drying process. If there was one good day of drying, then this waterhorse fish could be moved to other flakes. However, if the day was dull or rainy, fish were not spread at all but left in the stage; when bad weather lasted four or five days, fish often began to turn slimy, and had to be washed again before being put out.
Once the initial curing of waterhorse fish had taken place, on subsequent days they were spread on flakes in locations other than the walkway linking the stage to land. These flakes needed only to be covered with longers, for the now partially dry fish would not stick to their smooth surface. Such flakes were often enormous in size, and stretched along all available portions of a harbour (figure 32).
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| (figure32) Flakes with drying cod
(The Illustrated News of the World, October 22, 1859). |
The residents of most outports can remember when they could walk from one end of the community to the other on top of these flakes. When fish were plentiful, there were times when there would not be enough flake space and fish would be placed on any available rocks to dry. The hills behind Leslie Coles' stage in Deep Bay were often covered with fish; Dan Greene remembers when there was no grass growing around the rocks near the shoreline in Tilting, because these stones were used so frequently for drying fish. If there were not enough permanent flakes to dry fish, and no rock space was available, hand flakes were sometimes made that could be carried to wherever there was a free spot. These hand flakes were made of small frames, approximately four by six feet, covered with round pickets (in later years, netting), and were often moved during the day to face the sun in order to get the best effect (figure 33).
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| (figure33) Hand flakes,
Stanley Waterman's premises,
Deep Bay. |
Fish were dried until they got "right hard" according to Dan Greene, "right straight, you couldn't bend it."
Spreading fish was an activity that obviously depended on the weather. Flakes would be located surrounding or near the stages, permitting rapid attention if the weather should become unfavourable. The sun could actually be too hot for drying, with fish becoming sunburnt. Dan Greene explained: "Sun got too hot, and the pickle would boil in the fish, and when you picked it up, it all fell to pieces, see. Right down the backbone, it split right in two. And that was no good, that wasn't taken for anything. Well, you wouldn't get rid of it for cullage (the poorest grade of fish)." If cod were spread on a flake and the weather became too hot, the fish might be shielded from the sun by boughs or other coverings.
Rain was damaging to fish as well, although not irreversible. If fish were exposed to too much rain, salt would be removed and flies might lay their eggs. As Dan Greene commented, once the fish "got so far advanced," the fly would not bother it. But before this initial stage of drying it was susceptible to damage. Fish might have been spread on the flakes when a sudden squall of rain would come, then it had to be quickly taken up and covered. As Bill Godwin explained, everybody would "run and rush and try to get it all up." When the weather permitted, "you had to turn around and make it all up again," beginning with the waterhorse flake. As in haymaking, women would usually be in charge of spreading and making fish once it was placed on the flakes. Bill Godwin remembered: "I've seem 'em there, small children under their arms, spreading the fish." This particular process had to be carefully watched during the entire day, as men might be out fishing when this spreading activity had to occur.
The entire stacking process was quite methodical, and involved a series of different techniques, depending on the particular state of dryness of the fish. After one good day of drying, waterhorse fish was often "doubled up". Two small fish would be placed near one another, both with backs up. A third larger fish was placed over these, again with skin side up. This would keep rain and night dampness from affecting the initial drying.
Once fish had cured enough to no longer be considered waterhorse, they were moved to other drying spaces, and would often be stacked in larger, more elaborate configurations. Fish were usually piled up at the end of the day to be protected from moisture, similar to the practice of mounding up hay in the evening for protection. Fish could be piled in round circular stacks, ten or fifteen layers high (figure 34).
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| (figure34) Flakes at the Battery,
St. John's; the typical way of piling fish at the end of the drying day into circular piles can be seen in the right foreground of the flakes
(Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, October 17, 1885). |
The tails would face inward in the circle to make this shape. The fish would be stacked with the skin downward, except for the last two or three rows where it would face up. Again, there seems to be a connection between haymaking and fishmaking; one early visitor noted the similarity: "There are heaps of fish cured and stacked up, like diminutive hayricks, the fish being nicely arranged to throw off the rain, like thatch." Sometimes these piles would be covered. Rinds from fir trees were common; these were laid on top, then a few boards were placed over them, and finally, a few stones for weight. There were instances when white spruce bark was used as a similar covering.
Fish were also piled up in what were called "faggots"; these were rectangular piles, approximately 1 1/2' by 2' and 1 1/2'high, with a gable-shaped top. Again, the fish would be tightly stacked with the skin sides facing up to protect them from rain. Dan Greene explained how small gable-roofed coverings were made to cover these faggots (figure 35).
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| (figure35) Gable covering for piles of fish,
Tilting. |
These were essentially small clapboarded roofs with handles or "stags" on each side so that they could be carried in place by two persons. Even without a covering, Doug Primmer remarked: "My son, they could make them. There wasn't a stain of water go in that faggot".
Finally, after three or four days of thorough drying, fish were moved into fish stores to await shipping to the merchant. It would be piled in the stores to "work", according to Dan Greene. In the store, fish sometimes would get "stale", and it would sometimes be packed and repacked into piles so that the air would move through it. Dan maintained that with this process, the salt "would come out of it", and the fish would sometimes turn a whiter colour. If the fish did not have too much salt to begin with, it remained an amber colour, which generally would be a top quality grade. Once the fish had been thoroughly dried, it could be "shipped" to the local merchant for grading and sale. This was often done on a day when the weather prohibited fishing or the making of fish. Dried cod was placed aboard the owner's boat and taken to the local merchant, which might be Earle's and Sons in Fogo or the Trading Company in Joe Batt's Arm. Here the fish were graded or culled according to quality, placed in barrels, and packed tightly with a press before being sealed for shipment. One visitor to St. John's in the early twentieth century described this process: "Women with hand-barrows attend upon the cullers, carry the fish into an adjoining shed, and upset their loads beside barrels standing ready to receive them. A couple of boys throw the fish into a cask, piling them up a foot or so above the brim, mount on the top, and having danced a war-dance upon them in their hob-nailed boots to pack them down, roll the barrel under a screw-press, where two men stand ready to take charge of it."
