Drying cod on flakes, pre-1898

The inshore fishery was a seasonal, family-based industry. After fishers, usually men, brought their catch to shore, mothers, wives, daughters, and sons helped remove the cod’s head, spine, and guts before salting the fish and laying it out on wooden flakes to dry in the sun.

Photographer unknown. Reproduced by permission of the Archives and Manuscripts Division (Coll. 137 03.07.003), Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL.