Looks as if the mother ship has just dropped off a dory. The Portugues
fished by longline from dorys manned by one or two men in a technique that
uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks hanging from a single line.
The mother ship would sail along dropping off dories at intervals and then
return to reclaim the dorys and the catch. I spent three years in making the
return voyage appox twice every ten days across the Grand Banks in a ship
carrying iron ore between Bell Island, Newfoundland. and Sydney, Nova
Scotia. during the sixties and saw quite a number of these vessels. The main
risk was not spotting the dorys, especially at night or in fog, and possibly
running them down. The dorys were small and, unless it was dead calm, did
not always show up on the radar.
The iron ore mine closed in 1967 followed shortly afterwards by the steel
mills at Sydney. I understand the cod fishing has also since collapsed. I
plead not guilty on all three counts.

Regads,

Tuppence