one haul of the seine in New Haven Harbor.* Constant fishing on the northern coast has driven the menhaden out to sea, though in the south their habits are much the same as of old. In New England the menhaden fishery has become to a considerable extent sea-fishing, and is prosecuted on the grandest scale.

Estimates of numbers of vessels and fishermen by collectors of customs.

159. Under the statistics of manufacture will be found the statements of the manufacturers in reference to the number of vessels and men employed by them. It may not be out of place here to give a corresponding estimate on the part of the collectors of customs and others in connection with a general statement of the location and methods of the fisheries. The manufacturers' enumeration excludes the vessels engaged in catching the menhaden for bait, but is, as far as it goes, probably more nearly correct than any other, the laws of registration being so lax that many fishing-vessels do not appear upon the custom-house books.

Fisheries of Maine.

160. Mr. William H. Sargent estimates for the district of Castine, Me., about 20 decked vessels and 150 open boats. The vessels range from 15 to 80 tons. The number of men employed (probably including the factory hauds) is about 425.

For the district of Belfast, Mr. Marshall Davis estimated in 1873 about 25 vessels with 125 men. In 1877, according to the same authority, there were about 100 boats owned by line fishermen, each of which uses from three to six gill-nets.

Mr. Benjamin F. Brightman, collector of customs at Waldoborough, Me., gives 54 gangs of 10 to 12 men each. This district includes the region between the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers, where all the large factories are located. The vessels in this region are steamers, schooners, and sloops of from 20 to 100 tons. This estimate is for 1873 and reference to the report of the Maine Menhaden Oil and Guano Association for the same year shows that these gangs include 55 vessels, 17 of which were steamers and 533 men. The number of men for 1874 is 551. More than half of these gangs are fitted out in Rhode Island.

For the town of Booth Bay, in this district, Mr. G. B. Kenniston estimates 21 gangs and 210 men.

Mr. J. Washburn, jr., collector of the Portland, Me., district, gives an aggregate of 110 vessels with 500 men, but this estimate evidently in cludes parts of other districts.

Mr. Arthur T. Neale, of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, tells me that he has talked with one of the fishermen concerned in this famous haul. There was no accurate account of the numbers and the catch was variously estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,300,000. Numerous carts were employed for three days in carrying the fish from the shore and finally a large part of the fish were allowed to escape.

Fisheries of Massachusetts.

161. Mr. F. T. Babson, of Gloucester, Mass., states that in his district are 40 vessels employing 400 men and a capital of $200,000. In this enumeration are included at least four steamers belonging to Judson Tarr & Co., of Rockport, which are used for their factory in Bristol, Me., and perhaps others. The remaining vessels are schooners of from 20 to 70 tons, which are wholly engaged in taking fish for bait. Fisheries of some importance are carried on at the mouth of the Merrimack River. They are described under the section relating to boats.

Mr. Simeon Dodge, of Marblehead, Mass., reports "no large vessels employed" in his district, though small boats fish for menhaden to be used for bait, and Mr. E. B. Phillips makes the same report for the vicinity of Swampscott.

Mr. Thomas Loring, Plymouth, Mass., says that in his district no vessels are wholly employed in this business; a few menhaden are caught for bait in gill-nets.

Capt. Hermann S. Dill, of Billingsgate Island, writes that for about three weeks, in the fall when menhaden are fat, 12 or 15 men and one or two small vessels are employed in catching them in Wellfleet Bay. A few are caught from dories.

About the extremity of Cape Cod very slight attention is paid to the menhaden. Capt. David F. Loring, keeper of Highland Light, North Lynn, Mass., writes under date February 23, 1875: "I believe the fishermen in this vicinity have an idea of going into the business quite extensively the coming season." He probably refers to the business of catching the fish for bait, which would naturally prove very profitable in the neighborhood of a great fishing center like Provincetown.

At Chatham, on the heel of Cape Cod, according to Capt. Josiah Hardy, 2d, in Chatham Bay, there are 13 weirs, but no vessels are employed in taking the menbaden.

From Nantucket, Mass., Mr. Reuben C. Kenney, collector of customs, reports that sail-boats of 5 tons burden are employed in setting the gill-nets, of the proceeds of which about half is used for bait, the other half sent to factories upon the mainland.

In the vicinity of Hyannis, Mr. Alouzo F. Lothrop, keeper of the light, states there are no menhaden fisheries.

Edgartown, Mass., and the Island of Martha's Vineyard employ no vessels in this fishery. Mr. C. B. Marchant, collector, writes that large numbers are taken in the pounds, and are sold for bait.

Fisheries of Rhode Island.

162. In Narragansett Bay, according to Mr. Church, about 10 gangs and 100 men are employed. Nearly 30 gangs fit out for the fisheries in Maine, and these usually seine Narragansett Bay for a short time, spring and fall.

No vessels are engaged in the menhaden fisheries at New Shoreham, R. I. (Block Island), nor in the vicinity of Foint Judith.

Fisheries of Connecticut.

163. In the vicinity of Fisher's Island Sound, according to Capt. William H. Potter, of Mystic, Conn., there are employed 14 large boats and 36 small, and about 240 fishermen. There are 14 gangs working be. tween the Thames River and Stonington, Conn.

Between the Thames and the Connecticut, Capt. S. G. Beebe states that there are 8 sloops of about 20 tons, each carrying about 10 men. Luce Bros., of East Lynne, have 1 steamer, 9 sloops, 48 fishermen, and 40 factory hands.

Mr. R. E. Ingham, of Saybrook, Conn., thinks that between Saybrook and New Haven there are employed about 14 vessels and 80 men, but this estimate is undoubtedly too great.

In Western Connecticut, according to Mr. G. W. Miles, there are employed 7 gangs, with 21 sloops and 230 men. Mr. F. Lillingston, of Stratford, puts the figures at 30 sloops and 300 men.

Fisheries of New York.

164. For the Eastern District of Long Island, Mr. W. S. Havens estimates 60 vessels and 540 men. Captain Sisson, for 1873, put it at 105 vessels and 400 men; in this estimate he probably includes the lighter boats.

Hawkins Brothers, of Jamesport, N. Y., employ 110 men, 50 of whom are factory workmen.

The Sterling Company, of Greenport, N. Y., employ 3 gangs, consisting each of 8 men, 2 boys, and a cook, working from 3 yachts and 6 lighters.

Mr. Joseph D. Parsons, writing from Springs, Suffolk County, New York, December 10, 1877, states that in that vicinity 43 vessels and 175 men are employed in the menhaden fishery.

At the entrance to New York Bay and off Sandy Hook the fish are taken for the sardine factories, small sail-boats of about 10 tons being used.

Fisheries of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

165. In the vicinity of Little and Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, Mr. A. G. Wolf, keeper of Absecum light-house, states that there are 10 vessels and 40 men employed; this includes the gill-net boats of 4 and 5 tons, sloops, schooners, and one steamer of about 15 tons. This perhaps includes the Somers Point Oil Works, where, according to Mr. Albert Morris, there is a gang of 9 men with 3 vessels.

In Delaware Bay there are no menhaden fisheries, though many these fish are taken in seining for other kinds.

of

In Chesapeake Bay no effort is made to take them in quantity except

in Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, where, according to Mr. Hance Law son, of Crisfield, Md., there are employed 5 vessels averaging about 15 tons each and 5 oared barges. Small numbers are taken in gill and trap nets at other points.

Fisheries of Virginia and North Carolina.

166. In the inlets of North Carolina no menhaden are taken in quantity.

The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, of New Haven, inaugurated menhaden fishing in North Carolina and Virginia in 1866. Their prospecting party passed the winter in Roanoke Sound and established weirs for the capture of menhaden, which were there very abundant. They were, however, driven away by the natives, whose jealousy of strange fishermen led them to tear up their weirs. They then located themselves near Cape Charles. Four companies established factories here—one from Maine, one from Long Island, and two from New London. They found the fishery very good, although the fish produced little oil, and were only adapted for the manufacture of fertilizers. The laws of Virginia do not encourage the inauguration of such enterprises by stran gers, and the following year it was thought unadvisable to continue the business.

Since 1872 several stock companies have been organized, under Virginia laws, for the purpose of carrying on the menhaden fisheries in the Chesapeake, and their success is well assured. Although the oil is not produced in great quantities, there is sufficient to pay the cost of manufacture, thus leaving a clear profit in the scraps.

Fisheries in the South.

167. At Cape Hatteras and in the five adjacent townships there are, according to Mr. Simpson, 200 boats and about 500 men. None of these, however, make a special effort to capture the menhaden.

In the rivers near Beaufort, N. C., they are taken in small quantities in gill-nets worked from open boats and canoes.

South of Beaufort, N. C., the menhaden has no statistical importance. They are sometimes caught incidentally in the shad and mullet nets of the Saint John's River, Florida, but, as in the Potomac, they are considered by the fishermen to be useless annoyances.

30.-APPARATUS OF CAPTURE.

The purse-seine.

168. The purse-seine is doubtless more effective than any other fishing apparatus ever devised. By its use a school of almost any size may be secured without the loss of a single fish. The enormous demands of the oil factories can be met only by fisheries conducted on the grandest scale, and the purse-seine is used by the factory fleets to the exclusion

of all other nets. In the vicinity of Gloucester, where menhaden are caught for bait, the purse-seine is also used. It need only be said that it is an immense net, which when in use is a flexible wall of twine, suspended by its upper edge, extending from 90 to 180 feet below the surface, and from 800 to 1,500 feet long. This wall is made to encircle the fish and then its lower edge is gathered up by a rope passing through rings prepared for the purpose. The seine when pursed becomes essentially a huge dip-net, from which the fish may be taken at the pleasure of their captors.

The purse-seine is said to have been invented about the year 1837 by a native of Maine, who had been for some years employed as a hand on a Gloucester fishing-smack. He conceived the idea of capturing mackerel in large numbers, and invented a seine which is substantially the same as that now in use. Finding the Gloucester fishermen unwilling to experiment with his new apparatus, he carried it to Rhode Island, where it was first put into use in the vicinity of Seaconnet for seining menhaden.

The first seine used north of Cape Cod was introduced in the year 1850 by Capt. Nathaniel Adams, of Gloucester, in the schooner "Splendid." Capt. Nathaniel Watson, of the "Raphael," began using one the same year.*

The early seines were about 200 yards in length, 22 fathoms in depth, and of 2.5 inch mesh, there being about 350 meshes in the bunt of the seine. The twine used was much heavier than that used in the present seines, and the whole net weighed six or seven hundred pounds. The present seine, however, did not come into general use, as I am informed by Mr. Marchant, of Gloucester, until about 1860.

During the last eight years there has been greater change in their size than during the ten years previous. In 1869 the nets were 160 fathoms in length, 700 meshes deep, the meshes being 24 inches, and would weigh about 400 pounds, being made of No. 9 twine (Hadley 29).

Fishing in deeper water began in the years from 1869 to 1872; and since that time a gradual increase has taken place in the size of the nets corresponding to that which has already been described in the case of the seine-boats. The popular size for seines in 1877 is 200 fathoms in length, 1,000 meshes deep, the mesh being 2 and 23 inches, those in the bunt being sometimes finer, the twine heavier. They are made of No. 6 twine (Hadley 16), and weigh about 700 pounds. The largest one known to Captain Marchant is 247 fathoms long, and weighs about 1,000 pounds.

In order to understand the method of working a purse-seine, it is necessary that the manner of "hanging it" should be described. At the top of the net is the cork-line, upon which corks are placed at distances apart of from 12 to 15 inches; two corks are usually put together (which are designated in trade as numbers 2 or 3), and are 4 inches in

* Mr. Maddocks states that the first purse-seine was used on Chelsea Beach.