670 HISTORY ATSD METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



however, engage directly in the fishery, setting their own pots, transferring the lobsters when 

 caught to their wells, and, as soon as a fall cargo has been secured, proceeding to market. 



The fishing boats are generally small sail-boats, of sloop or cat rig, but row-boats are very 

 commonly used on the inshore grounds. The principal kinds of lobster fishing boats are as fol- 

 lows: 



THE MUSCONGUS BAY LOBSTER BOATS. These are small square-sterned sloops, open in the 

 after part, but with a cuddy forward. They are all built with center boards, and some are lap- 

 streak while others are " set work." Around the after part of the standing room a seat is arranged ; 

 the ballast is floored over, and two little bunks and a stove generally help to furnish the cuddy. 

 The length of these boats varies from 16 to 26 feet, and their width from 6 to 9 feet. Some of the 

 larger ones measure nearly or quite 5 tons. They are good sailers and well adapted to the pur- 

 poses for which they are intended the lobster and shore cod fisheries. When used for lobstering 

 they are managed by a single man, but in the hook and line fishery the crew generally consists of 

 two. 



When engaged in the winter lobster fishery, which frequently takes them a long distance 

 from home, it is often necessary to keep the lobsters from freezing by means of the small stove in 

 the cuddy. Upon the return the lobsters are transferred to floating cars, where they await ship- 

 ments. 



One of these boats, measuring 18 feet long, costs $80 to build, and one of 25 feet in length, 

 $200. They are constructed principally at Bristol, Bremen, and Friendship, Me., and are mostly 

 sold to parties in the vicinity of those places, but a few have found their way as far west as Cape 

 Ann and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 



THE MATINICTJS BOAT, which is employed in the lobster as well as the cod, herring, and 

 mackerel fisheries about Matinicus Island, Maine, resembles, in a general way, both the Reach 

 boat and the Muscongus Bay boat. It is sharp forward, round bilged, square-sterned, lap-streak, 

 with center-board, wash-boards, and generally two thwarts. The bowsprit and mast are adjust- 

 able ; an average length is 22 feet ; width amidships, 7 feet ; width at the stern, 3J feet. These 

 boats are always provided with oars and thole-pins, and can thus be rowed as well as sailed, though 

 the latter method is generally preferred with a fair wind. They are fast sailers and perfectly 

 safe. 



THE CONNECTICUT LOBSTER BOATS are center-board sloops, ranging in length from 20 to 25 

 feet over all, and in width of beam from 6 to 9 feet. They are shallow, with a flat bottom, sharp 

 bow, and wide heart-shaped stern. The shape of the hull is similar to that of the ordinary center- 

 board cat-boats of New England. In the middle of the boat there is an elliptical open space, called 

 the cockpit, about 12 feet long by 7 feet wide, in the clear ; outside of the cockpit, the boat is 

 decked over, forming a cuddy forward for the accommodation of the crew and storage of supplies; 

 around the after part of the pit a seat is arranged. The bottom of the cockpit is floored over about 

 1 foot above the keelson, and on either side of the center-board is built a small box-like well about 

 3 feet long, 1 feet high, and 1 foot or more in width, in which the lobsters are kept alive. The 

 draught of these boats is about 2 to 4 feet. They are used in lobstering in Long Island Sound, 

 more especially on the Connecticut shore, about Noank and New London. 



THE MAINE REACH BOATS, which are extensively used in the coast fisheries of Maine, are 

 also, to some extent, employed in lobstering. They range in length from 10 to 18 feet, but the 

 most common length is about 14 feet. They are sharp at the bow, round bilged, keeled, clinker 

 or lap-streak, and have a square, heart, or V-shaped stern, with two or three thwarts, according to 

 their size; they are as a rule entirely open, fore and aft, rarely having any wash-boards. They 



