MAINE: BELFAST DISTRICT. 51 



Black Swan, made two trips to George's in the winter of 18G1-'G2, after which the business was 

 abandoned on account of the danger attending the work. 



As has been said, the fisheries continued to increase from year to year from the first settle- 

 ment of the island to the middle of the present century. They were most prosperous between 

 1845 and 1858, when from ninety to one hundred sail were owned at Vinal Haven, and thirty-five 

 or forty belonged at North Haven. Probably four-fifths of these were under 50 tons, carpenter's 

 measurement. These vessels usually fitted at Castine, but cured their fish at home aud sold them 

 to the Boston dealers. According to Mr, David Vina], Vinal Haven alone marketed $70,000 worth 

 of dry fish in 1855. 



The first real hindrance to the prosecution of the fisheries was the civil war, which called many 

 of the fishermen to the South. Later, large quarries were opened, and as these furnish regular 

 employment to the men at good wages, many have sold their vessels and remain at home. Others 

 have gradually drifted into the lobster fishery, finding it more profitable than any other branch 

 of the fisheries of the region. 



THE FISHERIES OF NORTH HAVEN. North Haven continued to use small vessels and Che- 

 bacco boats for many years. Mr. Nelson Mullin informs us that in 1845 the largest vessel on the 

 island was the Hawk, of 44 tons, old measurement. About 1850 a larger class of vessels was 

 purchased, and as the fisheries of Vinal Haven decreased those of North Haven became more 

 extensive. Soon a number of these vessels were sent regularly to the banks for cod in the spring, 

 after which they fitted for "the Bay" mackerel fishery. By 18G1 sonic of the larger craft were 

 engaged in the mackerel fishery during the entire season, going south in spring and following the 

 fish northward as the season advanced. 



In 1879 there were twenty vessels, aggregating G30.09 tons, fishing from North Haven. These 

 were valued at $22,G25, and required the services of one hundred and forty-five men. Of the 

 entire fleet six were engaged exclusively in the mackerel fisheries, three of them going south in 

 the spring. Three of the remaining fourteen fished for cod, and the rest were engaged in the shore 

 fisheries for cod, haddock, pollock, hake, mackerel, and herring. During the same year Vina! 

 Haven had twenty vessels aggregating 390.55 tons, engaged in the fisheries during some part of 

 the year. The fleet was valued at $15,550, and carried ninety-eight men. Two of the vessels were 

 engaged in carrying lobsters to the local canneries, and all but two of the remainder fish on the 

 inshore grounds. 



The boat-fishermen of the island engage chiefly in the capture of lobsters during the spring 

 and early summer, and in a limited fishery for mackerel in midsummer, and for hake in the fall. 

 The lobster fishery, according to Mr. Viual, began about 1851, when J. B. Hamdeu, of Boston, built 

 a cannery at Carver's Harbor. This was operated regularly up to 1859, when it was closed. From 

 that date nothing was done till 1870, when Portland parties bought the property, and have continued 

 the business to the present time. Mr. Mullin informs us that a cannery was built at North Haven 

 in 1857. Each of these canneries puts up both lobsters and mackerel, the two employing a total 

 of sixty-five hands during the height of the season. There are now ISO boat-fishermen living on 

 the islands. About 170 of these are engaged in the lobster fishery from early spring till the 1st of 

 August, some of them continuing the work throughout the entire year. The small lobsters are 

 usually sold to the canneries, and the large ones are carried to Portland, Boston, aud New York 

 by the smacks that come regularly to the region. The men tend about sixty pots each, setting 

 them on almost any of the rocky ledges iu the vicinity of the island. When the mackerel arrive 

 many of the above fishermen, together with a number of farmers and quarrymen, spend a few 



