THE MENHADEX FISHERY. 373 



the first, of the season. Monday. ~ lit. : Wind blowing h:iril from southwest. Tm^ilini. -///: I'dowing and raining. 

 ll'ftlin'xtlay. \nli : Windy weather. Tliurxtlay, ID/A ; Windy. Friday, \\lli : daight 7,000 fish. (Our fishing was nearly 

 all done u( this time in (Jivat IVconic I'.ay, above Kobius Island, and when we go in the bay below it will be men- 

 tioned.) Hut iii-diii/, 1-2/7/: Caught 1 ..".(Ml li-.li p. in.; turr (hi- seine on a snag. Monday, 14//I : Caught 10,000 fish p. in. 

 Tlturxduy, l7//i: Caught I', 1 " 111 fish; very warm weather. Mundaii, 'Jls/. : Went out and about 1 o'clock ]i. m. saw a 

 .shoal of drum-fish in abnut the middle of IVconic ]Jay and put the seine around them. After pursing the, seine we 

 found it impossible to raise the bunt of the seine to the surface', on account of the weight of lish enclosed; we hoisted 

 it up as well us we could with the, throat halyards and commenced at one end of the seine and tried to take it on, but 

 could make no headway on account of the- i|iiantity of lish ; then we loaded the sloop with the fish that were in one 

 end of the seine, and with great difficulty we sue, ceded In emptying the seine of lish and getting it on the boats. I 

 presume we let from 40 to :".o tons go; we .saved ono striped liass and saw another in the seine, but were unable to 

 secure it. It is said to be almost invariably the casi- that one or more liass are found in a shoal of drum-fish. Our 

 seine was so badly torn, or chafed, that it tool; several days to mend it, and our next fishing was on June '>'. Mini- 

 day, 28/// : Went out in p. in.; caught ,--.11111). 



July Is/, Tliurxdai/ : Went fishing in p. in.; caught :!. 0(1(1; we had to attend to haying and harvesting; did not 

 lish any morn until the 9th. Friday. !l/// : We caught il.liMl and spread them in the corn. ll't'ditt'Kday, I4lli : We went 

 out fishing: caught none; getting in wheat. >V < . II ntm iliifi, 2lxl: Went lishing; caught l^OOO. Thursday, 2~<l : 

 Caught ?,nil(> and carted them out. Friday, >:'<!/: Went out: caught l'-',Oll(Hisli ; sold a part of them and carted part. 

 We were busy with our farm work and did not, lish any more until 



.luaiist '.I///. Monday: Went out: i-anght :). ."ill) lish. Tiicday, 10/// : Went out ; caught 21.000 fish. WeilntxilitH, 

 lltli : Wind east ; raited lish and plowed them under. Tlnmiliiy, 12/// : Went ti.shing; caught 11,000. Friday, I'.'.tlt : 

 Caught 1'J,000 fish. Monday, Ki/'i : a. in. windy ; p. m. went, out, ; caught 8,000 lish. Ti/e.aday, \7tli : Went out; caught 

 17.01)0 lish ; lauded them on shoio for some farmers at Franklinvi'.le. Wi-diHvdaij, IS///: Went, out ; caught 8,000 fish. 

 Thiirxday, I!'/// : Went fishing; caught l.",oilll ; lauded them for fanners in Franklinville. Friday, Ulltli : Wind east; 

 came to .lame-sport with sloop and seine. Monday, Q'd : Went out fi,-!iing ; caught 1 1 ,1'00 ; landed them just west of 

 .lainesport for a farmer. Tiirxilay, 'J l//i : Went out ; caiigiit 'J.^llll lish ; they were very wild ; we hail great difficulty 

 in surrounding them. Thursday, '-i(3r/i : IJainy day; we went out lisliing in p. in., but the wind blew hard and we 

 caught nothing. Friday. -7/.'i .- Wi'iit out fishing ; caughl 11. Olid; we joined seines : thought we could get around 

 tin in better, lint made hard work of pursing, ^titiirdny, '.'-//i : \\'e cm ted lish and mended seine : came on to rain in 

 p. m. Xiittiliti/, 'I'.ltli : An east storm. Monday, 'JO///: Wind continues to the' east, MI we- did not lish. Timday, '3lst : 

 Went out lisliing; caught lii.dliii. 



Xi-plrmlii-r 1st, iridiii'xilnii: Went out lishing : caught nothing. Tliiirxdiiy, ?d : Went out : caught 7,000. Fridir/, 

 M: Windy; did not lish. Saturday, 4tli : Went out lishing; caught .10, Odd. 1 have a sore fool and Hie fall work com- 

 ing on, potatoes to dig, Ac., so we ipiit for the season. 



1S53. 



In I, 1 -.":! they started out in search of fish on April vj^, but, none were taken until June 6. The fishing was aban- 

 doned each year when farming was more important and when there was no longer use for manure. 



1854. 



In l-"il the season began on May iid and ended September -J7. 



1855. 



In the spring of ls.">. r > the small sloop was sold and a larger one of about 12 tons was purchased. 



We now take another man to sail the sloop while we go to catch the lish. Treviously we had been obliged to 

 anchor the sloop until we could purse the seine. And about this time we increased the width of the seine to UdO meshes. 

 On the 35(1 of May got out and varnished the seine (up to this time we had used bright varnish on the seine), and on 

 May -",) \\cnl out to look for fish, but caught none. 



1850. 



In ls.">(; the seine \\.,s again varnished and hung, and the lishing began June a and ended October l:i. 



The catch taken June 30, 1856, was sold at Jesse Terry's pot works. They were the first I ever carried to a fac- 

 tory. Mr. Terry had put up a small pot works on Red deck I'oint to try out the li.sh that he caught with his clraw- 

 seinc. Formerly we had boated most of them over to Jamesport and sold to the farmers. Mr. Henry Wells sa\s 

 he commenced trying out fish in July, in.~iil, at Shelter Island, and some parties in (Ji-cc.nport commenced fishing with 

 a purse-seine about the same time that Mr. l'ett\ and C'leves commenced in Peconic Hay, which was in 1-Ms or 1849. 



1857. 



We used tar on the- seine tiiis year, instead of blight varnish, which we had formerly n.sed, and have made the 

 seine '.''< meshes instead ot':',iin meshes deep. 



