TI1K MKM1A1>KX F1SMKUY. 377 



nil I'n mi I hi' .sln.iji with our I ni;i Is a ml rovtcd i[<>\\ n ID where we .saw tlu'ui playing ; ami they \vrn- phi\ ing in I lie west, 

 and to tlir cast, anil to the smith, as i'ar as we could sec. just as last :IH the\ v.cie near n ,. So wo rowed right in 

 \\ hrrr they \\ ere play i ng ami encircled as many as we could and caught a IK HIT 7.">.IIHU the 111 st set. alter which we mailc 

 luu more sd.s mil so largo. We sen I the Acrnnlcoii, \\ illi II. Oil I lisli. and tin 1 1 '.lark Mild, \vilh ."'.1,1 i in. i ,, .[. Applie's 

 factory, and \vc put : 7,*7."> on I he William llatlicld. which \vc took to I he Allan lie Works, as they were nearer. These 

 were large eastern lish, and had just struck in the hay. There were a hunt ten gangs fishing there that morning, and 



I think they all loaded their 1 ts lie lore night. It was a pleasant day, hut cool in the forenoon. (Irtnlier 'Milt : It lde\\ 



ipiite liard in the morning fioin the northwest, lint it soon died out and we made a -el jnsi norl h of Crow Islam I 

 Shoal, in Gardiner's Bay. \Ve pulsed t In m u|i without any trouble, lint when we came to take on t he seine we found 

 \\e had something. We found the [ish had made three large "cods" and twisted ! lie seine so we , -mild not clear them. 

 \Ve worked a long time on them, and then we took the Black Bird alongside ; took a hoal-liook ami hooked into the 

 "cud," pulled it up mi the side of t lie Black Mini, and cut a large hole in the seine, ami m-a 1 1 \ loaded her out of that, 

 "cod." We .served another ''cod " the same way, and while we were attending In I hi-. "Mr. Shark " made a hole ill 

 .mother "cod" and so saved us the troiihle of scooping them. Then we cleared the seine and scooped what was left 

 in I he linn I. \Ye w ere at work on them nearly nil day and saved 44,00 fish, w liieh we sent in I lie Black Bird, and 

 I .'.mill in the Aecordeou, to .1. A p] 1 1 ie's fa e I or\ . All the fish we have ca ugh I since I he I si h of I lei oher have heeu fat 

 eastern tish. 



The lish brought us S-'.">d per Ihousand this year. In the fall they run >:! per thousand, and a lew as high as ''< 

 per thousand. It was a hard matter to get a good cotton seine. I bought some for $1:35 per pound, and it was SO 

 poor and the knitting so bad that we would not think of using it now (1-T<^) if we could gel it for nothing. [I don't 

 recollect just what menhaden oil w as bringing al I his t but I think it was si per gallon, perhaps a little more.] 



1865. 



Painted the sloops and got I he seine ready and commenced tishing May 31. June '21/li : Sold Id, .".00 lish to a smack 

 for s:',].T,d. . Jnl if 'Jl.ff to ^l/i : Fishing nil' Milt'ord, Conn. Ni'y/rm/xr ".'/ /i : Went to Boston to see about getting a new 

 seine; it was impossible to get a cotton seine without [laying a very large price ; so I bargained for a seine made of 

 llax or hemp, and it was to be done so that I could have, it soon, for our seine was getting very poor; got the seine 

 October 30. 



1866. 



Siiitimliir x!.V/i : Wo took off the sails and limed them. From that date to October 17 weather bad or lish 

 scarce, so that there was no tishing. 



1867. 



As the Aecordeou was getting old and we saw the need of having a larger sloop, 1 have sold her and built a new 

 sloop that will carry about 60,dOII, which I have named the U. S. Grant. 1 had her built near my house and moved 

 her to the bay on big wheels. So now we have the William Hatfield to tow the seine and the ('. S. Grant and Black 

 Bird for carry-away sloops. We have the sloops and boats ready, and on the (1th of May we put things on the William 

 Hatlield and bent the sails on the U. S. Grant. May 7ft: I sent to Rive.rhe.ad for the (' . S. Kraut's anchors, and took 



the seim board and had everything ready to go out fishing. We started out, thinking to go down to Greeupmt, 



bul when we had sailed about half way to Kohin's Island we discovered a number of bunches of lish. They were not 



phiying I di, but we saw the color of them. Then we prepared the seine as mon as we. could and went to work at 



them. We made three sets, and caught, about :_'!>, ddii each set. We sent 45,000 lish in I he 1' S. I ; rant and Ki.OOO in the 

 Black Bird to .lamesport for the farmers. A pleasaiil day: wind light, southeast. M<uj\\lli: Went out in Pecouie 

 Bay: caught 22,400 fish, which wo , -en f. in the Black Bird lo Hallett's Works. We came into .laincsport and came to 



anchor and hauled the seines out, on deck, as we are in the habit of doing, to allow the air to co to, it to prevent its 



heating. We had one of the greatest hail-storms I ever witnessed; the hail-stones were four or live inches deep in souio 

 places next morning. Saw no fish again till the J-.'d, but we caught none till the -j7lh of May. 



October \~>tli: We started out of Gardiner's l!a\ : it. was a pleasant morning. 



There was one gang a mile or two to the east of us; and about sunrise we saw I hem drop oil and set the seine ; 

 whin we came up to them the captain called out to rue and said, "They are large eastern lish": and about that 

 time the man at mast-head cried out, " I can see them oft' to the east, playing as thick as rain-drops"; and we could 

 soon see them from the deck (just after sunrise you can see lish a 'ong way oil' to tdie e. stward). In a little whil' 

 came up u ith them. It was a large, solid body of lish and showed a good color. We dropped oil' from the sloop and 

 went around just one cud of the body and commenced pursing. We pursed the seine without much trouble and 

 took it on, running the fish all in the bunt ; bul when the carry-away came alongside, and we tried to get them up, 

 so as to scoop, we found we could not raise them. As the wicd was light we got both .-loops alongside and had carry- 

 away men to help us, but, still we were not able t-o bring them up ; then we lashed a polo on I he scoop-net handle, but 

 the lish were so far down we could make no headway in hoisting them out. At last the wind hrce/.od up from the 

 northwest, and the hunt, not, being able to stand so heavy a strain, began to rip, when we were obliged to slack the 

 seine down and let the lish out ; there were four or five, gooil shoals went out. One gang came along and caught one 

 shoal and nearly loaded his boats. After all had run out, that would, we raised tip enough to make ,|'j,ino lish. which 



