BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 47 



only in the fall, as the fish were too poor in the summer. The notable 

 September gales of 1815, which were so very destructive on the Xew 

 England coast, destroyed the above works, aud washed them some 60 

 feet up on the land, from where they were located. 



It is thought that the business did not get started again until 1818. 

 It seems that in 1824: Mr. Barker conceived a new idea of cooking fish, 

 and put his ideas into practice, by building a box 5J feet high and 6 

 feet wide, and 8 feet long, with a fire-place or furnace in or on one end, 

 and a copper pipe running from the fire furnace through the middle of 

 the box, by which all the smoke and fire had to pass through the box. 

 He usually put 60 pounds of fish in the box at a time, covering the same 

 with water; this was called the "Bit Barker Fish Oil Factory." It was 

 built on skids, and was conveyed from place to place by his oxen, using 

 it most of the time on his farm, which was a mile from the shore, draw- 

 ing the fish from the shore with his oxen. By this method he saved 

 the water, and put it on his land as well as the scrap, which made his 

 farm produce yery large crops. 



The first factory that was built to cook fish by steam in wooden tanks, 

 as far as I know, was built by John Tallman; the second in the year 

 1811 on j\['Gay's Point, Portsmouth, E. I. It had eight wooden tanks, 

 holding 60 barrels of fish, and a flue boiler. The boiler was fed by a 

 force-pump worked by hand. The next year Mr, Tallman joined Mr. 

 George Lambert, of East Cambridge, Mass., and built a factory at the 

 mouth of Merrimac Eiver, Mass., and soon after Mr. Daniel Wells got 

 Mr. Tallman's plan of factory and built one on Shelter Island, near 

 Greenport, N. Y. 



Mr. Charles Tuthill, of Greenport, was the first to express fish, for 

 which we are very much indebted to him, as weU as many other im- 

 provements that have been used by him in the business. The first purse- 

 seine that was made, so far as I know, was made by John Tallman the 

 first, and Jonathan Brownell and Christopher Barker, in the year 1826. 

 It was 281 meshes deep and 65 fathoms long. The purse weight was a 

 56-pouud weight, and the blocks were the common single blocks, and 

 they had to reeve the end of the purse-line through the blocks, before 

 they put the purse- weight overboard. The first time the seine was set, 

 there were fourteen men to help; they set around what they called a 

 500-barrel school of menhaden, and, while they were pursing, the fish 

 rushed against the twine so hard, that they twisted and snarled the 

 twine around the purse line and weight to that extent, that the men 

 could not gather the seine up, or get her into the boat again as they 

 were, and, after they had worked six hours, and quarreled over the mat- 

 ter, they decided to tow or warp the seine ashore at high water, and, 

 when the tide left the seine, they would be able to unsnarl it, which 

 they did the next day. It was a number of days before they could 

 muster courage to set her again, and, when they did, they set around a 

 small school with better success. 



