302 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Blackford ; and I learned from him that, besides the provision made 

 for the preservation of material in alcohol, there was sufficient ice on 

 board of the schooner for the refrigeration of our bait and any number 

 of fish we were likely to capture. 



Having ascertained these facts, I went by the afternoon train (the 

 first one leaving New York) to Greenport, where I arrived at 6.40 

 o'clock in the evening. Mr. Barnet Phillips, who accompanied us on 

 the cruise and who had joined the smack in New York, and Captain 

 Eedmond, the skipper of the Josie Eeeves, met me at the depot. I 

 went with them on board the schooner then lying at the wharf where 

 the menhaden steamers rendezvous when in port. 



I learned from Captain Eedmond that all the material for the trip, 

 with the exception of the lobster-pots which I had sent from Gloucester, 

 had been received and was snugly stowed away on board of the smack. 

 However, owing to the prevalence of rough weather during the pre- 

 ceding four or five days, no menhaden had been caught, and therefore 

 it had been impossible to procure a supply of bait for the cruise. It is 

 true, perhaps, that bait might have been obtained from the weirs in 

 the vicinity of Sandy Hook when the smack left New York, but to have 

 taken it then, with a storm of uncertain length impending, would have 

 been very unwise, since the probabilities were that it might be unfit 

 for use before a chance offered to go to sea. Under the circumstances, 

 there was nothing to do but to wait until Monday. 



Captain Eedmond thonght our best chance of obtaining bait would 

 be from the weirs in the vicinity of Greenport. Therefore, on the next 

 day, the 17th, we procured a team and drove to all the fish traps which 

 could be reached. We found, however, that the prospect of getting 

 "bunkers" from the pounds was not good, for most of the pounds had 

 been either torn up or so badly injured by the storm that there was 

 little chance of securing enough menhaden to answer our purpose. The 

 only thing that could be done under the circumstances was to wait until 

 the fishermen went out in the Sound, when, if the fish "played" well, we 

 might get bait from the seining gangs. 



At daylight on Monday, the 18th, there was a smart southerly breeze 

 with indications of rain. The steamers had started between midnight 

 and dawn, and the sailing gangs, which were out early, looking for fish, 

 finding the wind too strong down Gardner's Bay, began working up 

 by Greenport under reefed sails, towards the more sheltered waters of 

 the Great Peconic Bay. Altogether the prospect of getting a supply 

 of bait was not promising for that day. Towards noon, however, the 

 appearance of the weather changed very much, and the afternoon was 

 fine, with a moderate southwesterly wind. 



We were reluctantly compelled to wait for our lobster-pots until the 

 arrival of the steamer from New London at 11.30 o'clock a. m. We then 

 got under way, but seeing no indications of the presence of menhaden 



