THE SCUPPAUG AXD TflE FAIR MAID. 97 



move out into deeper water. Mr. Vjnal Edwards has, however, taken 

 younger fish at Wood's Holl as late as the loth of December, and Capt. 

 John Rogers, of Noank, states that, in fishing for cod on Nantucket 

 Shoals late in November, their stomachs are occasionally filled with small 

 Scup, which drops out of their mouths when hauled on deck, found to be 

 to the extent of five or six at a time. It is quite possible that they, as welL 

 as other fish, seek in winter that portion of the Gulf Stream that corre- 

 sponds in temperature to that of their summer abode ; and as the mean 

 summer temperature of the waters of Southern Massachusetts and Rhode 

 Island amounts to about 6t,° F. , they must go nearly to the lati- 

 tude of Norfolk, Va., before they can find that same temperature in the 

 winter season." 



This species has a certain interest derived from its connection with an 

 early and important incident in the history of the market fisheries, for we 

 are told that the smack "Amherst," launched July 23, 1763, was the first 

 fishing boat provided with a well for the transportation of living fish ; and 

 that she was intended for the " porgy " fishery. In the New York Gazette 

 of January 30, 1764, were printed some lines beginning thus : 



" Since on our banks the porgys found 

 A smack they've built to try the ground." etc., etc., 



The "porgy" soon became too common for i)rofit or pleasure, and the 

 fishing was abandoned.* 



Immense numbers of Scup are caught in the pounds and traj^s in Rhode 

 Island and Massachusetts, and for several weeks in each year the market 

 is usually glutted, a barrelful being frequently sold for twenty-five to fifty 

 cents, or a small fraction of a cent a pound. It is extremely doubtful 

 whether any i:)art of the more northern coast of North America can fur- 

 nish, within three miles of the shore, as large a weight of fish in mackerel, 

 herring and cod as has been furnished by the Scup, sea-bass and tautog 

 alone in the waters of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Mr. William 

 Davol, of Rhode Island, with his "gang," caught 2,400 barrels of Scup, 

 valued at $1,200, at Seconnet, in May, i860. Fish Avere purchased by 

 Messrs. Reynolds, Young & Co., of Fall River, and shipped to Philadelphia. 



In the summer of 1880 over 2,500,000 pounds were sold in New York 

 city alone, and the product of the New England fishery amounted to at 

 least double the quantity. As many as 10,000 barrels have been taken at 

 once in a single pound in Narragansett Bay. The Scup«is not especially 



* De Voe, Market Assistant , p. 182. 

 7 



