CATALOGUE OF THE WATERCKAFT COLLECTIOX. 21 



in broader fields of naval adventure. At the same time it makes them 

 experienced critics of boat architecture, and their requirements have 

 led to a development in the construction of the craft they use which 

 is scarcely second to that attained by the builders of large racing 

 yachts. 



The fishing fleet of a nation is an important factor in the develop- 

 ment of its commerce as well as in its naval success. The building of 

 fishing boats and vessels develops a taste for naval architecture which 

 often may result in decided benefit to the country, as well as advan- 

 tage to the individual. The bo}'^ or man who obtains the rudiments 

 of naval construction while building a boat or larger craft for him- 

 self, in which he is to prosecute his calling, may thus develop latent 

 mechanical powers with which nature has endowed him, with the re- 

 sult that his early training in boat construction may lead him to 

 higher effort until he becomes a skilled builder of ships. And these 

 boats and vessels, besides accomplishing the more special objects for 

 which they were constructed, become training ships upon which large 

 numbers of seamen receive their technical education which fits them 

 not onlj^ for fishermen but also to fill positions of responsibility in 

 other naval pursuits. It is a well-established historical fact that 

 those nations which have enjoyed remarkable commercial prosperity 

 and naval supremacy can trace their success in these particulars di- 

 rectly to their fishing industries, the pursuit of which has developed 

 an adventurous and enterprising naval spirit in the people. 



The colonization of North America w\as due almost wholly to the 

 interest felt in the fisheries of the western Atlantic, and to this cause 

 alone may we look for the motive that induced people to settle in 

 localities which afforded small attractions of any other kind. As a 

 result of the tendencies of the early settlers to engage in the fisheries, 

 a fleet of fishing vessels was employed as soon as the country was oc- 

 cupied. The history of the development of naval architecture, as 

 applied to the fisheries of the United States, would constitute a most 

 interesting chapter if space permitted its inclusion. But nothing be- 

 yond a brief summarj?- or limited reference to the more notable types 

 is possible here. 



A most remarkable event in the history of the American fishing 

 fleet was the employment of steamers, though steam has not taken 

 so prominent a position in our ocean fisheries as one might naturally 

 expect in an age when it has become nearly universal. The extreme 

 swiftness of our sailing vessels, the fact that a large percentage of 

 our ocean-food fishes are cured at sea and marketed in a salted con- 

 dition, the comparative cheapness of sailing craft, and also because 

 thej^ can be kept at sea at far less expense, are causes which, so far, 

 have operated to prevent the employment of steamers in any of the 



