Fisheries Exhibit in the U.S. National Museum During the i88o's, when Captain J. \\ . (idllins was serving 

 the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The Commission was estabHshed in 1871 through the efl'oris of 

 Spencer F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and it was lieaded by him until his death in 1887. 

 {Smithsonian photo 46^97-) 



hand on a fishing \-e,ssel. By home study and much 

 reading he succeeded in echicating himseh'; at 23 he 

 became master of a fishing schooner; and in the 1860"s 

 he moved to Gloucester, where he was a very successful 

 master of fishing schooners, particularly in the sum- 

 mer mackerel fishery. Among his commands were 

 the schooners Lizzie F- Choate and the Alice G. Wim.son. 

 He married Pauline Coombs in 1861 and after her 

 death, in 1884, he married Sallie Atkinson. 



In the 1870"s the Gloucester fishing fleet suffered 

 tremendous losses in vessel property and in li\"es during 

 a number of severe gales. These disasters so horrified 

 C'ollins that he began to write articles for the news- 

 papers, recommending an improved type of schooner 

 to give greater safety. He also began to study half- 

 model making, obtaining aid from the noted Boston 

 shipbuilder and designer Dennsion J. Lawlor. Col- 

 lins' newspaper articles attracted wide attention and 



