led indirectly to his being employed liy the Conunis- 

 sion of Fish and Fisheries, during 1879 80, to prepare 

 a statistical report on the New England fisheries. 



The Commission of Fish and Fisheries had Ix-en 

 established in 1871 largely through the eflorls of 

 Spencer Fullerton Baird, then Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, who until his death in 1887 held 

 the post of Commissioner. (Popularly known as the 

 U.S. Fish Commission, the Commission of Fish and 

 Fisheries i)ecame in 1903 the Bureau of Fisheries, 

 and in 1940 was consolidated with the Biueau of 

 Biological Survey to form the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, Department of the Interior. During a 

 minor reorganization in 1956 the official name 

 became the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.) 



Between 1880 and 1892, Captain Collins served 

 the U. S. Fish Commission in numerous capacities, 

 acting as captain of the fisheries research schooner 

 Grampus in 1886-87 and holding administrative posi- 

 tions, mostly concerned with actual fishing methods 

 and statistics. He wrote prolifically. In addition to 

 79 papers in the Fish Connnission Reports, he wrote 

 numerous magazine and newspaper articles, all deal- 

 ing with the fisheries or with fishing craft. He also 

 acted in a resjionsible position in the preparation of 

 exhibits at the numerous International Fisheries 

 Exposition and the \Vorld's Expositions that marked 

 the last quarter of the 19th century. He was soon 

 accepted, in Europe as well as in the United States, 

 as an authority on fishing vessels and boats, and also 

 on fi.shing gear. In the years 1880-85, when the Com- 

 mission was considering construction of a fisheries 

 research schooner. Captain Collins made models and 

 designs for a niunber of proposals; finally the Grampus 

 was built from one of his models. After his resigna- 

 tion from the Fish Commission in 1892, he became 

 editor of The Fishing Gazelle and later, president of the 

 Commercial Fisheries .Association. He was appointed 

 U. S. Connnissioner for the International Fisheries 

 Exposition at Bergen, Norway, in 1898, and pre- 

 pared a valuable but litde known catalog of that 

 Exposition. He became chairman of the Massa- 

 chusetts Fish and Game Commission in 1899 and held 

 this appointment at the time of his death in 1904. 



The Models 



Identification of old models, particularly of the 

 builder's half-models, is often difficult. The donor 

 usually had established the identification when these 



models were acquired, and normally this identification 

 has proved reliable, but it has become obvious that 

 errors have been made with respect to some models, 

 for these either had the appearance of being of a far 

 different date than that of the assigned ves.sel, or the 

 Customhou.se register dimensions could not be brought 

 into a reasonable comparison \vith the scaled dimen- 

 sions of the half-model. 



The use of Ciustomhouse register dimensions in the 

 identification of half-models is not very satisfactory, 

 particularly when the vessel in question was built in 

 the United States before 1865. The old tonnage 

 measurement u.sed relatively few precise hull measure- 

 ments; after 1865 greater precision was required, and 

 a standard method of taking the measiu-ements was 

 employed that apparently had not existed earlier. 

 In addition, improved measuring equipment, such as 

 steel tapes, became available in the 1880's. 



In any case, the registered dimensions of a vessel 

 can seldom be made to comply precisely with the 

 true dimensions of the hull as built or as designed. 

 Indeed, it is difficult to establish any fixed proportion 

 in the variation fjetween the two; even in New 

 England coasting and fishing schooners built after 

 1865 this variation often amounts to as much as 12 

 inches in each 100 feet of length. The registered 

 length was taken from the stem rabbet to the center 

 of the rudder post at deck level after this date. The 

 registered beam was the greatest width over the plank. 

 The depth was taken from the ceiling alongside the 

 keelson to the underside of the deck plank of the upper, 

 or tonnage, deck. The latter measurement is useless 

 as an aid in identification unless there are very com- 

 plete structural plans of the vessel available. In 

 vessels built before 1865 identification by use of 

 register dimensions is very difficult, not only because 

 of the variations noted Ijut because there were also 

 some variations in the inethods of measurement em- 

 ployed in various sections of the country. As a result, 

 it is particularly difficult lo identify the half-model of 

 a clipper ship of the 1850"s by the register dimensions, 

 for the scaled dimensions of the half-inodel not infre- 

 quently depart from the register dimensions by 4 or 5 

 feet of length and by a foot or more in beam. This 

 may be due partly to the indefinite position of the 

 point of measurement at the bow, which under the 

 old measurement law, was, "the forepart of the main 

 stem above deck." 



The variations in the real and register dimensions 

 are, and were, due in part to the practical difficulties 

 in taking the external registered length and beam 



