414 u - s - BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



an American vessel up to that time. In 1915 she broke her 1914 

 record with a catch of 258,323 fish, weighing approximately 1,150,000 

 pounds. 



In 1904 the late Andrew Webber, of Seattle, made a venture in the 

 industry by sending to Bering Sea the little schooner Ida May, and 

 repeated it the next season, after which he withdrew. 



In 1905 the King & Winge Codfish Co., composed principally of 

 King & Winge, the well-known shipbuilders of Seattle, sent the 

 schooner Harold Blehwm (185 tons) to the Bering Sea banks and 

 continued doing so, adding the schooner Vega later, until 1910, when 

 the company joined the consolidation known as the Western Codfish 

 Co. The company had its home-curing station located in West 

 Seattle. 



The Blom Codfish Co. was organized in Tacoma in 1905 and sent 

 the schooner Falcon (195 tons) north, in the meantime building its 

 home-curing station at Quartermaster Harbor. The company had a 

 very checkered career, finally ceasing business in 1914, when its 

 assets, including the schooner Fortuna, passed into the hands of 

 Seattle parties, who organized the Northern Codfish Co. for the pur- 

 pose of carrying on the business. The latter company sent the vessel 

 north in 1915, but dropped out of the business early in 1916, the 

 schooner being chartered to the Pacific Coast Codfish Co. 



The Pacific Coast Codfish Co. was formed in 1911 by former 

 stockholders of the Seattle-Alaska Fish Co., which had been sold to 

 the King & Winge Codfish Co. The company constructed a home- 

 curing station at Poulsbo the same year and sent north the schooner 

 John A. In 1913 the schooner Chas. R. Wilson was added, and in 

 1914 the schooner Maid of Orleans, while in 1915 the schooner For- 

 tuna was chartered and added to the fleet. 



In 1910 T. Tilmann, jr., of the firm of Tilmann & Bendel, and 

 other San Francisco parties, none of whom had been engaged in the 

 business heretofore, attempted to form a consolidation of the Puget 

 Sound companies. A controlling interest Avas secured in the King & 

 Winge Codfish Co., and this company then purchased the Seattle- 

 Alaska Fish Co. The two properties were then merged under the 

 name of the Western Codfish Co. The property of Capt. J. A. 

 Matheson was purchased, and it was incorporated under the name of 

 the Matheson Fisheries Co., with Captain Matheson in charge of 

 operations. In the meantime the Union Fish Co., of San Francisco, 

 purchased the cargoes of the schooners Joseph Russ, Alice, and For- 

 tunes, the two former belonging to the Robinson Fisheries Co. and 

 the latter to the Blom Codfish Co. The Western Codfish Co. had 

 but a brief existence, dropping out of active fishing operations early 

 in 1912, Avhile in December, 1914, Captain Matheson bought from the 

 Matheson Fisheries Co. the schooners Fanny Thitard and Azalea and 

 sent them north in 1915 under his own name. After disposing of its 

 1914 catch the Matheson Fisheries Co. wound up its active career in 

 the summer of 1915. 



Early in 1917 the Northern Fisheries Co., a new company with 

 headquarters at Anacortes, Wash., was organized, and in January 

 sent out the old codfish schooner Harold. Blekum, with material for 

 a shore station to be erected on Kodiak Island. On the night of 



