284 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [48] 



prepared for the trip. My intention was to have started on the 14th, 

 but the prevalence of an easterly storm, accompanied by high winds, to- 

 gether with some difficulty I had in obtaining the lobster-pots, delayed 

 my departure. 



Going by the Fall Eiver line, 1 reached New York on the morning of 

 the 16th. On arriving at the city I went at once to the office of Mr. E. 

 G. Blackford, Fulton Fish Market, in order that I might learn of him 

 whether all the tanks, jars, and other materials for preserving speci- 

 mens (which articles were sent to his care) had been forwarded to the 

 smack. All of these details had been carefully attended to by Mr. 

 Blackford ; and I learned from him that, besides the provision made for 

 the preservation of material in alcohol, there was sufficient ice on board 

 of the schooner for the refrigeration of our bait and any number of fish 

 we were likely to capture. 



Having ascertained these facts', I went by the afternoon train (the first 

 one leaving New York) to Greenport, where I arrived at 6.40 o'clock in 

 the evening. Mr. Barnet Phillips, who accompanied us on the cruise 

 and who had joined the smack in New York, and Captain Eedmond, 

 skipper of the Josie Reeves, met me at the depot. I went with them 

 on board the schooner then lying at the wharf where the menhaden 

 steamers rendezvous when in port. 



I learned from Captain Redmond that all the material for the trip, 

 with the exception of the lobster-pots which I had sent from Gloucester, 

 had been received and was snugly stowed away on board of the smack. 

 However, owing to the prevalence of rough weather during the pre- 

 ceding four or five days, no menhaden had been caught, and therefore 

 it had been impossible to procure a supply of bait for the cruise. It is 

 true, perhaps, that bait might have been obtained from the weirs in 

 the vicinity of Sandy Hook when the smack left New York, but to have 

 taken it then, with a storm of uncertain length impending, would have 

 been very unwise, since the probabilities were that it might be unfit for 

 use before a chance offered to go to sea. Under the circumstances, there 

 was nothing to do but to wait until Monday. 



Captain Redmond thought our best chance of obtaining bait would 

 be from the weirs in the vicinity of Greenport. Therefore, on the next 

 day, the 17th, we procured a team and drove to all the fish traps which 

 could be reached. We found, however, that the prospect of getting 

 " bunkers " from the pounds was not good, for most of them had been 

 either torn up or so badly injured by the storm that there was little 

 chance of securing enough menhaden to answer our purpose. The only 

 thing that could be done under the circumstances was to wait until 

 the fishermen went out in the sound, when, if the fish " played" well, 

 we might get bait from the seining gangs. 



At daylight on Monday, the 18th, there was a smart southerly breeze 

 with indications of rain. The steamers had started between midnight 

 and dawn, and the sailing gangs, which were out earlj', looking for fish, 



