HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENIIi\DEN. 421 



a stick would in tliick molasses. The havoc that gnlls and fish make 

 among them is fearful when they are together in such bodies. 



32. They are the bait or food of most every fish in the sea. Bluefish 

 is the menhaden's great enemy, for when they attack in large quantities, 

 and they used to come apparently about as plenty as the menhaden, 

 they annihilated vast schools of them. Instances are known when they 

 came into this bay in such force that they drove them on shore in large 

 quantities, and in a short time most there was in the bay would be de- 

 stroyed. The record here is the same from one end of the coast to the 

 other. Cape Cod Bay was cleaned out, as were the rivers and bays on 

 the coast of Maine, and the destruction was so large in some parts of 

 Maine, that the people had to bury them from the fear of a pestilence. 

 The same story is told at Long Island, and also on the Connecticut shore. 

 The sharks destroy them. I once saw a body of them destroyed or 

 scattered in less than one hour. This was off Seconnet. They were lying 

 there apparently undisturbed, when suddenly a large school of sharks 

 appeared among them, and the havoc was fearful. One gang of fisher- 

 men had their seine in the water, and the sharks destroyed it; they 

 were so ugly, that they would grab an oar in the water as qnick as they 

 would a fish. Porpoises are fond of them, and they can do as much 

 destruction as any fish, but they are not often seen around here. Cod- 

 fish also catch them. 



33. I know of no epidemics, but I have heard often from old people 

 how that years ago most all the menhaden in the sea and in the bays 

 died, and for a year or two they were scarce. 



34. Purse-nets at present are used mostly to capture them. 



35. About 180 fathoms long and 80 feet deep, although some are 250 

 fathoms long and over 100 feet deep ; while others, on the other hand, 

 are not over 75 fathoms long and 50 feet deep. The length and depth 

 of seines depends on the depth of water and the kind of fishing. 



36. Steamers and sailing-vessels. The largest steamers are 70 tons ; 

 the smallest, 25 tons. The sail-vessels usually are about thirty tons, new 

 measurement, and are used generally to live in. They have tenders to 

 take the fish to market ; said tenders are of an average capacity of two 

 hundred and fifty barrels, but latterly they are built larger, and there 

 ai'e some in use that will carry six hundred barrels. Besides the tenders 

 and vessels, there are the purse and mate boats, which carry the seine 

 and men. These boats are about twenty-four feet long and six feet wide, 

 and take one-half of the seine each ; they are then started from a central 

 point and row around the fish. 



37. The sailing-vessel has a caj^tain, who manages the vessel when the 

 men are absent taking the fish. The purse-crew, which man the purse 

 and mate boats, consists of six or eight men. The purse-boat con- 

 tains the captain of the gang, and the mate-boat has the first mate. 

 Each boat has a seine-setter and two men to row around the fish. In 

 addition to the abov§ men, most of the gangs have a fish-driver in a 



