REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [54] 



been a gradual increase from year to year in the size of tbe seine-boats, 

 keeping pace with a corresponding increase in the size of the seines. 



In 1857 all boats were 28 feet in length. In 1872 the length had in- 

 creased to 30 feet, and in the summer and fall of the same year an 

 additional foot was added to the length. In 1873 almost all boats 

 whicli were built had a length of 31 feet, a few of 32 and 33. In 1874 

 almost all were 33 feet, as they were during 1875 and 1870, although 

 some were made 35 and 30 feet. In 1877 34 feet is the most popular 

 length, though one or two 38-foot boats have been built. Seven, eight, 

 or nine oars, usually 13 or 14 feet in length, are used in these boats, 

 besides a steering-oar of 10 or 17. 



These boats last, with ordinary usage, six or seven years. At the 

 close of the fishing season they are always taken ashore and laid up for 

 the winter in a shed or under trees, and are completely refitted at the 

 beginning of another season. 



The seine boats carried by the "menhaden catchers" south of Cape 

 Cod and by all the steamers are shaped like ships' yawls, square-sterned, 

 smooth-bottomed, and batten-seamed, 22 to 20 feet long and O.J feet 

 beam. They are built at New Bedford, New London, Greenport, and 

 at Mystic River, and cost about $125 each, the finest $185. The New 

 Bedford boats are preferred by many fishermen. 



Tbe Cape Ann fishermen stow their seines in one boat, and in shoot- 

 ing the seine one end of it is carried in a dory.* 



The arrangement of the thwarts are especially adapted for the mack- 

 erel fishery. There is some variation, however, as to the number of 

 these in the different sizes of boats. In the size most commonly in use 

 at the present time (1881) there are six thwarts, five of these being for- 

 ward of midships, and one 1% feet farther aft. The following are the 

 general dimensions of the boat: 30 feet long over all; 7 feet 7 inches 

 Avide; 2 feet 8 inches deep. The bow thwart is placed 4 feet from the 

 stem, and there is a space of 2£ feet between each of the five forward 

 thwarts. The boat is ceiled to the gunwales and platformed inside. 

 In the bow she has a> raised platform which comes up to the level, or 

 nearly so, of the forward thwart, to which it extends, and is bulk- 

 headed on the after end. The stern is covered over on the top of the 

 gunwales, forming the stern sheets, this being 3 feet long forward of 

 the stern-post, with a bulkhead on the forward side. Forward of this 

 again, and a little below the level of the thwarts, is another platform, 3 

 feet in length, also bulkheaded on the forward side ; on this the seine- 

 master stands wdiile steering the boat, and in it is placed the pump by 

 which the boat is freed from water. The after portion of the boat be- 

 tween the two after thwarts is used for stowing the seine, this being a 

 section 7f feet long by 7£ feet wide. There are five rowlocks on either 

 side, corresponding to each of the five thwarts. The purse-davit is 

 placed on the starboard side and usually stepped in the midship thwart 



*Goodc, History of the American Menhaden, p. 122. 



