[77] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



20. — History* of the use of purse-seines. 



The earliest record of the use of the purse-seine is the following, ob- 

 tained from Capt. E. T. Deblois, of Portsmouth, R. I. : 



" The first purse- seine that was made, so far as I know, was made by 

 John Tallman the first, and Jonathan Brownell and Christopher Bar- 

 ker, in the year 1826. It was 284 meshes deep and Co fathoms long. 

 The purse- weight was a 56-pound weight, and the blocks were the com- 

 mon single blocks, and they had to reeve the end of the purse-line 

 through the blocks before they put the purse-weight overboard. The 

 first time the seine was set there were fourteen men to help ; they set 

 around what they called a 500 barrel school of menhaden, and while 

 they were pursing the fish rushed against the twine so hard that they 

 twisted and snarled the net around the purse-line and weight to that 

 extent that the men could not gather the seine up or get her into the 

 boat again as they were, and after they had worked six hours, and quar- 

 reled over the matter, they decided to tow or warp the seine ashore at 

 high water, and when the tide left the seine they would be able to unsnarl 

 it, which they did the next day. It was a number of days before they 

 could muster courage to set her again, and when they did they set 

 around a small school with better success." 



There is a general impression among the fishermen of Northern New 

 England that the purse-seine was a development of the "spring-seine," 

 elsewhere referred to, but this would seem to be a mistake, since the 

 spring-seine, which really appears to have been nothing but a large 

 sheet net with special appliances adapting it for use on board of a ves- 

 sel, was not used in New England until 1853 or 1854. There is also 

 another tradition to the effect that the purse-seine was invented about 

 the year 1837 by a native of Maine who had for some years been em- 

 ployed as a hand on a Gloucester schooner, and who conceived the idea 

 of capturing mackerel in large numbers, and invented a seine substan- 

 tially like the one now in use, which, finding the Gloucester fishermen 

 unwilling to enter into experiments, he carried to Rhode Island, where 

 it was used in the vicinity of Seaconnet for seining menhaden. This 

 would appear to be a conglomeration of errors, partly imaginary, partly 

 based upon the circumstances already narrated by Captain Deblois. 



Reference has already been made to the claim that the purse-seine 

 was invented in Rhode Island as early as 1814. Another early allusion 

 to this new instrument of capture was given in the following paragraph, 

 taken from the Gloucester Telegraph of Wednesday, July 21, 1839: 



"New Fishing Taclde. — We noticed, a week or two since, the fact that 

 Capt. Isaiah Baker, of Harwich, had recently commenced fishing with 

 a seine of entirely new construction and with remarkable success. It 

 was stated in the Yarmouth Register that he had cleared about $3,000 

 in one week, by taking shad. A correspondent writes us from West 

 Harwich that the fortunate captain still continues to make equally 



