62 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 



of settlement of the towns were : Southold and Southampton, 1640 : East- 

 Hampton, 1648; Shelter Island, 1652; Huntington, 1653; Brookhaven, 

 1655; Smithtown, 1663. On Nov. 30, 1664, commissioners appointed by 

 Governor Nichols decided L. I. Sound to be the boundary, and for the 

 first time all Long Island came under English rule. 



During later years there has been a great expansion of the trade and ton- 

 nage of the county. Larger vessels came into play, and longer voyages 

 became common. The extensive forests of pine and oak that covered the 

 larger part of the county furnished and continue to furnish great quanti- 

 ties of w^ood for fuel or for the dunnage of ships bound on foreign voyages, 

 and its transportation to market gave and still gives employment to many 

 vessels. ' The surplus of farm produce and the products of the whale and 

 other fisheries, with brick and fire clays, sands, gravel and other materials 

 for use or consumption in other places, served to swell the volume of out- 

 going commodities for which the goods and merchandize of the cities 

 and the products of labor or art were exchanged. In 1794 the Sag 

 Harbor Custom House had on its books 472 tons of registered and 

 473 tons of enrolled and licensed vessels ; in 1800 it had 805 of the former 

 and 1,449 of the latter; in 1805, 1,916 and 2,228; in 1810, 1,185 and 

 3,223 ; in 181 5, 808 and 2,719 (this decline being caused by the war) ; in 

 1820, 2,263 ^^^ 3A^^ — a total for the last named year of 5,679 tons 

 From that time on it showed a steady and rapid advance until the Califor- 

 nia exodus, the great fire, and other causes that co-operated to depress the 

 whale fishery, began to cut down its large proportions. 



In the Great South Bay, that remarkable and noble body of water 

 which forms the chief natural feature of the southern border of the county 

 for its greater length, and at the same time is the main source of subsistence 

 for the people inhabiting its northern shores, the early settlers quickly be- 

 gan to navigate its shallow waters in canoes, flat-bottomed boats and 

 scows, and in later years small sloops and schooners of light draft "were 

 built to ply from place to place or, byway of the inlets from the outer ocean, 

 to make trips to New York and other ports. As early as 1760 to '70 a few 

 sloops traded through the Bay, carrying wood and produce. This trade, 

 feeble as it had been, was closed by the war of the Revolution. It re- 

 vived with renewed vigor and by 1785 there were 12 sloops and pirogues 

 (or canoes) trading on the East Bay. By 1800 the number had increased 

 to 30, among them being the sloop Woodcock built and owned by Hon. 

 John Smith, at that time United States senator, which vessel was burned 

 off" Fire Island in 18 14 by the British sloop-of-war Nimrod. In 1830 there 

 were 50 vessels ranging from 25 to 50 tons engaged in carrying wood and 

 farm produce. Since then, with some fluctuations: the business has devel- 

 oped into great importance, employing many vessels and many persons to 

 man them, though the building of the railroad along the shore of the bay 

 has materially modified this business there, as railway competition has done 

 elsewhere in the county. In 1806 three gun boats were built at Smith's 

 Point, on the East Bay, for use in the Tripolitan war, and went out with 

 Decatur, under whom they were put to good service. In all, 12 of these 

 vessels were built. Many vessels of larger dimensions, from 100 to 400 

 tons, including some splendid specimens of marine architecture, have been 

 built on the bay shore and launched into its placid waters. From 1825 to 

 i860, one informant states, was the palmy period of this business on that 

 bay. Some of the finest and fleetest vessels, as is claimed, built anywhere 



