68 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 



the elegant country seat of Thomas A. Howell, Esq. , now is.* In 1818, as I 

 have from the pen of a venerable friend, Mr. William O. Winters, of Brooklyn, 

 formerly of East Marion, and long- engaged in the business, there were 11 

 smacks belonging at Rocky Point, Orient and Stirling, but hailing from ^ag 

 Harbor. As an item of local it not general interest I mention their names 

 and the names of their Masters. These were : — the Rover, Capt. Robert 

 Clark^; the Independence, Capt. Warren Griffin ; the Fame, Capt. Jamts 

 Beebe ; the Comet, Capt. William Roberts ; the Rose, Capt. Warren 

 Youngs; the Charlotte, Capt. James Gri fling ; the Jane, C.ipt. NoahRack- 

 ett ; the Wasp, Capt. S. Rackett ; the Java, Capt. Gilson Vail; the Echo, 

 Capt. E. Beebe ; the Dolphin, Capt. Daniel Harris. They were not clink- 

 er built, as were the smacks first built at Mystic, Ct. , which were soon con- 

 demned because of their tendency to leak, but were deep keel boats, with 

 bluflf bows ; the lines of their models were not so sharp and graceful as 

 those built now, but they were strongly put together and were excellent 

 sea-boats, riding like ducks over the highest waves and sometimes safely 

 encountering the fury of the severest storms in which larger craft went to 

 the bottom or were helplessly disabled by the violence ol the sea. They 

 ranged in size firom 15 to 22 tons, were sloop-rigged and had wells in which 



* After the foregoing had been written and this paper completed, I received from another 

 venerable friend, Capt. John A.. Rackett, of Orient, in answer to an application a letter giv- 

 ing some fresh informatioil and going a few years further back in point of time. The let- 

 ter is of so readable a character that it has been thought proper to print it in full, as follows; 



Orient, January 16, 1884. 



Hon. Henry A. Reeves — Dear Sir: After an exhaustive investigation, from such 

 dates as jve have, we find that in 1795 there were a number of men from the village oj 

 Oysterpcnds (now Orient) engaged in the cod-fishery at the Straits of Bellisle on the coast of 

 New Foundland. A few years afterward, so 1800, some of the young 

 men of our own and the adjacent village of Rocky Point (now East 

 Marion) were employed as fi=hermen in "well smacks" owned at New London and 

 Mystic. A little anterior to the last date a nu.nber of families emigrated from the places 

 last named to Rocky Point, 'they were directly or indirectly engaged in smack-fishing be- 

 fore leaving those Connecticut towns. Induced doubtless by their description of the business 

 as well as a desire to share in its profits, a number of young men from Oysterponds, Rocky 

 Point and Sterling engaged in the business in smacks owned at New London and Mystic, 

 some as fishermen, others as marketmen. Among the new comers was Capt. Amos Ryan, 

 who settled at Rocky Point and built the house now occupied by Capt. Maxon Tuthill. The 

 name of his smack we have not been able to ascertain. Capt. Ryan was an active, energet- 

 ic man. On his way to Charleston, on one occasion, he fell in with an abandoned ship 

 near the western edge of the gulf stream. With his small craft he succeeded in towing the 

 ship to Charleston bar, where he had to anchor her, the wind preventing his getting her 

 into harbor. During the night an easterly gale, came up and forced the ship ashore. 

 Next morning the beach was strewn with cases and bales of dry goods. It seems hard that 

 with a fortune so near his reach he was not permitted to enjoy it. 



Next we find the smack Patriot, Capt. Elisha Rackett. The transfer papers of this 

 vessel are in our possession. They bear the date 1813. Whether or not this was the first 

 smack built in our town we have not been able definitely to determine. The next was the 

 Jupiter, Capt. Eliphelet Beebe. She was burned by the British in the war of 1812-14, and her 

 remains lie embedded in the sand not far from the Long Beach phosphate works. The next, 

 the Little Jay, was commanded by Capt. Henry iJeebe, ot Sterling. The fifth was the 

 Jefferson, Capt. Grant B. Rackett. The sixth, aud last we have been able to find out about, 

 is the Sylph, Capt. Barzellius Beebe. 



The above we believe to have been the pioneers of the smack-fishing industry in 1 le 

 three villages or hamlets of Oysterponds, Rocky Point and Sterling. The names of the 

 smacks immediately Succeeding those named above, we believe yi'U have. The ilate ol the 

 commenc:ement of building and navigating the fishing smacks by the people of this town, 

 we bdievetohave been about 1800. Respectfully yours, 



JOHN A. RACKETT. 



