104 APPENDIX. INCIDENTS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Station. The Pequot Indians when in possession made it one of their 

 chief resorts for fishing. Gov. Winthrop, )Rho had a grant of the island 

 from Massachusetts, was confirmed in it by an act of the Connecticut Court 

 in 1 04 1 "so tar as it hinder^ not the public good of the country, either tor 

 lortifying lor defense, or s^jtting up a trade for fishing, or salt, or such 

 Lke. ' Prom the "Ant.eniest ±5ooke" of New London records it appears 

 thit in 1649 leave was granted to Mr. John Wmthrop to set up a were 

 (weir or wear) and make use of the river at Poquonnuck "for to take fish.'" 

 Tfiis is the earliest local mention 1 have seen of this contrivance for taking 

 fish. 



The island itself, with a smaller one off Mystic and close under the 

 Connecticut shore, was included in the Duke of York's patent of 1664 and 

 has ever since been regarded as belonging to Suffolk County; but the small 

 island off Mystic reverted to Connecticut on the adoption of the boundary 

 hne between the two States. In i6b8 John Wmthrop, its owner, recog- 

 nized the soverignty of New York by procuring from Gov. NichoUs a 

 patent whiCh settled h.s title to the island, and it remained in his family 

 until transferred to the late Robert Fox, of New London, to whose estate 

 the greater part of it now belongs. Adrian Block, the Dutch navigator, 

 who in 16 J4 was the first to explore Long Island Sound, when he sighted 

 Montauk Point called it Fisher's Hook, but that term was not accepted by 

 the English. 



It IS believed that Matthias Rowland, of Norwalk, Ct., formerly of 

 Suffolk County, and Capt. Gould Hoyt, of Norwalk, were tlie first to open 

 escalops for market purposes; this was about 28 years ago. Charles 

 Fanning, late of New Suffolk, deceased, was the first one on Peconic Bay 

 to engage in the busmess, which has since grown to very considerable 

 proportions, giving employment, mostly in the winter months, to a fleet of 

 40 to 50 vessels manned by over 200 men and boys. Some winters ago 

 Capt. James M. Monsell, of Greenport, in a boat with two men and six 

 dredges, from a bed of escalops at Promised Land, East-Hampton, took 

 500 bushels in one day. 



In January, 1837, the Z. /. Slar printed an account of a summer 

 ramble over Long Island, and in that part of it which treats of the country 

 between Riverhead and Orient, particularly of the facilities for fishing, etc., 

 speaks of an old gentleman telling the writer that when he was young a 

 great seine was used to catch porpoises, out of which they made oil from 

 the blubber and leather from the skins. In Transactions of the "Society 

 " Instituted in the State of New York for the Promotion of Agriculture, 

 "Arts and Manufactures, ' printed in 1794, is an article by Ezra L'Hom- 

 medieu, of Southold, a Vice-President of the Society, entitled "The Man- 

 "ner of taking Porpoises at the East End of Long Island." 



By the kindness of Hon. B. D. Sleight, I have examined an original 

 ■"indenture" dated March 26, 1744, which recites that Benjamin L'Hom- 

 medieu, Jr., Benjamin Bailey, John Vail, Saml Landon, John Prince, 

 Elijah Hutchinson and Isaac Hubbard, all of Southold, have joined them- 

 selvts to be partners toi^ether in the trade or design of catching porpoises 

 and other fish along the coast, shore or liarborsof Long Island, to continue 

 six months Irom April 4th, the arrangement being that L'Hommedieu 

 should furn.sh a boat, porpoise seine, and one other seine for other fish, 

 with tackling, &.C., and two men, one experienced and skilled in the use 

 thereof, while the others, either personally or by substitute, were to furnish 



