I06 APPENDIX. INCIDENTS OF THE FISHERIES. 



of the business of takini( oysters and clams, which, being bottom fish, are 

 held to be proper subjects of local control, From the earliest dates, under 

 these patents, more or less dispute has attended the management of the 

 oyster and clam fisheries, and the controversy continues to this day. But 

 while those engaged in the business differ widely on some points of regii a- 

 tion and government, they agree in opposing outside interference and are 

 tenacious upholders of the town's exclusive jursdiction. Though sonu- 

 times grumbling at particular demands they have submitted to the trustee , 

 authority and have resisted all attempts to bring on intervention by the 

 State Legislature. For the sake of better enforcement of pr.)hibitioris on 

 certain obnoxious methods or practices in the fishery, recoar.^e lias been 

 had to the Board of Supervisors, who have power to impose larger pei.al- 

 ties than the Trustees can do; but this is merely to supplement and reinfo \ e 

 not to contravene or supplant the latter's authority. As early as 1771 ih; 

 Trustees of Brookhaven ordered "that no oysters or clams '^hdl be takj.i 

 "out of ye South Bay, opposite our town, within our patent, unless first 

 "obtaining liberty of us, ye Trustees, or from our order, and whoever sh ill 

 "go contrary to this act shall piy for every such ofTenci ye sum of Twen y 

 "Shillings, to be recovered before any Justice of the Peice as any oth:r 

 " debt." In 1788 the Trustees fixed the charge for each t )n of ovsters tak jn 

 out of the bay, at i shilling 6 pence, and soon afterwards in the same year 

 amended it by making the charge " 2 pence prr tub of oysters or clams." 



APPENDIX D. 



SHIP BUILDING AND TONNAGE. 



I have striven with much pertinacity and zeal to recover authen- 

 tic data whicn might enable me to present a pretty comprehensive and 

 complete view or the business of building vessels within the limits of our 

 County; of the builders whose handiwork became a part of the glory of the 

 American comercial marine; of the yards in which they worked; of the 

 names and other particulars of the vessels they built, and of the skillful sea- 

 men who manned and commanded them; and by the kind help of friends at 

 some places I have succeeded in getdng tolerably full lists of name, rig and 

 tonnage of vessels launched at those places; but there are others, some ot 

 them in my immediate neighborhood, at which I have so far failed to get even 

 approximately correct lists and have therefore felt obliged to omit all fu ther 

 reference to them. I do not despair of eventually receiving facts enough 

 to o-ive a fair idea of the busirv.ess at these places, but it is a slow p oces> 

 and will take much time. It is not claimed that the lists herewith given 

 are complete or are absolutely correct, but they are based on careful in- 

 quiry and research by friends at the places named, and may be accepted as 

 reUable in all essendal particulars. 



