76 FISHERMEN'S MEMORIAL AND RECORD BOOK. 



white streak on the waist, and some would have a yellow bead on the 

 lower edge of the bends. This was considered rather an expensive 

 luxury, and was rarely indulged in, as the fishermen of those days 

 did not pay so much attention to ornamenting their vessels as do 

 those of modern times. 



Next to this class of vessels came the half-clipper models, which 

 were considered something extra, and the old fishermen wondered 

 how people could be so foolish as to risk their lives in such vessels. 

 There was the Ilosea Ballou, Daniel D. Smith, Henry Ilolbrook, and 

 others which represented this class. They were very pretty looking 

 crafts for those times, but at the present look almost as old style as 

 those first mentioned. 



The first regular clipper craft owned here was the Romp. She 

 was built in Essex, about the year 1850, as near as Uncle Charlie 

 could remember, and purchased by Capt. Samuel Giles. On her ar- 

 rival in this port she formed the general topic of conversation among 

 the fishermen, some declaring that a crew could not be obtained to 

 go in such a sea-coffin, and the man who built her must be insane. 

 She would never come back to port if she went out, said some of the 

 old veterans, as they went on board and gave her a thorough exami- 

 nation. Notwithstanding all this croaking, the vessel was fitted and 

 sailed for the Georges, proving not only an excellent sea-boat, but one 

 of the fastest vessels in the fleet. The Eomp proving such a supe- 

 rior craft, others were built on her model, which was improved upon, 

 and we now have a fleet of fishing vessels which are the very pictures 

 of neatness and beauty, so closely resembling yachts that some of the 

 latest build are often taken for such, when they are skimming so 

 gracefully over the water. 



Very pleasantly passed that summer afternoon, and we have en- 

 deavored to tell what Uncle Charlie related ; but it lacks that pecul- 

 iar spirit and zest which an old salt alone can impart, and which ren- 

 dered the interview so very interesting to us. 



