32 GEOGRAPHICAL KEVIEW OP THE FISHERIES. 



fish for the Gouldsboro' canneries during the summer months. The residents of the town go out 

 occasionally to catch a supply offish for their own tables, but none fish extensively for profit. 



HANCOCK. The town of Hancock, lying to the north of Frenchman's Day, between Gouldsboro' 

 and Lamoine, was first settled in 1776. It has at present about 1,000 inhabitants, the majority of 

 whom are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Comparatively few follow fishing for a livelihood, as 

 the town is too far removed from the fishing-grounds to warrant them in making daily trips in their 

 boats. As in many of the adjoining towns, however, a few take a supply of provisions and such 

 other things as may be necessary and proceed to the outer islands where they spend several months 

 each summer in catching fish and lobsters, for which they find a ready market. 



According to Mr. Charles Wooster, small fishing vessels were owned in the town during the 

 early part of the present century, but they fished wholly in the vicinity of Gouldsboro', and it 

 was not until 1845 that the people became interested in the fisheries of the Bay of Fundy. Two 

 larger craft were sent to the Western Banks for three or four years, beginning with 1852. Han- 

 cock vessels were first sent to the Magdalen Islands for herring about I860, one to three going 

 yearly from that time till 1878, when the business was discontinued. The herring were mostly 

 smoked and shipped to Boston and the West Indies. At that time from 30,000 to 40,000 boxes 

 were put up annually in the town. 



In I860 the schooner Laurel was sent to the Grand Banks for codfish, this being the first vessel 

 from the town to visit that locality; 'in 1868 and 1870 five vessels were engaged regularly in the 

 fishery, and the business has been continued to the present time. 



In 1880 there were four fishing vessels owned in Hancock, of which three went to the Grand 

 Banks, and the other fished along the shore. The vessels have a total value of $12,G50, and fur- 

 nished employment to fifty-nine men. They lauded during the season 5,300 quintals of fish. This 

 fleet includes the schooner Mary Jane Lee, of 128.23 tons, which is the largest fishing vessel owned 

 in the State, and the schooner Omaha, of 116.77 tons. 



LAMOINE. Lamoine, a small town set off from Trenton in 1870, has a population of 650, of 

 whom the greater part are engaged in farming. It lies between Hancock and Trenton, to the north 

 of Mount Desert Island. 



According to Mr. D. D. Hodgkins, the people of the region became interested in the fisheries 

 about 1835, when they began sending "pinkies" of 30 to 40 tons to the Bay of Fundy, and in 

 1848 the fleet numbered 20 to 25 sail with six to eight men each. 



This fishery began to decline about 1850, and in 1857 it was discontinued, the smaller vessels 

 being sold to the fishermen of the Fox Islands, Deer Isle, and Eastport, while the larger ones were 

 retained and sent to the Grand Banks and other offshore grounds. The first was sent to Grand 

 Banks in 1857, since which time this fishery has been continuously prosecuted, though for a number 

 of years it has been on the decline. . The business was at its height about 1866, when ten vessels 

 were sent annually; the average has been about six sail. Men employed in the Grand Bank fishery 

 from this town have always worked for wages instead of on shares as in most localities. 



Two vessels went to Labrador for cod in 1850, but none have since been sent. Occasionally, 

 after returning from the banks, the vessels have fished for mackerel along the shore for a number 

 of wt/jks, though none have made the mackerel fisheries a specialty, and no purse seines have been 

 use/.. 



Lamoine has been extensively engaged in herring smoking for about thirty years, and as the 

 catch of herring in the brush weirs of the locality was much too small, a fleet of vessels was fitted 

 out for the Magdalen Islands for an additional supply. The first schooner was sent by N. B. Cool- 

 j&ge in 1855; and from that date till 1880 vessels were sent yearly, their cargoes being smoked and 



