MAINE: CASTINE DISTRICT. 41 



seventy-five men who go to Gloucester and Portland each spring to ship in the fishing vessels of 

 these cities. 



As early as 1815 one of the Deer Isle vessels was engaged in the Gulf of Saint LawrcLce 

 cod fisheries. In 1822, two vessels were sent to Labrador for cod, a vessel from Newburyport 

 accompanying them and taking their catch direct to Spain. Only three vessels have been engaged 

 in the Labrador fisheries since that time, none of them going more than four or five years. Crews 

 from the island have, however, frequently visited the Labrador coast in vessels belonging to New- 

 buryport. 



Next to Isle au Ilaut, Deer Isle was the first to engage in the Magdalen Island herring fishery. 

 In 1830 she fitted out six vessels for this fishery, but since that date only one or two have been sent 

 yearly. In 1821) the schooner Caleb, 54 tons, was engaged in sealing, taking her catch at the 

 Magdalen Islands. Two vessels from Mount Desert were engaged in the seal fishery the same 

 season. Only one Deer Isle vessel has ever fished on Grand Banks; none have fished on George's, 

 and none have engaged regularly in the capture of halibut. Up to 1836 the vessels sailed without 

 charts; in 1845 stoves were substituted for fire-places, and in 1849 the patent steering-wheel was 

 introduced in place of the old-fashioned tiller. 



EXTENT OF THE VESSEL AND BOAT FISHERIES IN 187!). In 1879 Deer Isle had forty-two 

 vessels, aggregating 915.35 tons, engaged in the fisheries. This fleet, valued at $18,910, furnished 

 employment to one hundred and ninety nine men. Four of the vessels fished wholly for mackerel; 

 thirty-three were engaged in the shore-fisheries for cod, hake, haddock, herring, and mackerel; 

 and the five remaining ones were employed exclusively in the lobster trade. Seven of the shore 

 fleet carried lobsters to the canneries of the locality in spring and summer. The vessel catch was 

 sold largely to the fish-merchants of other places; but there were cured on the island during the 

 season about 1,800 quintals of cod and hake. In addition to these, 200 barrels of mackerel were 

 put up by the dealers. 



Not less than one hundred and forty men are engaged in fishing from small boats. These, with 

 few exceptions, fish for lobsters from March till August ; they then engage in the shore mackerel 

 fishery for a few weeks ; and the remainder of the season is spent in fishing with line and trawl for 

 other species. A few parties clam more or less during a greater part of the year, and by the mid- 

 dle of November a large number of the boat and vessel fishermen resort regularly to the mud-flats, 

 where they spend a considerable portion of their time in clamming till the following April. The 

 fishermen of Little Deer Isle are almost wholly dependent upon the clam-flats for a livelihood, and 

 many of them are engaged in clamming during the entire year. The clams, after being shucked 

 and salted, are sold to the dealers on the island, or to those of Brookliu and Sedgwick. These in 

 turn ship them to the larger fishery ports to be used for bait. The island merchants aloue handled 

 1,500 barrels during the season of 1879-'80. 



THE LOBSTER FISHERY. The lobster ranks first in importance among the species taken 

 along the shore. Prior to 1853 none of the residents had any knowledge of the abundance of 

 lobsters in the locality, as up to this time they were taken only with gafl's among the rocks and 

 sea-weeds where they had been left dry at low water. In the spring of that year Capt. John D. 

 Piper, who owned a smack for carrying lobsters to market, brought traps to the island and hired 

 men to engage in the fishery. The business proved very profitable, and by I860 twenty men were 

 employed in this way, the bulk of the catch being sold to Portland and Boston smacks. In 1858 

 the first lobster cannery was established on the island, and in 1877 two others were built. In 1880 

 these canneries employed about one hundred persons, paying out $10,000 in wages. During the 

 same season 10,500 lobster pots were fished by the residents of the town. 



