316 



GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



eels, squeteague, blueflsli, ami numerous other species. These fykes are set anywhere along the 

 shore ou the flats. 



The haul-seines are used from November till February and are not allowed to fish in summer. 

 They take mostly smelts and eels. Smelts sometimes come into the river here very abundantly. 



The village of Mystic Eiver has an interest in the menhaden industry and also owns a vessel 

 of about 47 tons burthen employed in the capture of food fish. 



The village or town of Noank is a small but very enterprising place. There is owned here a 

 fleet of fifty-one vessels, measuring 1,261.06 tons, employed in capturing lobsters, cod, halibut, 

 tautog, aud other species. These vessels have crews aggregating 220 men and are valued, with 

 gear and outfits, at $169,145. Several small boats, a haul-seine, about 50 fyke-nets, and 2,400 

 lobster and eel pots are also owned in Noauk. Four traps owned by fishermen here are set in the 

 summer time at the Elizabeth Isles and are often quite successful. The total capital invested in 

 tl-e fisheries of Noank is $178,165. The catch in 1880 included the following : 



105. NEW LONDON TO THE CONNECTICUT RIVER. 



NEW LONDON. New London is on the right bank of the Thames River, 3 miles from its 

 entrance into Long Island Sound. The harbor is one of the best in the United States, and is 

 defended by Fort Trumbull and Fort Griswold. The latter fort is built on Groton Heights, 

 opposite New London, and is memorable for being stormed on September 6, 1781, by Benedict 

 Arnold, a native of Connecticut, after he had become a traitor to his country. Here seventy 

 men, the best in the town, were cruelly murdered after they had surrendered themselves pris- 

 oners. A monument has been erected on the spot in memory of those who fell. At Groton is 

 a United States navy yard. The inhabitants of New London have for many years been engaged 

 in the fur-seal and sea-elephant fishery in Antarctic waters. Vessels from here were the first 

 American sealers to visit Desolation Island and Heard's Island in the Southern Indian Ocean, 

 and large cargoes of sea-elephant oil were annually obtained from these islands for many years. 

 The fur-sealers cruise also in the Southern Atlantic Ocean at South Georgia, South Shetland, 

 Cape Horn, and other sealing grounds. The sealing fleet of New London in 1853 numbered eight 

 sail. In 1858 it had increased to twelve sail, and has annually numbered from five to ten vessels 

 since that time. 



The whale fishery from this port at one time was of much importance, but is now prosecuted 

 by only five vessels. In 1846 seventy whaling vessels were owned here, but in 1857 the fleet was 

 reduced to fifty-four sail. Since that date the number of vessels in this fishery has been from five 

 to forty -five, and the largest number in the past ten years was fourteen in 1871. The receipts of 

 whale products at New London in 1846 were 1,307 barrels of sperm oil, 27,441 barrels of whale oil, 

 aud 183,450 pounds of whalebone; in 1880 the receipts were only 22,144 gallons of whale oil, and 

 10,400 pounds of whalebone. The fishery in the vicinity of Davis Straits and Hudson's Bay has 



