



368 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



market soon threw this traue into tbe hands of the fishermen largely, and farmers all along the 

 coast began buying and using fish on their land. 



"The introduction of the purse-seine by Mr. Benjamin Tollman, of Portsmouth, R. I., about 

 1845, (?) entirely revolutionized the pogy fishery, and from that time fish could be taken at any dis- 

 tance from shore. The first method, as with the drag-seine, was to row out from shore when fish 

 were seen, but it was not long before they began using a fleet of four small boats for catching them. 

 One was called the seine-boat, another the "mate," and the remaining two the "tenders," or "carry- 

 away boats." The four boats would start out together, and sail about near each other looking 

 for fish. 



"As soon as a school was seen the seine-boat and mate would start for the windward side and 

 the tenders to leeward. The masts were unstepped, as soon as the seine-boat and tender reached 

 their position, and elevated above the boats. The boats were then fastened together, and one-half of 

 the seine transferred to the mate-boat, after which they rowed for the school, the captain standing 

 in the bow and keeping close watch of them. As soon as they reached the school the word was 

 given, the boats separated, and the captain and mate took the steering oar of their respective boats 

 and brought them around the fish as the net was shot, the tenders generally marking the leeward 

 boundaries of the school. As soon as they met, all hands got into one boat, and allowed the other 

 to drop astern out of the way. The fish were dipped into the tenders and carried to market. 



"The next change was to introduce a schooner to carry the seine and afford accommodations 

 for the men. This method was first employed in Long Island Sound. 



" The first pogy steamer built was the Seven Brothers, belonging to James Church, of Newport, 

 R. I., in 1870. Tug-boats had been engaged the previous year during calm weather to tow the 

 boats to and from the fishing grounds. L. Brightmau & Sons employed the steam tug Fairy for 

 this purpose in 1869," 



THE CLAIMS OF CONNECTICUT AND NEW YORK. Others claim to have manufactured oil 

 at an early date.* It is said that as early as 1850 or 1852 there was an establishment for the 

 manufacture of whitefish oil near old Fort Hale, New Haven Harbor. Elisha Morgan, of Poquan 

 nock Bridge, Conn., is said to have made oil from bony fish previous to the year 1850. He owned 

 seines with which he caught fish to be spread upon land fresh. When he could not sell all bis fish 

 to the farmers he extracted their oil by boiling them. 



Whether the value of the article and the methods of manufacture were first brought to notice 

 in Maine or not, the people of that State were slow to improve their opportunities and the trade 

 first assumed its importance on the shores of Long Island Sound. Whether the fisherman's wife 

 of Blue Hill is the sole discoverer of the properties of menhaden oil is not evident; perhaps the 

 facts were also known to others. At any rate the tradition of the Bartlett family is not current on 

 Long Island. In the year 1850, according to Captain Sissou, D. D. Wells and his son Henry E. 

 Wells started the first factory in the vicinity of Greenport, using steam for making oil and scrap. 

 "At that time there were some few pots (whalemen's try-pots) used by other parties iu boiling the 

 fish in water and making a very imperfect oil and scrap, but were not very successful. The first 

 oil made by D. D. Wells & Son was very black, impure, full of fleshy matter, and had a very offensive 

 smell. It did not come much into use, and for a long time the profits of the business were small; 

 but by persistent effort in perfecting machinery the quality of the oil was so much improved as to 



"The manufacture of oil and of artificial guano from fishes has long been practiced in Franco, where the fish 

 called merlan (Oaflitu mcrJatir/un') is employed for the purpose, yielding If to 2 per cent, of oil. In France the fish 

 cake remaining after the extraction of oil is dried at a steam heat aud is then ground tine and packed in air-tight 

 casks for sale as manure. 



