182 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



favorite resort for herring for years. By 1840, ten thou- 

 sand boxes of herring were being packed yearly for the 

 Boston market. Bristol had twenty-five vessels engaged in 

 fishing in 1830. Later the place became the center of the 

 menhaden industry of Maine, the first oil and guano fac- 

 tory for the use of menhaden being built at Bristol in 1864. 

 Between 183*0 and 1840 Monhegan cured annually 9,000 

 quintals of fish. The mackerel fishery was carried on from 

 the place through the Civil War. The smoking of Magda- 

 len herring was carried on at Damariscotta from 1830 to 

 1845. North Boothbay sent eight or ten vessels to the cod- 

 fishing grounds of Labrador in 1844. The fishing business 

 began at Wiscasset in 1822, and was successfully prosecuted 

 until the Civil War. At that time from 30 to 35 bankers 

 and an equal number of shore boats were fitted at Wiscasset. 

 The citizens of Southport successively tried their fortunes 

 in the herring, cod and mackerel fisheries. Previous to 

 the war of 1812 Georgetown, an island on the eastern 

 boundary of the Kennebec River, had twenty-five vessels 

 employed in the bank fishery. The town quickly recovered 

 from the effects of the war. In 1843, between 25,000 and 

 30,000 quintals of fish were cured here. Both the inshore 

 and the deep-sea fisheries increased in importance during 

 this period. The merchants of the town bought fish from 

 the neighboring towns of Westport, Woolwich and Phipps- 

 burg. In 1868, Georgetown handled $250,000 worth of 

 fishery products. 



Portland early became a center for the fisheries as well 

 as for other maritime commerce. Shore and deep-sea fish- 

 ing were carried on by her fishermen; vessels from other 

 places resorted here to be fitted out for the sea ; cargoes of 

 fish were brought to her merchants from the shore towns; 

 the shipping trade between Portland and the West Indies 

 increased during this century, especially as more cod was 

 packed in ' 'drums 1 ' for southern markets. Portland was 



