INSHORE FISHERIES 235 



lobsters by four men at Cape Porpoise, and by the same 

 number at both Gloucester and Ipswich Bay. For four 

 months following the close of the lobster season on the 

 Maine coast, or from July 4 until November, Captain 

 Chapell ran his smack with lobsters to New York, obtain- 

 ing most of his supplies at Provincetown. " 



Captain S. S. Davis, of South Saint George, states that 

 about 1864, when he first began buying lobsters at the 

 Muscle Ridges, three men tending from 40 to 50 pots 

 each, caught all the count lobsters he could carry to market 

 in his smack. He could load 5,000 lobsters at a time, and 

 averaged a trip in 7 to 9 days. The traffic continued 

 from seven to nine years. In 1879, Captain Davis bought 

 his supply of lobsters from 15 men in the same locality, 

 and at times was obliged to buy also of others in order to 

 make up a load. 1 



There are no accurate figures showing the catch of 

 lobsters previous to 1880. In that year there were 2,773 

 persons in Maine employed in the lobster fishery, of whom 

 1,843 were fishermen. The total capital invested in the 

 fishery was $151,154. There were 14,234,182 lobsters taken, 

 valued at $268,739, which was at the rate of 1.9 cents a 

 pound. About six-sevenths of the catch was east of the 

 Wiscasset district, or in the Passamaquoddy, Machias, 

 Frenchman's Bay, Castine, Belfast, and Waldoboro dis- 

 tricts. 



A review of the lobster industry for the United States 

 for 1880 shows that there were 2,819 fishermen employed; 

 the amount of capital invested in the industry was 

 $266,353 ; the quantity of lobsters taken, 20,128,033 ; and 

 their value was $483,891. New York and New Jersey 

 were the only states outside of New England where the 

 industry was carried on, the value of the lobster industry 

 of these states being only a little in excess of $10,000. 



i Goode, Sec. V, Vol. II, p. 700. 



