[11] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 655 



arid the regular employment of such vessels iu those or kindred branches 

 of the fisheries has apparently been indefinitely postponed. 



Screw steamers were introduced for the capture of menhaden about 

 1871. In a description, by Boardman and Atkins, of the methods 

 employed in the menhaden fishery about Booth Bay, Me., in 1874, it is 

 stated that: "They [steamers] were introduced on the coast of Maine 

 three years ago." Steamers were found remarkably well adapted for 

 this fishery, where quick dispatch is a necessity, and the fish are taken 

 from the great purse-seines and thrown iu bulk in the. vessel's hold, 

 where they lie until they are transferred to the factory — on the arrival 

 of the steamer in port — to be converted into fertilizers and oil. In the 

 census year of 18S0j;here were 84 steamers employed iu the menhaden 

 iisheries, their aggregate tonnage amounting to 6,543.29 tons. The 

 smallest of the fleet, and tlie first built for this fishery, the Seven 

 Brothers, is 27.32 tons, while the largest, the George W. Humphries (a 

 u double-gang steamer"), is 214.55 tons, with 25C horse-power. 



Screw steamers are used to some extent in the fisheries of the great 

 lakes. Some of these are employed chiefly in carrying to market the 

 product of the traps and pounds, and are generally called "pound'steam- 

 ers." The most of them, however, fish with long strings of gill-nets 

 and are called " gill-net steamers." There are certain local differences 

 in these vessels, but generally speaking they resemble an ordinary steam 

 tug, being, however, somewhat wider and rather flatter on the floor. 

 They range in size from 10 to about 45 tons. 



A few years ago steamers were introduced into the oyster fisheries, 

 and in 1881 twelve of these vessels were employed in dredging oysters 

 iu the waters of Long Island Sound, and several others were then iu 

 course of construction. 



The first attempt to use steam power for oyster dredging of which we 

 have any knowledge was made at Norwalk, Conn., when a boiler and 

 engine were put on board the sloop Early Bird in 1874 for the purpose 

 only of turning the drums with which the dredge lines were hauled. 

 Later this vessel was further improved by the addition of a propeller, 

 and this was found to add so materially to her effectiveness that since 

 that time several screw steamers have been built expressly for this work. 

 They are generally of small size, ranging from 20 to 03 tons, from 50 

 to 83 feet in length, with a beam of 12 to 20 feet. 



In 1880 there were two small screw steamers, of the tug pattern, em- 

 ployed in the clam fisheries of the United States, one cf these, how- 

 ever, spending a portion of her time in the " sardine "fisheries, in which, 

 also, another small tug found employment, In the latter industry the 

 work of the steamers consisted chiefly in towing fishing boats to and 

 from the factories or packing establishments. 



Small, light-draught, side-wheel steamers aie also used to some ex- 

 tent for " laying out" seines in the broad shallow waters of the South, 

 especially about Albemarle Sound. 



