250 UISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES, 
Wellfleet has a three-masted schooner, the Carrie D. Allen, employ ed in the mackerel fishery. 
Her burthen is 175 tons, and she carries 25 men.* 
4. APPARATUS AND METHOD OF FISHING. 
THE SEINE-BOAT AND ITS FITTINGS.—The boats used by the Gloucester fleet in the purse-seine 
fishery are built after a peculiar model and solely for this purpose. The present form of the seine- 
boat was devised about the year 1857 by Messrs. Higgins & Gifford, boat-builders, Gloucester, 
Mass.t The seines had previously been set from square-sterned, lap-streak boats, about 28 feet in 
length, and resembling in shape an ordinary ship’s yawl. 
The seine-boat, as now in use, resembles the well-known whale-boat, differing from it, however, 
in some important particulars. 
The seine-boat, according to Mr. Gifford, must have three qualities: (1) It should tow well; 
consequently it is made sharpest forward. A whale-boat, on the other hand, is sharpest aft, to 
facilitate backing after the whale has been struck. (2) It should row well, and this quality also is 
obtained by the sharp bow. The whale-boat also should row well, but in this case it hag been 
found desirable to sacrifice speed in part to the additional safety attained by having the stern 
sharper than the bow. (3) It should be stiff or steady in the water, since the operation of shooting 
the seine necessitates much moving about in the boat. 
The Gloucester seine-boat of the present day is a modification of the old-fashioned whale-boat, 
combining the qualities mentioned above. The average length of such a boat is about 34 feet, its 
width 7 feet 5 inches, its depth amidship 33 inches. At the stern is a platform, measuring about 
4 feet, fore and aft, on which the captain stands to steer ; this is 6 to 8 inches below the gunwale. 
Another platform extends the whole length of the boat’s bottom, from the afterpart of which the 
seine is set. In the bow is still another platform, ou which stands the man who hauls the cork- 
line. There are four thwarts or seats, a large space being left clear behind the middle of the boat 
for the storage of the seines. Upon the starboard side of the boat, near the middle, is arranged 
an upright iron support, about 18 inches in height, to which are attached two iron snatch-blocks 
used in working the purse-ropes.{ Upon the opposite side of the boat, generally near the bow 
*The three-masted schooner Carrie D. Allen, of Wellfleet, Capt. Darius Newcomb, arrived at Gloucester June 18, 
1874, with 900 barrels of mackerel. Only vessel of her class in the coast fisheries; 175 tons, carries 25 men. (Cape Ann 
Advertiser, June 26, 1874.) 
+ Capt. George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, Mass., claims to have been the first to design and introduce the form 
of seine-boat now universally employed in the mackerel fishery, and which has been used to some extent in the men- 
haden fishery since 1857. 
In 1856, while engaged in fishing for menhaden, he carried two boats, one of which was a whale-boat of the 
ordinary type. The luiter, which he used for a ‘‘ second boat,” proved very serviceable—rowing and towing easily, and 
turning quickly—and was much better adapted for seining than the old-fashioned square-sterned seine-boats which 
were in general use at that time. Captain Merchant therefore conceived the idea that a decided improvement could 
be made in seine-boats by building them ou the same general plan as the whale-boat, through making them somewhat 
wider than the latter, especially towards the stern, so that they would be better able to bear up the seine. Having 
decided on the dimensions required, Captain Merchant wrote to Mr. Higgins (now the senior partner of the boat-build- 
ing firm of Higgins & Gifford, Gloucester, Mass.), who was then at Provincetown, desiring the latter to build a boat 21 
feet long and according to the plan submitted, and which should be ready for the season of 1857. 
Many of the old fishermen laughed at the idea of attempting to use a sharp-sterned boat for purse-seining, declaring 
that it would upset while the seine was being ‘‘ pursed up,” that it would tow under, and making other unfavorable 
predictions. Notwithstanding their cruakings, they soon became convinced of the good qualities of the new boat, and 
in thé following years hastened to adopt the same kind themselves. 
t The first iron purse-davit (with wooden snatch-blocks), according to Captain Merchant, was invented and 
ysed by Capt. Henry Blatchford in 1858, With the exception of the blocks it was essentially the same as the purse- 
davit in use at the present time. Previous to this a wooden davit (usually an old one), such as were in use on the 
fishing vessels, was employed for the purpose of pursing up the seine, These davits were rigged out over the side of 
the boat, a place being cut in them three or four inches deep, so that they might fit over the gunwale of the boat in 
such a manner as to steady the outer end while the inner end was secured to the midship thwart by a grommet strap. 
