THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



FISH TALES FROM NOANK. 



Headquarters, U. S. Fish 'Com. [ 

 Noajnk, Conn., July 31, 1874. ) 



When at the close of the last season's work, the ques- 

 tion of our location for 1S74 was mooted it was gener- 

 ally understood that it would be somewhere on the south- 

 ern coast of New England, and not far from the eastern 

 end of Long Island Sound. Watch Hill, Stonington, 

 Block Island, Sag Harbor and New London were dis- 

 cussed and dropped from the docket, and at last Prof. 

 Baird settled upon Noank. That name Noank has 

 puzzled many a learned head and after long and un- 

 availing research in atlas and railroad guide is for phil- 

 ological reasons usually located somewhere in Maine; 

 it improves however, on acquaintance, especially when 

 we learn that it means "crotched tree" and commem- 

 orates an ancient landmark under whose leafy boughs 

 the Pequots used to assemble for council or clam-bake. 

 The monuments of their leasts still remain in the shape 

 of shell-heaps, and our party will no doubt some day 

 celebrate one of the original American festivals by a 

 clambake on the spot, giving a flavor to the repast by 

 the study of these ancient kjoeJcken-moeddings. An old 

 grudge of the railroad company is probably the cause of 

 the present obscurity of Noank, an obscurity quite un- 

 deserved, for the village is pretty, enterprising and 

 growing. Thirty-five years ago a cargo of iced fish was 

 taken to New York by a Noank smack, the first which 

 ever was brought to the city market, and in the trade 

 thus inaugurated, extensive as it now is, Noank bears 

 an important part. The evening train and Stonington 

 boat take daily shipments and many of the smacks pro- 

 vided with ice-houses carry their fares directly to Ful- 

 ton market. 



Noank has shipyards, too, of no mean importance. 

 At Mr. Robert Palmer's yard where vessels of eight 

 hundred tons are built, the "Dauntless" was remodeled 

 and fitted out for her successful ocean race; at the 

 Mystic yards, a mile up the river, she was built. Here 

 too, not long ago, fifteen gunboats were built for the 

 Spanish government. Here was built the celebrated 

 clipper ship, the 'Andrew Jackson," which made the 

 two best voyages from New York to San Francisco, 

 the shortest in eighty-nine days. 



The investigations at this station are expected to 

 throw light on many important points in the marine 

 zoology and physics of our coast. In 1871, the fink 

 year of the work, the party was located at Wood's Hole 

 on the Vineyard Sound, some 120 miles farther east. 

 During the summer many interesting facts were learned 



