THE LOBSTER FISHERY OF MAINE. 
251 
able; consequently they offered her for sale and wrote to me in relation to buying her. I went to 
Noank and looked her over and came to the conclusion that by enlarging the well and making other 
needed changes she could be made not only a good boat to carry lobsters alive, but also to do it 
profitably; consequently I bought her and brought her to Rockland, had the well enlarged on ideas of 
my own, and differently constructed, so as to give it better circulation of water, and also made other 
needed improvements throughout the boat to adapt her especially for carrying lobsters alive. The 
changes I made in her proved so successful in keeping lobsters alive, while it increased the capacity 
for carrying, that I have since adapted the same principles on all my boats. The well I had put into 
the Grace Morgan is what is termed a “box well,” that is, without any well deck. The well is built 
from the sides of the steamer directly to the hatch on the main deck, with bulkheads forward and aft 
and tops running directly to the deck. * * * You will see at once that this well has many advan- 
tages over the old style with flat well decks, like those of sailing vessels : (1) It affords a much larger 
carrying capacity in same space of vessel. (2) The priming-out pieces are much higher up on sides 
of vessel, giving more room for boring hull, which affords much better circulation of water in well, 
which is a great advantage in keeping lobsters alive while on long trips. (3) Every lobster can be 
easily bailed out of the well without grounding the vessel, which is necessary with all vessels having 
the old-style well. (4) In all steam and well smacks the after part of the ship is always steadiest, 
consequently the well being located aft, as in my smacks, the lobsters contained in them are not sub- 
jected to the hard pounding while running in seaway that they are in the old-style wells, where there 
is no chance to relieve themselves other than to be forced against the well decks by the upward force 
of the water when the vessel settles into the sea, and which results in killing many of them. 
Both of my steamers have box wells aft, and from my experience, compared with all other steam 
and well smacks afloat, I am convinced that this well, for all practical purposes, is the best that has 
yet been adapted to steam smacks. So far as the Grace Morgan is concerned, she has been a perfect 
success in carrying her lobsters in all kinds of weather since I put her into commission October 27, 
1892, during which time she has had a wonderful career, as well as carrying millions of lobsters. 
Probably no boat of her size has ever had such an experience, as she has run steadily the year around 
in all kinds of weather during the past eight years. * * * Previous to buying the Grace Morgan 
I had run steamers in the lobster business, but they had no well, and being so hot in their holds, 
particularly in "the summer months, the lobsters died so fast that the business in dry steamers could 
not be made profitable. This is what prompted me to construct a well in mine, as I have done. 
The Grace Morgan has a length of 49 feet, a breadth of 13.9 feet, and a depth of 
5.7 feet, a gross tonnage of 21 tons, and a net tonnage of 10 tons. 
The steam smacks now used average about 14 tons. They are usually built low 
in the water, and have a small pilot-house forward, with an open space between it and 
the engine-house, and living quarters aft. The boat has also one or two short masts. 
Some of them also have the pilot-house and engine-house joined together. In those 
with a space between the pilot-house and engine-house the well is usually placed in 
this open space. Where the pilot house and engine-house are together the well is 
either located forward or aft. These wells are generally capable of holding from 3,000 
to 10,000 live lobsters. Small holes in the bottom of the well keep it filled with fresh 
sea water. Should the weather be clear the proportion of dead and injured lobsters 
will be small, but in bad weather many are apt to be killed by the pitching and rolling 
to which they are subjected. 
These smacks make regular trips up and down the coast, landing their cargoes 
either at Rockland, Portland, or at one of the lobster pounds scattered along the 
coast. They not only stop at the villages, but also drop anchor off the little camps 
of the lobstermen, and should the smacks of two rival dealers arrive at a place 
simultaneously, which frequently happens, the bidding between the captains for the 
fishermen’s catch gladdens the latter’s heart and greatly enriches his pocketbook. 
Most of the captains have regular places of call where they know the fishermen are 
holding their lobsters for them, and they follow a rude sort of schedule, which will 
not often vary more than a day or two. The lobsters are bought of the fishermen 
