Ever since the early Puritan settlers first learned from the Indians
how to utilize the lobster, it has been one of the most prized
articles of food in the New England States. The early town records of
Massachusetts contain frequent references to this valuable crustacean,
and efforts were made at an early day to conserve the supply.
At first, as most settlers lived on or near the coast, each family
could easily secure its own supply, but as the settlements gradually
extended farther inland this became inconvenient, and it soon became
customary for certain persons living on the coast to attend to
supplying the wants of the inland settlers, and thus the commercial
fishery was established.
The coast of Maine is very favorably situated for this fishery. In its
eastern and middle sections the shore is bold and rocky, while it is
cut up by large deep inlets and coves which are studded with numerous
islands, large and small, and by bold rocky promontories. Groups
of islands are also numerous farther off shore, like the Fox and
Matinicus Islands, Deer and Mount Desert islands. Large and small
fresh-water rivers are numerous and the granite bottoms of these
channels and inlets form admirable breeding grounds. In the western
end the shores are not so rocky, being broken frequently with sandy
reaches, while the rivers are small and comparatively shallow. West of
Casco Bay the islands are infrequent. As a result of this conformation
of coast the best fishing grounds in Maine are between Cape Elizabeth
and Quoddy Head.
As early as 1830 smacks from Boston and Connecticut visited Harpswell
for fresh lobsters, and it is very probable that even before this time
they had visited the points farther west in the State, as the history
of the fishery, so far as known, shows that it gradually worked to
the eastward. This was doubtless owing to the fact that the trend of
settlement in the early part of the century was in that direction. It
is also probable that, for some time before the people along the coast
took up the fishery, the smackmen themselves did their own fishing.
This is easily believed when the great abundance is considered. It is
known that this was done in Massachusetts.
During summer the lobsters were very common close in shore and could
easily be gaffed by boys at low water; but this could hardly be called
a regular fishery.
The regular fishery began with the use of hoop-net pots, which were
generally of very rude construction, and the facility with which the
lobsters escaped from them led to their disuse soon after the lath
pots began to be introduced. The lath pots were essentially the same
in construction as those now used on the coast of Maine, and each
pair of fishermen then handled between 25 and 50.
Up to about 1865 it was the custom to set the traps singly, and two
men were usually employed in the fishery, one to haul up, empty the
pot, rebait it, and drop it overboard, while the other handled the
boat. In the latter year it was discovered that by setting the pots on
trawls more pots could be set and only one man would be required to
work them. This invention, which was claimed by several different
persons, proved quite successful for a while, but after a time, when
the supply of lobsters began to drop off, better results were secured
by scattering the pots over a greater area and shifting their position
each time they were fished, which was very easily done. As a result of
this the use of trawls decreased very rapidly.
The following facts regarding the early lobster fishery of Maine are
from the Fishery Industries of the United States, section v, vol. II,
pp. 700, 701:
In 1841 Capt. E. M. Oakes began to carry lobsters from Cundy's
Harbor and Horse Island Harbor, Harpswell, to Mr. Eben Weeks,
at East Boston. He was then running a well-smack, named the
_Swampscott_, of 41 tons, old measurement. The season extended
from the 1st of March until about the 4th of July, after which
time the lobsters were supposed to be unfit for eating; the
black lobsters, or shedders, were even considered poisonous.
During this season of four months Captain Oakes made ten trips,
carrying in all 35,000, by count. He continued in this trade
about six years, taking the combined catch of about five or
six fishermen. At this same period the smack _Hulda B. Hall_,
50 tons, of New London, Conn., Captain Chapell, was carrying
lobsters from Cape Porpoise, Gloucester, Ipswich Bay, and
occasionally Provincetown, to Boston, making 15 trips in the
season of four months, and taking about 3,500 lobsters each
trip. Captain Chapell was supplied with 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,
obtaining most of his supplies at Provincetown.
In 1847 Captain Oakes purchased the smack _Josephine_, with
which he began running to Johnson & Young's establishment, at
Boston, in 1848, buying a portion of his lobsters in the
Penobscot Bay region, where this fishery had just been started.
The quantity of lobsters carried by him that year was 40,000.
The prices paid to the fishermen for smack lobsters was as
follows: During March, 3 cents each; April, 2-1/2 cents; May
and June, 2 cents. In 1850, he began to obtain supplies from
the Muscle Ridges, leaving Harpswell entirely, on account of
the small size of the lobsters then being caught there. At
this time the average weight of the lobsters marketed was about
3 pounds, and all under 10-1/2 inches in length were rejected.
The traps were made of the same size as at present, but were
constructed of round oak sticks, and with four hoops or bows
to support the upper framework. A string of bait, consisting
mainly of flounders and sculpins, was tied into each trap.
About 50 traps were used by each fisherman, and they were
hauled once a day. The warps or buoy lines, by which the traps
were lowered and hauled, were cut in 12-fathom lengths.
Lobsters were so abundant at the Muscle Ridges, at this period,
that four men could fully supply Captain Oakes with lobsters
every trip. In the course of ten days each man would obtain
between 1,200 and 1,500 marketable lobsters. In Captain Oakes'
opinion, the Muscle Ridges have furnished the most extensive
lobster fishery of the Maine coast. He ran to this locality
until 1874.
Capt. S. S. Davis, of South Saint George, states that about
1864, when he first began buying lobsters at the Muscle Ridges,
three men, tending 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.
This traffic continued for six or seven years. In 1879, Captain
Davis bought from 15 men In the same locality, and at times
was obliged to buy also of others in order to make up a load.
The fishery at North Haven began in 1848, but did not increase so
rapidly at first as in sections farther west, as the smacks would only
take the medium-sized lobsters, fearing that the largest would not
be able to stand the trip. At Matinicus Island the fishing began in
1868. In 1852 the people on Deer Island began the fishery, and as the
smackmen made frequent visits the business rapidly increased. The
establishment of a cannery at Oceanville, about 1860, also caused a
considerable development of the fishery. The fishery was started at
Isle an Haute about 1855, and at Swan Island in the early fifties.
The canning of lobsters was first carried on at Eastport in 1842, but
the fishery was not taken up until about 1853, as it was supposed
there were no lobsters in the neighborhood. The supplies for these
canneries previous to the inception of the fishery were obtained by
smacks running to the westward.
For some years the fishery was only prosecuted in the late spring,
summer, and early fall months. Just when winter fishing began in
the State is doubtful; but according to Capt. Charles Black, of Orr
Island, it began in that region in 1845 at Harpswell. Previously the
fishermen had the impression that lobsters could not be successfully
caught earlier than March 20.
During the summer of 1845 the captains of the well-smacks of New
London, Conn., who bought most of the lobsters in that vicinity,
induced Charles E. Clay, Samuel Orr, and a few others to fish during
the winter, and they set their traps about the same distance from the
shore that the fishermen do at present, and in almost the same depth
of water. The smackmen paid them $4 for 100 lobsters. The next winter
the fishermen refused to sell by number and wanted $1.25 per 100
pounds. The smackmen had no objection to buy them by weight, but
refused to pay more than $1.12 per 100 pounds. This was accepted, and
for several years the prices were from $1.12 to $1.25 per 100 pounds.
Comparatively few traps were necessary then, as when the weather would
permit the fishermen to tend their traps they would catch from 20 to
30 lobsters daily, and frequently, when the traps were hauled, they
would find several lobsters clinging to some part of the pots. The
bait was very plentiful and caught with spears.
The lobsters were placed in cars at that time, after having been
"plugged" to keep them from injuring each other. The plugs were almost
1-1/2 inches long, flat on one side, round on the other, and with a
sharp point. Plugging has since been discontinued, as the trifling
injury the lobsters did each other was nothing compared to the value
of cans of meat spoiled by one of these pine plugs being boiled with
it.
[Illustration: The steam smack _Mina and Lizzie_ landing her cargo at
Portland]
[Illustration: Fleet of lobster boats in harbor at York Island]