News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-08-31
from the New York Evening post1

saw one OF the ''alOng-shore" fishing
crews casting their nets for .menhaden
The operation was most interesting
one. As the sun rose tarry, weather
beaten fisherman appeared from behint
the sand dunes and walked down tn,
beach, casting wary eye to seawart
for ''show" of ''bunkers." As
watched him, the vidette started, cast
glance at long ripple on the sea causet
by thousands of tails and fins, the1
fastened to the summit of the dune
and waved his fishers coat franticall,
as signal to his fellows, who 1 took t,
be in the fields, or perhaps on their wa.
to the shore. Quickly a beach cart
drawn by two stout, shaggy ponies
whirls around the point of. the dunes
stops, and six grizzled, sun-browneC
fishermen shake themselves out upo1
the sand. They change their dress
donning oil-skins and dilapidated ole
garments, and begin loading the seine
which had been spread along the face
of the dunes to dry, into the wagon.
The seine is one Thousand feet long and
sixty wide, and as the wagon is driven
along beside it the men pay it in and
stow it in the hinder part. Then the
cart is backed to the waters edge, and
the seine slowed in the stern of a sharp
pointed fishing boat which has been
hauled down from the dunes to posi-
ton directly behind it. This done, the
men launch their craft through the surf,
getting well drenched in the encounter;
tumble in, and row out Justify, unwind
ing as they go a rope, one end of which
is attached to the net and the other held
in the hands of the men on shore.
There are four oarsmen in the boat,
and a captain who pays out the seine.
The spectators On shore, watching the
line of ripples, see the men carefully
encircie it, dropping the net as they go,
and return on the other side, leaving
line of floats encircling the ''sehool."
Once ashore all hands seize the ropes,
and the "hauP' begins. The men pull
Justify, with many "Heave no I" and
cultural aspiration. The net approaches
the shore, and as the line of floats con-
tracts, hundreds of menkaden break the
surface and the water is churned by
thousands of fins. BlUefish, bass; young
sharks, toadfsh, squids, and $4,000
menhsden are in the mass. Now afifty-
pound bass makes a mad plunge, scat
tering the small fry right and left, or a
bluefish leaps over the line of floats.
But, unheeding these episodes, the mass
steadily contracts, and at last, with a
final rush, is hauled up within the line
of surf This is the signal for the fish
ermen, armed with forks and shovels, to
jump in and throw the squirting, gilt
tering mass in showers on the beach,
whence it is quickly removed by the
farmers carts and spread upon the
fields.
The incident awakened my interest
in the rnanha1ar. on1 led ano 10 seek
an Interview with Captain Dominy,
one of the Oldest and most intelligent
fishermen of the coast, with view to
eliciting facts. The captain is stern
proved, grizzled, and has hauled his
nets on every rod of coast from Mon
tauk Point to Fire Island, and is famil-
lar with every haunt of the sea rovers
for the entire distance. He relates
some astonishing tales of the former
abundance of menhaden on that coast.
At a single cast of his net he once
landed one hundred and fifty thousand.
He has seen the whole surface Of the
sea tinged crimson with them, and has
had hundred acres within his range
of vision at once, every acre of which
would have turned out a million. In
those days every farmer owned an in
terest in seine "hauling bunkers I"
was a regular part of farm work, and
the land grew rich in consequence.
Bunkers were then sold at seventy-five
cents a thousand. asked the old fish
erman's opinion as to the cause of the
wholesale decrease, and his ready reply
was, the steamers.
"You see, mister" he remarked.
when the farmers were the only mar
ket the men fshed 'on the lay as we
call it-that is, somebody with money
furnished seine and the men hired an
old sloop and went after the fish for
two-thirds of the 'catch.' Them was
good times-bunkers plenty, and the
sloops generally back in day or two
with flush decks. The men often made
as high as fifteen or sixteen dollars q
day then. How is it now? Well. !
calculate on The Sound shore OF the
island there's dozen fsh-factories.
each one with from two to three steam.
ers out seining for menhaden. They
skim every mile of the Sound and bays.
weather Montauk yonder, hug the
south shore here, and run down the
Jersey coast as far as Barnegat. Not
bunker gees into the bay to spawn
or firts his tail in the surf along shore
but what these fellows scoop him in
Consequently, what aren't taken ar.
scarf off, and the bus iness is ruined fol
everybody"
Afterward / talked with other fisher
men, at Bridgehampton, Amagansett
and other places along shore, and found
this feeling against the steamers almos
universal. Willing to hear the steamer
side of ths question, I. trayersed the
wastes of Kapesgue to this remote
hamlet, the centre of the tish-oil In
dustry. It is situated in beautiful
cove of GARDENERS Bay, nearly opposite
GARDENERS Island, on the north shore
OF Napeague beach, and about three
miles from Amagansett, and is COM
posed of six great ram bling fish factories,
and of the Dwellings which shelter the
men employed in them and their
families. The hamlet h ad its origin as
follows: When old Daniel Weiles,
pioneer in the fish-oil industry, began
the business at Greenpoint, twenty
years ago, 10 extract the oil, he rotted
the fish In the sun instead of cooking
them, producing such fearful odors that
the people rose and drove him away.
His successors, following the same crude
methods, were treated in the same way,
and, being driven from pillar to post in
consequence, at length betook them
selves to this waste; and Promised
Land is the result.
THE OIL FACTORIES.
A fish factory is in bad odor with the
travelling public, and few tourists have