The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-22
AROUND. THE HARB0R.
Some Fine Yachts and Crack Fishermen
Captain Sol Jacobs in Port-Catches of
Mackerel and sword Fish-The Steam
seiner Cormorant.

Yesterday was gloomy, rainy day
along the water front. but the harbor
itself had an air of business quite I'M
usual for this quiet summer. The bad
weather had brought in large number
of fishermen. coasters and yachts, which
wished a safe anchorage until the storm
should abate. The yachts and the
crack fishermen attracted most atten-
ton, and the fishermen were not far be-
hind the yachts in beauty of lines and
reputation for speed. The sloop Bedouin,
owned by Archibald Rogers, and one of
the minor racers of the New York Yacht
Club. was one of the principal yachts,
and lying not far from her were the
schooneg Troubadour, owned by VIM.
L. Lockhart, of the Boston Yacht Club,
and the Intrepid, owned by Lloyd Aspin-
wall, of New York. In the same por-
ton of the harbor lay the fishing
schooner Mary S. Belden, one of the
newest and said to be the very swiftest
of the Gloucester fleet. If she has a
rival at all it is the Marguerite Haskins,
which was lying over by Union wharf.
Captain "Mef' McLain is the builder and
captain of this fine piece of marine
architecture. At Custom House wharf
lay another splendid fisherman,
the Ethel B. Jacobs, commanded by
that famous fisherman, Capt. Sol Jacobs.
Capt. Jacobs talks quite freely of the
situation in regard to mackerel, but is as
nonplussed as all the other fishermen to
explain why the fish do not appear as
they used to. If there is anyone in the
world who has areputation as a mackerel
killer anywhere near that of Captain Sol
it is Captain Hanson Joyce of Gloucester.
Captain Joyce was also in the harbor
yesterday on boa d his vessel. the A. F.
Herrick. With her he had also the
steam seine boat Cormorant, which is
quite a novelty in its way, and causes no
little discussion among mariners. When
a mackerel fisherman gets out her seine
to gather in a school of mackerel the
usual way is to tow the seine by means
of seine boat propelled by the oars of a
number of strong fishermen. Now
Captain Joyce has the idea that steam
may be used for this purpose as well as
muscle power. So he has steam seine
boat, made about third larger than an
ordinary seine boat, and fitted up with
engine and screw, like a steam yacht.
This seine boat he tows along behind his
vessel until the mackerel are sighted,
and then pursues them with steam.
Captain Charles Hardy, of Gloucester,
also uses one of the steamers, but so far
others have not adopted the innovation.
The old fishermen shake their heads and
say that there is no advantage in the
mackerel and that for every school that
Captain Hanson gets he frightens away
as many from the nets of other fisher
men.
The maekerel fishing is not looking up
great deal, and from present indica-
tions the catch this year will not be up
to that of last year. The schooner
Emma came in yesterday from the Bay
of ST. Lawrence with only thirty-five
barrels. The Nathan Cleaves, which is
in those waters also has only ten barrels.
There seem to be mackerel enough in
the bay, but they cannot be caught.
Other vessels that brought in mackerel
were the James Poole, 149 barrels, Ellen
Lincoln 80 barrels, Laura Bell 65 barrels,
Caroline Vought 100 barrels, and Lizzie
Poor 120 barrels.
The arrivals of sword fish were quite
numerous yesterday, two hundred and
fourteen fish being brought in. The
Willie & Alice, Moses B. Linscot and
and Mary B. Hagan were among the
sword fishermen coming in. The fish
brought five and half cents pound.
w. @. T. U.