USA > Rhode Island > A history of Block Island : from its discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876 > Part 3
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" Given under our hands,
SIMON RAY, Sen. Warden, EDWARD BALL, Dep. Warden."
In the same year, 1702, the fishing business was carried on here somewhat extensively, as indicated by the fact that then the town sold six barrels of " oyle for ammuni- tion." Even earlier than this the town engaged Robert Carr, in 1695, and afterward Robert Carr, Jun., to be " forward in making a harbor and promoting the fishing trade." The chief argument for a harbor then, and has been ever since, was for the benefit of the Block Island fisheries. As far back as 1670, the first legislative act for constructing a harbor here, mentions no other reason for so doing than the "incouradging fishing designes." The old pier then built, after fifty years service, had got the fishing business well established, and in a legislative act in 1723, to aid in building a new pier, the General Assembly, as a reason for said act, said,-"For the want of a pier at said Island, for the encouragement of the navigation of this Colony, especially the fishery, which is begun to be carried on successfully, &c."
The value of these fisheries is also indicated by the white oak poles, now standing at the Harbor, put there for the convenience of the boats of fishermen. They were a substitute for the old and the new piers which had been destroyed by a storm, and as such they served until the construction of the present national harbor, in- adequate as they were, leaving a necessity on the fisher- men of turning out at midnight in a cold storm to yoke
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BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
their oxen, go to the harbor, and haul their boats up the bank for safety. But even for this the fishing business paid, as neither then, nor now, have other resources been adequate to the needs of the population sustained on the Island. Nor have the hard earnings of the industrious inhabitants been squandered abroad for unnecessary lux- uries at home. It is within the memory of even the younger portion of the Islanders that two partners in a fishing boat, after selling their fish at some port on the main, have brought home a barrel of flour, placed it upon a sheet, found the middle from chime to chime, and " sawed it in two."
The seasons for the principal fishing are fall and spring. In the fall of the year, especially in November, the inesti- mable droves of cod-fish travel southerly, and, by the uniformity of their movements, evidently well understand the "paths of the seas." If diverted from their paths, and likely to be overtaken by a storm in too shallow water, they are sagacious enough to swallow smooth peb- bles for more ballast, or to enable them to sink deep to prevent the storm from driving them ashore. From this fact their captors have sometimes been warned of their own dangers, which are neither few nor small. To find the paths most frequented by these deep sea passengers is one of their means of success, and when they do not " strike them " in one path, they know where to try them in an- other. These paths lie all around the Island which has been to millions of fish as it has been to multitudes of vessels-a block in the ocean, on which many have been wrecked. In the autumn fishing, the cod come much nearer than in spring, and this is a great favor to the Islanders, as they have less distance to go in the short days, and are less exposed to the dangers of the sea in returning, as they are obliged, at times, to come into har bor quickly for shelter from a sudden storm. They fish
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
with hand lines, in water from ten to twenty fathoms deep. The salt water is so softening to the skin, and the weight of the cod is so great that cots or gloves are nec- essary to protect the hands. The deep grooves cut by the lines in the oak " gunnels" of the old boats indicate the amount of "hauling," and the value of the business. One old fisherman was heard to say of his boat, then about thirty years old,-" That old craft has had fish enough in her to sink her with specie," and he was not wide of the truth. "High-hook," is the term that distinguishes the best fisherman for a day or longer. " Who is high-hook to-day ?" is a common inquiry after thirty or forty boats have landed at the harbor.
After the fall fishing, when winter has set in, there are a few smacksmen who continue through the cold weather. Their vessels have decks, cabins, fires, berths, and cooking conveniences. In their center is a " well "-a place open from top to bottom, admitting sea water equal in depth to the draught of the vessel, and in this water, fish are kept alive by fresh water coming in at the bottom, and thus 1,000 to 1,500 at a time are taken away to market. They are caught, to a considerable extent, by " trawls."
The spring fishing is much like that in autumn, except in the distance from the Island. Then the "paths of the sea " most frequented lie at distances of five, ten, and twenty miles. Then the fish are moving northerly, and for some reason, perhaps from the course they get from the southerly shore of Long Island, they shun Block Island more than in the fall. They also seem to be more numerous in spring, probably because their "paths " are narrower. These are generally called "banks" by the fishermen, and indicate the best localities for fishing. Many more are caught, too, in the spring season, which begins about the first of April and continues until June. During this season the congenial weather, the distance of
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BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
the sail, the number in the business, the early starting in the morning, the strife for the honors of being "high- hook," the rapid footsteps along the streets from two o'clock until four in the morning, the rattle of sails hoist- ing in the harbor, and the sailor phrases of the fishermen, make up a scene of life and beauty to which the· lands- men and even summer visitors are strangers.
" When boats to their morning fishing go, And, held to the wind and slanting low, Whitening and darkening the small sails show."
It is a charming scene in the month of May, to view from an elevated point on the land, from thirty to fifty small sails, as a long, narrow cloud skirts the eastern hori- zon, under which the red sun begins to show his brow just rising out of the sea, and towards which the vessels are gently moving, stretching from the last ones rounding the breakwater to those apparently sailing into the face of the sun, while the stillness of nature is broken only by the dull music of waves along the shore. Far different is the scene in the afternoon, when one of the same boats after another straggles in, with wet and wearied fisher- men, with ballast of tons of stones thrown overboard to give place for the hungry, and hunger-stopping cod-fish- such as Cooper's Leatherstocking would call " sock-dolli- gers," and when the task of dressing about forty cart-loads is progressing. The rapidity with which this work is done, until the fish in the boat are the fish in the pickle, is worthy of observation. The process, where two or three parties are concerned in the boat, is this :
The fish are thrown upon the shore; if one owns the boat, and another is his partner in fishing, the fish are divided into three equal parts; one man then turns his face from the fish, while the other man points to one pile and says, "Whose is that ?" the other answers, as he 4
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
chooses ; and the same is done to one of the other piles, leaving the third share as due to the boat, or its owner. This division is made quickly, and the answers from the man who turns his face from the divided fish are final. Then begins the work of dressing, carrying to the fish- house, and salting. In the meantime farmers are there with carts and oxen to get the offal to fertilize their fields. About the middle of the afternoon some one by general consent is proclaimed "high-hook," and squads of tired men are seen propelling their heavy feet homeward to report the success of the day, to eat a fisherman's meal well prepared, and to go to bed, sometimes, with the sun, and to rise again several hours the earlier. Occasionally their day's work is much more brief, and less profitable, as when a sudden storm comes down like a hawk upon a brood of chickens. Then a speedy return to the harbor begins, in some instances between the casting of the anchor on the fishing ground and the dropping of a hook into the water, or even before the casting of the anchor. Many anxious eyes have watched them thus returning over a sea suddenly thrown into fury by a storm that came from afar with fearful velocity. The casualties, however, have been almost miraculously few.
The quantity caught in the spring is considerably larger than that secured in the fall, but the income from the one season is about the same as that from the other, for in spring more are spoiled in drying, by being sun-burned, and in the fall the profits of dog-fishing, previous to that for cod, yields a considerable income from the oil, and the carcasses of the dog-fish used for the fields, a use that might be made more profitable, if instead of leaving them scattered upon the meadows, to waste their best fertilizing qualities in the air, making it offensive and unhealthy, the farmers would save that waste by putting said fish into a heap of compost. If any doubt this let them remember
-
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BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
that the smell alluded to is nothing but fish manure in the air, from which place they do not get it back again.
The summer fishing of Block Island with hooks, though not to be compared with that of fall or spring, is con- siderable. It is carried on principally by a few who supply the hotels, boarding-houses, and families of the Island, and occasionally send away a quantity packed in ice. They catch blue-fish, or "horse mackerel," as they are called, mostly. They are in greatest demand by the thousands of visitors.
Pound-fishing, is a new branch of the business at Block Island. It was commenced in 1867 by a company of Islanders whose success was sufficient to lead to the con- struction of a second pound in 1868. Two more were set in 1874. The first company has been dissolved, and the other three remain. They are in operation during the summer, and begin soon after the spring storms, and are taken up before the rough seas of the fall destroy their seines and carry away their spiles. The following de- scription of one will apply to all.
Pound No. 3 was established in 1874, and was con- structed thus : A straight line of spiles, oak, twenty-five feet apart, is run from the shore, at right angles with the beach, 1,800 feet, driven down firmly by a spile-driver. From the shore end to the other the bottom descends gradually until at the latter the water is thirty feet deep. This long line of spiles may be considered as fence-posts rising about ten feet above the water. To these posts is fastened with ropes and cords a fence of cotton netting, rising from the bottom of the sea several feet above the surface of the water. This netting is made the same as a seine, and is made in pieces fifty-six feet long by fifty-four feet in width, and is fitted to the depth of water. This line of spiles and netting is called the leader.
The sea or deeper end of the leader terminates in that
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
division of the pound called the heart, so called on account of its form, which is constructed of spiles and seine the same as the leader.
Imagine, now, a thousand fish, some shad, some scup, some cod, and other kinds coasting along the Island until they come to the "leader," from both directions. As they cannot safely come ashore to go around that fence, they swim along the leader intending to go around the deep water end ; but when they have gone around that end they find their noses running against the fence of the " heart," and they go from side to side in that and still keep the notion of going into still deeper water, sailor- like, until they escape from the opening seven feet wide, at the little end of the heart, into the Pound proper. Here they are as secure as stray cattle locked in a pound upon the land, and in water forty feet deep.
This pound is made of spiles and twine as was the leader. It is fifty by fifty-six feet square, and its bottom is covered with the same netting that forms its sides. Should a few fish chance to pass out of it through the mouth of the heart they are quite certain to be led back again by the deceitful meshes of this structure. The sides of the pound are so arranged that they can be raised, and thus the fish in it may all be turned over to one side, and there scooped out with wire baskets, and transferred to the smack adjacent that takes its cargo quickly to New York, and then brings back a smaller cargo of money to the fishermen who are very faithful pound-keepers.
On one side of the pound are two cars, each adjacent to the pound, and twenty-eight feet by twenty-five, and of the same depth as the pound, and constructed of the same materials. They are used for keeping a surplus of fish that might accumulate, by transferring them to it from the pound.
The term pound, in general, means all its parts, namely,
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BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
the leader, the heart, the pound proper, and the cars. The spiles are from twelve to fifty feet in length, and 130 are used. The whole cost of this pound was $2,500.
The spiles and netting are all put down each spring, and taken up at the close of the summer fishing. The smack that carries the fish to New York has one-half the income of the pound. What that is we learn best from the thriving appearances of the pound fishermen, and yet they well earn their money in cost, risk, and labor. The pounds are all on the west shore of the Island, and well pay the visitors to them for their trouble, as the gentle- manly fishermen row the strangers out into their large and lucrative "heart," so deceitful to the ocean "aris- tocracy."
The superiority of the Block Island cod-fish is well known. This is owing to the advantages for curing them at the fishermen's homes. They are dried there immedi- ately after they are sufficiently pickled, and as soon as possible taken to market with a freshness that has no reference to salt, and which cannot be preserved by remoter fisheries, or even by fishermen who have no flakes upon the Island.
The drying process, especially in spring, is very critical. Many a quintal has been lost by an hour's neglect in too bright a sun unaccompanied by a cooling breeze. To many of the very respectable women of Block Island the public are indebted for much of the fine flavor of their fish preserved by the nice process of drying while the men are away in their boats.
The value of the Block Island fisheries to the inhabi- tants of the Island, if we estimated them with reference to the quantity exported, to what is consumed on the Island, and in reference to fertilizing uses, or in other words, if we estimate them by the sum necessary to buy out all the annual benefits of them to the Islanders, may 4*
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
safely be said to be not far from an annual sum of $75,000.
This estimate includes all the income which the fish- eries secure through visitors, through exportation, home consumption, and fertilization, and without this income the Island would be depopulated well nigh, if not quite to the ruin of good society. Therefore we conclude this article on the Resources of the Island with the conviction that for one hundred years peat was an indispensable re- . source to the inhabitants, and that sea-weed, and the fisheries now are each a sine qua non.
Whales, for many years, have frequently been seen about Block Island. They are considered dangerous to the fishermen, and of but little value, on account of their being the hump-backed species, and about as useless for oil as a camel for food. The columns of white water thrown into the air, and seen from the Island, tell plainly who are there.
The whales and the fishermen have a similar fear of each other. The latter avoid the presence of the former, and vice versa. On one occasion a father and son were in their boat; the former in the bow, the latter in the stern, just a few yards back of which a whale was seen, head towards them, and able to sink them instantly. The son took a ballast stone to throw at him ; but the father for- bade him. The whale gave a beautiful comment on Gen. ix, 2, where it is said : "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea." He saw the fishermen, feared them, and sank into the deep.
Sea Moss. The gathering of this along the shores of Block Island has become a source of considerable revenue. The moss is the same as that generally known as " Irish moss," and is secured during the months of summer.
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BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
The first one known to have gathered it for the market here was a Mr. James West, who was not a native of the Island. He introduced the business about the year 1850, and instructed the Islanders in the process of drying and bleaching. He died in April 1875.
The moss grows upon the rocks below high water mark, and also below the low water mark. At low tide the women and children avail themselves of the most favor- able opportunity for picking it from the rocks, or bowl- ders, and they even venture into the water waist deep at low tide in warm weather to secure it, enjoying the bath with the lady bathers on the east beach, and also the pleasure of accumulating a means of subsistence.
The moss is all of one quality when taken from the sea. It is then designated as black moss, and when this is dried it is sold at the Island stores for two cents a pound, and the merchants pack it in barrels and sell it for three cents a pound in the cities. Another quality is given to this moss by the slow and patient process of bleaching. This is done by keeping the moss in the sun, where it is mois- tened and dried until it loses its color, and becomes white moss. This brings a much larger price than the other, and is more profitable to the producer. It sells in barter at the stores for seven cents a pound, is there packed in barrels, and sold to city druggists for eight cents a pound. It is brought in bags of five to thirty pounds each to the stores by the women and children. The quantity of Block Island sea moss thus accumulated annually aggre- gates to more than ten tons, and this, as one of the minor resources, secures an income of over a thousand dollars to the Island. But little of the moss is used by the inhab- itants. Mr. Lorenzo Littlefield is by far the most exten- sive dealer in this commodity.
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
THE BLOCK ISLAND BOATS.
These are so unlike others that they attract much atten- tion. They have keels, at an angle of forty-five degrees with which rise the stern and stem posts, with "lapstreak " sides of cedar, with bows and sterns nearly alike, open, with two masts and narrow, tapering sails, of one to four tons burthen, sitting deep in the water, and unequaled for safety in the hands of the Islanders. While their number has averaged over forty during the last fifty years, not a life of an Islander has been lost on account of the sea unworthiness of the boats. They have been known to sail into the winds in storms that would quickly swamp larger vessels that should attempt to follow them. The masts are mere poles without shrouds and jib-stays, and by their elasticity adapt themselves to the force of the wind. While visiting the ports along the Rhode Island and Connecticut coasts and rivers they are quickly distin- guished by their peculiarities, and are sometimes called double enders from Block Island. Where, and how their model originated it is not easy to ascertain. It is doubt- ful whether they will ever be superseded while the Island continues. They correspond materially to the boats an- ciently called pinnaces in New England. Cobble stones are used for ballast, and shifted from side to side when necessary. Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, exhibited a model of a Block Island boat at the Centen- nial, made and rigged by his order.
THE MAILS.
No part of the United States, probably, has suffered more inconvenience from a want of mails than Block Island. For one hundred and seventy years it had none at all. Its correspondence was through offices on the main, principally at Newport.
The first mail to Block Island was established in Dec.
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THE MAILS.
1832. Capt. Samuel W. Rose was contractor and carrier of it four years, at $416 a year, leaving the Island Wednesday morning at 8 o'clock, and Newport the next day at the same hour, wind and weather permitting. This was done in a " middling sized open sail boat."
In 1857 a writer said :- "The arrival of the mail is an event of special interest in a community thus situated, and its contents are called out and taken by those assem- bled around, either for themselves or neighbors, without delay." This custom continued up to the year 1876. Suitable P. O. boxes are now provided for individuals.
Previous to 1869 the mail was carried for many years by Capt. Wm. Rose, the last year of whose contract, on account of his death, it was carried by his son, John E. Rose, now known as the enterprising Capt. John E. Rose, of the fine packet, Nathan H. Dixon.
Capt. John E. Rose, in 1869, but recently arrived at his majority, contracted for the carrying of the mail during the next term of four years. In bidding for that con- tract he showed a "grit " worthy of better pay. A com- petitor and he ran their bids down to the sum of one cent a year, and the mail between Block Island and Newport was therefore carried four years for four cents, and Capt. John E. Rose says he has received only one cent of that pay yet, and that the one cent was paid him by a man in Providence who wanted to buy distinction by paying from his own pocket the whole expense of carrying the Block Island mail one year. The Captain's enterprise and per- severance have put him handsomely and domestically beyond the need of the three cents still due to him from the United States.
During the last four years the mail has been carried to Newport tri-weekly most of the time in the Henry B. Anthony, a staunch packet commanded by Capt. Addison Rose who has distinguished himself by being on time, by
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND
dangers braved, and by great skill in managing his schooner. Some will remember him for laying his marine troubles to some "Jonah aboard."
The first postmaster of Block Island was Wm. L. Wright, and his office was his bed-room.
The following, furnished by the Postmaster-General, is inserted here for reference, as to postmasters and appoint- ment:
Wm. L. Wright,
appointed 13th Dec., 1832.
Samuel Dunn,
66
26th July,
1837.
Alfred Card,
12th June, 1841.
George Rose.
23d Sept., 1845.
Rev. Charles C. Lewis,
66
17th Apr., 1852.
Rev. Elijah Maccomber,
66
17th May, 1855.
Samuel J. Osgood,
4th Aug., 1860.
Wm. L. Milikin,
66
5th June, 1861.
The last one named is the present incumbent, in Jan- uary, 1877.
In addition to the great improvement of the "An- thony," with her ample deck, hold, and neat cabin, and courteous crew and captain, over the open boats in which the mail had been carried previously, the recent proposals for a new contract contemplate the carrying of a daily mail in a steamer from Block Island to Newport, from the first of June, 1877, to Sept. 30th, and from October first to May 31st tri-weekly, leaving Newport at 8 A. M., and Block Island at 8 A. M., at all seasons. This arrange- ment will be a great accommodation to the public in visit- ing the Island in summer, and also to the Islanders in communicating with other places. Indeed, the increasing popularity of Block Island as a summer resort, and the rapidly increasing multitude who seek its luxuries demand enlarged facilities for communication. Business men in these times cannot remain quietly long at any place with-
1
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THE MAILS.
out a daily paper fresh from the press, and frequent re- ports as to the run of their business. To the great advant- ages to the public, and to the Island, derived from the Government Harbor here should be added, and probably will be, at no distant day, a signal station, by which hourly information from all parts of the country could be ob- tained, and great benefit conferred upon commerce. After that is done those upon the Island will talk no more of "going to America," for they will be in it, and not farther from Newport, communicatively, than they would be in Europe.
About the year 1851 a long and severe storm occurred, at the time of an election, and for want of communica- tion with Block Island, the State of Rhode Island was unable to get returns from New Shoreham, alias Block Island, and thus the decision of the election was kept back about twenty-one days, the storm lasting that time.
BLOCK ISLAND INDIANS,
OR
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