uld 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