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.