Page 20. MAINE COASTAL NEWS June 2010 Maritime History:The Early Sardine Industry


The year 2010 will become the darkest year in the history of the American sardine industry. Over the years this industry has had its ups and downs, but the end to some came as a result of inept politicians who failed to care for this industry or the 130-plus em- ployees that were employed in the last Ameri- can sardine factory at Prospect Harbor, Maine.


The following is a snap shot of this once great industry at its beginning and is com- prised from articles published in the “Maine Industrial Journal” from 1880 to 1889. What is long forgotten how important the packing business was to the State of Maine in the late 1800s. The Industrial Jour- nal wrote in January 1880, “There are 61 corn- canning establishments, with an annual pro- duction of about 11,350,000 cans. The pack- ing of fish is roughly estimated at 1,500,000 cans of lobster, 750,000 cans of mackerel and 250,000 cans of clams annually. The sardine business, which had its origin four or five years ago in a small shop at Eastport, has attained vast proportions, there now being fifteen or more factories in operation at differ- ent points in the State and others are pro- jected. Several factories are also quite exten- sively engaged in the canning of meats, chiefly mutton. Others are at present canning apples, while immense quantities of blueber- ries and other small fruits are put up at the various establishments throughout the State during the summer season.”


The largest packing company in the State of Maine at this time was the Portland Packing Company. Not only did they have factories here, but ten in Nova Scotia and another in Newfoundland. They owned fish canning establishments at Prospect Harbor, Hammond’s Cove, and at Burnt Cove. Other packing establishments included Burnham & Morrill of Portland, who had factories at Portland, Scarborough, Minot, East Baldwin, South Paris, Denmark and Jonesport and five in Nova Scotia. The Milbridge Packing Company had factories at


Eastport and Milbridge and was planning on building another factory at Milbridge. Also in Milbridge was J. & E. A. Wyman who was packing lobsters, mackerel and clams. In Jonesport the Underwood & Company was packing lobsters, berries, clams, mackerel and sardines. The Castine Packing Company was canning lobsters, meats and vegetables. One must remember the businesses that were involved beyond the packing compa- nies. There were the fishermen or farmers, those getting the product to the plant, the preparation of the product, the making of cans and boxes for shipment, and the ship- ping.


The sardine industry had its origin in a small shop in Eastport back in 1875. About nine years previous there were some experi- ments made in preparing herring as sardines, but this did not pan out well at the time. Messrs. Wolff & Reesing experimented with producing a product similar to the French sardine. In their store was a room, which no one was allowed to enter except Wolff, Reesing and the Frenchman who was making the experiments. Their major hurdle was find- ing the right fish and almost gave up when Mr. Wolff visited Eastport. Here he discov- ered a little fish which was used for fertilizer by farmers. In 1876 he built a factory at Eastport and began canning and as they say, “the rest is history.”


In January 1880 there were 28 sardine factories on the Maine coast: 18 at Eastport; 4 at Lubec; 3 at Jonesport; and one each at Robbinston, Milbridge and Lamoine. During the same time the sardine facto- ries were running day and night in Eastport. They were producing about 3,500 cases, employing about 600 men, women and chil- dren, and had a payroll of $6,000 per week. With this success more factories were com- ing on line at Eastport, three more in the next few weeks, which would add another 150 jobs.


Other companies involved in the sardine industry included: The American Sardine


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E-mail: marinesurveyor@thurstoncreative.com One of the sardine factories at Eastport.


Company of New York, R. C. Green & Com- pany, T. L. Holmes, Warren Brown, McLean & Abrams, Young & Simpson, Wolff & Ressing, J. S. Buck, C. H. Dyer, P. M. Kane, Hiram Blanchard, and E. F. Holmes, of Eastport; New England Packing Company, Dodge & Lawrence, Brown & Brawn, and H. Comstock & Company of Lubec; Hart & Balcom, of Robbinston; and Wolff & Ressing, of Milbridge.


When one looks at the entire fishing industry in the State of Maine in the early 1880s there were 600 vessels with a total tonnage of 17,632.65, employing 8,110 fisher- men and 5,920 boats. There were 2,961 curers, packers and factory hands, for a total of 11,071 people. During the 1882 year, there were 202,048,449 pounds of fish taken for a total value of $3,614,178.


The “Journal” explained how fishermen caught their fish for the factory. “The herring used for the manufacture of sardines are caught in the waters of Passamaquoddy Bay and vicinity. Large weirs are built, being con- structed of piles driven firmly in a depth of water not exceeding twenty-feet, while the space between the piles is filled in with brush interlaced with the rails which surround the piles. A large opening in the enclosure is left, through which the herring enter at high water, and a deep seine is used to close the opening when the weir is well filled. Just before low water the fishermen enter the weir in a net boat, and, with a huge scoop net, take the fish out and deposit them in the boat. The fish are offered for sale by the hogshead to the boat- men of the different factories-about seventy- five in number, each factory employing from two to six boatmen-and the bidding com- mences, which at times almost rivals the stock exchange; in fact, it is the sardine exchange. If only a few of the weirs have fish, the bidding is spirited, and a high price is obtained for the haul; but if fish are plenty, they do not bring so high a price, and the bidding is attended with less excitement. When the industry was first started, $1. per hogshead was a good, fair


price, but within the last two years as high as $30 has been paid for a hogshead. After the fish have been transferred to the boat of the highest bidder, a start is made for the factory, a small signal flag being run up to the topmast to show the owners at the factory that fish are on the way.


“After being placed in the boats, they are at once taken to the packing place and laid upon long tables in heaps. The first step requires the cutting off of the head and the removal of the entrails. The degree of dexter- ity with which both these operations are performed is astonishing, especially as they are done entirely by very young children. The writer counted one little girl’s work during a minute, and found that she decapitated and removed the interior portions of 80 fish in that time. Both operations are done with one stroke of the knife. The head is neatly severed from the body, and the knife is then pulled slightly away from the fish, removing the one canal which composes the entire digestive arrangement. A large box holding about a bushel lies directly at the feet of each opera- tor, into which the fish slides, while the head is thrown by the same fatal stroke into an- other. The pay for this work is ten cents for each box full. Some of the more expert make from $1 or $1.50 a day.


“The fish are then placed in warm water which is slightly agitated in order to cleanse them thoroughly. After this necessary pre- caution they are placed on a very large grid- irons, of which the bars are thin and wide apart, and then are suspended over a hot fire, where they are partially broiled. These grid- irons are called “flakes” and hold about 120 fish. The sardines are placed in position on the ‘flakes’ by little girls, who receive ten cents for filling every hundred. After broiling the fish are ready for boxes. These are already prepared with the attractive French labels stating that the enclosed are “Sardines al huile Superieure,” and others claim to contain “l’huil d’olive” but this is false. The oil is cotton seed, pure and simple, and is not


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