Try House at Try House Point, Bernard
Identifier:
15280 
Title:
Try House at Try House Point, Bernard
Type:
Subject:
Description:
"It is a little known fact that Mount Desert Island men participated in one of America's earliest and most storied industries - whaling.
In 1776 Benjamin Benson, great grandfather of Ralph Benson of Bernard, sailed out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the whaling vessel which he captained, He finally dropped anchor at Bass Harbor, which he selected as a base for his operations.
He built a try house on a point of land at the mouth of the harbor and used his ship and crew for hunting whales in the surrounding waters, particularly near Mt. Desert Rock. The try house, a small frame structure, stood on the point behind the present home of Farrell Davisson almost directly across the harbor from the Underwood sardine plant until it was finally demolished about 1910.
By the time the building was torn down the equipment used in the rendering process was gone. However, Ralph Benson owns the muzzle-loading gun for shooting, the harpoon and a whale oil lamp. The grapnel used for hauling the whale behind the ship is also in Bernard. Whalebone, which was discarded during the oil extracting process, is still occasionally dug up from the sand during, excavations along the shore of the harbor.
The whale was located by the ship. When one was found, a part of the crew put out in a small boat and carefully rowed as near the prey as possible. The whale was shot with a harpoon from the muzzle-loading gun. If the carcass sank, it was raised with a four-hook grapnel weighing about 200 pounds and towed by the ship to the rendering plant.
The several inch thick layer of blubber under the skin was the only part of the whale used here. The blubber was stripped off and placed in huge iron kettles to cook over a slow fire. The round-bottomed kettles, holding about 150 gallons each, were some four and a half feet in diameter at the top. A flat lip encircling the rim was supported on a brick fireplace holding the kettle off the fire beneath.
The oil thus rendered was used as the fuel in whale oil lamps, which were the first development for home lighting after candles. The little lamp in Mr. Benson's possession was part of the stock of his grandfather's general store located on the same site as Benson's present wharf. The clear glass base, which held the fuel, is about eight inches across the bottom and tapering to the top. The opening is capped with metal on which there are two small spouts through which the wicks were run. There was no chimney to the lamp.
The whale oil trying industry lasted until about 1860 or 1870 when the discovery and development of petroleum wrote a finis to it.
Whales, some of them 80 feet in length, are still seen in the waters around here yet. Mr. Benson saw one recently when he was out fishing, and we have one or two other reports of them this season. A good-sized whale can create a hazard for a small boat. They apparently like to rise under a boat which is 1 riding without its motor running to 1 scratch their backs on the vessel's bottom, Without the least malevolence on the part of the whale, this can make for difficulties.
Around here whales usually appear in June and are gone in September. They pasture on plankton, the same food as that eaten by the herring.
"Plankton," says one writer, "is to the sea what grass is to the land - the basic food. All forms of plankton are very small, often microscopic...!”
One authority has figured that in the food chain of the sea it would take 1 million pounds s of mackerel flesh (fragment missing). If your arithmetic is better than ours, perhaps you can figure out how many pounds it would take to support a whale from which 150 gallons of oil were rendered.
The try house at Bass Harbor was run by Benson from the time it was built until the process was discontinued.
At one time there were four Benjamin Bensons in the community. The original one who came from New Bedford was called “Grand Sir.” He had a son named for him who was called “Just Plain Ben.” One of Grand Sir's daughters married another Benjamin Benson who had come here from New Hampshire. He was called “Country Ben.” Just Plain Ben had a son also named Benjamin. He was called “Little Ben.” - “MDI's Short Lived Whaling Industry Began In Bass Harbor” by LaRue Spiker appeared in the Bar Harbor Times on November 3, 1960 and was reprinted in the Tremont Historical Society Newsletter - V5 #3 - July, 2001.
Atlantic Menhaden
Brevoortia tyrannus
(A.K.A. - Alewife, Bunker, Pogy, Bugmouth, Fat-Back)
"And lastly, there are the Menhaden. More often called “Pogies” here in Maine, they once provided a robust seine fishery that rivaled herring. The Pogies were a great source of oil. Their oil and fat content were suitable for extraction. Ground-up fish were cooked in big kettles (try-pots) much the same way that whale blubber was and the resultant oil was valuable. That was all before my time and it is legend now. But the names remain. “Try-House Point”, “Fish House Point” and “Try-Kettle Cove” are still here even though the reasons for their names have long since gone." www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/atlanticstatesnews0905.html, Accessed 2007.
“The Menhaden Fishery - It is claimed by the fishermen of Surry that the menhaden fishery of the United States originated with the people of that town. For many years menhaden were abundant in all of the shore-waters of the district, being particularly so in Frenchman's and Union Bays. At first they were taken only in small numbers for use as bait in the shore-fisheries, but later, when it was discovered that marketable oil could be obtained from them, the fishery increased enormously, and hundreds of fishermen provided themselves with nets and kettles for engaging in the work. Between 1855 and 1863 it is estimated that not less than a hundred try-houses, with two to four kettles each, were in operation between Lamoine and Gouldsboro. Since 1870 the fishery has been less important, and for a number of years, owing to the absence of menhaden from these waters, it has been entirely discontinued.” - The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States by George Brown Goode, Washington Government Printing Office. Section II, p. 28 – 1887
“Since the days of Captain John Smith, 1614, no systematic attempt to capture Fin Whales on the coast of New England appears to have been made until about 1810, when according to R. E. Earll, a shore-fishery was begun and successfully prosecuted for a number of years, from Prospect Harbor, in Frenchman's Bay, Maine. This industry was undertaken by Stephen Clark and L. Hiller, of Rochester, Mass., who "came to the region, and built try-works on the shore, having their lookout station on the top of an adjoining hill. The whales usually followed the menhaden to the shore, arriving about the 1st of June, and remaining till September... Ten years later they began using small vessels in the fishery, and by this means were enabled to go farther from land. The fishery was at its height between 1835 and 1840 when an average of six or seven whales were taken yearly... The business was discontinued about 1860, since which date but one or two whales have been taken." It is probable that Humpback Whales constituted the chief part of the catch, if indeed any others were taken at all.
Clark further informs us that "shore-whaling in the vicinity of Tremont, [Maine] began about 1840. Mr. Benjamin Beaver and a small crew of men caught three or more whales annually for about twenty years, but gave up the business in 1860. No more whales were taken from this time till the spring of 1880, when one was taken and brought into Bass Harbor, and yielded 1,200 gallons of oil but no bone of value.” - “The Whalebone Whales of New England” by Glover Morrill Allen, published by the Boston Society of Natural History, printed for the society with aid from the Gurdon Saltonstall Fund, 1916
In 1776 Benjamin Benson, great grandfather of Ralph Benson of Bernard, sailed out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the whaling vessel which he captained, He finally dropped anchor at Bass Harbor, which he selected as a base for his operations.
He built a try house on a point of land at the mouth of the harbor and used his ship and crew for hunting whales in the surrounding waters, particularly near Mt. Desert Rock. The try house, a small frame structure, stood on the point behind the present home of Farrell Davisson almost directly across the harbor from the Underwood sardine plant until it was finally demolished about 1910.
By the time the building was torn down the equipment used in the rendering process was gone. However, Ralph Benson owns the muzzle-loading gun for shooting, the harpoon and a whale oil lamp. The grapnel used for hauling the whale behind the ship is also in Bernard. Whalebone, which was discarded during the oil extracting process, is still occasionally dug up from the sand during, excavations along the shore of the harbor.
The whale was located by the ship. When one was found, a part of the crew put out in a small boat and carefully rowed as near the prey as possible. The whale was shot with a harpoon from the muzzle-loading gun. If the carcass sank, it was raised with a four-hook grapnel weighing about 200 pounds and towed by the ship to the rendering plant.
The several inch thick layer of blubber under the skin was the only part of the whale used here. The blubber was stripped off and placed in huge iron kettles to cook over a slow fire. The round-bottomed kettles, holding about 150 gallons each, were some four and a half feet in diameter at the top. A flat lip encircling the rim was supported on a brick fireplace holding the kettle off the fire beneath.
The oil thus rendered was used as the fuel in whale oil lamps, which were the first development for home lighting after candles. The little lamp in Mr. Benson's possession was part of the stock of his grandfather's general store located on the same site as Benson's present wharf. The clear glass base, which held the fuel, is about eight inches across the bottom and tapering to the top. The opening is capped with metal on which there are two small spouts through which the wicks were run. There was no chimney to the lamp.
The whale oil trying industry lasted until about 1860 or 1870 when the discovery and development of petroleum wrote a finis to it.
Whales, some of them 80 feet in length, are still seen in the waters around here yet. Mr. Benson saw one recently when he was out fishing, and we have one or two other reports of them this season. A good-sized whale can create a hazard for a small boat. They apparently like to rise under a boat which is 1 riding without its motor running to 1 scratch their backs on the vessel's bottom, Without the least malevolence on the part of the whale, this can make for difficulties.
Around here whales usually appear in June and are gone in September. They pasture on plankton, the same food as that eaten by the herring.
"Plankton," says one writer, "is to the sea what grass is to the land - the basic food. All forms of plankton are very small, often microscopic...!”
One authority has figured that in the food chain of the sea it would take 1 million pounds s of mackerel flesh (fragment missing). If your arithmetic is better than ours, perhaps you can figure out how many pounds it would take to support a whale from which 150 gallons of oil were rendered.
The try house at Bass Harbor was run by Benson from the time it was built until the process was discontinued.
At one time there were four Benjamin Bensons in the community. The original one who came from New Bedford was called “Grand Sir.” He had a son named for him who was called “Just Plain Ben.” One of Grand Sir's daughters married another Benjamin Benson who had come here from New Hampshire. He was called “Country Ben.” Just Plain Ben had a son also named Benjamin. He was called “Little Ben.” - “MDI's Short Lived Whaling Industry Began In Bass Harbor” by LaRue Spiker appeared in the Bar Harbor Times on November 3, 1960 and was reprinted in the Tremont Historical Society Newsletter - V5 #3 - July, 2001.
Atlantic Menhaden
Brevoortia tyrannus
(A.K.A. - Alewife, Bunker, Pogy, Bugmouth, Fat-Back)
"And lastly, there are the Menhaden. More often called “Pogies” here in Maine, they once provided a robust seine fishery that rivaled herring. The Pogies were a great source of oil. Their oil and fat content were suitable for extraction. Ground-up fish were cooked in big kettles (try-pots) much the same way that whale blubber was and the resultant oil was valuable. That was all before my time and it is legend now. But the names remain. “Try-House Point”, “Fish House Point” and “Try-Kettle Cove” are still here even though the reasons for their names have long since gone." www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/atlanticstatesnews0905.html, Accessed 2007.
“The Menhaden Fishery - It is claimed by the fishermen of Surry that the menhaden fishery of the United States originated with the people of that town. For many years menhaden were abundant in all of the shore-waters of the district, being particularly so in Frenchman's and Union Bays. At first they were taken only in small numbers for use as bait in the shore-fisheries, but later, when it was discovered that marketable oil could be obtained from them, the fishery increased enormously, and hundreds of fishermen provided themselves with nets and kettles for engaging in the work. Between 1855 and 1863 it is estimated that not less than a hundred try-houses, with two to four kettles each, were in operation between Lamoine and Gouldsboro. Since 1870 the fishery has been less important, and for a number of years, owing to the absence of menhaden from these waters, it has been entirely discontinued.” - The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States by George Brown Goode, Washington Government Printing Office. Section II, p. 28 – 1887
“Since the days of Captain John Smith, 1614, no systematic attempt to capture Fin Whales on the coast of New England appears to have been made until about 1810, when according to R. E. Earll, a shore-fishery was begun and successfully prosecuted for a number of years, from Prospect Harbor, in Frenchman's Bay, Maine. This industry was undertaken by Stephen Clark and L. Hiller, of Rochester, Mass., who "came to the region, and built try-works on the shore, having their lookout station on the top of an adjoining hill. The whales usually followed the menhaden to the shore, arriving about the 1st of June, and remaining till September... Ten years later they began using small vessels in the fishery, and by this means were enabled to go farther from land. The fishery was at its height between 1835 and 1840 when an average of six or seven whales were taken yearly... The business was discontinued about 1860, since which date but one or two whales have been taken." It is probable that Humpback Whales constituted the chief part of the catch, if indeed any others were taken at all.
Clark further informs us that "shore-whaling in the vicinity of Tremont, [Maine] began about 1840. Mr. Benjamin Beaver and a small crew of men caught three or more whales annually for about twenty years, but gave up the business in 1860. No more whales were taken from this time till the spring of 1880, when one was taken and brought into Bass Harbor, and yielded 1,200 gallons of oil but no bone of value.” - “The Whalebone Whales of New England” by Glover Morrill Allen, published by the Boston Society of Natural History, printed for the society with aid from the Gurdon Saltonstall Fund, 1916
Place:
Tremont, Bernard
State:
ME
Country:
USA
Citation
“Try House at Try House Point, Bernard,” Southwest Harbor Public Library, accessed April 26, 2024, https://swhpl.digitalarchive.us/items/show/11339.Item 15280