Working The Bay: Other Nineteenth Century Industries and Working Life

Castine Ropewalk

Maritime-related industries Maritime enterprises required support from other industries. Shipbuilding relied on timber dealers for the right woods, blacksmiths for iron fittings, sailmakers to make and repair sails, and a ropewalk in Castine to spin yarns into ropes. Boatbuilders made fishing boats and other small craft. Some lumber dealers like one in Brewer specialized in ship timber. Mills, Factories, and Canneries Camden’s waterpower facilitated factories.  The Knox Woolen Mill was built there in 1868 to make felts for the paper industry. It first operated with water from the Megunticook River then added steam power, making its operations less dependent on water flow.

Knox Woolen Mill

Anchor factory employees

Knowlton Brothers foundry works

Camden also was home to the country’s largest forge for ships’ anchors. The forge used waterpower from the Megunticook to operate trip hammers. The anchors weighed from 10 to 7,500 pounds. Knowlton Brothers Foundry in Camden made windlasses, capstans, blocks, and other items needed aboard ship. Growing markets for sardines led  Maine to begin a thriving sardine canning business.

Herring were caught in seine nets or weirs and brought to canneries, which also processed mackerel, salmon, and lobsters. The demand for canned lobster caused the fishery to grow so much that regulations were enacted to help preserve lobster populations. Working Life in the Nineteenth Century   Much work in Maine was seasonal. While most shipping took place in the spring through late fall, it depended on production and on demand. Selling to both southern and northern markets often called for a winter schooner voyage to Florida or the West Indies. From spring to late fall, workers cut and milled timber, shipped ice, and quarried limestone and granite. Later in the century lime quarries operated all year long, like granite quarries. January, February and March were the best months for ice harvesting and for cutting trees. In summer, fishermen caught lobsters, mackerel, and herring; and fished offshore in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Grand Banks.

Herring Weir Fishing, Rockport

Wagon load, Belfast

Most workers worked at least a ten-hour day, six days a week when there was work. Days were sometimes regulated among the unionized trades, but some non-union trades worked from sunrise to sunset. The eight-hour day was not accepted until the twentieth century. During much of the late nineteenth century, pay for laborers ranged from about $1.50 to $2.50 per day, with no sick days or benefits. Wages could go up, but more often went down, especially when industries were in decline. Because of the seasonal occupations, workers often had no work 90 or more days per year.