Whole families worked in the sardine canneries that were common in Eastern Maine towns like Eastport and Lubec by the 1880s. Here men and boys are cutting off the heads and tails, and cleaning small herring for canning. Wives and daughters were most likely working inside the building filling cans before they were sealed and cooked.
This image is from G. Brown Goode's The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, 1884-1887, Section V, Plate 137. This book can be found online at NOAA.
Unloading herring at a sardine cannery, Eastport, Maine. A carryaway boat or Quoddy boat is alongside loaded deeply with herring carried in from a weir (fish trap.) Sardine canning started in 1875 in Eastport; by the time of this image there were at least 13 canneries of which many burned in a major fire in 1885. By 1900, however there were about 20 canneries in Eastport, and about 75 in Maine.
Detail of Sunda Strait and its Approaches chart, showing the strait between Sumatra and Japan. This was one of the most important passages on the route to and from China. Note the island of Krakatoa, where the volcano erupted in 1883.
Postcard image of Fort Point Lighthouse and the resort at Fort Point. Built in the 1870s, the resort was first called the Wassaumkeag Hotel, then Fort Point House, then The Woodcliff and Fort Point Hotel. It burned on June 7, 1898.
Bangor & Aroostook piers at Stockton Springs Harbor, Cape Jellison. Twelve schooners are at the docks. The docks were used for shipping lumber and potatoes. The docks were opened in 1906 when the railroad line was completed.
Postcard image of Big Pier, Stockton Springs. The pier, used for shipping lumber and potatoes, was 1600 feet long. The Bangor & Aroostook piers were built in 1906 when the railroad line was completed.
The reliable steamer Mount Desert operated on the Rockland to Mount Desert line from 1879 to 1904. This view may be from Stonington, as Mount Desert heads east towards Mount Desert Island and Frenchmans Bay.
This view of the three-masted schooner Susan N. Pickering shows the vessel on the marine railway, hauled out for maintenance. Belfast's Cottrell yard built the Pickering in 1882, and that is where she is hauled. She was registered to Deer Isle, measured 319 tons, 135' long, and owned by the Pickering family.
