Lobster Traps - History and Development

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Lobster Traps - History and Development

The American lobster trap was invented in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike (1782-1877) of Swampscott, Massachusetts, a shoemaker who had a dried fish business and a fish market in Charleston, Massachusetts. The invention of the lobster trap was said to have made him a very rich man.

"The lobster catch along our coast has been large and profitable for many years. The trapping of lobsters was first practiced at Swampscott in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike, who had twelve pots." - "History of Essex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men," Volume 2, edited by Duane Hamilton Hurd, J.W. Lewis & Company, 1888, p. 1486.

When settlers first came to Mount Desert Island "Lobsters could be picked up along the shores but were not much esteemed as food." - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 39.

"The house now owned and occupied by Hiram Hadlock was built by his father, Epps Hadlock, in 1858. The cellar had been dug by Enoch Newman and Mr. Hadlock purchased the lot and built the house. The land was half of the hundred acre lot once owned by the first Sans Stanley.

[Epps L. Hadlock (1829-1907)] was the man who made and set the first lobster trap in Southwest Harbor on April 16, 1854, and many of his descendants have been and still are, interested in and actively connected with the lobster industry." - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 201.

An 1899 report by the United States Fish Commission on the Lobster Fishery Of Maine, described the local "lath pots" used by Maine lobster fishers:

The framework of the bottom consists of three strips of wood, either hemlock, spruce, or pine (the first mentioned being the most durable[cite] ), a little longer than the width of the pot, about 2¾ inches wide and 1 inch thick. In the ends of each of the outer strips a hole is bored to receive the ends of a small branch of pliable wood, which is bent into a regular semicircular curve. These hoops are made of branches of spruce or hemlock, or of hardwood saplings, such as maple, birch, or ash, generally retaining the bark. Three of these similar frames, straight below and curved above, constitute the framework of each pot, one to stand at each end and one in the center. The narrow strips of wood, in general ordinary house laths of spruce or pine, which form the covering, are nailed lengthwise to them, with interspaces between about equal to the width of the lathe. On the bottom the laths are sometimes nailed on the outside and sometimes on the inside of the cross pieces. The door is formed by three or four of the laths running the entire length near the top. The door is hinged on by means of small leather strips, and is fastened by a single wooden button in the center, or by two buttons, one at each end. The openings into the pot ... are two in number, one at each end, are generally knit of coarse twine and have a mesh between three-fourths of an inch and 1 inch square. They are funnel-shaped, with one side shorter than the other, and at the larger end have the same diameter as the framework. The smaller and inner end measures about 6 inches in diameter and is held open by means of a wire ring or wooden hoop. The funnels are fastened by the larger ends to the end frames of the pot, with the shorter side uppermost, so that when they are in place they lead obliquely upward into the pot instead of horizontally. The inner ends are secured in position by one or two cords extending to the center frame. The funnels are about 11 or 12 inches deep, and therefore extend about halfway to the center of the pot. They taper rapidly and form a strongly inclined plane, up which the lobsters must climb in their search for the bait. A two-strand manila twine is most commonly used for the funnels. Cotton is also used, but is more expensive and less durable. - "The Lobster Fishery of Maine," by John N. Cobb, Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. 19, Pages 241-265, 1899.

James Knott Sr. (1930-), of Brookline, Massachusetts was the first to use a wire mesh lobster trap in Atlantic waters off Gloucester in 1956. Wooden traps weighed about one hundred pounds when wet and were buoyant instead of sinking quickly to the bottom of the sea. Wooden traps decay in salt water. A wire mesh trap is approximately one half the weight of a wooden trap and is more negatively buoyant. A wire mesh lobster trap has a service life of one to over ten years. “Knott estimates that 90% of all lobster traps used in the U.S. are made from wire.” – Information from "Understanding the Stresses Incurred By a Typical Lobster Trap Using Finite Element Analysis" by Drew A. Domnarski, Professor Satya S. Shivkumar, Advisor, April 27, 2011 - A Major Qualifying Project Report submitted to the Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science, p. 7.

"Today’s wire lobster traps are relatively standard in shape and design, as they are mass produced by commercial trap builders. Prior to the mid-1980s, however, lobster traps were primarily made of wood and built by individual fishermen." - "How to Catch a Lobster in Down East Maine" by Christina Lemieux Oragano, The History Press, 2012, p. 42.

Robert Crowe Sr. (1934-) of Rockport, Maine, developed the Hydro-Slave pot hauler, a smaller version of the large-size Marco Hydraulics hanging block hydraulic hauler, in 1964. He introduced the smaller, reasonably priced apparatus to East Coast lobstermen thereby making it much easier to lift the heavy, water sodden pots from the sea. – Information from “Lobstering Off Cape Ann: A Lifetime Lobsterman Remembers” by Peter K. Prybot, The History Press, 2006, p. 102. See this reference for a complete discussion of the subject.