It was the island's history of commercial fishing that led Ted and Galen Turner to make this the focus of the museum they planned, built and opened this year. The two island natives, with the exception of Ted's tour in Vietnam, have never lived anywhere else and have long been interested in the industry that so defined their home.
The museum will soon have a marine biology exhibit in an adjacent building. This will expand the museum's ability to serve as an educational facility, which is one of its central goals. The local school is just 2,000' down the road and other students visiting the island will also be able to use the facility. The museum is a nonprofit organization that, in the words of Galen Turner, "is grateful to those who have donated so far."
The Turners don't remember exactly when they began collecting the artifacts that fill the museum, but Galen's estimate is 15 to 20 years ago. The Maine Maritime Museum at Bath, which began in 1962, over the years has grown into a large multiple building facility. The scale of its subject, shipbuilding, is reflected in the museums' size, buildings and funding. The Swans Island museum on the other hand, reflects the small business or family operation fishing has been until recent years. The Penobscot Maritime Museum in Searsport is focused on shipping. The Swans Island Lobster and Marine Museum is unusual in that it is dedicated to the fishing industry.
The museum is located across from the ferry terminal in a house built by a boatbuilder, on land that was for a long time a boatyard and is still known as "the yard." The long history of fishing has made Swans a good hunting ground for artifacts. The Turners have dug deep into the history, honing their skills at finding, identifying and preserving these artifacts. They have found, bought and accepted donation of thousands of items. After years of storing the collection in their homes and outbuildings, they were able to arrange for the use of the museum building, which has been the ferryboat captain's home, the island library, and for a time, vacant.
Known and visited by Champ- lain as early as 1604, the island had for centuries been the summer fishing home of the Penobscots and the Malecites before them. An island just off shore is named after the Penobscot Chief Joseph Orono. The collection begins with Indian artifacts which include bone hooks, arrowheads and tools, as well as shards of decorated pottery.
Located five miles off Mount Desert Island, it was from the earliest days a fishing center. The logic of this development, being an offshore island surrounded by good fishing grounds, was compounded by the fact that the sea was the highway of that era.
Along with fishing, boat building came early to Swans Island. The first recorded building of a schooner there was in 1793. Many others followed, some would bring in record catches, at least one of which still stands today. Three of the ten largest catches of 1881, for example, were recorded by Swans Island boats. Harlan Joyce would record the largest mackerel catch, a record that remains unbroken. He would also build the first commercial steamer in an effort to get to market as early as possible. Joyce was also responsible for innovations in seining mackerel that changed the fishery.
The museum has documentation of catches, boat models, photos, illustrations and artifacts that illustrate the records and innovations of the industry. The collection also shows how fishing has changed over the years, both in gear and species caught. In the early 1800s the now rare halibut was so plentiful that an effort had to be made to avoid it in fishing the more valuable cod. Unlike cod, halibut was also a fresh market fish.
The museum has items from the common fishing equipment of 150 years ago to the odd custom tools made by fishermen for a specific task. There is the very simple hook reshaping device, the common nippers used by handliners to grip the line, an oilskin coat, swordfish harpoons, many curious custom-made knives, old boats, half-models, scale models, log books, catch records, thousands of photographs, the list is long.
There are surprises tucked in or around a corner. In the middle of one room is a strange large metal barrel-like tank. It had been hauled up from the bottom of the harbor and restored. The industrial looking thing had been used to boil cod livers to extract the oil. The price of cod could drop so low that the fish was discarded after the livers were removed for processing.
The Turners know the history of fishing and the artifacts that bring it to life. Galen Turner is as skilled as any historian in putting the parts together into interesting stories of what Maine's first and largest industry was like.
Swans Island played a major role in the mackerel fishery when it became a significant fishery, competing with, and for a time surpassing, cod. Exhibits related to mackerel include a scale model of the Herrick. This schooner brought in so much mackerel before other boats, that it was known as the mackerel killer, because the price of mackerel would collapse after it got to market. The story of the Herrick fishing along the Canadian line and being chased by a Canadian cutter is a story known along the coast. The Canadians reconsidered their plans after the Herrick fired a round from its bow cannon. Scale models, photos, equipment and documents of the Herrick and other outstanding boats are on exhibit.
There have been many hull types, large and small, designed at Swans. One wall has a couple dozen half-models showing some of the variations in lobster boat hulls. Another subject is weir fishing, once common and all but gone now, it had its own set of gear. A weir was a kind of underwater fence that trapped schools of fish, like sardines, that seasonally poured into coves. One piece was the spile driver, once seen in coves along the coast and about as common as lobster cars are today. By lifting and dropping a heavy stone, the spiles or poles were driven into mud below the waterline in building a weir. These simple spile drivers were mounted on large log rafts. Along with photos and gear, the museum also has a model of a spile driver describing this near extinct fishing technique.
The Turners have found that their interest in the history of fishing has led them to the elders of the fishing community. This has been one of the most rewarding aspects of their work. The elders have provided, not only stories and information about their personal experiences, but related the history passed on to them by their elders. The Turners in this tradition of verbally passing on history are recording it along with artifacts, as the verbal tradition fades before the glare of television.
Swans Island Lobster and Marine Museum hours are Thursday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Special tours available. 207-526-4423.