From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
A Port Clyde Lobster.
"A Port Clyde Lobster." Eldridge Stone with a 10 pound lobster which was caught on August 12th, 1914. It measured 36" from claw to claw. Eldridge Stone was something of a jack-of-all-trades in the area. One story recalls Eldrige standing atop the cornice of a 5-storey building and bending over at the waist to paint the underside of the trim. Another story describes how during the winter of 1923, the lower stretch of the St. George River froze solidly enough that Eldridge was able to drive a car upriver from Port Clyde to Thomaston. [this information courtesy of Gene Dalrymple, Port Clyde, ME, July 2012]
Details
LB2007.1.113533
113533
[included in the exhibit "Summer Folk"] A Port Clyde Lobster LB2007.1.113533 Maine vacationers have always liked to send postcards of lobster traps, lobster boats, and lobsters. This one must have received lots of attention in the 1920s. Here Eldridge Stone is holding a lobster that probably weighs more than 8 pounds. Its size far exceeds today's legal catch, which has a size limit of 5 inches from the eye socket to where the tail starts. The average lobster on a dinner plate weighs 1¼ or 1½ pounds. Stone was quite a colorful character in Port Clyde. He was said to be a rumrunner during Prohibition, who would take his boat out to a cove, sink it when the police were after him, and then raise it after things quieted down. He also liked to make gifts to friends of fresh fish he helped himself to from someone else's catch.
