History of New England Fisheries
Federal Writers Project 1911
With the exception of taking an active part in the naval
history of the Civil War, the fisherman of New England appears
to have played an unimportant role in the national
movements of this half-century. Neither the rich valley of
the Mississippi nor the gold of California attracted
him from his nets and boats. His was the oldest industry
of the land one not to be exchanged easily for any of the
alluring vocations that were opening daily in the new
West. But if he was unwilling to participate actively in
the new movements going on about him there was no escape,
and no desire for escape, from the influences that enhanced
his own calling. With increased facilities for transportation
came the expansion of the Baltimore oyster industry
beyond the Alleghenies. The opening of the Erie canal
was the signal for the entrance into the Mississippi Valley
of the best quality of Gloucester codfish, which formerly
had been exported to Bilboa. The settlement of the shores
of the Great Lakes led to the development of an inland
fishery that was worth a quarter of a million dollars per
annum within a decade of its establishment.
Within the sphere of his own industry the fisherman
never was more active than during this period. The
ancient calling of codfishing was pursued with greater zeal
and wider area. The mackerel fishery rose within a few
years from an insignificant calling to become a formidable
rival of the codfishery. The oyster industry increased with
each year until it became an active occupation for thousands
of people along the gulfs and bays of the Atlantic.
Menhaden and shad were taken by the million from the
Carolinas to Eastport, while the new employment of taking
and curing the herring of the Magdalen Islands and of the
Passamaquodd}' region laid the foundation for scores of
fortunes.
On the other hand, there were years of losses as well as
years of prosperity in the fisheries, that is one of the
characteristics of the fishery industry, especially of the
cod and mackerel fisheries which necessitate a considerable
outlay of capital for establishing and maintaining them.
An unfavorable season for catching fish might be partially
offset another season by securing large gains, either from a
large catch or from higher prices. But the loss of men
and vessels at sea never could be remedied. International
trouble also continued. New complications arose with the
enforcement of the provisions of the Convention of 1818.
The maritime provinces of Great Britain were insistent in
interpreting the new provisions always from their point of
view. The result was repeated quarrels, frequent seizures
of American fishing vessels, and curtailment of privileges,
if not of rights. After a trial of thirty-six years, stormy
and unsatisfactory to both sides, the terms of the Convention
of 1818 gave place to the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854,
which was destined to last only one-third as long as its
predecessor before it was discarded with no more ceremony
than its own provisions necessitated.
The year 1819 was of importance in the history of the
fisheries not only because it was the first in which the provisions
of the Convention of 1818 went into effect but also
because it was marked by the passage by Congress of a law
that fixed the "bounty," or allowance to vessels employed
in the fisheries, at a higher rate than had previously existed.
The act, which continued in operation for forty-seven years,
provided for bounties to the owners of fishing vessels employed
at sea four calendar months exclusively in the codfishery
under the following regulations.
Compensation to fishermen for their service must be by
division of fish, or share in the proceeds of the sale of the
fish; no person except the cook could receive wages. The
master and three-fourths of the crew must be citizens of the
United States. Fishing vessels had to be examined by an
inspector as to their sea-worthiness, their equipment, and
the number and nationality of the crew before sailing on
a voyage on which allowances were to be paid. A regular
log-book had to be kept on board day by day, setting forth
the principal events of the voyage, which later was submitted
to the collector of the home port. Arrivals and departures
had to be recorded by the master or owner with
the proper officers, but the required time of four months
at sea did not have to be in continuous voyages. Vessels
could engage in the mackerel or other fishery in their season
if the masters so wished; these voyages, however, had
to be distinct from the codfishery voyages. Allowances
were paid as follows, according to the size of the vessels :
If measuring more than five tons, and not exceeding
thirty tons, three and one-half dollars per ton.
If measuring more than thirty tons, four dollars per ton.
If measuring more than thirty tons, with crew of not less
than ten persons, and having been employed at sea exclusively
in the codfishery three and one-half calendar
months, three and one-half dollars per ton.
The allowance to one vessel during the season, regardless
of her tonnage, should not exceed three hundred and sixty
dollars.
Numerous attempts were made to have the act repealed,
but none was successful until July, 1866. Since that date
no allowances have been granted to vessels engaged in the
fisheries. The subject of the fisheries came up before Congress
in 1852 during the discussions that preceded the ratification
of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854. At the time
it was shown by those who were friendly towards the fishing
interests that there was need of bounties in supporting the
industry not only for its own sake but also because this was
the best means for supplying the navy and merchant marine
of the nation with capable men and officers. In a
series of speeches made before the House of Representatives
the Hon. Zeno Scudder, congressman from Massachusetts
stated, "the law of 1819 has continued to this time, and
under its protection there has been a gradual increase in
the business. It has, however, been smaller in comparison
with that of other departments of commerce ; showing that
with all the aid which the government has rendered, it is
still too poor in its returns to be followed to a great extent."
Opposition to the granting of yearly allowances
to the fisheries was speedily quelled when it was shown by
the speaker that there were more than twenty thousand
fishermen in New England whose principal income was only
$76.89 per annum.2 As five-eighths of the annual allowance
went to the crew of the vessel and only the remaining
three-eighths to the owners of the vessel, it is readily seen
that the law was intended primarily, and continued
throughout its operation, for the benefit of individual rather
than corporate interests; it needed but little argument by
the representative from Massachusetts to show "that the
prime, medium, and final object of this series of statutes
was, and is, the cultivation of seamen by the encouragement
of a business which, in itself, was, and is, too poor to be
sustained.
The amount of allowances paid fishing vessels under the
act of 1819 for the forty years between the first of January,
1820 and the thirtieth of June, 1859, was $10,626,201.13,
which gives an average of $265,655 per annum. The highest
amount paid in one year was in 1857, when the allowances
reached $464,178.
1 The amount of allowances
granted to fishing vessels under the several acts before 1820
was $2,328,517.68, and the estimated amount granted from
June 30th, 1859 to the repeal of the Act of 1819 in 1866 was
$2,500,000. The total amount of allowances granted from
the enactment of the first act in 1792 to the repeal of the
last act in 1866 was between fourteen and fifteen million
dollars.
2
During the period from 1818 to 1866, duties upon fish
imported into the country were levied by several tariff acts.
By the Act of 1816, duties were levied on foreign caught
fish at one dollar per quintal, on mackerel at one and onehalf
dollars per barrel, on salmon at two dollars per barrel,
and on all other pickled fish at one dollar per barrel. The
Act of 1842 continued these duties with additional rates of
twenty per cent ad valorem on sardines and other fish preserved
in oil; but fresh caught fish, brought in for daily
consumption were exempt from duty. By the Act of 1846
a forty per cent ad valorem duty was placed on anchovies,
sardines and all other fish preserved in oil, and a twenty
per cent ad valorem duty on foreign fish, whether fresh,
smoked, salted, dried or pickled, not otherwise provided
for.
Maine $ 4,175,050
New Hampshire 563,134
Massachusetts 7,926,273
Rhode Island 182,853
New York 78,890
Virginia 479
Total $12,944,998
The duty on salt, which formed the basis of the bounty,
has been in the several tariffs as follows : for 1824, twenty
cents per bushel of 56 pounds ; that of 1828, the same ; that
of 1832, ten cents per bushel ; that of 1842, eight cents per
bushel ; that of 1846, twenty per cent ad valorem.2
The change of the schedule of 1846 to a twenty per cent
ad valorem scale on salt and fish was of undoubted advantage
to the foreign importer, but the effect was depressing
upon American fishermen. The French fishermen and
those of the British provinces were brought immediately
into more active competition with ours. They possessed
the advantage of proximity to the great fishing grounds,
the French government paid its fishermen a bounty of about
one and one-half dollars per quintal for the fish they caught,
the price of labor was cheaper with both classes of people
than in the United States, the act of 1846 was favorable to
the importation of their fish into this country, consequently
they became formidable rivals of our fishermen in our own
markets. The imports of foreign fish increased at a rate
that filled New England fishermen with the gravest fears
for their industry. Their apprehension was well founded,
for under the tariff of 1846 the quantity of codfish and
mackerel imported into the country increased to several
times the amount imported previous to its passage. During
the four fiscal years ending June 30, 1846, previous to the
introduction of the new schedule of duties the imports of
dried fish were 1,358 quintals, valued at $10,120; the imports
of pickled fish were 74,634 barrels, valued at $561,593.
For the four years from 1847 to 1850 the same items of import
were : 42,332 quintals of dried fish, valued at $88,781,
and 204,358 barrels of pickled fish, valued at above $1,-
000,000.!
The estimated amount of duty collected on imports of
fish into the United States from the British North American
possessions from 1850 to 1855 was $884,974.20, which
represented a market value of more than $4,400,000 worth
of fish.
Our fishermen became thoroughly aroused at the
state of affairs, measures for remedying this condition of
the fisheries were advocated, and the general discussion of
the question that followed was one of the principal causes
of the Reciprocity treaty of 1854.
The course of trade of the dried, smoked and pickled
fish exported during this period shows an increasing proportion
being sent to the "West Indies and a falling off in
exports to European countries until the latter amounted to
almost nothing. The total exports of dried and smoked
fish for the year 1821 were 254,947 quintals. The West
Indies took 214,018 quintals, or 84 per cent of the total exports.
In 1825 they took 251,034 quintals, or 88 per cent
of the total exports; and in 1832 the amount was 233,247
quintals, which was 96 per cent of this kind of fish exported
from the country. The export trade to Europe diminished
from 21,184 quintals in 1821 to 3,042 quintals in 1825 ; in
1832 the quantity of exports had fallen to only 430 quintals,
while the following year there were no exports to Europe.
The quantity of dried fish sent to the West Indies during
the years 1821, 1825 and 1832 averages nearly the same as
was sent there in 1800, which was 244,352 quintals. The
average annual exports of this kind of fish for the thirtythree
years from 1819 to 1851 were 242,697 quintals, valued
at $673,723 annually. This amount is slightly below the
average for the period of 1783 to 1818. The tonnage employed
in the fisheries during the latter period was about
double that of the former, and the natural inference would
be that exports should show a corresponding increase. As
a matter of fact, European exports fell off until they need
hardly be considered. Our exports to the British West Indies
were suspended after the opening of the war of 1812,
and when peaceful relations were resumed this trade was
not recovered by the New England shippers, a trade which
in 1800 amounted to 141,000 quintals of dried fish. The
loss of the trade with the British West Indies was due to
the successful competition of the fishermen of the British
North American provinces. The value of the cod and
mackerel fisheries of New England was in excess of former
periods by a wide margin; the loss of trade with Europe
and the absence of an increase of exports to the West Indies
do not indicate, necessarily, that our fisheries were in a
low state or that the decline of export trade was a calamity
to the industry. The explanation is found in the increasing
demand for American fish in our own markets, the demand
at home being for the best quality of cured fish.
A writer of the times describes the change that took place
in the course of our export trade as follows: "Of late
years (between 1830 and 1840) an entire change of markets
for the products of the fishery, so far as it respects the
large sized fish, has taken place. Since the opening of the
Erie Canal and the increase of population and business
consequent thereupon, an increasing demand for this article
has grown up in that quarter; so that the New York and
Albany markets, which previously required only a few
thousand quintals for their annual supply, now afford a demand
for nearly 150,000 quintals. The foreign export has
diminished in a ratio proportionate to the increase of the
domestic demand.
The total amount of exports of pickled fish from 1819 to
1851 was 1,830,353 barrels and 139,557 kegs. The aggregate
value of these exports for the years named was $7,289,-
783, an annual average of $220,902. The average annual
value of exports of dried, smoked and pickled fish during
the same period was $894,624, and the aggregate value of
all kinds of fish exported for that period reached a total
of $29,522,628.
A comparison of these figures with the
total value of our exports of fish for the thirty years preceding
1819 shows a falling off of about fifty per cent from
the earlier totals, a decline that was due, as indicated above,
to an increased demand for fish in our domestic markets.
The amount and value of the fish used for the home consumption
can not be given for any number of years with
accuracy. The statistics for the year 1840 afford a basis
for a close estimate of fish products consumed at home. In
that year the fisheries of the country produced 773,947
quintals of dried and smoked fish, and 472,360 barrels of
pickled fish.
Of the exports, the 211,425 quintals of dried
fish sold at $2.55 per quintal, and the 43,400 barrels of
pickled fish sold at $4.12 per barrel.* Estimated at the
same prices, the total value of the fisheries for 1840 was
$3,915,786, made up of $1,973,565 worth of dried fish and
$1,942,221 worth of pickled fish. The value of fish used
for domestic consumption, according to this estimate, was
$3,201,543, made up of $1,434,431 worth of dried fish and
$1,767,112 worth of pickled fish. The tonnage engaged in
the codfishery and the amount of exports for 1840 were
each nine per cent less than the average for this period of
years; so that it is not an unsafe estimate to place the
annual value of the fisheries between 1819 and 1851 near
$4,000,000, with the home consumption considerably above
$3,000,000 worth of fish.
The cod retained the distinction of being the principal
food fish of the American seas down to the period of the
Civil War. While there were years of depression in the
codfishery from 1818 to 1866, the period as a whole was
one of general prosperity and substantial gain in all phases
of the industry. A survey of the Massachusetts towns engaged
in the codfishery reveals, at first glance, a marked
depression in this fishery; but where the tonnage of the
State falls off in the codfishery it can generally be found
to crop out again in some other new form of deep-sea enterprise,
particularly in the mackerel fishery. For example, in
1851 the codfishery of Maine was above the 45,000 tonnage
mark, more than 5,000 tons ahead of the Massachusetts
codfishery tonnage. But, on the other hand, Massachusetts
had about 40,000 tons employed in the mackerel fishery, the
tonnage for the two industries being almost alike for that
year, while the mackerel tonnage of Maine was below 10,000
tons.
The amount of tonnage employed in the codfishery of
New England during the period of forty-eight years from
1818 to 1866 reached an annual average double the tonnage
employed during the first twenty-nine years of our Federal
existence. The average tonnage for the period, and for
different terms of years, are shown in the following table :
From 1819 to 1829, eleven years, 68,700 tons.
1830 to 1839, ten 65,100
1840 to 1849, 68,200
1850 to 1859, ...101,300
1860 to 1866,.. .95,454
From 1819 to 1866, forty-eight years, 79,200 tons.
In 1829 the tonnage was above 100,000 tons,
the only
time during the period previous to the year 1852. From
the latter year to 1864 the annual amount employed in
the codfishery was above 100,000 tons, except in 1856. The
average annual tonnage employed from 1852 to 1864 the
most prosperous years of the period was 112,700 tons.
The highest tonnage employed was 136,654 tons in I860.
Between 1850 and 1860 there were employed annually in
the codfishery an average of 2,084 vessels, of about fifty
tons each, carrying 14,570 men in the crew, or an average
of seven men for each vessel.
At the period of its greatest prosperity the year 1859
the codfishery of the country was carried on in 2,593
vessels, of a total tonnage of 129,637 tons, carrying crews
that aggregated 18,151 men. The status of the fishery in
the several states is given in the table on the following
page. The State of Maine led all others in the extent of
the fishery; in fact, the codfishery of Maine was about
equal to the combined fishery of the other states. The
codfishery of Massachusetts, too, was so important that the
industry of the country may be said to have been embraced
in these two states.
Turning now to the mackerel fishery we find that its
development was immediate and very rapid after the treaty
of 1818 went into operation. The catch of mackerel of the
country was unimportant previous to 1819. For fifteen
years preceding 1819, the total recorded catch of mackerel
by the fishermen of Maine was 6,553 barrels ; of Massachusetts,
231,085 barrels. The catch for Maine in the year
1819 was 5,322 barrels, and for Massachusetts, 100,111 barrels.
From 1819 there was an almost unbroken line of development
in the mackerel industry to the year of greatest
prosperity, 1831, when 450,000 barrels of mackerel were
salted in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Of
this amount, the fishermen of Massachusetts laid claim to
383,549 barrels, valued at $1,589,936. The catch of mackerel
for 1831 is all the more remarkable when it is remembered
that the fish were caught by hook and line, each
fish being pulled in individually, where to-day by the use
of the purse-seine several hundred barrels may be taken
at a single haul.
For the decade following 1831 there was a sharp decline
in the fishery until the low water mark was reached in 1840,
when only 50,492 barrels were taken in Massachusetts.
THE STATUS OF THE CODFISHERY OF THE COUNTRY IN 1859.
STATE.
The rise of the industry was generally steady from 1840
to 1851, after which there was a period of decline for eight
years, except in the year 1855.1 During the last three years
of the Civil War there was a slight falling off in the catch
of mackerel as compared with that of the early sixties,
probably due to the lack of men to engage in the business,
as many fishermen had enlisted for service in the war.
But the value of the fishery was greatest during these
years. The total value of the mackerel of the country for
the three years 1864, 1865, and 1866 was $17,893,211. In
these three years mackerel of the first quality sold in
Massachusetts at from $22 to $30 a barrel. The cause of
high prices appears to have been due to a steady demand
for the fish; when the markets became empty of mackerel
the price of the fish advanced. The most profitable year
was in 1864 when the country's catch of 324,455 barrels of
mackerel was valued at $7,001,098.
2 Nearly one-half of this
total went to the fishermen from the town of Gloucester.
The mackerel was king of the sea in war times.
During this period more than four-fifths of the mackerel
industry was carried on by citizens of Massachusetts.
From 1819 to 1866 the total product of the business in
Massachusetts was 9,073,510 barrels of pickled mackerel,
valued at $61,815,907, an average value of $8.60 a barrel.
The average yearly product was 189,239 barrels, worth
$1,671,240. The Maine catch of mackerel was less certain.
During eleven odd years between 1820 and 1866 there was
a total catch of 336,153 barrels; in 1865, the catch was
54,216 barrels. In New Hampshire the business was small,
from 183*0 to 1852 the total pack of salted mackerel being
153,370 barrels. During the Civil War the New Hampshire
mackerel fishery was practically suspended, as only 722
barrels were packed from 1861 to 1866. It would appear
from the statistics of the fishery industry of New England
from 1818 to 1866 that there was an average annual catch
of 225,000 barrels of mackerel by our fishermen, valued at
$1,935,000 annually.
Between 1850 and 1860 there were
annually employed in the mackerel fishery of New England
662 vessels, carrying 5,252 men in the crews. The average
size of each vessel was 65 tons; of the crew, eight men.2
Accounts of the extent and value of the New England
fisheries for the year 1851 show that the number of vessels
employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries was 2,691,
valued at $12,000,000, including their outfits. The tonnage
of the vessels engaged in the codfishery was 95,617
tons, in the mackerel fishery, 50,539 tons. The average codtonnage
for the ten years previous to 1851 was 79,251 tons;
nine quintals of codfish were taken per ton, worth $2.60 a
quintal. There were 11,321 men in the codfishery for the
ten years.
The status of the cod and mackerel fisheries of New England
for the year 1859 is given on the following page,
which shows the vessels, men and tonnage in the fisheries
belonging to each State. Outside of the New England
states, the deep-sea fisheries were unimportant and need
not be considered in making the totals for the country's
fisheries.
The value of the products of the New England deep-sea
fisheries for the year 1859 may be estimated conservatively
at $1,650,000 from the mackerel fishery and $3,025,000 from
the codfishery, a total of $4,675,000 from both industries.
Whether considered during periods of "lean" years, or
when the prosperity of the fisheries is at its flood, the fisherman's
share of the catch seems inadequate not only as
an incentive for him to continue in the fishing business
but also to support him and his family. How can they
live on so small an income? The share of the cod fisherman
for the decade between 1840 and 1850 was $62.31 a
year on an average ; his part of the government allowance
was $14.58 more, making his total income from the codfishery
$76.89. The income seems incredibly low, but it is a
larger share than the mackerel fishermen received from the
sea. For the five years previous to 1851, according to Congressman
Scudder of Massachusetts, the 8,879 fishermen
who were engaged in the mackerel fishery received an annual
income of $64.04 derived from the sea.1
The fishermen themselves might manage to live very well
on the scanty income because food and shelter were provided
him when at sea and there was no opportunity, or
need, of his spending money when aboard the vessel. His
expenses for clothing, boots, oil-clothes and tobacco were
not large. At the close of the fishing season he usually
found employment ashore along the water-front or in curing
the codfish preparatory for the markets. In addition,
it should be remembered that often the members of his
family were engaged in some gainful occupation. Previous
to the Civil War and before the invention of machinery
for the manufacture of nets hundreds of women and girls
were employed in their own homes in making nets for fishermen
of their own household, or for others. In general,
however, women were not employed in curing the codfish
on shore as they were in the early history of the industry,
or as they are in Newfoundland to-day.
THE GROWTH ALONG THE COAST
A geographical review of the New England fisheries from
1818 to 1866 covers a wider range than has been considered
previously, due in part to the extension of the fisheries
into places already established, in part to the opening of
new territory and the consequent development of the
natural resources of those regions. In many places the records
are few, leaving some doubt as to whether the fishing
.industry of a particular place was spasmodically pursued
in connection with another industry, or whether only unusual
cases of prosperous seasons raise the industry for a
time to a place of importance great enough to receive mention
in local records and newspapers. In the case of many
towns where the fisheries were carried on extensively for
a number of years the accounts of the industry are so
scattering that an attempt to place them in a connected
narrative would be a hopeless task.
The fisheries of Maine and Massachusetts receive greater
consideration than other New England states. The fishing
interests of Connecticut and Rhode Island were largely
inshore. However, the whale fishery was carried on with
considerable vigor from New London. The town early became
interested in the fur-seal and sea-elephant fisheries in
Antarctic waters. Vessels from here were the first American
sealers to visit Desolation Island and Heard 's Island in
the South Indian Ocean, and large cargoes of sea-elephant
oil were obtained annually from these islands for many
years. The sealing fleet of New London in 1853 numbered
eight sail. In 1858 it had increased to twelve sail, and for
a score of years following it numbered annually from five
to ten vessels.
It has already been noted how the fisheries of Maine
assumed considerable importance before the second war
with Great Britain. In 1820, Maine was admitted as a
State into the Union, and was soon rising into a place of
importance on account of the fisheries carried on by her
citizens. She shortly outrivaled her mother state, Massachusetts,
in the codfishery, and during this period was
second to the Bay State in the mackerel fishery, as well
as second in the Union in the extent of fisheries. From
Eastport to Portland there was scarcely a place to be found,
whether a village or a hamlet, on the coast itself or on the
innumerable islands adjacent to the shore, where fishing
industries were not pursued previous to the Civil War. A
history of Maine fisheries is to be found very largely in
a review of the local industries of her seaport towns for
this period.
As early as 1820 the merchants of Eastport were extensively
interested in the mackerel fishery. By 1830 the industry
was at its height, there being fully forty vessels,
of sixty to seventy tons, that fitted out at Eastport and
sold the products of their catch there. These vessels carried
a total of six hundred men and had an average catch
varying from seven hundred to one thousand barrels of
mackerel a season. The fishermen used to be engaged in
the codfishery on the outer banks, or in the Bay of Fundy,
before the summer mackerel season began. Several vessels
fitted for the codfishery on the coast of Labrador by
1820, but the industry declined after 1830 and was wholly
neglected after 1855. The Magdalen herring fishery began
at Eastport by 1830, and continued to thrive until 1868.
The town of Eastport claims the honor of having put up
the first can of sealed goods of any kind within the limits
of our country. The business began in 1843" with the canning
of lobsters for market, an industry that has since risen
to the rank of the highest importance in the State. In
1850 there were seven firms at Eastport engaged in the
fish trade. These firms
employed 238 men; used 18,900
bushels of salt; cured 18,000 quintals of fish and 3,500
boxes of smoked herring; put up 12,000 barrels of pickled
herring, 300 barrels of mackerel, and 3,503 barrels of other
fish, ... in addition to 450 barrels of oil and a quantity
of canned goods, the whole having a value of $85,000.
The neighboring town of Lubec rivaled Eastport in the
business of catching and smoking herring. By 1821, there
were twenty smoke-houses in the place, each house having
an annual output of from 2,500 to 3,000 boxes of herring.
As early as 1830 the merchants of Lubec were sending
vessels to the Magdalen Islands for additional herring to
smoke and pickle. This herring fleet consisted of eleven
vessels in 1860, each returning with cargoes of 700 to 800
barrels of fish. The smoked herring business was at its
height between 1845 and 1865, there being from 400,000 to
500,000 boxes of herring smoked and packed annually.
Millbridge, located about midway between Machias Bay
and Frenchman's Bay, became interested in the herring
fishery in 1820. The business increased slowly until 1850,
when people from Lubec built smoke-houses and presses
for utilizing the catch of fish. The most prosperous period
of the industry was between 1858 and 1863 when 75,000 to
100,000 boxes of herring were packed yearly. Lubec fishermen
also visited Steuben, adjacent to Millbridge on the
west, about the year 1850 to secure herring for smoking,
and the business thrived at about the same time as for
Millbridge, declining during the period of the war.
The towns bordering on the Frenchman's Bay district,
which extends from Gouldsboro on the east as far west
as Blue Hill, became engaged with varying success in different
kinds of fishing enterprises. As early as 1810,
settlers came to Gouldsboro to engage in the whole fishery,
carrying it on from the shore to a limited extent. A large
fleet of small vessels was employed in the codfishery for
several years in the Bay of Fundy. With the decline of
the business, the fishermen turned their attention to the
hake fishery in Frenchman's Bay, which assumed a place
of considerable importance after 1840. In some seasons
as many as one hundred vessels from other parts of New
England resorted to Frenchman's Bay for hake, which
found a market in Portland and Boston. This industry,
also, declined during the war.
Before the hake industry had begun to decline another
branch of fishing was rising to take its place. For several
years in the early part of the period in which hake fishing
was carried on so exclusively, menhaden were caught
for bait. In 1850 a Blue Hill woman discovered that marketable
oil could be obtained from menhaden, and the business
of catching the fish for their oil increased enormously
in the Frenchman's Bay region. The best years for this
industry appear to have been 1863, 1864, and 1865, although
the business was continued with decreasing returns
into the early part of the next decade. When the industry
was at its height it is estimated that not less than one
hundred try-houses, with two to four kettles each, were in
operation between Lamoine and Gouldsboro. The yearly
product of these houses has been estimated at fifty casks
of oil, each holding forty gallons, worth a dollar per gallon,
a total of $200,000 a year for the farmer-fishermen of
Frenchman's Bay when the business was most prosperous.
The towns of Lamoine and Hancock were leaders in the
fisheries of Frenchman's Bay. The people of Hancock became
interested in the fisheries of the Bay of Fundy in
1845. In 1852 vessels were sent to the Western Bank for
cod, and eight years later marked the beginning of sending
vessels to the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, and others
to the Magdalen Islands for herring. When the business
of smoking herring was at its height in Hancock, from
30,000 to 40,000 boxes were packed yearly for the market
at Boston and the West Indies.
About 1835 the people of Lamoine began sending pinkies
of thirty or forty tons to fish for cod in the Bay of Fundy,
and in 1848 the fleet numbered about twenty-five sail with
six or eight men each. The fishery began to decline in
1850; the smaller boats were sold in other ports, and the
larger vessels were fitted out for trips to the Grand Bank.
This fishery, which began in 1857, was prosecuted from
Lamoine with success for several years. When the menhaden
business began to be profitable the farmers of the
town left their fields to engage in the industry. There
were scores of them who bought nets, boats and kettles
and set up in business for themselves on the shores of the
Bay. Along with the other fishery industries, that of
smoking herring was extensively carried on in the place.
The first schooner was sent to the Magdalen Islands for
an additional supply of herring for smoking in 1855. The
annual output of this industry averaged between 30,000
and 40,000 boxes ; in 1865 or 1866 the number reached 125,-
000 boxes.
About 1825 Castine became a center for fitting out fishing
vessels. Salt was imported direct from Cadiz and Liverpool
to supply the demands of fishermen of Central and
Eastern Maine. By 1850 five hundred vessels were fitted
out annually at Castine. The fisheries of Deer Isle were
carried on in small boats until 1830 when twelve large vessels
were sent to offshore banks for cod ; forty smaller ones
fished inshore at the time. In ten years the number of
vessels had increased to thirty and the boats to fifty. The
height of the fishing business for the island was during
the years of the Civil War. The larger schooners, to the
number of thirty-five, were engaged almost exclusively in
the mackerel fishery, during its season, in the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence. After the close of the fishing season many of
them were employed in the coasting trade between Boston
or New York and the coast towns of Maine until the fishing
season opened the following summer.
As early as 1825 there were forty boats engaged in the
shore fisheries of the Isle au Haut. Some were engaged in
the herring fishery ; later vessels were sent to the Magdalen
Islands for the fish. Bucksport, on the Penobscot River,
had vessels engaged in offshore codfishery by 1825. The
business increased steadily until there were twenty vessels
of from fifty to one hundred and twenty tons landing 20,-
000 quintals of fish in 1855. The Bucksport fishery began
to decline after 1858.
Vinal Haven and North Haven have always occupied
prominent places in the fisheries of Maine. The Labrador
fisheries of Vinal Haven which began in 1804 were continued
until 1840. The Magdalen herring industry began
in 1830 and continued without interruption for twentyeight
years. Vinal Haven marketed $70,000 worth of dried
fish in 1855. Three years previous to the opening of the
Civil War from ninety to one hundred sail of vessels were
owned in this place, and about forty at North Haven.
About 1850, larger vessels were introduced into the fisheries
of North Haven which gave an impetus to the fisheries of
the town so that they soon outrivaled those of Vinal Haven.
Some of their vessels were engaged in the codfishery in
the spring and in the mackerel fishery during the summer.
By 1861 their vessels followed the mackerel fishery during
the entire season, going South in the spring and following
the fish as they migrated into northern waters.
The shore towns from Matinicus to Portland were active
in pursuing the industries of the sea. Matinicus was a
favorite resort for herring for years. By 1840, ten thousand
boxes of herring were being packed yearly for the
Boston market. Bristol had twenty-five vessels engaged in
fishing in 1830. Later the place became the center of the
menhaden industry of Maine, the first oil and guano factory
for the use of menhaden being built at Bristol in 1864.
Between 1830 and 1840 Monhegan cured annually 9,000
quintals of fish. The mackerel fishery was carried on from
the place through the Civil War. The smoking of Magdalen
herring was carried on at Damariscotta from 1830 to
1845. North Boothbay sent eight or ten vessels to the codfishing
grounds of Labrador in 1844. The fishing business
began at Wiscasset in 1822, and was successfully prosecuted
until the Civil War. At that time from 30 to 35 bankers
and an equal number of shore boats were fitted at Wiscasset.
The citizens of Southport successively tried their fortunes
in the herring, cod and mackerel fisheries. Previous to
the war of 1812 Georgetown, an island on the eastern
boundary of the Kennebec River, had twenty-five vessels
employed in the bank fishery. The town quickly recovered
from the effects of the war. In 1843, between 25,000 and
30,000 quintals of fish were cured here. Both the inshore
and the deep-sea fisheries increased in importance during
this period. The merchants of the town bought fish from
the neighboring towns of Westport, Woolwich and Phippsburg.
In 1868, Georgetown handled $250,000 worth of
fishery products.
Portland early became a center for the fisheries as well
as for other maritime commerce. Shore and deep-sea fishing
were carried on by her fishermen; vessels from other
places resorted here to be fitted out for the sea ; cargoes of
fish were brought to her merchants from the shore towns;
the shipping trade between Portland and the West Indies
increased during this century, especially as more cod was
packed in ' 'drums 1 ' for southern markets. Portland was
a trade center, as it is now, for the fishermen of Maine.
In a single year previous to 1841, 45,000 barrels of
mackerel were packed here. In the year 1864 there were
27,766 barrels packed at Portland, a quantity second only
to the output of Gloucester.
The state of the fisheries of Maine in 1840 shows that the
business was carried on most extensively in Lincoln County,
on the middle coast, and in Washington, the easternmost
county. The counties of Hancock, Waldo and York ranked
next in importance. There were in all 3,610 men employed
in the fisheries ; capital was invested to the amount of $526,-
967; the products of the fisheries consisted of 279,156
quintals of dried and smoked fish, 54,071 barrels of pickled
fish, 118,851 gallons of oil, whalebone and other products
amounting to the value of $2,351.
In 1850 there were 37,218 tons employed in the codfishery
of Maine, and 12,046 tons employed in the mackerel
fishery.
Of the total 95,616 tons employed in the codfishery
of the country in 1851, the amount of the State
of Maine was 45,528 tons. The condition of the fisheries
of the State for the year 1859 shows that in the codfishery
there were 1,269 vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 63,477,
carrying crews to the number of 8,883 men, and in the
mackerel fishery there were 163 vessels of an aggregate tonnage
of 9,814 tons, carrying 1,304 men. The fisheries of
the State in 1859 had a total of 1,432 vessels, of a tonnage
of 73,291 tons, carrying 10,187 men.
At the close of the Civil War the fisheries were prosperous
in the State of Maine, probably beyond any other period
to that date. But the principal branches of fishing cod,
mackerel, menhaden and herring were on the verge of
a change, cod and mackerel fishing to decrease materially,
herring and menhaden fishing to disappear almost entirely.
The new industry, that of canning lobsters and other products
of the sea, had already taken the initial step towards
developing in prominence and economic value.
The fisheries of New Hampshire do not appear to have
risen to any place of prominence after the war of 1812.
In 1840, the quantity of fish caught, and smoked or dried
in the State was 28,257 quintals, and of pickled fish, 1,715
barrels. There were 399 men employed in the fisheries and
capital invested to the amount of $59,680.
The records
of the value of the fishery products of New Hampshire
in the Portsmouth custom house are wanting prior to 1867.
The custom returns for that year, which are the most accessible
for the period, place the total value of all fish
products of New Hampshire for 1867 at $73,853.
A review of the fisheries of Massachusetts towns shows
that, like the State of Maine, almost every place bordering
on the water front of the state was actively engaged
in some branch of the industry during a part, if not all,
of the period from 1818 to 1866. Newburyport held a
prominent place in the cod and mackerel fisheries throughout
the period. Until 1820, it was second only to Boston
in the extent of the mackerel fishery, and for twenty years
after it occupied third place among Massachusetts fishing
towns. The number of barrels of mackerel packed in the
town in 1831 was 36,424. During the Civil War there were
7,500 barrels packed annually. In 1835, Newburyport had
41 vessels of about fifty tons each in the codfishery, and
125 vessels engaged in mackereling ; the latter number had
fallen off to ninety in 1851. There were between 40 and
50 vessels engaged in the Labrador fishery in 1850, and
60 vessels there in 1860. Fishermen from this town used
the water telescope for locating schools of cod on the shallow
bottoms and a seine for catching the fish after locating
them.
The fishermen of Beverly centered their attention on
the codfishery. The mackerel fishery never rose to a place
of importance. As early as 1832 there were between 40
and 45 fishing vessels belonging to the town. Seven years
later the number had risen to 49, averaging seventy-four
tons each, the aggregate value, excluding the outfit, being
$100,000. These vessels employed 306 Beverly hands and
112 others. The aggregate bounty on vessels owned in
Beverly in 1839 was $17,040.
The value of fishery products
for the year 1845 was $85,424. At the middle of the
century there were 75 vessels from Beverly engaged in fishing,
manned by 1,200 to 1,400 fishermen, mostly of New
England birth. Subsequently, the fishery declined slowly,
except for a short period of revival during the last three
years of the war. In 1869, twenty-seven schooners employed
350 men, who caught 32,000 quintals of cod and
halibut, valued at $200,000.
Salem played an unimportant part in the fisheries. The
town was fifth in the State in the amount of mackerel
packed in 1820, and in 1825, the amount for the latter
year being 11,460 barrels. In 1836, there were only fourteen
vessels, carrying 130 men, engaged in the fisheries.
The value of the product of the codfishery for the year
was $16,552, and of mackerel, $21,450. Only three vessels
were engaged in the codfishery in 1845.
Marblehead, ranking first for years previous to the Revolution,
took a less prominent place in the fisheries after
1818. In 1829, about fifty vessels averaging sixty tons
fitted for bank fishing. Fifty-seven vessels in the cod and
mackerel fisheries are recorded for 1831, carrying 412 men.
The value of the catch was $160,490. A writer of the time
estimates that this amount gave to each of the men on
an average, after all expenses are deducted, $214 for eight
months' fishing. The most prosperous season for Marblehead
was in 1839 when there were 98 fishing vessels, only
three of which were under fifty tons burden. Six years
later, when the period of decline had set in, the 65 fishing
vessels of the town had a tonnage of 5,039 tons and 463
hands employed. These vessels landed 40,500 quintals of
cod, which with other products of the sea had a total value
of $123,256.
The number of vessels had fallen off to
48 in 1856 ; but the value of the catch, which was smaller
than that of 1845, was $163,656. During the war the number
of vessels in the codfishery declined from sixty-one in
1862 to twenty-five in 1866.
Since the Revolution, Boston has held high rank as a
center for the commerce of the fishing industries. Down
to the middle of the century, at least, Boston was the
chief mart for the sale of dried fish, and a resort for fishermen
of all classes for outfits. A large portion of the
imports of fishery products into the country centered in
Boston.2 Between 1810 and 1826, more than half of
the total mackerel catch of the State was brought to
Boston to be sold. From 1804 to 1840, excepting one year
when GJoucester took the lead, Boston held first place
in Massachusetts in the number of barrels of mackerel inspected
yearly. During the thirty years from 1821 to
1851, the imports of dried and pickled fish into the port
of Boston consisted of 47,782 quintals of dried fish, valued
at $111,643, and 379,587 barrels of pickled fish, valued at
$2,126,128. For the eight years from 1843 to 1851, the
exports of American caught fish from Boston consisted of
1 Niles' National Register, Vol. Ixx, p. 21.
2 Hunt, Vol. xxiii, pp. 487-88.
THE GROWTH ALONG THE COAST 187
990,489 quintals of dried fish valued at $2,616,845, and
90,321 barrels of pickled fish valued at $370,907. The
total value of exports of both American caught and foreign
caught fish from Boston for the eight years was $3,453,063.l
Information regarding the fishing fleet of Boston is incomplete.
For the year 1855 Boston ranked third in the
State in the extent to which its citizens pursued the mackerel
fisheries, there being in that year 89 vessels, of a tonnage
of 7,100, engaged in fishing, with 1,000 men in the
crews. The amount of capital invested was $260,000, and
the value of the product was $317,000.
No vessels were
engaged in the codfishery.
The towns of Hingham and Cohasset carried on a thriving
business in the mackerel fishery during most of this
period. Part of the time Hingham ranked third in the
State in the amount of the catch. Her fishing interests
were carried on, in 1851, by 500 of her citizens in 37 vessels.
The Plymouth district, which includes Scituate, Duxbury,
Kingston and Plymouth, had, on an average, sixtyeight
vessels in the codfishery from 1818 to 1866. The
smallest number was 48 in 1826, when 24,000 quintals of
cod were taken ; the largest number was 94, in 1839, when
63,763 quintals of cod were taken. The mackerel fishermen
of Plymouth caught 5,520 barrels of mackerel in 1830.
This branch of fishery declined after 1838 until it became
of no consequence a decade later.
Wellfleet takes high rank among the communities whose
people pursued the mackerel fishery. The business began
in 1826, and its increase was rapid and steady. Some years
as many as 100 schooners were in the fleet. In 1833, there
were 12,811 barrels of mackerel inspected; in 1845, the
number was 19,900 barrels ; in 1848, it reached 28,219 barrels. From 1845 to 1865, Wellfleet was generally next to
Gloucester and Boston in the rank of mackerel fisheries.
In 1860, the 75 schooners comprising her fleet were valued
at $375,000. During the war the industry was prosecuted
with excellent returns, the number of barrels of mackerel
inspected being 111,944.
Freeman, in his History of Cape Cod, says, "In 1860,
Provincetown might be pronounced beyond contradiction
one of the most enterprising and flourishing towns in the
country. The fisheries now, as ever, command much attention,
and employ a great number of men and a very
large amount of capital. These fisheries, it may be said,
train a large number of the most experienced and intrepid
mariners in the world." The fisheries were principally
whale, cod, and mackerel. The character of the codfishery
cannot be ascertained for the period of 1818 to 1866, it is,
however, known to have been extensive and prosperous. In
1862, the number of vessels was about seventy-six, below
what the former tonnage had been, and the aggregate of
the catch was about 65,000 quintals. During the progress
of the war the number of vessels increased; in 1867, the
fleet numbered ninety-one, carrying 988 men. The catch
for that season was 78,500 quintals of cod and 15,156
quintals of halibut. The mackerel fishery did not assume
a position of great importance at Provincetown until between
1845 and 1850. The best year was in 1848, when
31,049 barrels were inspected. For a decade after 1859
Provincetown held third or fourth place among Massachusetts
towns in the number of barrels of mackerel inspected.
Chatham had 21 schooners employed in the fisheries in
1837, yielding 15,500 quintals of cod, valued at $46,500.
Prior to 1845, the greater part of the fleet was engaged
in codfishing. After this date the codfishery declined on account of the harbor filling with sand, which prevented the
larger vessels from passing in and out easily. The mackerel
fishery, employing smaller craft, increased as the codfishery
fell off. The people of Dennis began to catch
mackerel in 1836. Nine years later the town had from
50 to 70 vessels in the fishery. The fisheries increased and
prospered year after year. Harwich carried on a prosperous
business in the mackerel fishery from 1846 to 1866.
Other towns on the south coast of the State were engaged
in the fisheries, notably Nantucket and New Bedford
in the whale fishery. Cod, mackerel, shad and oyster
fisheries were carried on in this section, but their importance
was not considered seriously by the people until the
whaling industry began to decline.
Gloucester has been left until the last among Massachusetts
fishing towns in order that its importance as a
fishing port might be emphasized. In 1818, its fisheries
were of minor consideration in comparison with some other
towns. In 1866, Gloucester led all ports in the New World
in the extent and importance of its fishing interests. This
distinction has been held by the town ever since, notwithstanding
the fact that an immense trade in fresh fish is
carried on from Boston, and no account of American sea
fisheries for the last fifty years is complete without frequent
reference to the extent and importance of Gloucester 's
fishing interests.
The story of the cod far antedates that of the mackerel;
but none has a more absorbing interest than the mackerel
fishery both for the importance of the industry and the
methods pursued. The first trip for mackerel to salt was
made by the schooner President, Captain Simeon Burnham,
in 1818. Previous to this the fish was used principally as
bait. Down to 1818, the Gloucester catch of mackerel was
small and remained so until 1821, when 2,177 barrels of
i Goode, Sec. II, pp. 729-734.
190 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES
the fish were inspected in that port. The total amount of
mackerel previously inspected there was only 1,272 barrels.
In 1822, Gloucester schooners first went to George's
for mackerel, and, in 1830, the first vessel went to the Gulf
of Saint Lawrence for the same purpose.
Mention is made of an immense school of mackerel which
suddenly appeared on Middle Bank in 1825. For three
days a fleet of about 200 vessels fished as continuously and
as fast as nature would allow ; at the end of the third day
the fish disappeared as mysteriously and as suddenly as
they had come.1 A single jigger in that year, with a crew
of eight men, caught 1,300 barrels of mackerel.2 The fish
were in abundance again the following year and so continued
until 1831, which was a record-breaking season.
During this period of great plenty, the vessels of the fleet
averaged 800 barrels of fish a season. The boats at first
were from 40 to 50 tons burden. As the industry became
more assured in its permanency and was extended profitably
to George's Bank and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the vessels
increased in tonnage and the fleet in size.
Gloucester surpassed Boston in the extent of its mackerel
fishery in 1840, and has held first rank ever since. During
the period of the Reciprocity Treaty, 1854 to 1866, a
very prosperous business was developed by Gloucester fishermen
in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, as the provisions
of the treaty allowed American vessels to catch fish close
inshore. Several hundred vessels were annually fitted out
for the Bay, as the Gulf of Saint Lawrence is popularly
designated. Often the mackerel were shipped home from
there in Provincial vessels, thus allowing our fishing vessels
to take two or more fares a season.8 The method of
catching was still by hook and line, or jigging, as it was called. Bait was thrown from the vessel to draw the fish
from the bottom and to attract them to the reach of the
lines of the crew, who fished from the vessel's deck. Many
vessels carried as many as 75 barrels of menhaden slivers,
which were ground fine in mills for bait to be cast overboard
to attract the fish.
The catch of the Gloucester mackerel fleet for 1831 was
69,756 barrels; for 1851, it was 81,627 barrels. The
average catch for the years of the war, 1861 to 1865, was
131,432 barrels. The record year was 1864 when 154,938
barrels of mackerel were taken. The value of this catch
for Gloucester was in the millions. There were 68,061 barrels
of No. 1 mackerel, quoted at $30 per barrel, and 73,002
barrels of No. 2 mackerel worth $20 per barrel. Based on
these prices the value to the town of the mackerel industry
for 1864 alone was in excess of $3,500,000.
The high-line
stock for a vessel at the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in 1865
was made by the schooner Colonel Ellsworth, her net stock
for a trip of five months being $13,728. This was the
highest stock made by a schooner to that date. Among the
crew, the high-liner's share was $558.8
The Gloucester fishery for cod on the Grand Bank of
Newfoundland was at a very low mark from 1804 to 1819.
In the latter year a company was formed with $50,000
stock for the purpose of reviving the industry, but after
operating unsuccessfully for about three years the attempt
was abandoned. The Newfoundland codfishery
thereafter did not become of marked importance. In 1821,
four schooners from the town made initial trips for cod
to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, returning with full fares
near the first of July, after an absence of about two months.
While these pioneers were in quest of cod in the Gulf, three other schooners were making attempts on George's
Bank. As early as the middle of the previous century,
Marblehead fishing vessels were accustomed to make trips
to George's for cod. The vessels did not anchor, but
drifted about on the fishing grounds. It was the prevailing
belief that no vessel could anchor safely on George's for
fear of being overwhelmed and sunk at anchor by the
strong current that is found on the Bank. The three
Gloucester schooners kept close together for mutual assistance
if any danger arose. Finally the crew of one
of the vessels got up courage to cast anchor, only to weigh
it again immediately.
For a number of years the codfishery did not progress.
In 1827, the product of the fishery was 66,133 quintals
and 2,204 barrels of oil. The offshore codfishery of 1829
was in a depressed state. The business had become of little
value to the owners of the fishing vessels, due largely to
competition of foreign fishermen and higher rates of bounty
paid to them. The falling off of foreign trade also meant
the loss of profitable returns formerly made on cargoes
of sugar, wine, and other imports, brought by vessels on
their return trips from selling their fish abroad. Then,
too, the remarkable development of the mackerel fishery
turned much capital into the newer and more remunerative
occupation. The period of decline in the codfishery did
not change for the better before 1841.
In the meantime, other kinds of fishing were profitably
pursued. The shore fishery of Gloucester was of considerable
importance about 1832, when 799 men were employed.
The catch of 63,112 quintals of cod was valued at $157,780,
and there was a government bounty of $25,172. As early
as 1819, halibut had been found on Middle Bank.1 The
first trip to George's for halibut was made by the schooner Nautilus in 1830.1 The codfishery revived somewhat, and
the halibut fishery became of importance as a permanent
business about 1835. The value of cod for 1837 was
$186,516. Seven years later the fisheries of Gloucester employed
249 vessels, carrying over 1,200 men, and secured
86,315 quintals of fish. In 1846, there were 220 vessels
in the fleet, and 1,850 fishermen.
The railroad connecting Gloucester with Boston was completed
in 1846. This means of communication was of immediate
and lasting value to the fisheries of Cape Ann.
Previous to this time Boston had been the market for
fresh fish. Vessels did not then carry ice at sea to preserve
the fish, but some of them were fitted with water-tight
compartments amidship. By boring holes through the
bottom of the vessel into the compartment the free access
of water was secured, in which the halibut were kept alive
until the vessel reached market. In 1848, a company was
formed at Gloucester for the purpose of making the town
a shipping port for fresh halibut. The company failed
the first year ; they had agreed to buy all halibut furnished
by the fishermen; the season's catch proved to be exceptionally
large, so that markets could not be found to take
the product that was forced upon the company.
The total value of the fishery products of Gloucester in
1847 was $589,354. The number of vessels employed was
287, of which 126 were less than forty tons burden; the
total tonnage was 12,354 tons; the number of men employed
was 1,681 and 186 boys.
During the twenty years
following 1847, the fisheries of Gloucester developed
rapidly. More than 2,000 men were employed in the industry
in 1851. The value of the halibut catch that year
was $120,000. The introduction of frozen herring from Newfoundland in 1856 for bait in the George's codfishery
was a great stimulus to the prosecution of that fishery.
The herring furnished excellent bait for the school of
cod that appears on George 's in winter. There were twenty
firms in the town that owned schooners engaged in the
mackerel fishery or fitted out other schooners for the
business. In 1859, three hundred and one schooners formed
the fishing fleet of the place, manned by 3,454 men and 134
boys. The value of the products of the fishery that year
was $1,276,704, exclusive of the value of the herring trade
with Newfoundland, which was worth $250,000 more.
According to the census report of Massachusetts for the
year 1865, the fisheries of Gloucester employed 358 vessels
with an aggregate tonnage of 25,670 tons, and the value of
the products was $3,319,458. This is a remarkable record
of growth, for the value of the fishing industry of Gloucester
had increased fivefold, or more, within eighteen years.
The products of the fishery were sold principally in Boston,
New York and Philadelphia.
The status of the Massachusetts cod and mackerel fisheries
for 1855, and the relative standing of the principal
fishing towns show that the number of vessels engaged in
the fisheries of the State that year was 1,050, of a tonnage
of 71,372, manned by 9,756 men. The amount of capital
invested in the industry was $3,638,041, the value of the
production for 1855 was $2,753,535, and the gross earnings
for the year were nearly 76 per cent of the capital invested.
The extent and value of the fisheries of Gloucester surpassed
the combined products of Boston and Provincetown, the
next towns in importance in the State.3
In 1859, Massachusetts had 1,138 vessels employed in the codfishery, aggregating a tonnage of 56,919 tons, and carrying
crews of 7,966 men. The mackerel fishery employed
284 vessels, with a tonnage of 17,038 tons, and crews of
2,272 men. The total number of vessels engaged in the
cod and mackerel fishery was 1,422, of an aggregate tonnage
of 74,957 tons, and carrying 10,238 fishermen. In
addition, Massachusetts had a fleet of 514 vessels in the
whale fishery, carrying 12,336 men.
The records of the fishery industries of the other states of
New England are very unsatisfactory. The fishermen of
Rhode Island carried on a business from time to time
catching menhaden and developing oyster beds. Owing to
the high price of paint oils in 1812, the inhabitants
of the State began to use fish oil in place of the more
costly material. The process of extracting oil from fish
was improved in 1820 by first boiling the fish in kettles.
Ten years later further progress was made by the inception
of steam-cooking. Between 1835 and 1840, the refuse
parts of menhaden, known as chum, became of value as
fertilizer. The introduction of the purse-seine for taking
the fish, probably before 1850, was revolutionary and stimulated
the industry greatly. Between 1855 and 1860, presses
for separating the oil and water from the chum came into
use and were of additional economic importance.
The practice of introducing oysters from Chesapeake
Bay and laying them down in the shore waters of Rhode
Island dates from the early part of this period. The
oyster industry in Rhode Island flourished with increasing
interest until the Civil War, when it decreased principally
because the southern supply of oysters for planting was cut
off by the opening of hostilities. The value of the oyster
fishery of the State for 1860 is placed at $382,170, by Prof.
Goode. The general fisheries of the State for that year yielded 118,611 barrels of menhaden and other fish for
fertilizer, worth $27,817 ; about $25,000 worth of food fish ;
and $11,692 worth of clams and other shell fish. According
to the State census for 1865, the product of the fisheries
of Rhode Island that year was as follows: fish seined for
manure and oil, 154,468 barrels, worth $126,035 ; fish caught
for food, 2,462,360 pounds, worth $121,094 ; 31,697 bushels
of clams, 72,895 bushels of oysters, and 42,900 pounds of
lobsters, having a total value of $118,655. The aggregate
value of the fish products of Rhode Island for 1865 was
$365,784.
The Connecticut River seems always to have been famous
for its shad fishery, which was pursued with profit as far up
its course as Hadley, Massachusetts. It is reported that in
1801 there were as many as fourteen wharves at South
Hadley, where shad were taken by means of scoop nets
and seines, sometimes as many as 1,200 at a single haul.
In 1848, it was not an uncommon thing for a man to
take from 2,000 to 3,000 in a day. The method of pound
fishing was introduced in 1849, after which the fishery increased
all along the coast.
Menhaden were caught and the oil extracted as early as
1850 or 1852 at an establishment at Fort Hale, New Haven
Harbor. The discovery of the process of extracting the oil
by steam was claimed by a Connecticut man as early as
1852 or 1853.l In 1840, Connecticut was second only to
Massachusetts in the amount of capital invested in the fisheries.
It is probable, however, that a large part of the
capital was employed in the whale fishery, which was carried
on principally from New London.
The catch of menhaden for Connecticut can not be ascertained
for any town or for any period of years. In 1851,
five million of the fish were caught at Westbrook, but the
industry subsequently declined. In the earlier half of the century, salmon fisheries were carried on in the rivers of
the State, but to a less extent than either the shad or the
menhaden fisheries.
Fair Haven, Connecticut, was one of the first places
in New England to import oysters from New Jersey, and
later from Virginia, to be transplanted in northern waters
for additional growth. The Virginia trade began between
1830 and 1840, and there was a rapid development of the
industry. The oyster establishments of Fair Haven had
branch houses in the principal inland cities as far west as
Chicago and St. Louis. In 1857-58, from 200 to 250
schooners were employed in supplying the establishments of
Connecticut with clams from the Chesapeake. In 1850, one
of the more enterprising merchants of Fair Haven transferred
his business to warehouses nearer the source of supply
of oysters and opened branch houses at Baltimore.
Others followed the lead, so that it came about, according
to Ernest Ingersoll, that all the great Baltimore firms of old
standing originated in Fair Haven. The result was that
the oyster trade retrograded ; new changes in method came
into use, and different results followed.
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