MASSACHUSETTS: BARNSTABLK DISTRICT. 



243 



eleven years from 18G8 to 1873 inclusive, the number of fishing licenses issued for vessels over '20 

 tons belonging in Harwich was as follows: 



DENNIS. The village of Dennis, or North Dennis, as it is often called, is located in the north- 

 eastern portion of Dennis Township, and is distant from Yarmouth about three miles by air-line. 

 Between Dennis and Yarmouth is au extensive salt marsh, through which flows a creek known as 

 the "Chase Gardner Creek." 



With the exception of a small and uncertain cod fishery carried on for a short time in spring 

 and fall with boats, the pound fishery of the jSTobscusset Fish Weir Company is the only fishery 

 prosecuted at Dennis. This company own a shoal-water weir, situated near Chase Gardner Creek, 

 for the management of which they employ four men, and from which in 1879 36,COO pounds of fish 

 were shipped. 



Dennis Port is situated in the southeastern part of the town and about a mile from the shore. 

 Its streets arc continuous with those of West Harwich, and the two villages are separated only by 

 an imaginary line, and, except in matters of town government, are practically one village. At 

 present there are four firms carrying on the fishing business; three are connected with the trade 

 in fresh fish, and two with the offshore cod and mackerel fisheries. These firms carry on their 

 business at two wharves, known as the east and the west wharves. Twelve schooners are owned 

 here, six of which are employed in the cod fishery and six in the mackerel fishery. Each vessel 

 carries about sixteen men. 



The cod fishery begins in April and lasts until August, and about seven trips are made in this 

 time. In 1879 five of the vessels employed hand-lines and one used about 12,000 hooks of trawl. 

 In 1879 3,100 quintals of codfish were taken by the six vessels. The fish are salted, and part are 

 sent to Boston market and part sold to peddlers, who carry them in small vessels to Rhode Island 

 and Connecticut ports. Seven such vessels are owned in Dennis Port and employ about fifteen 

 men. They are the same that bring fresh fish from the Chatham weirs in spring. 



The mackerel fishery was carried on in 1879 with six vessels, each with an average crew of 

 fifteen. Two of the cod vessels are also employed in this fishery at the close of the cod-fishing 

 season. All use seines. The total catch of all the vessels in 1879 was G,125 barrels. In addition, 

 about .'^OOO barrels are brought from the weirs at Mouomoy and packed here. These fish are pre- 

 pared for market by about two hundred men. Two-thirds of them are iced and shipped to New 

 York and Boston fresh, and the remainder arc salted and barreled. This work occupies about six 

 weeks. When it is over the men go into other branches of the fishery. The boats which have 

 brought the fish from Monomoy take in cargoes of 10 or 12 barrels of mackerel and a quantity of 

 codfish, varying from 25 to 200 quintals, and peddle them at various ports in Rhode Island and 

 Connecticut. Some of the men employed in preparing the mackerel for market, when that 

 employment comes to au cud, go into the. bluefish fishery, swelling the number in that fishery 

 to about sixty. The mackerel fishery is carried on in spring also by two men, who employ twelve 

 mackerel-nets. In 1879 about sixty men, employing twenty boats and little vessels, were engaged 

 in line-fishing for bluefish and for tantog, scup, and other species. The fishery lasts until the 

 middle or last of October, when the boats arc lianlcd up. Four of the boats also each set twelve 



