MASSACHUSETTS: GLOUCESTER DISTRICT. 157 



much smaller. The principal fishing grounds are on the edges of the offshore banks, in water from 

 100 to 400 fathoms deep. Occasional trips are made to the southward of the Newfoundland coast, 

 in the vicinity of Eamea Islands, and one or two vessels have taken fares in the neighborhood of 

 Anticosti Island, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but most of the fresh halibut brought to 

 Gloucester in recent years has come from Grand, Saint Peter's, and Quereau Banks. The ves- 

 sels all market their catch in Gloucester, two or three companies making a specialty of buying 

 these fish and shipping them, boxed in ice, to New York, Chicago, and other points. 



In former years, halibut were very plenty on all the inshore and offshore banks, but were 

 considered of little value until about 1845, when ice began to be used on the vessels. George's 

 Banks were formerly visited by a large fleet of vessels that made a specialty of this fishery. The 

 halibut vessels all use trawls, and for bait for the first set of the trawls they purchase herring or 

 alewives of the net fishermen along the coast of Maine or at the Provinces. After the first set, 

 sufficient waste fish are caught for bait. This fishery, especially in winter, is extremely dangerous, 

 and many lives and vessels are annually lost. 



The largest fare of fresh halibut ever landed by a Gloucester vessel was 140,000 pounds, by 

 the schooner G. P. Whitman, Capt. Jerome McDonald, in 1877. Several fares of over 100,000 

 pounds have been landed by other vessels, among them one in 1875, of 126,566 pounds, by the 

 schooner Chester R. Lawrence, Capt. Thomas Hodgdon. The greatest amount of money realized 

 from a single trip was $5,361, by the schooner N. H. Phillips, Capt. William McDonald, in 1871. 

 The quantity of fish taken was 47,650 pounds of halibut and 9,390 pounds of codfish, on a trip lasting 

 five weeks. The usual length of a trip is from three to six weeks, though some have been made 

 to the banks in about fourteen days. 



The first trip of a Gloucester halibut vessel to George's Bank was in the year 1830, by the 

 schooner Nautilus, Capt. J. F. Wonson. This vessel sailed from Gloucester on March 5, and 

 returned soon after with about 20 halibut. One of the next vessels to visit the bank was the 

 Romeo, Capt. Henry Pew, which brought home some 3,000 pounds of halibut, and sold at 3 cents 

 a pound. In a few years the fleet was considerably increased in numbers, and George's halibut- 

 fishing became a regular branch of industry that has been pursued with greater or less success 

 ever since. In 1847 this fishery was of such importance that more than 3,000,000 pounds of halibut, 

 worth over $70,000, were taken. This was about two years after they began to use ice on the ves- 

 sels to preserve the fish. Some of the fleet had been fitted with wells, in which the halibut were 

 brought home alive and peddled out one at a time. 



Prior to 1848 nearly all the fresh halibut had been marketed in Boston, but in that year a com- 

 pany was organized in Gloucester for the purpose of diverting the trade here. The opening of 

 railroad communication with Gloucester in 1846, afforded facilities for sending the fish to the New 

 England markets, and it was hoped that Gloucester rather than Boston could control the trade. The 

 enterprise proved unsuccessful, for the catch was far in excess of the demand. A stipulated price 

 had been agreed upon between the company and the fishermen, which proved more than could be 

 realized in the market, and after paying out some $45,000 the company was dissolved. 



The George's fishery for halibut continued to be successful as a separate fishery until these 

 fish were found more abundant on other banks. Since 1876 halibut have been brought from 

 George's in no great amount except by the vessels fitted for cod fishing, but the aggregate amount 

 yearly landed by these vessels has been considerable, rangiug from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 pounds 

 per year, against 7,000.000 to 14,000,000 pounds from the other banks. 



In the spring of 1876 the fleet began fishing in the deep water on the edge of George's Bank, 

 and from that time the greater part of the catch has been from the deep water on the edge of 



