MASSACHUSETTS: GLOUCESTER DISTRICT. 141 



about 40 cents a bushel, while shucked they sell at $4.50 a barrel. If the shelled clams are for use 

 as bait in the fisheries they are corned, using a peck of salt to a barrel of clauis. 



Some of the fishing vessels built in Essex retain their ownership here, and, although fitting 

 and lauding their catch in Gloucester, are recorded as Essex vessels. In 1879 there were two such 

 vessels; tonnage, 156.91 tons; original cost, $11,000; present value, 69,500; number of crew, 30; 

 gross stock for the year, $2,846. They were both engaged in the Bay of Saint Lawrence mackerel 

 fishery, and brought home 650 barrels of mackerel. 



ROCKPOET. Rockport is on the eastern extremity of Cape Ann, 36 miles from Boston, and is 

 the terminus of the Gloucester branch of the Eastern Railroad. It is small in area, covering only 

 3 miles from north to south and li miles from east to west, while the coast line, because of numer- 

 ous indentations, is 8 miles long. It is bounded by Gloucester on the west, and by the ocean on 

 the east, north, and south, and is composed of two villages, situated a mile apart, and known as 

 Sandy Bay and Pigeon Cove. These were a part of the town of Gloucester until 1840, when they 

 were unitedly incorporated into a town under the name of Rockport. A stretch of land extending 

 into the harbor is known as Bear's Neck. Here are located numerous small fish-houses, where hun- 

 dreds of men were formerly employed in handling the catch of the many shore-boats that once sailed 

 from here. Except for a few months in the year, Bear's Neck now appears like a deserted village. 

 In the town are scores of veteran boat-fishermen who in earlier years found abundance of fish off 

 this rocky shore. Most of the fishing is now carried on in large boats or vessels on more distant 

 grounds. 



Thatcher's Island, upon which are built the twin lights, often called Cape Ann lights, belongs 

 to Rockport, and is well known to navigators. The light-houses are but a short distance apart, 

 and are very tall, so that the lights can be seen for a long distance at sea. The town is built on a 

 rocky headland, and from the summit the ocean view is grand. At Pigeon Cove there is a large 

 number of handsome cottages, and the place is a, favorite seaside resort. 



In 1879 the fishery industries of Rockport, including vessel, boat, and lobster fisheries, and 

 the manufacture of isinglass, were valued at $182,830, employing four hundred and sixty men and 

 a capital of $160,100. 



The shore-boat fishery in 1879 employed eighty-nine boats and one hundred and twenty-two 

 men, and the weight of fish taken was about 2,500,000 pounds. The active fishing fleet of vessels 

 comprised twenty-three sail, measuring 737.23 tons, valued, with their gear and outfit, at 870,450, 

 and manned by one hundred and ninety-one men. Of this fleet, three vessels were engaged in the 

 mackerel fishery, seven in the cod and mackerel fisheries, thirteen in the cod fishery, and one in the 

 menhaden fishery. One of the cod vessels was engaged also in the winter haddock fishery. The 

 production of the fleet in 1879 was 6,404 barrels mackerel, 939,600 pounds salt fish, and 1,130,000 

 pounds fresh fish. In the winter season a considerable share of the catch of cod by the Ipswich 

 Bay fleet is lauded at Rockport and shipped fresh to Boston. This business bids fair to add new 

 enterprise to the fishing industry of the town. 



Besides the active fleet, there were four fishing vessels idle throughout the year. These meas- 

 ured 113.56 tons and were valued at $3,500. They were all employed in fishing during the year 

 1880. 



The lobster fishery gives employment to thirty men, and the number of lobsters taken in 1879 

 was 48,750, valued at $2,437. The number of dories in the business was nineteen, and the number 

 of lobster pots five hundred. These pots are set along the shore and hauled daily. The bait used 

 is generally fish heads and sculpins. 



