692 



GEOGEAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



This is riot, the whole number of vessels that have l>een employed in fishing the past season, for many, after the fishing 

 season is over, take out coasting licenses. At one time there were at least 220 schooners in the business, employing, at 

 the lowest calculation, upwards of 1,700 men, and the 58 boats at least 150 more, making, in round numbers, 1,850 men 

 employed in lishing. The whole number of vessels that have received bounty for the last year's fishing was 242, and 

 the amount of bounty paid about $37,500. Many of the vessels placed under the head of coasting have been employed 

 in fishing during the season, and have drawn bounty; others have been employed in fishing for only a few weeks. 

 A large number of those under the head of fishing came into the district after the fishing season commenced, and con- 

 sequently drew no bounty." 



EXTENT OF THE FISHERIES IN 1847. In 1847, according to a reliable statement prepared by Mr. Addison Winter 

 and published in Babson's History of Gloucester, the extent of the fishery industry of the town for that year, exclu- 

 sive of " winter wherry fishing," was as follows : Whole number of vessels, 287, measuring 12,354 tons, employing 1,681 

 men and 186 boys; 28 of these vessels were under 10 tons burden, 27 between 10 and 20 tons, 29 between 20 and 30 

 tons, 42 between 30 and 40 tons, 26 between 40 and 50 tons, 49 between 50 and 60 tons, 73 between 60 and 70 tons, and 

 13 over 70 tons; the product of the fisheries was 7,088,376 pounds codfish, valued at $181,703 ; 3,379,776 pounds hali- 

 but, 70,761; 735,506 pounds hake, $12,174; 919,188 pounds pollock, 16,566; 49,779 barrels mackerel, $290,045; 337 

 half-barrels tongues and sounds, $1,873; and 39,520 gallons of oil, $16,232; total value of products, $589,354. 



GLOUCESTER FISHERY STATISTICS FOR 1854. The- selectmen of Gloucester made a report of the principal indus- 

 tries of the town for the year 1854, which was published in the Gloucester Telegraph October 24, 1855. In this report 

 we find the following items relating to the fisheries: Number of vessels in the cod and mackerel fisheries, 282, meas- 

 uring 19,374 tons; barrels of mackerel, 43,201, valued at $388,809; quintals of cod, 97,950, valued at $293,650; value 

 of cod-liver oil, $1,020 ; value of salt consumed, $160,000: capital invested in fisheries, $989,250 ; number of persons 

 employed in fisheries, 2,820 ; quantity of halibut smoked, 210 tons, valued at $25,000 ; quantity of fish-cil made, 23,700 

 gallons, valued at $13,035 ; 3 marine railways, with |37,000 capital and employing 8 men ; 6,500 tons of ice cut, valued 

 at $15,000; capital in net and seine factories, $5,000, hands employed, 25; 2,500 fish barrels made, valued at $1,700, 

 .and 800 fish casks, valued at $1,800; 6 sail-lofts, with $40,400 capital and employing 54 men made 1,270 sails, valned 

 at $95,250 ; $3,000 invested in 4 mast and spar yards ; 2 boat makers, with f 1,400 invested and employing 4 men, made 

 102 boats; capital in ship-yards, $10,500; hands employed, 37; vessels launched, 7, measuring 605 tons. 



FISHERY STATISTICS FOR 1859. The following statement, taken from Babson's History of Gloucester, shows the 

 condition of the fisheries in 1859: "The whole number of schooners, 20 tons and upwards, belonging to Gloucester 

 Harbor in July, 1859, was three hundred and twenty-two, measuring in the aggregate 215,882 tons. Of this number 

 three hundred and cue, manned by three thousand four hundred and thirty-four men and one hundred and thirty-four 

 boys, were employed in fishing. So much we learn from a statement published in the Gloucester Telegraph. The 

 product of the fishery for that year, as nearly as can be ascertained, is here given: 



" If to this aggregate we add the product of the herring voyages to Newfoundland and that of the business carried 

 on at Squam and Lane's Cove, not included in the above items, we shall find the total product of the fisheries of 

 Gloucester for 1^59 not less than $1,400,000. The quantity of halibut given is an estimate founded upon information 

 obtained from persons in the business, and is believed to be under rather than over estimated. The number of pounds 

 of this fish sold in town last year to be dried and smoked is known to have been about a million and a half." 



CENSUS STATISTICS IN 1865. The census report of Massachusetts ibr the year 18155 gives the following items con- 

 cerning the fisheries of Gloucester: Number of vessels, 358; tonnage of vessels, 25,670; value of products, $3,319,458; 

 value of salt consumed, $237,275. 



STATISTICS FOR 1869. In the reportof the town clerk for the year 18C9 we find that the whole number of schoon- 

 ers and boats fitted out for fishing that year was 431; 32 vessels made, trips to Newfoundland for fresh herring, and 8 to 

 Newfoundland and elsewhere for salt herring ; 120 made trips in the Grand Bank cod fishery ; 272 in the George's Bank 

 cod and halibut fishery; 194 in the Bay of Saint Lawrence mackerel fishery ; and 151 iu the shore mackerel fishery; 

 the estimated product of the fisheries, in fish, oil, and manure, was $3,242,250. 



THE FOREIGN COMMERCE OF GLOUCESTF.R FROM 1783 TO 1859. "The foreign commerce of Gloucester," writes Mr. 

 Babson, " which before the Revolutionary war was of no great extent, rose, after the peace, to be of considerable 

 importance. In 1790 upwards of forty ships, brigs, schooners, and sloops were employed in it; and during the twenty 

 years succeeding, vessels belonging to the town visited most of the principal ports in Europe and the West Indies, 

 and a few made voyages beyond the Cape of Good Hope. One of those engaged in the latter (the Wiuthrop and 

 Mary) was owned by an association of merchants called the India Company. She was of about 100 tons burden, 

 originally a schooner, but was altered to a ship, and properly manned and armed to suit the dignity of the India trade. 

 Having made two voyages safely to Calcutta, she was next sent to Sumatra, but was never heard from after leaving 



