MASSACHUSETTS: GLOUCESTER DISTRICT. 171 



" The mackerel tisbery employed some 40 or 50 vessels in the spriug fishery at the South, about 

 100 vessels in the ofl'shore summer fishery, and GO vessels (an unusually small fleet), in the Bay 

 Saint Lawrence. 



"Seven vessels were lost in the pohageu and other offshore fisheries in the summer and fall 

 mouths." 



THE FISHERIES IN 1873. The Gloucester Telegraph of November 19, 1873, gives the fishing 

 record for that year as follows: 



"The fishing season will be brought to a close with the arrival of the Bay Saint Lawrence 

 fleet, of which but 12 vessels remain to arrive. The season has been a disastrous one in losses 

 of life and property, though but for the unusual losses it would have been a moderately profit- 

 able one. So far as the fishermen themselves are concerned, whose lives have been spared, the 

 business has yielded good returns, the catch having been large and the prices fair, and the loss 

 has fallen on the capital invested in the business, most of the establishments coming out with a 

 small range of profits, if not with absolute loss. 



"The Newfoundland fresh herring fishery last winter employed 18 Gloucester vessels, nearly 

 all of which marketed their catch abroad, some 1,500 barrels only being disposed of here in bait- 

 ing the Bank fleets. The schooner Thorwaldsen, with a crew of 7 men, was lost in this business. 



"The Grand Manan fresh herring business gave employment to 38 vessels, 5 of which made 

 two trips each, and 1 making three trips, during the season. The schooner Franklin A. was lost on 

 the return trip from New York, after having disposed of her herring fare in that market. 



"Six Gloucester vessels engaged in the Bay of Islands salt-herring fishery. The shore fishery 

 for cod was actively pursued during the winter months with average success, a portion of the 

 Gloucester fleet, however, rendezvousing at Portsmouth, N. H., where they found a ready market 

 for their catch. 



"The Grand and Western Bank fishery employed one hundred and fifty Gloucester vessels 

 during the year ending November 15, 1873, and six vessels belonging elsewhere landed fares here. 

 Quite a number of the Gloucester fleet continued in this branch of the fisheries throughout the 

 year. The fleet was at its minimum during the quarter embracing the months of November, Decem- 

 ber, and January, when the whole number of fares received was 62 in the three months; and at its 

 maximum at the close of spriug, during the summer, and opening of fall, the number of fares received 

 being 74 in May, 41 in June, G2 in July, 61 in August, and 46 in September. The fleet was success- 

 ful throughout the season, the Western Bank yielding good fares of halibut, which commanded high 

 prices, and the catch of codfish on Grand Bank being unusually large and the fish of superior quality. 

 The number of bank fares landed during the year was 463 against 339 the previous year. 



"The George's fishery was followed during the year to a greater or less extent by one hundred 

 and seventy-five vessels, being at its height in May, in which mouth 169 fares were received. The 

 total fares received for the year ending November 15, were 779 against about 800 the previous year. 

 The catch was good, and prices ruled well. 



"In the mackerel fishery, the southern fleet iu the spring was of usual size, embracing fifty- 

 four vessels, and fairly successful, marketing their earlier catch in New York at good prices. The 

 summer fishery off the shores of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts was of respectable 

 size, and mostly engaged iu the seiuiug of mackerel, with a very good average success, although a 

 few vessels did not pay expenses. Eighty-six vessels engaged in this business. 



