82 GEOGEAPHICAL KEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



of the country and people. After speaking of the immense number of alewives in all the streams 

 in April, he says, 'Trout there be good store in every brook, ordinarily two and twenty inches 

 long.' He further says, 'A wonderful number of herring were cast up on shore at high water in 

 Black Point Harbor, so that they might have gone half way the leg in them for a mile together.'"* 



He continues : 



"Our first trader established himself on an outlying island when the mainland was a howling 

 wilderness, dealt with Indians and fishermen, and was killed for cheating his customers. * * * 

 His successor, John Winter, was an honorable man, and carried on an important foreign trade. 

 There is a halo of romance about those early days when dried fish, which, with skins of wild 

 animals, were the only products of the country, were shipped direct to Spain and cargoes of wine 

 brought back in return." 



In another place he again refers to Mr. Winter, who seems to have been acting as agent for 

 an English company that had obtained a grant of Richmond's Island and the present town of 

 Cape Elizabeth in 1631. He says of him : 



" He soon built a ship on the island and settled a place for fishing, and employed many 

 servants in fishing and planting." 



In March, 1634, says Winthrop : " Seventeen fishing- ships were come to Richmond Island and 

 the Isle of Shoals." 



These were from Europe to load with fish cured at the several stages which must have employed 

 a large number of men. These ships brought all the stores needed at the settlement from England. 



Winthrop says : 



"In the spring of 1635 a ship of 80 tons and a pinnace of 10 tons arrived at Richmond's Island." 



In 1636 (after a change in proprietors of the land) Winter was to receive one-tenth of the profits 

 and 40 premium in cash annually. They employed the ships Hercules and Margery and one 

 other whose name is not mentioned. In 1638 Trelawney (the land proprietor) sent a ship of 300 

 tons from England to the island laden with wine, probably the proceeds of a cargo of fish sent to 

 Spain or Portugal. The returns sent to the proprietor in England were oak pipe-staves, beaver 

 skins, fish, and oil. t 



The site of the present city was visited by two fishermen, who made it their home as early as 

 1632. Mr. Gould refers to the matter as follows : 



" In 1630 Richard Tucker, joined soon after by George Cleaves, established himself at Spur- 

 wink River in planting, trading, and fishing, where both remained till 1632, when they were 

 ' ejected by Winter ' and ' sought refuge on the north side of Casco, on Fore River, and laid the 

 foundation for the first settlement upon the Neck, now Portland,' where they continued many 

 years." 



Other trading posts were established in the vicinity at a later date, of which Mr. Gould men- 

 tions several. He says : 



" Just outside the breakwater is Cushing's Point, which was another business center. Col. 

 Ezekiel Cushing, its owner, came here from Provincetown about 1738. He was largely engaged 

 iu the fisheries and the West India trade, and owned several whalers, which were engaged in the 

 business when whales could be taken nearer home than now." 



As the settlement grew in size and importance its people gradually came to own a large fleet 

 of vessels, that were sent to different parts of the United States and to foreign countries. About 



Elwell's Successful Business Houses of Portland, pp. 168, 169* 

 t/frui.,pp. 166, 170, 171. 



