446 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



cargoes. For these reasons the Americans have for some time been interested in the introduction 

 of better methods among these people. Many of the New England fishermen have recently carried 

 purse-seines on their trips to the island in order that the herring could be readily taken in any 

 depth of water and at any distance from the shore. They have usually placed them in the hands 

 of the natives, hiring them to catch the fish and paying them a liberal amount for their labor. 

 They did this, not because they could not catch their own fish, but because they did not care to 

 antagonize these people ; in fact the Newfoundlanders had threatened violence in a number of 

 cases provided any attempt should be made by the crews of the American vessels to fish their own 

 seines. 



INTERNATIONAL DIFFICULTIES AT FORTUNE BAY. 



THE FORTUNE BAY DIFFICULTY. Such a condition of affairs existed for a number of years, 

 and the feeling between the fishermen of the two countries became stronger with each succeeding 

 season. The Americans, accustomed to prosecute the fisheries by means of the more modern and 

 expeditious methods, were greatly annoyed at the inconveniences to which they were subjected in 

 Newfoundland. Learning that the commissioners, who had been in consultation at Halifax, had 

 just decided that the United States should pay the sum of $5,500,000 to the British Government 

 for the privileges granted them under the treaty of Washington, they decided that they had a right 

 to free themselves from these restraints and to enjoy the privileges for which their Government 

 was to pay so large a sum. An attempt to carry these ideas into practice during the winter led 

 to the serious disturbance at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, known as "the Fortune Bay outrage," 

 which has caused so much trouble between the two Governments. 



As the difficulty occurred in connection with the herring fishery, and most seriously affects 

 the trade in frozen herring, a brief review of it and the steps that led to its final settlement may 

 not be out of place in this connection, though an extended discussion of the matter in all its impor- 

 tant bearings would lead us too far from our subject.* 



It seems that in the fall of 1877 twenty-six American vessels were sent to Newfoundland for 

 the purpose of securing cargoes of frozen herring to supply the principal New England markets. 

 Extensive preparations were made for this trade, and after the vessels had been put in order and 

 properly ballasted many of them took on board a quantity of merchandise to exchange with the 

 natives for herring. Most of them were also provided with purse seines for use in catching the 

 fish. By the middle of November many of them were under way, and three weeks later the last 

 one had taken its departure. This entire fleet proceeded to the southern shores of Newfoundland, 

 and one after another of them reached Fortune Bay and proceeded to Long Harbor, the principal 

 fishing ground of the region. A number arrived early in December, and others came a little later, 

 but as the herring bad not yet put iu an appearance in any quantities, the captains were obliged 

 to anchor and await their arrival. 



A few of the captains had succeeded in purchasing small quantities of herring from the native 

 fishermen who lived iu the region or who came hither in small "jacks" to engage in the fishing 

 with nets and haul-seines; others had, as formerly, hired some of the Newfoundland fishermen to 

 take charge of and fish their seines, paying them a definite sum for their labor. By January 5 no 

 less than twenty-two American vessels were lying at anchor waiting for herring, and as no vessel 

 had succeeded in getting more than a few barrels, the outlook was not very encouraging. 



On Sunday, January 6, bubbles could be seen rising to the surface of the water, an unmis- 



*A11 of the correspondence on tbe subject between the two Governments, together with the affidavits of the fish- 

 ermen on both sides, appear in the Foreign Relations of the United States for 1879, 1880, and 1881. 



