THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE. 471 



accustomed, when sending cargoes of dried aud pickled fish to the West Indies and other countries, 

 to include a quantity of herring, though they have seldom sent cargoes composed exclusively of 

 herring. This has been particularly true of Boston, aud more herring have been sent from there 

 than from any other port. There seems to have been no well-established trade in this particular 

 fish, however, and the quantity sent has varied considerably from year to year, depending largely oil 

 the catch and the price, and none of the merchants seemed to exert themselves to secure a supply. 



Our market has as a rule been restricted to our own continent, as most of the European 

 countries have large and prosperous herring fisheries, which not only furnish an abundance for 

 their own people, but supply many of the other countries with all that their markets require. 



We can, therefore, not expect an extensive European trade so long as our own fishermen give 

 so little attention to the fishery, unless the failure of some of the herring fisheries of Europe shall 

 create a demand that will warrant our merchants in importing herring in considerable quantities 

 from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Such a condition presented itself recently, when 

 the failure of the spring herring fisheries of Norway for several consecutive seasons gave a favor- 

 able opportunity for our merchants to engage in the trade. The Norwegian herring fisheries are 

 among the most important in the world, and her fishermen not only catch fish for their own coun- 

 try, but they supply Sweden with enormous quantities aud send a good many to the countries 

 farther south. The "summer herring," it is said, still put in an appearance along the north coast, 

 but the supply is much below the requirements of the home and export trade. 



The Gloucester merchants saw this opening, aud with characteristic energy decided to try the 

 experiment of sending cargoes of pickled herring to Sweden, Ireland, aud even to Scotland. 



The first cargo of herring exported to Europe from this great American fishery port was sent 

 by Messrs. D. C. & H. Babsou, who have from the first been more largely engaged in the trade 

 than any other parties. The schooner Nulli Secundus, formerly of Gloucester, was the first vessel 

 to sail. Having been sold to Capt. Caleb Liudahl, of Gottenberg, Sweden, in January, 187C, for 

 the cod aud halibut fisheries of Greenland, and being about to sail to Gotteuberg to fit out, it was 

 decided to load her with herring. She cleared from Gloucester on the 1st of February and from 

 Halifax on the 14th, arriving in Sweden March 8. The venture proved a profitable one, and a 

 new vessel, the Herman Babson, left Gloucester for the Magdalen Islands on the 137th of April to 

 load with herring for the Gotteuberg market. Other vessels followed in rapid succession, some of 

 them belonging at Gloucester and others being chartered from other places on Gloucester's account 

 until, by the 1st of February, 1877, thirteen cargoes had been shipped, Messrs. Babsou alone, 

 according to their statement before the Halifax Commission, having handled 26,208 barrels, of 

 which 1G,063 were caught on the American shore, aud 12,145 came from the Provinces.* 



"The statement of Messrs. Babson was as follows : We have been asked to make a statement of the number of 

 barrels of herring caught in American waters on the coast of the United States, and the number of barrels of herring 

 caught, in foreign waters during the last year handled by us, and to state the relative value of earh barrel in its green 

 state, as ir is when taken from the water. We find upon examination of our books that we have taken in our business 

 during the last year 28,208 barrels of herring. Sixteen thousand and sixty-three barrels were caught on the coast of 

 the United States between Eastport, Me., and Provincetown, Mass. The herring cost us for those caught on the coast 

 of the United States from $2.25 to $2.75 per barrel; that is, for the herring, not including the barrel, salt, labor, &c. 



Twelve thousand one hundred and forty-five barrels were caught on the coasts of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, 

 Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, as follows: 



Caught at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland 8,587 



(.'aught at Port Hood, Cape Breton 200 



Caught at Nova Scotia (coast) 



Caught at Magdaleus - 510 



Caught at Bay of Islands, Newfoundland 



12, 145 



