GROWTH AND EXPANSION 67 



law exempting fishermen from ordinary training in mili- 

 tary service was modified to compel their attendance when 

 at home for a period of time. To protect the masters 

 and owners of vessels from loss occasioned by broken 

 voyages a law was passed compelling all fishermen who 

 shipped for a season's work to continue with the vessel 

 to the end of the season; otherwise, they were liable for 

 all damage resulting from the breaking-off of their voyage 

 before the expiration of the season. 1 



A writer of the time describes Boston, in 1664, as hav- 

 ing 14,300 souls, a great trade to the Barbadoes with fish 

 and other provisions, and with a fleet of 1,300 boats that 

 fished at Cape Sable. The towns of Salem, Ipswich, and 

 Charlestown, also, were important places for trade in 

 cod and mackerel, while the Isles of Shoals had fifteen 

 hundred fishermen. 2 Even at New York a trade in fish 

 had sprung up, stimulated by the discovery of several 

 cod-fishing banks near Sandy Hook in 1669, and by the 

 encouragement that the governor gave to the prosecution 

 of the whale fishery at the east end of Long Island. 3 



The prosperous condition of the fisheries along the en- 

 tire extent of the New England shores at this time is in 

 striking and sad contrast to the manner of living and the 

 low state of the morals of the fishermen, especially along 

 the frontier coast of Maine. A vivid account of the state 

 of affairs is given by Josselyn, who visited Maine in 1664, 

 and remained in the colony for several years. Likewise, 

 the commissioners of King Charles to New England in 

 1667, give an account of the morals of the persons con- 

 nected with the fisheries on the Kennebec and Sheepscot 

 rivers and at Pemaquid. "These people," they say, "for 

 the most part, are fishermen, and never had any government 



iMass. Col. Rec., IV, part 2, pp. 252-53, 400, 450; V, p. 212. 



2 Calendar of State Papers, Col., 1661-68, pp. 532-33. 



3 Ibid, 1669-74, p. 20. 



