CHAPTER XVIII 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE FISHING SCHOONER 



A comparison between the appearance of citizens of the 

 Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1630 and those of Boston to- 

 day would afford no greater contrast than would appear if 

 one of the fishing craft used by the first settlers of 

 Gloucester should arrive at T Wharf with a cargo of fish 

 and mingle with the fleet of modern fishing vessels that 

 frequents that great fish-market of New England. Im- 

 portant differences would also be seen in the furnishings 

 of the vessels, in the apparatus used in fishing, and in the 

 methods employed in curing the catch. The condition of 

 the fisherman has improved greatly during the period of 

 three centuries that fishing has been carried on along our 

 shores, but the change has not been gradual. For the first 

 one hundred years only one important change is to be 

 noted, one affecting the arrangement of the sails of ves- 

 sels. Old-fashioned methods of catching and curing fish that 

 had been in use since the days of Bradford and Winthrop 

 were employed by fishermen well down towards the middle of 

 the last century. The most numerous and many of the 

 most important changes have been instituted within the life- 

 time of the last two generations of fishermen. 



The shallop, the sloop, and the ketch were the kinds of 

 boats most generally employed by the early colonists for 

 their fishing and coast trade. The sea-going craft of the 

 day were of the caravel type, not differing greatly from 

 the vessels employed by Columbus. In these ships the bows 

 and sterns were constructed high above the waist line, the 



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