THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 81 



in the new fishing grounds granted to them on the coast 

 of Newfoundland. 



The period between the treaty of Ryswick, 1698, and 

 that of Utrecht, 1713", was one of general depression for 

 the New England fisheries. The accounts of the time are 

 few and discouraging. On the coasts of Maine and New 

 Hampshire the fishing was practically suspended; and on 

 the Nova Scotia coast it was reduced greatly in value. In 

 1699, the governor of Massachusetts gave passes for four- 

 teen sloops and ketches of 25 to 36 tons and carrying five 

 or six men each. Marblehead had not ventured extensively 

 into this industry in which, before the century was over, 

 she became recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as 

 leader. The town of Salem saw the number of ketches 

 that she had engaged in the fisheries dwindle from 60 or 

 70 to a mere half dozen. 1 The coast from Cape Cod to 

 Cape Sable was rendered extremely dangerous to our 

 fishermen by the depredations of the Indians and French. 



At the opening of the century Gloucester had a popula- 

 tion of about seven hundred. This plantation, just enter- 

 ing upon its second half century, had as yet gained no 

 importance in maritime affairs. There is no evidence to 

 show that before 1700 Gloucester had a single vessel en- 

 gaged in the fisheries as far east as Cape Sable ; a Glouces- 

 ter sloop fished there in 1711. Activity in the ship- 

 building industry began with the century. Ships and 

 brigantines were built for Boston merchants, and sloops 

 for the townspeople. The sloops were used at first for 

 carrying wood and timber to Boston ; later they were used 

 in a wider coasting trade and in the fisheries, which began 

 to develop rapidly after 1720. 2 



It was at Gloucester that the first schooner was con- 



iWeeden, I, p. 373. 



2 The Fisheries of Gloucester, pp. 9-22, passim. 



