WAR AND ITS RESULTS 123 



panies of Gloucester fishermen shared in the glories of 

 Bunker Hill; on the ocean they were found in larger 

 numbers. It is reported that thirty married men perished 

 in the wreck of a single privateer. When peace was de- 

 clared it was found that the number of dead and missing 

 seamen from Gloucester was three hundred one-third the 

 able-bodied men of the town. 1 



In 1774, there were twenty-seven vessels engaged in the 

 codfishery from Chatham. In 1783, four or five vessels 

 only were left in the harbor, but "the town was filled 

 with widows mourning the loss of their husbands and 

 sons." 2 Between April and September of the first year 

 of the war, the town of Salem lost $70,000 in the deprecia- 

 tion of vessel property and apparatus, and in the loss of 

 a season's fishing. The people of Beverly joined with the 

 people of Salem in their zeal in pursuing the war upon the 

 sea, and from the opening to the close of the contest they 

 were extensively engaged in fitting out and manning 

 privateers. In a single season they despatched to sea, to 

 plunder upon British commerce, fifty-two vessels chiefly 

 owned in Salem and Beverly, which mounted about seven 

 hundred and fifty guns and carried crews of nearly four 

 thousand men. 3 



For several years previous to the opening of the war, 

 Marblehead held the honor of being the largest fishing 

 port in the New World in respect to the number of ves- 

 sels engaged in the business and the extent of their enter- 

 prise in this direction. The services of these people are 

 entitled to particular consideration. They had generously 

 proffered their wharves and storehouses to the people of 

 Boston when that port was closed in 1774. One of their 

 merchants, Elbridge Gerry, had framed a measure that 



1 Marvin, Am. Merchant Marine, p. 288. 



2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1st series, VIII. 

 s Sabine, p. 200. 



