152 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



tion that led him, summer and winter, to face the storms 

 of the Atlantic in preference to the fields and forests of 

 the Middle West. 



The fishing opportunities of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 

 were gradually making themselves known to the enter- 

 prise and vigilance of the New England fishermen, and for 

 a few seasons prior to 1808 these fishing grounds had be- 

 come an object of attention for all fishing towns between 

 the Thames, at New London, and the Schoodic, in Maine. 

 The boats, both small and large, went there by the hun- 

 dreds, and if we can believe some accounts, by the 

 thousands. On Sundays, the American fishermen 

 "swarmed like flies upon the shore," for at that time the 

 Sabbath was observed as a day of cessation from all fish- 

 ing among the fisherfolk. In the year 1807 or 1808, 

 probably the former, jealous British merchants stationed 

 a watchman in some favorable station near the Strait of 

 Canso to count the number of American fishing vessels 

 that passed those straits. He counted nine hundred and 

 thirty-eight that passed through, and doubtless many others 

 were missed in the fog and at night. 1 The products of the 

 American catch in Canadian waters and off Labrador for 

 several years previous to 1808 were computed to furnish 

 three-fourths of all the dried fish exported from the United 

 States. Merchants were beginning to send large ships to 

 the coast of Labrador to load from the small ones there 

 and sail direct to European markets. To the jealous 

 British subjects the activity of the Americans was of ex- 

 aggerated importance. They looked upon this industry 

 as "one of the greatest resources of the Eastern States,' 

 in which two thousand schooners were annually employed, 



i Adams, Duplicate Letters, pp. 210-213, quoting a letter from 

 J. Lloyd. 



