THE GROWTH ALONG THE COAST 177 



eight sail. In 1858 it had increased to twelve sail, and for 

 a score of years following it numbered annually from five 

 to ten vessels. 



It has already been noted how the fisheries of Maine 

 assumed considerable importance before the second war 

 with Great Britain. In 1820, Maine was admitted as a 

 State into the Union, and was soon rising into a place of 

 importance on account of the fisheries carried on by her 

 citizens. She shortly outrivaled her mother state, Mass- 

 achusetts, in the codfishery, and during this period was 

 second to the Bay State in the mackerel fishery, as well 

 as second in the Union in the extent of fisheries. From 

 Eastport to Portland there was scarcely a place to be found, 

 whether a village or a hamlet, on the coast itself or on the 

 innumerable islands adjacent to the shore, where fishing 

 industries were not pursued previous to the Civil War. A 

 histoiy of Maine fisheries is to be found very largely in 

 a review of the local industries of her seaport towns for 

 this period. 



As early as 1820 the merchants of Eastport were exten- 

 sively interested in the mackerel fishery. By 1830 the in- 

 dustry was at its height, there being fully forty vessels, 

 of sixty to seventy tons, that fitted out at Eastport and 

 sold the products of their catch there. These vessels car- 

 ried a total of six hundred men and had an average catch 

 varying from seven hundred to one thousand barrels of 

 mackerel a season. The fishermen used to be engaged in 

 the codfishery on the outer banks, or in the Bay of Fundy, 

 before the summer mackerel season began. Several ves- 

 sels fitted for the codfishery on the coast of Labrador by 

 1820, but the industry declined after 1830 and was wholly 

 neglected after 1855. The Magdalen herring fishery began 

 at Eastport by 1830, and continued to thrive until 1868. 1 



The town of Eastport claims the honor of having put up 



i Goode, Geographical Review of the Fisheries, p. 16. 



