NATIONALITY AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 15 



" The capital of the Provinces finds better investment in building, equipping, and running 

 vessels in the foreign trade than in the fishing business. Most of the fishing of the Provinces is 

 pursued in small boats off shore. Many fishermen of the Provinces do not have sufficient capital 

 to build and equip vessels to carry on the fishing business as it is done here. Persons wishing to 

 engage in the fisheries usually apply first at Gloucester. Of the seven thousand men employed in 

 the fisheries at this port three-fourths are not natives of the town, and this season the Provincial 

 fishermen have come direct in vessels to Gloucester rather than by cars, or via Boston and other 

 ports. Very few of these persons return to the Provinces to make their home there again." 



Many young women come from the Provinces to the States on the American fishing vessels, 

 in parties of from two to six or more. The passage is generally given to them free, and they 

 are kindly and respectfully treated. Many come as passengers on the same vessels with their 

 husbands or brothers. Large numbers come every year to Gloucester to seek employment, and 

 many of them ultimately marry their countrymen among the fishermen. 



The causes of immigration. — The causes of this immigration may be found primarily in 

 the poverty of many of the coast districts of that Province. In certain of these coast districts 

 the people are to a large extent dependent upon the summer visits of American fishermen. In 

 the winter of 1867 and 1863, for instance, the suffering for want of food among the Nova Scotiau 

 fishermen is represented to have been very intense. Government aid and the charity of individuals 

 were insufficient for its relief.* 



Another inducement to the enterprising young Provincials is the opportunity for rapid 

 advancement which may be found in a large American fishing port. A man of energy and courage 

 may in a very few years become the skipper of a fine schooner, and be earning a good subsistence 

 for his family, who, had he remained at home, would, still have been plying his oars and line in 

 the monotonous, profitless shore fishery. 



"Among the Nova Scotians," writes Mr. George IT. Procter, " may be found some of the 

 smartest skippers of the fleet. These have made good use of the opportunities presented, and by 

 their good qualities as seamen, capacity to handle a vessel, and possessed with sufficient daring 

 to run the risks of winter fishing, they have attained good positions. Many of them, who came 

 here with scarcely a dollar in their pockets, are now owners, or part owners, of vessels, showing 

 an energetic spirit of industry and perseverance, which has surmounted difficulties and brought, 

 as a reward of their toil, good returns. 



"These men, as a class, are naturally fitted for the business. Born and reared by the sea, 

 most of them of poor parents, it became a necessity for them to earn their own living at a very 

 early age. Fishing was about the only occupation in which they could engage in the Provinces, 

 and in this branch they commenced, bringing to it all the energies of youth, and by its pursuit 

 laying the foundation of robust health, which enabled them to bear the toil it demanded, and 

 preparing them for the more advanced positions which were offered on board the American fishing 

 vessels. 



"The yearly visits of our fishing fleet into the Provincial waters show these men the contrast 

 between the two classes of vessels, American and Nova Scotian; the one, clipper-built and well 

 appointed in every particular, and the other, clumsy and far behind in all the modern improvements 

 and fittings. It is not strange that they had a desire to connect themselves with the better class 

 of vessels, where opportunities for becoming masters and owners were so temptingly held out as 

 the reward of industry, fidelity, and daring to venture for a trip of fish at the most dangerous and 

 inclement seasons of the year. They caught the inspiration of the Yankee fishermen, as they 



* Barnstable Patriot, March 24, 1868— [with many interesting details]. 



