[SIODTJL OF A GRAND BANKER, 1741.] 



The Early Fisheries of Cape Ann 



Antedate the permanent settlement of her territory. In 1623 a fishing 

 vessel from England, having completed her cargo in " Mattahusetts Bay," 

 sailed for Spain, leaving fourteen men " in the country at Cape Anne," to 

 await her return. Early in the next year the same ship, with a consort, 

 came to Cape Ann, and after an unsuccessful fishing season set sail for 

 England, leaving thirty-two men here. The following year three vessels 

 came from England, and an effort was made to establish a colony here under 

 the governorship of Roger Conant, but the attempt was abandoned in the 

 course of the year, Mr. Conant and some of his companions removing to 

 Salem, and founding the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. Fishing was also 

 carried on at Cape Ann in 1624 and 1625 by the Plymouth people, who had 

 two vessels fishing on our coast in the latter year. The permanent settle- 

 ment of the territory was commenced prior to 1633, and something was 

 again done in the way of fishing as early as 1639, although it does not 

 appear that the early settlers of the Cape were fishermen. 



The fisheries of Cape Ann, as a considerable and permanent industry, 

 seem to have become firmly established about 1722, when the business was 

 conducted on a somewhat extensive scale at Annisquam, and also, in a lesser 

 degree, in the harbor parish. Heretofore the business had been carried on 

 in small sloops, built in the town, but in 1720 a few schooners were added, 

 and this class of vessels soon became popular. Many of these schooners 

 were of a burthen of fifty tons or more, and were therefore suitable for the 

 prosecution of the fisheries on the Grand Bank and other distant fishing 

 grounds. They were of a nearly uniform model, with square bows and high 



