203 



he looked at his own empty sleeve, and exclaimed, "Well, Jack, you 

 and I are spoiled for fishermen!" How many men of Marblehead, of 

 Beverly, Salem, Newburyport, Plymouth, and of the towns on the two 

 capes of Massachusetts, of Portsmouth and the Isles of Shoals, and of 

 the fishing towns and islands of Maine, who served in the war of 1812, 

 returned home with an "empty sleeve," and "spoiled" for their former 

 avocation! I regard it as strictly true to say, that without our fisher- 

 men we could hardly have manned a frigate, or captured one, from the 

 beginning of that war to its end. Fishermen composed a large part of 

 the crew of "Old Ironsides" in her two earliest victories; and I believe 

 that the number was not much diminished when that favorite ship 

 passed into the hands of Stewart and won her last battle. Without 

 going into details, it may be said that the men of Marblehead,* and of 

 other places engaged in the same pursuits, were in almost every national 

 or private-armed ship that bore our flag. 



At present it is affirmed, the official tables show that the number of 

 our fishermen in the national service in case of war would be small. I 

 admit it; and were it not so, and were not further decrease to be ap- 

 prehended, much of my labor might be spared. It is hard, first to 

 wound an important branch of industiy, and then to accuse it of inel- 

 ficiency ; to fill our ships, public and private, whh foreign seamen, 

 and then tauntingly show figures to prove how contemptible the fish- 

 eries are as a means <^f supply. But I contend that official statis- 

 tics (erroneous or unsatisfactory quite often) do not, m this matter, 

 convey the whole truth. The fact is, that hundreds, nay, thousands, 

 who first learned to "rough it," in imikies, pogies, and jiggers., on the 

 coast, or in the larger class of vessels that visit Labrador and New- 

 foundland, have abandoned such craft, and are now either masters, 

 mates, or seamen, of merchant vessels. Many others, retired wholly 

 from the sea, are to be found quietly settled as traders in small towns 

 along the sea-board, or are to be met with daily on 'Change in our prin- 

 cipal cities. The reasons for these changes are obvious. The more 

 ambitious and intelligent seek to better their condition, while aU per- 

 ceive that their employment is of but questionable repute, and of un- 

 certain rewards. It may be urged with force that an avocation in 

 which men are educated to become masters of merchant vessels, is 

 entitled to protection ©n this account alone, since every good mariner 

 is a source of strength and wealth to the country. To preserve the 

 school — so to speak — in which the business character of such men is 

 formed, is an object of national concern, to say nothing of the immense 

 benefits to be derived from an abundant supply of common seamen, 

 both in peace and m war. 



The question may be argued still further. Every American citizen 

 desires a wife, and a home. Marriage conduces to morality, and wise 

 rulers in every age and country have endeavored to promote it. In 

 this regard, then, let us inquire what are the just hopes of fishermen — 

 who reflect — as determined by experience and by ascertained facts. 

 A distinguished statesman, in advocating the repeal of the "bounty 



*It is believed tliat five huudred meu who belonged to Marblehead aloue, were released fi'om 

 Dartmoor prison at the peace. 



