207 



of age. The population of Truro at that time was about nineteen hun- 

 dred ; the number of widows, one hundred and five. 



Twenty-eight men who belonged to Dennis were lost in the same 

 gale; of whom but six were past thirty years old, and nine left families. 

 In one, day, immediately after this storm, nearly or quite one hundred 

 bodies were taken up and buried on Cape Cod. 



In a gale September, 1846, eleven vessels owned atMarblehead were 

 wrecked or foundered, and sixty-five men and boys perished in them. 

 By this calamity the number of widows in that town was increased 

 forty-three, and the number of orphan children one hundred and fifty- 

 one. In the same year sixty fishing skiffs were totally wrecked at 

 Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and the loss of life and property along 

 the shores of that island w^as appalling. 



Between 1837 and October, 1S52, my record (which is probably 

 imperfect) shows that the single town of Gloucester lost thirty-one ves- 

 sels, and one hundred and ninety-four men. In many cases every 

 person on board perished. 



After the memorable gale of October, 1851, on the coast of Prince 

 Edward Island and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the beaches were 

 strewed with the wrecks of American and British vessels, and with the 

 bodies of men. The exact number of those of both flags who lost their 

 lives is hardly to be ascertained. But it is known that fifty bodies 

 floated on shore within about twenty hours from the cessation of the 

 storm, in a distance of twenty miles ; that ninety-seven persons, belong- 

 ing to thirteen American vessels, were found on different parts of the 

 coast ; that upwards of eighty of our vessels were driven on shore ; and 

 that the aggregate number of American fishermen who perished was 

 more than one hundred and fifty.* 



It remains, in conclusion, to speak of the character of the fisherman. 

 It is said that he " is credulous and superstitious." Admit that " Kidd's 

 money" has been dug for in every dark nook of the coast, or talked 

 about in every cuddy, for a century and a half, and that horse-shoes are 

 nailed upon the masts of fishing-vessels to keep off' watches; what then? 

 Is he the only one who has been, or still is, guihy of the same follies ? t 



* Among the fishermen of Europe smiilar disasters occur. In 1836, six fishing vessels be- 

 longing to a village on the Bay of Biscay, France, foundered in a violent storm, and all on 

 board, seventy-three in number, perished. An aflecting ceremony for the repose of their soula 

 was performed under the direction of the late Cardinal Cheverus. 



The Galway Vindicator, 1842, contained an account of the loss of thirty-five fishing boats, 

 with crews of from five to six persons each, making a total loss of more than one hundred and 

 seventy fishenuen in a single gide. 



An English paper, 1843, details the destruction of human life on the coast of Ireland, in 

 January of that jear; from which it appears that forty-six fishermen perished at one place, 

 and twenty-seven at another ; that sixteen women were made widows ; that eleven women, 

 who had previously lost their husbands, were deprived of support by the loss of sons and other 

 relatives ; and that fifty-eight children were left tatherless. In December of the last mentioned 

 year, says a Loudon newspaper, " On Sunday week sixty-nine fishermen, who had been saved 

 from shipwreck during the awful storm of the 28th ultimo, publicly returned thanks to Almighty 

 God, in Cromer church, Norfolk. They all rose when their names were called over by the 

 officiating minister, and then, on their knees, jomed in the beautiful foiin of thanksgiving in the 

 church service." 



t In 182.5 the Duchess de Bern visited a watering place in France, and indulged in sea- 

 bathing. Sea-water and fish which were afterwards taken from the spot were articles of im- 



