[249] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 339 



1851. — Terrible disaster to the bay fleet. 



In the Gloucester Telegrapli of October 11, 1851, is reported a dis- 

 patch from B. H. Norton, esq.. United States consul at Pictou, Kova 

 Scotia, which states that 100 sail of American vessels (all mackerel 

 catchers) and probably more than 300 lives were lost in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence, principally on the north side of Prince Edward Island, in a 

 terrific northeast gale, which had swept with almost unparalleled vio- 

 lence the waters and coasts of that region on the 3d and ■Ith of October. 

 The Telegraph of October 25 gives the loss of lives, as then ascer- 

 tained, as 100. 



1851. — EeMINISCENCES of CAPT. J. W. COLLINS. 



In 1851 the mackerel, though abundant off the New England shore, 

 were of small and medium size, and were so low in price that the ma- 

 jority of the fleet went to the Bay of Saint Lawrence, where large fish 

 could be obtained. About the 1st of July I shipped in the schooner 

 •' Brutus," about 40 tons, old measurement, and made a trip mackerel- 

 fishing in the Bay of Fundy. Having obtained a fare in four or five 

 weeks, we packed out in Portland, and thinking we might do better else- 

 where, we went to the Bay of Saint Lawrence. There we caught a trip 

 of 160 barrels in about three or four weeks' time, taking these almost 

 wholly in and about the bend of Prince Edward Island, a large part of 

 them near Malpec. We left the fishing- ground on our return home about 

 the last of September, just in time to escape the terrible gale which 

 wrought such devastation among the large fleet of American mackerel 

 schooners which at that time were in the bend of Prince Edward Island. 

 It is now a matter of history that the northern shore of this island was 

 strewn with the wrecks of vessels and bodies of drowned fishermen 

 which were lost in this October gale. Never before had such a terrible 

 disaster occurred to our fishing fleets. So great, indeed, was the loss 

 of American vessels that this particular gale has been known to the resi- 

 dents of that province as the Yankee gale. 



1851. — Vessels in the mackerel fleet. 



The following table, compiled by Mr. Alexander Starbuck from ofiQcial 

 records, gives the number of vessels, tonnage, and number of men in 

 the crews of the mackerel vessels composing the fleet in 1851 : 



