[251] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



in great numbers. One or more fishing-smacks may at all times be seen 

 at Star Island or Smutty Nose, waiting for a freight of mackerel for 

 Boston market. The masters of these vessels, as soon as a good haul 

 is made, purchase the mackerel of the fishermen as soon as they are 

 taken from the net, and immediately set sail for Boston, where they 

 arrive by the time the splitters have prepared the fish for market. 

 Five or sis thousand are frequently taken at one haul of the seine, and 

 sell at from 1J to 2£ cents apiece. Several seine-owners have already 

 made $1,000 each since the coining of these fish, and those engaged in 

 setting and hauling not infrequently bag $10 or $15 for a day's work. 

 * * * — Portsmouth Messenger. — (Gloucester Telegraph, July 31, 

 1852.) 



1852. — First seizure of an American vessel for fishing off 

 prince edward island. 



Schooner " W. B. Buruhani" has arrived at Boston from Prince Edward 

 Island, having ou board two of the crew of schooner Lion, of Brooklyn, 

 which vessel was taken into Charlottetown by the Nova Scotian armed 

 cutter Telegraph for violation of the treaty. This is the first instance 

 of seizure for fishing off Prince Edward Island. — (Gloucester Telegraph, 

 August 11, 1852.) 



1852.— British cutters in bay of saint lawrence disguised 

 to insure the capture of american schooners. 



An exchange paper says : " Captain Whitmore, of Deer Isle, Maine, 

 states that the commanders of the British cruisers in the Bay of Saint 

 Lawrence are in the habit of disguising their vessels as fishermen, so as 

 to decoy the American vessels within their reach, when they become 

 fishers of men and of prize-money. This is true ; and some of the tricks 

 resorted to in years past by some of the provincial officers would dis- 

 grace any sailor. The present year the colonial vessels are said to look 

 more like common merchant vessels than armed cruisers, and are dis- 

 tinguished from others only when they have the pennant up, which is 

 not always the case." — (Gloucester Telegraph, October 18, 1852.) 



1852. — American mackerel schooners not permitted to fish in 

 bay chaleur, and otherwise annoyed by british cruisers. 



Schooner " Mary Niles," Captain Pool, arrived yesterday from the Bay 

 of Saint Lawrence. Captain Pool informs us thatthe steamship " Devas- 

 tation" will not allow the fishermen to fish in the Bay of Chaleur. He and 

 others were driven out. There w r ere plenty of fat mackerel there, six 

 and seven miles from the shore, and had he been allowed to fish he could 

 have filled his vessel with three or four hundred barrels, whereas he only 

 brought home one hundred. The captain of the "Devastation" told 

 Captain Pool that he should not allow them to fish in the Bay of Chaleur, 

 or within three miles of any of the bays. 



