220 History of Hingliam. 



Shipyards and wharves soon dotted the shore and multiplied 

 with astonishing rapidity : and many a stately vessel received her 

 baptism and commenced her perilous life in the little bay which 

 washes our coast. The commerce which subsequently was one 

 of the chief sources of local wealth began, too, almost with the 

 birth of the town, and in 1679 we read of the loss at sea of a 

 vessel in which Joshua Hobart, one of Hingham's stalwart mari- 

 ners, was a part owner. Before this Winthrop mentions the over- 

 turning off Paddock's Island of a small shallup of ten tons, in 

 which was John Palmer, whose house lot was on Broad Cove, and 

 two others. This was in 1639, and the shallop was perhaps one 

 of the fishing smacks forming the advance guard of the fleet which 

 lined our wharves and enriched many of our citizens, and which 

 only finally disappeared within a very few years past. But while 

 this town and her sisters grew and prospered and pursued their 

 peaceful vocations, the shadow of a coming struggle lengthened, 

 and the inevitable contest between the white race and the red race 

 neared yearly and daily its culmination. In 1665 the town " Lyd 

 out for powder, bullets, and match, £.11." — a very considerable 

 sum for the time, and indeed a very large proportion of the total 

 expenditures for the year. The following quaint order passed July 

 20, 1668, is interesting because of the glimpse it affords of the 

 customs and vigilance of the period : — 



It is ordered by the Selectmeu of the town that all such p's's as are 

 app 1 & warned to watch on the constables watch shall from time to time 

 appear at the meeting house half an hour after sunset to receive their 

 charge ; and the constable is hereby ordered to meet them there at the said 

 time or soon after to give them their charge according to law ; and we do 

 also order that after the new watch is come about as far as the meeting 

 house that then the 2 constables shall take their watches to give the watch 

 in charge, that is, one constable f watch & the other another & so by 

 turns till the time is expired which the law sets for the keeping up the sd 

 watch. 



A generation had reached manhood since the extermination of 

 the Pequods ; the town and the colony alike had attained to strength 

 and confidence born of prosperity, and a feeling of security re- 

 sulting from unceasing vigilance and preparation pervaded the 

 settlements. Nevertheless fear of the French, jealousy of the 

 Dutch, and suspicion of the Indian kept the weapons of prepa- 

 ration bright. A rumor now and again of some forest outrage, an 

 actual barbarity, and possibly a self-consciousness of not being 

 without wrong on their own part, kept the colonists alert and 

 active. The military enactments of the General Court grew more 

 specific, more frequent, and more stern : the co-operation of the 

 towns and their own watchfulness became more marked. A 

 successful expedition against the French on the Penobscot in 

 1653, and another to Niantick to suppress a Xarragansett conspir- 



