36 FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK, 



The Old-Time Fishery at ^Squam. 



BY GIDEON L. DAVIS. 



Tradition of the Early Settlement — The Vessels Used and Voyages Pursued — An 

 Interview with ^^ Uncle Ben,'' Who Tells What He Knows about the Old- 

 Time Fishery — " Uncle Joe's" Narrative — " Uncle 'Bijah's" First Trip — 

 Various Kinds of Craft Used in the Fisheries — A Grand Bank Trip in 1816 

 or 181 7 — Largest Fishing Fare Ever Landed on Cape Ann. 



The business of fishing at 'Squam must have commenced with its settle- 

 ment, for the not-over-productive soil could have afforded but a scanty 

 livelihood, and the early settlers were doubtless attracted by the products 

 of the sea, which were plentiful and easily obtained. Tradition, documen- 

 tary evidence and landmarks tend to prove that the fisheries commenced 

 here at a very early period, and flourished for many years. The places 

 which tradition asserts were once the sites of fishing establishments, hardly 

 a trace of which remains, and the fishing stands of a later period, with their 

 wharves and warehouses crumbling to decay, mark two eras of prosperity in 

 the fishing business that have long since passed away. 



Could we go back in imagination to that earlier era ; could we bridge over 

 the lapse of years that have intervened ; and tell how the fishermen lived — 

 how they captured their fish — describe their clumsy and ill-contrived crafts 

 — recount the dangers and difficulties they encountered — we might compile 

 a chapter full of interest for the "Fishermen's Own Book." 



(3f the ancient fishing establishments, which seem to have flourished at an 

 early day, we can hazard but a few conjectures. All record of them, if there 

 ever was any such record, has been lost. Our knowledge of them is* there- 

 fore merely traditional. The "ketches" and "sloops" spoken of in history 

 as the first vessels employed in the Cape Ann fisheries were doubtless used 

 by them. Of the latter class of fishing craft we learn from history that in 

 1724 several were employed in the Bank fishery, and that one of them, the 

 Squirrel, belonging to 'Squam river, was captured by a pirate ; that the 

 crew subsequently rose against their captors, killed some, threw others over- 

 board, retook the sloop and brought her back into the river. The hanging 

 of the bodies of two of the pirates upon *' Hangman's Island " may be 

 taken as evidence that the Squirrel belonged to the fishing establishment at 

 "Done Fudging," about which there has been so much conjecture, since 

 the island was but a short distance from it. It is now covered by the East- 

 ern Railroad bridge, which spans the river at this point. I remember seeing 



