FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK, 109 



The Fortune Bay Riot, 



The treaty of Washington opened the way to a satisfactory settlement of 

 the Alabama Claims, so far as this country was concerned, Great Britain 

 being called upon to pay over a handsome sum for the depredations of her 

 cruisers upon American commerce during the War of the Rebellion. But 

 the Treaty contained provisions concerning the Fisheries which have not 

 resulted as satisfactorily, either to our own government or to the dependen- 

 cies of Great Britain. Under these provisions the American market was 

 thrown open to the products of provincial fishermen, free of duty, thus 

 bringing their catch into active competition with ours, while American fish- 

 ermen were permitted to fish in provincial waters, on equal terms with Brit- 

 ish subjects, as they claim to their great detriment and loss. The Fishery 

 provisons of the Treaty also contained a clause providing for a Commission, 

 to sit at Halifax, and determine how much, if anything, the United States 

 should pay for the valuable privileges vouchsafed her fishermen, over and 

 above the value of the freedom of her markets to provincial-caught fish. 

 The Commission met and heard evidence on both sides, and decided that 

 the United States should pay the sum of $5,500,000, an amount, as the 

 Americans claim and believe, larger than the total value of all the fish taken 

 or to be taken by American fishermen within provincial waters during the 

 twelve years that the Treaty is likely to remain in force. The money was, 

 however, paid without controversy. 



The fishermen of Newfoundland were especially restive under what they 

 regarded as the ceding away of their rights by the imperial government. 

 They looked upon the shore herring fishery of their island as peculiarly 

 their own property. It was their principal source of revenue, on which 

 themselves and their families were dependent for bread, and if this fishery 

 was taken away from them, or its value destroyed, starvation would stare 

 them in the face. Accordingly, when a large American fleet appeared upon 

 their coast, in the Winter of 1877-8, with improved apparatus for the catch- 

 ing of herring, instead of purchasing a supply of the native fishermen, as 

 had previously been the practice, they were greatly incensed, and resolved 

 to defend what they felt to be their rights. 



The Gloucester fleet arrived in Fortune Bay about the middle of Decem- 

 ber, and waited until the first week in January for the herring to strike in. 

 They were provided with seines, and prepared to catch or buy fish, as cir- 

 cumstances might warrant. The fleet comprised twenty-two first-class ves- 

 sels, as follows : 



