THE FISHING INDUSTRY. 4OI 



These were not all fishing vessels merely, but some, like 

 the Speedwell, the Juno, the Three Sisters, and the Ann, 

 measured nearly one hundred tons each, and were able to 

 make ocean voyages to the West Indies, and even across 

 the Atlantic. It is not known how many of these were 

 actually engaged in an ocean commerce, but even those 

 which were used a part of the time to catch codfish or 

 mackerel were put into the freighting business along the 

 Atlantic seaboard or across the ocean when freights were 

 lucrative. 



The fishing business was a sort of primary school 

 for Cohasset mariners, for many of them, after gaining 

 here their first lessons in practical navigation, applied 

 for positions in Boston upon larger foreign-going craft. 

 Some of them became mates or captains, as we have 

 already noted, and were thenceforth seen in Cohasset 

 only occasionally, when their voyages about the world 

 might permit.* 



The money which these captains earned upon their for- 

 tunate foreign cruises they laid aside to be a support for 

 them when they retired from their perilous careers. Many 

 families of our community are living to-day upon the income 

 of these earnings, inherited from fathers and grandfathers, 

 and invested in Boston real estate, or in railroad bonds, 

 or in some other financial repository. Many are the Co- 

 hasset mariners who never came back from their last cruise, 

 for their watery graves were found far from their native 

 land. 



Some of the vessels of our town that were ambitious 

 enough to embark in this larger marine enterprise, the 

 owners of them being encouraged to let them go by the 

 persuasion of the Cohasset mariners who had learned the 

 tricks of the great sea, may be seen by the following 

 list : — 



♦Captain Ephraim Snow is said to have crossed the Atlantic fifty times. 



