JOT 



affiiirs. "The reprnt of tlic commissioners f?")!' the planfntion at Rich- 

 mond's island," ni;ulc in 1G4S, is wortliy of notice, us cont;iinin^r curious 

 facts to show the prices .•lud tr;insactioHS of the time. The commis- 

 sioners were appointed at the instiuice of Jordiin, wdio claimed that a 

 balance was due the estate of his father-in-law. It is said in the 

 report, thai, in the six years preceding his decease, Winter h.id sent his 

 principid in England, "in s<n'eral ships, in fish, merchr.ntahle and re- 

 fuse, 3,0-5Gi quintals," ;md of "core-fish, 38-} fpiintiils ;" of "tniiu-oil, 

 11 hogsheads;" and other comniodities of the sea ; which, "according 

 to the prices here, cannot amount to less than .£2,292." The inventory 

 of the property l)elonging to the fishery, shows three boats in use, with 

 their moorings and appurtenances, .£28; two old boats out of use, 

 valued at £2; the fishing stage, with a quantity of old casks, <£10 6.s. ; 

 six dozen hooks, at 16 shillings; five chwen of lines, at £7 ; one seine 

 and two old nets-, £4: 10.?. ; about ninety hogsheads of salt:, £6-5 10s.; 

 and that there was due the concern by a Mr. Hill, the sum of <£S4 155. 

 9*?. for one hundred and thirty-three quintals of fish sold but not paid ibr. 



The fishermen who fiajuented the waters of Maine having often de- 

 Olro3'ed timber and wasted the f )rests on the shores, and having ac- 

 quired the habit of carelcssl}^ ])acking and curing their fish, the county 

 court were directed to appoint proper officers to correct these abuses by 

 an ordinance of 1652 ; at which time Pemaquid had become the principal 

 plantation between the Kennebec and the Penobscot, a gieat fishing 

 mart and place of shelter for vessels passing to and fiom the French 

 and English settlements scaltered along the coast. 



In 1657, wc have an Indian deed of land in Portland as fjllows r 

 " Be it known unto alL men that I, Scittery Gusset, of CascoBay, Sag- 

 amore, do hereby firmly covenant, bargain, and sell unto Francis Small, 

 of the said Casco Bay, fisherman, his heirs, &c., all that upland and 

 marshes at Capisic, lying up along the northern side of tht^ river, unto 

 the head thereof, and so to reach and extend unto the river side of Am- 

 moncongan." This Sagamore was, possibly, the murderer of Bagnall, 

 at Richmond's island, in 1631. The consideration for the lands sold 

 to Small was one trading coat and one gallon of liquor annually. Four 

 years later Nicholas White, of Casco Bay, sold to John Breme, " now of 

 the sam(; Bay, fisherman," all his interest in House island, near Port- 

 land, being one (]ua,rter part, but reserved liberty to Sampson Penky 

 to njake fish on the island during his life. These conveyances show 

 "what was passing two centuries ago at the present conmiercial capital 

 oi'thc frontier Slate. 



In 1667 the commissioners of King Charles to New England gave 

 a sad account of the morals of the jxrsons connected with our 

 subject on the " Kennibeck river," upon " Shipscot river," and at 

 "Pemaquid." "These people," say they, "for the most ]):irt, are 

 fisheriijen, and never harl any government amon^ incm ; mosi ol'lhctn 

 aj-e such as ha,ve fled lioiu oilier pla(-cs to aMiid justice. Sonn' hi-ro 

 ai'e of o})inion that as many men may share a woman as they do a bt)at, 

 and SOUK! have done so." Josselyn's* picture of Main<^ at this period, 



•John .ToHsi'lvn nrrivcfl in Boston in IfiO;}, and lived in Now Eughuld a uumlxsr of yoara. 

 Hifl account ot his advinturea Lu liis two voyugt-s in luuusing. 



