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It will be seen, that while more than one half of the Massachusetts 

 vessels, in 1851, were owned in four towns, more than one quarter be- 

 longed to the single port of Gloucester. At present, Gloucester is the 

 great mackerel market of the country, and the merchants of many of 

 the principal cities have agents there to purchase and ship for them. 

 Twenty years ago, Gloucester employed but about sixty vessels in the 

 fishery; and such are the uncertainties and fluctuations of the business, 

 that its decline may be as rapid as has been its increase. 



