196 



generally received in any market in the United States for the article of 

 " Magdalene herrings." 



Herrings fatten as the season advances ; hence those taken occasion- 

 ally by vessels employed in the cod-lishery on the coast of Labrador 

 are as unhke those just mentioned as possible. It is to be regretted that 

 so few fat and well-flavored herrings are procured for consumption at 

 home, inasmuch as a more abundant supply of the gibbed fish, caught 

 in the Bay of Fundy and more distant regions in autumn, would doubt- 

 less lead to the disuse of the interior kinds of dried fish, and render 

 poorer and badly cured herrings entirely unsaleable. 



In America this fishery has ever occupied a subordinate place. But 

 some of the cities of Europe owe much of their present commerce and 

 importance to the wealth acquired in its prosecution. To persons who 

 are famihar with the character and rank of the mass of herring-catchers 

 of our day, an account of the mania on this subject in Eiigland two cen- 

 turies ago seems almost incredible.* Without space for details, or 

 even to relate incidents to show how vast were the projects, and how 

 magnificently rich were the joint stock associations, which were formed 

 by noblemen and princes of the blood — to catch herrings — I can only 

 remark that the " operators" in timber lands and corner lots of cities 



* Fishing manias in Great Britain hare been frequent. We will bnefly aotice several of 

 thena. To commence no earlier, there was one in 1677, •«lien the Duke of York, aad other 

 personages of rank, were incorporated into a body eatitled the " Company of the Royal Fkhery 

 of England." This company seems to have exhausted its capital in fitting out '"busses" ot 

 vessels built in Holland, and manned with Dutch herring-catchers, and to have been ruined 

 by the capture of a large part of their ves-sels in a war with France. 



A second was in 1720, when two thojisand of the principal gentlemen of Scotland fonmed a 

 company for the prosecution of the herring fishery. This was a time noted for speculations ; 

 and the Scotch Company — a mere bubble — soon burst, leaving the shareholders to mouru 

 over their folly. 



A third occurred in 17.50, when a company was incoirporated with a capital of £500,000, 

 of which the Prince of Wales was president, or governor. His associates were among, the 

 first men in the kingdom. General James Oglethoi-pe, the foimder of the State of Georgia, 

 was a prominent mejnber, and, on delivering the Prince the act of incoi-poration, made a 

 speech, which was published. The public excitement was intense; the stock was subscribed 

 for immediately ; vessels were built and equipped with the utmost rapidity, and artifices were 

 resinted to iu order to ascertain the Dutch method of curing the herring But the project 

 failed — as the Earl of Winchelsea and some other peers predicted it wo«ld — at the outset- 

 The suspension of this company was veiy injurious to the British herring-fisheiy generally for 

 a considerable period. 



Men have been ruined in our own tiroes far indiilging in the same visiouaiy schemes, 



Li 1803, some English theorists of rank and influence recommended a national fishery on a 

 vase scale. The plan was plausible, but too complicated. These gentlemen proposed " tha? 

 there should be a grand national coi-poration. under the immediate protection and superin- 

 tendence of Parliament," with a capital stock of , which was to be raised in shares by 



the seaport towns and corporations, proportioned to the advantages of locality and the amount; 

 of their trade and tonnage, and an annual dividend of 5 per cent, was to be guarantied ons the 

 capitaL 'Conveniences for shipping, storehouses, sheds,' »S:c., were to be * constructed in 

 places contiguous to the best fisliing-grounds.' ' A free use of salt' was to be granted to "the 

 managers without any interference of the revenue officers.' ' The fish taken and cured,' were 

 'to be exempt from ail duties whatever,' and, 'on the other hu»d, no bounties' were *tobe 

 given.' ' Fishermen, disabled by accident, age, or infirmity, and the widows and.children of 

 fishe-rmen,' were ' to be provided for.' Finally, 'the coi"poraiiou' was ' to be authorized to 

 propose rules for the regulation and disscipliue of the fishery.'" 



As late as the year Ic^.l we have similar projects, (though of private companies;) since, 

 among the immense joint-stock concerns which burst during the commercial revidsion of 

 that period, we find three fishing companies whose aggregate capital (nominally) amounted t9 

 the euormoua simi of £1,600,000, or nearly eight millions of dollars. 



