203 



he looked at his own empty sleeve, and exclaimed, "Well, J;ick, you 

 and I are spoiled for fishermen!" How many men of Marblehead, of 

 Beverly, Salem, TS'ewhuryport, Plymouth, and of" the towns on the two 

 capes of Massachusetts, of Portsmouth ;ind the Isles of Slioals, and of 

 the fishing towns and islands of Maine, who served in the war of 1812, 

 returned home with an " empty sleeve," and " spoiled" for their former 

 avocation! I regard it as strictly true to say, that without our fisher- 

 men we could hardly have mnnned a frigate, or captured one, from the 

 beginning of that war to its end. Fishermen com{)osed a large part of 

 the crew of " Old Ironsides " in her two earli(\st victories ; find I believe 

 that the number was not much diminished when that favorite ship 

 passed into the hands of Stewart and won her last battle. Without 

 going into details, it may be said that the men of Marblehead,* and of 

 other places engaged in the same pursuits, were in almost every national 

 or })rivate-armed ship that bore our flag. 



At present it is afhrmed, the official tables show that the number of 

 our fishermen in the national service in case of war would be small. I 

 admit it; and were it not so, and were not further decrease to be ap- 

 prehended, much of my labor miglit be spared. It is hard, first to 

 wound an important branch of" industry, and then to accuse it of inef- 

 ficiency ; to fill our shi])S, public and private, with foreign seamen, 

 and chen tauntingly show figures to prove how contemptible the fish- 

 eries are as a means of supply. But I contend that oflicial statis- 

 tics (erroneous or unsatisfactory quite often) do not, in this matter, 

 convey the whole truth. The fact is, that hundreds, nay, thousands, 

 who first learned to "rough it," in pinkies, pogies, mid jiggers, on the 

 coast, or in the larger class of vessels that visit Labrador and New- 

 foundland, have abandoned such craft, and are now either masters, 

 mates, or seamen, of merchant vessels. Many others, retired wholly 

 from the sea, are to be found quietly settled as traders in small towns 

 along the sea-l)oard, or are to be met with daily on 'Change in our prin- 

 cipal cities. The reasons lor these changes are obvious. The more 

 ambitious and intelligent seek to better their condition, while all per- 

 ceive that their employment is of but questionable repute, and of un- 

 certain rewards. It may be urged with force that an avocation in 

 which men are educated to become masters of merchant vessels, is 

 entitled to protection on this account alone, since every good mariner 

 is a source of strength and weakh to the country. To preserve the 

 school — so to speak — in which the business character of such men is 

 formed, is an object of national concern, to say nothing of the immense 

 benefits to be derived from an abundant supply of common seamen, 

 both in pfiace and in war. 



The (question may be argued still further. Every American citizen 

 desires a wife, and a home. Marriage cotuhices to morality, and wise 

 rulers in every age and country have endeavored to promote it. In 

 this regard, then, let us inquire what are the just hopes of fishermen — 

 who reflect — as determined by experi(>nce and by ascertained facts. 

 A distinguished statesman, in advocating the repeal of" the "bounty 



*It is btilievcd that fiv« hundred iiieuwho belonged to Murblehead alouo,WBio released froiu 

 Dartmoor prison at iho peace. 



