207 



of age. The population of Truro at that time w.is about nineteen hun- 

 dred ; the number ot widows, one hunched and five. 



Twenty-eight men who belonged to Dennis were lost in the same 

 gale; of whom but six were past thiit}^ years old, and nine left families. 

 In one day, immediately after this storm, nearly or quite one hundred 

 bodies were taken up and buried on Cape Cod. 



In a gale iSeptenibcn', 1S4G, eleven vessels owned atMarblehead were 

 wrecked or foundered, and sixty-tive men and boys perished in them. 

 By this calamity the number of widows in that town was increased 

 forty-three, and the number of orphan children one hundred antl fifty- 

 one. In the sanie year sixty fishing skiffs were totally wrecked at 

 Trinity Bay, Newibundland, and the loss of life and property along 

 tlie shores of that island was appalling. 



Between 1S37 and October, 1852, my record (which is probably 

 imperfect) shows that the single town of Gloucester lost thirty-one ves- 

 sels, and one hundred and ninety-four men. In manj^ cases every 

 person on board perished. 



After the memorable gnle of October, 1851, on the coast of Prince 

 Edward Island and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the beaches were 

 strewed with the wrecks of American and British vessels, and with the 

 bodies of men. The exact number of those of both flags who lost their 

 lives is hardly to be ascertained. But it is known that fifty bodies 

 floated on shore within about twenty hours from the cessation of the 

 storm, in a distance of twenty miles ; that ninety-seven persons, belong- 

 ing to thirteen American vessels, were found on different parts of the 

 coast ; that upwards of eighty of our vessels were driven on shore ; and 

 that the aggregate number of American fishermen who perished was 

 more than one hundred and fifty.* 



It lemains, in conclusion, to speak of the character of the fisherman. 

 It is said that he " is credulous and superstitious." Admit that " Kidd's 

 money" has been dug for in every dai-k nook of the coast, or talked 

 about in every cuddy, for a century and a half, and that horse-shoes are 

 nailed upon the masts of fishing-vessels to keep off witches; what then? 

 Is he the o?ili/ one who has been, or still is, guiky of the same follies? t 



* Among tho fiKhonnen of Europe similar (lisastfrR occur. In 18^6, six fishing vessels be- 

 longing to a villagt' on ilic Iiuy of 15isca\, France, loundfred in a violent storm, and all on 

 board, seveniy-llin-e in number, jierislied. An aii'ecting ceremony lor the repose of their souls 

 was perliirmed iinrler tin; direction of tin; lati; Cardiiial Cheverns. 



The Galway Vindicator, IHi^, contained an accoinit of the loss of thirty-five fishing boats, 

 with crews ot from fiv<; to six jjcrsons each, making a total loss of more than one hundred and 

 seventy fishenneii in a single gale. 



An English pa])er, Hi:?, details (he destruction of human life on the coast of Ireland, in 

 January of that year; from which it ui)pears that; forty-si.\ lishermeu |)erislie(l at one place, 

 and twenty-seven at another; that si.xteen women wen; made widows; that eleven wnmeii, 

 who had previously lost llicir husbands, were deprived (d"su|i|iorl by the loss of sons and other 

 relatives; and that fifiy-ei;;bt children were left liitherless. In l)ecend)er of the last nieniioned 

 year, says a London newspa[)er, "On Sunday week sixty-nine fishermen, who had been saved 

 from shij)wreck during the awful storm of tiie •J>'th niiinjo, publicly returned tliaidvs to Almighty 

 God, in ('romer churr-b, Xorfidk. 'J'liey all rose when their names were calh'd over by the 

 otticiating minister, and then, on their knee.s, joined in the beautiful fonii of thanksgiving in the 

 church service." 



t In l^i^i') the Duchess de I'.crri \isited a walerini,' jdacc in France, and indulged in sea- 

 bathing. Son-water and lish which wtTe aJ"ierwar<ls taken from the spot were articles of iiu- 



