303 



Jlsh,^^ allows them to seize our vessels under every Imaginable pretence. 

 The rep;iiring of damages to sails, rigging, and boats; the arranging 

 or reeling of" lines; the preparation of bait; the eating of food; the 

 mending of garments, are allj^rohlblled — for all are performed wiih ref- 

 erence to the main objects of the voyage. An American vessel, when 

 within three miles of the coast, or when in a harbor for shelter, cannot 

 escape seizure, if the colonial cutters enforce the law; for it is olivious 

 tliat everything done on board may be embraced in the comprehensive 

 words — "preparing to lish." The act is a flagrant violation of the 

 convention, which restricts us in certain particulars, when within three 

 marine miles of the colonial shores; but "preparing to fish" is not 

 among thcMutcrdictions. Th(^ convention provides, " That the Amer- 

 ican fishermen shall be admitted to enter such bays or harbors for the 

 purpose of shelter, and of repairing damages therein, of purchasing 

 wood and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose whatever; but 

 they shall be under such restrictions as may be necessary to prevent 

 their taking, drying, or curing fish therein, or in any other manner what- 

 ever abusing the privileges reserved to them." What, then, is the 

 common sense construction of these words? I reply, that a fishing 

 vessel at home, secured at her owner's wharf, is said to be "preparing 

 to fish," when, among other things, her crew are "repairing" her, and 

 are taking in "wood" and "water;" and that a repetition of these acts, 

 when in a colonial harbor, constitutes the same preparation. If this 

 interpretation is just, it follows that while our vessels cannot take, dry, 

 or cure fish within the colonial harbors, or within three miles of certain 

 colonial coasts, they can p-ejjdre to do one and all, whenever necessity 

 arises; responsible only for ^^ahus'ing the privileges reserved to them." 



The absurdity, the inhumanity, of the pretensions set up by Nova 

 Scotia, can be shown by the report of one of her own officers. " I 

 have seen," says Paul Orowell,* (February, 1852,) " instances where 

 American vessels had been fishing the whole of the day, and towards 

 evening, a gale springing up, they were forced to run for a harbor with 

 fifty or sixty barrels of fresh mackenel on deck ; and if salting those 

 fish is understood curing fish — which I think is the only way in which 

 mackerel can be cured — under tliose clicumstances these people must 

 cast their fish into the sea again, or run the risk of having the vessel 

 and cargo seized." 



And again : "When cruising in tlie schooner Telegraph, last fall, being 

 in Little Canso, an American vessel lay near. Observing the men 

 busily (employed on deck, I manned my boat and boarded her; I 

 found ihem employed grinding bait for mackerel. The captain ap- 

 peared (juite innocent, and said he had been so careful that he had not 

 taken a lol)ster while in the harbor. This might be understood 'pre- 

 paring to fish.' " 



This gfntlcman, to his honor, refused to seize the vessels to wliich 

 he refers; but, under the new construction of th(^ convention, they 

 were all prizes. He states truly, that mackerel cauglit on the ev(^ of 

 a gale, and not dressed and salted at sea at the peril of human life, 

 cannot l)e "saved" in a colonial harbor resorted to for shelter, without 



• Tho Crowells of Cape Cod uro of the saiuo liuoiige. 



