309 



crew, who were turned on shore without funds or means to help them 

 home." 



The Hope was captured without cause ; was tried in the court of 

 admirahy, and restored. Her master and crew had j)reviously exerted 

 themselves to save the lives of the crew of an English vessel. 



The Commerce was seized in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The cap- 

 tain states the facts as follows: "While employed," he says, in dress- 

 ing the mackerel which they had caught (on that d;iy,) "there came on 

 a gale so severe that the vessel was hove down on her beam-ends ; part 

 of the fish, to the amount of fifteen barrels, was washed overboard, the 

 rest being stowed in the hold ; the only boat was carried away, and the 

 gib was split in two." The next morning, being near the harbor of 

 Port Hood, he thought "it prudent to put in to repair sails, and pro- 

 cure a boat. On arriving there he came to anchor, at 9 o'clock; and 

 whik^ salting the fish, to keep them from spoiling, and waiting for the 

 sails to dry," the commander of a colonial cutter came on board, from 

 an old black fishing-shallop, with eleven men, and told him that he 

 "had violated the treaty by salting his mackerel in the harbor." The 

 colonial officer "put the men, except two, on shore, without money or 

 friends, and took tlie vessel, with the captain and the two other men, to 

 the Gut of Canso, where his cutter was l3dng, and on the following 

 day to Arichat. The vessel was here stripped of her sails and rig- 

 ging." On a hearing before the admiralty court, the Commerce was re- 

 leased; and, contiuues the captain, he "received an order, which was 

 sealed up, addressed to the officer at Arichat, directing, as he was in- 

 formed, the clearance of his vessel free of all expenses, and leaving 

 him to get back as he could. On arriving at Arichat, he found one 

 anchor taken from his vessel, and he was compelled to pay $22 for 

 wharfage, and for taking care of the vessel." Tfie American consul 

 for Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, corroborates the 

 captain in the most important particulars. He remarks: " Off" Prince 

 Edward Island, one of our fishing-vessels lost her boat and injured 

 her sails, and was obliged to put into Port Hood for a harbor. While 

 there the captain was cleaning some of his mackerel, when his vessel 

 was seized by the British revenue cutter and taken into Arichat, where 

 the vessel was stripped of all her sails. As soon as I heard of the par- 

 ticulars from my consular agent at Port Hood, I immediately informed 

 our government of the facts, and laid the case before the authorities at 

 Halifix, who, after a delay of some three months, concluded to release 

 the vessel; the consequence was, the owners were put to great ex- 

 pense, and the captain and crew, rruutu of whom hid large families, lost 

 their Viliole fahing scaxon.^'' 



'i'he number of our fishing vessels seized b(.'tween ISIS and ISol 

 was fifiy-one; of which, twenty-six were released without trial or by 

 decree of the admiralty court, and twenty-five were condcmncfl. 'fhe 

 caiscs which we have examined embrace; u{)wards of one-hall ot ilm 

 whole rmmber captured during a period of" more than tliirty yenrs. 

 Fifle(;ii or sixteen thf)usand voyages, at the lowest conijiutalion, must 

 have been ni;i(lc lo llic coastof Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and l*iince 

 Eward Isl.uid; and y<t, notwithstanding the hostile; spirit wliieli has been 

 manilested by tiic first-named colony, liom the first, and notwithstanding 



