28 



had risen to be the second in New England in this important busi- 

 ness, in which Marblehead took the lead, and was but slightly in ad- 

 vance of our own town. To sum it up in a few words it may be 

 stated that in the fisheries of the town there were then engaged at 

 least one hundred and fifty schooners and boats, aggregating four 

 thousand eight hundred tons, and employing six hundred men. The 

 yearly product of dried fish may be estimated at about forty-eight 

 thousand quintals, the value of which did not vary much either way 

 from one hundred thousand dollars. 



During the Revolutionary War the fishing schooners could not be 

 employed for the business in which they had been previously engag- 

 ed. Several were converted into privateers, a few rotted at the 

 wharves, and some were preserved till peace again made it safe to 

 engage in the Grand Bank fishery. A few small boats fished along 

 the shores, but their product was of inconsiderable amount, and small 

 as it was, probably exceeded the limited demand for home consump- 

 tion. The boats used in this shore fishery were called Chebacco 



MODEL OF CHEBACCO BOAT. 



boats, from the name of the place where they were built a part of 

 Ipswich, now the town of Essex. The name has a striking similari- 

 ty to that of a small vessel mentioned in the French marine diction- 

 aries the chabek; but there is no doubt that our Chebacco boats 

 derived their appellation as here stated ; and it is quite probable that 

 in rig and model they were peculiar to Cape Ann and were first used 

 in its waters. Like the "old Bankers," they have now entirely dis- 

 appeared. 



