CITY OF GLOUCESTER, 1876. 



CHAPTER 3. 



DECLINE OF THE BANK FISHERY FISHING COMPANY RESUMPTION 

 OF BANK TRIPS SHORE FISHERY MACKEREL FISHERY, ETC. 



On the resumption of the Bank fishery, after the war, it appears 

 from one statement that sixty vessels resorted thither from Glouces- 

 ter ; but the merchants of the town soon found a more profitable 

 employment in foreign commerce, and this branch of the fishery rap- 

 idly declined till 1804, when we find that the whole number of ves- 

 sels over thirty tons engaged in the fisheries of the town was only 

 eight ; and this falling-off in the particular branch here mentioned is 

 fully explained by the fact, that all the traditions of the business re- 

 port that the average earnings of the Bank fishermen were so small, 

 that they were kept in a condition of poverty. Seeing this deca- 

 dence, and stimulated in some degree perhaps b} r encouragement 

 from the general government, in the way of bounty, a few public- 

 spirited citizens attempted to put new vigor into the business by the 

 organization of a fishing company with an authorized capital of fifty 

 thousand dollars. This company began operations in 1819, by fit- 

 ting out seven schooners, but it soon found that a business which 

 private capital avoided could hardly be expected to yield profit, even 

 to the best corporation management ; and, at the end of the third 

 year, the enterprise came to an end, with a loss of a considerable 

 portion of the capital invested in it, a result which seemed to ex- 

 tinguish all hope of prosperity from the pursuit of this branch of 

 industry. In 1820 the U. S. Census showed that the population of 

 the town had increased but twenty per cent, in thirty years, and, 

 with the total extinction of its Grand Bank fishery, few entertained 



