46 



The great change effected in the character and methods of the 

 Gloucester fisheries, within a comparatively few years, has been the 

 result of numerous causes. In the early days of the town there was 

 little difficulty in securing good fares of merchantable fish, in pleas- 

 ant weather, at a short distance from shore, and accordingly the 

 shore fishery, with its inexpensive craft and outfits, assumed lead- 

 ing proportions. As the fish removed farther and- farther from the 

 shore, in consequence of the disappearance offish food in near prox- 

 imit}' to the'coast, a better class of vessels and longer vo}*ages be- 

 came a necessit} r . With this improvement in fishing craft, and in- 

 creased expense, new fishing grounds, and a longer fishing season, 

 became possible and necessary. The enterprise of Gloucester fish- 

 ermen was not long in finding new resorts for their calling, and the 

 introduction of the herring trade, by supplying bait at proper sea- 

 sons, gave an added impetus to the business. The increased facili- 

 ties for transportation, and the development of the ice business, af- 

 fording better means of preserving and forwarding fish long distan- 

 ces, however, wrought the greatest revolution that these fisheries 

 have witnessed, and placed Gloucester in the forefront of the fishing 

 ports of America. Since the opening of railroad communication 

 with Gloucester in 1846, but more particularly during the past doz- 

 en years, an immense business has been done in shipping fresh fish 

 to all parts of the country, the orders being received daily by tel- 

 egraph, and the fish being iced and shipped direct to distant cus- 

 tomers. Another outgrowth of the yicreased facilities for transpor- 

 tation is the direct shipment of cured fish to all parts of the county, 

 a business that has increased from a modest beginning in 1863 to 

 huge dimensions, until Gloucester has become the distributing head- 

 quarters for its own productions, and to a considerable extent for 

 those of other- fishing ports. Several business houses in this line 

 send out trade circulars weekly, and fill large orders daity from a 

 long list of correspondents. A single house in 1874 shipped nearly 

 50,000 quintals of codfish, 214 tons of codfish stripped from the 

 bones and skin and packed in small compass, and over 100 tons of 

 smoked halibut, to its numerous customers in the West and South. 

 It is largely through the importance of this branch of the business, 

 in connection with the fresh fish trade, that the Gloucester Branch 

 Railroad has proved a profitable property to a bankrupt corporation, 

 and that a large steamer, making daily trips to Boston, and a re- 

 spectable fleet of first-class freighting vessels, plying between Glou- 

 cester and New York, find lucrative employment. 



