THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 473 



refers later to the prosperity of the little band in 1634 



" since they had made a salt worke wherewith they preserv 

 all the fish they take, and have fraughted this yeare a ship 

 of an hundred and four score tun." 



The Pilgrims lost no time in entering upon the business 

 of fishing. Within ten years after their landing at Plym- 

 outh Rock, they carried on an export fish trade with Eng- 

 lish and Dutch settlers in New York ; indeed, fishing became 

 the principal occupation and chief source of revenue of the 

 people of New Plymouth, and the rapid settlement of Mas- 

 sachusetts after the founding of that colony was greatly 

 promoted by the great profits arising from the fishing 

 interests on its coast. The colonists at Plymouth found 

 remunerative occupation, while English vessels at Monhe- 

 gan and other points along the coast of Maine reported fish 

 in great abundance. 



It was during the infancy of the Massachusetts colony 

 that Salem, Gloucester and Marblehead were founded, and 

 they soon became centres of great importance for fishing 

 and other associated interests. The first Massachusetts 

 ship visited the Banks of Newfoundland in 1645 a pioneer 

 destined to have an abundant following. Some friction 

 between the fishermen of Plymouth and Boston manifested 

 itself, but all such differences were finally adjusted by unit- 

 ing the two colonies in 1692, and the fisheries of the greater 

 Massachusetts flourished more extensively than ever. At 

 the close of the seventeenth century, the merchants of Boston 

 exported to Portugal, Spain and Italy about 100,000 quin- 

 tals of cod, worth 1400,000 annually. 



In 1731 the fisheries of this colony employed about 

 6000 men. Ten years later the cod fishery had become 

 exceedingly prosperous; the annual product being about 

 230,000 quintals, valued at $700,000. One hundred and 

 sixty fifty-ton vessels were owned at Marblehead alone ; 

 and it is estimated that in all Massachusetts counted about 

 400 fishing vessels, together with multitudes of smaller 

 fishing craft operating along New England shore stations. 



A variety of causes contributed to the decline of the New 



