THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 475 



enactment began with the restoration of the Stuarts, and was 

 maintained by a series of more or less stringent navigation 

 laws which imposed the most injurious and oppressive bur- 

 dens upon the colonists. In 1733 Parliament placed a duty 

 in New England on rum, sugar and molasses imported from 

 the islands of the West Indies other than British, the aim 

 being to check the prosperous trade that had sprung up be- 

 tween Boston and the French, Dutch and Spanish islands. 

 This measure, along with other measures restricting export 

 trade from New England, tended to work great injury to the 

 fishing interests. The merchants of Boston complained bit- 

 terly, saying that the fisheries were their mainstay of life, 

 and that to prevent trade with the West Indies was to do no 

 less than render their fisheries of little value in short, to 

 convert their gold into dross. An English fleet was sent 

 over to enforce the tariff law, but its commander reported, 

 " ye fishermen to be stubberne fellowes," and in spite of his 

 vigilance, the West Indian trade continued as before, in defi- 

 ance of Parliamentary action. The act of 1733 was renewed 

 in 1764, and the vigilance of the authorities doubled. The 

 jurisdiction of the admiralty courts was enlarged, and 

 determined efforts were made by the officers of the crown 

 to collect the duties. For this purpose commanders of the 

 English men-of-war were commissioned to act as revenue 

 collectors. 



The field having just been cleared of the annoying compe- 

 tition of French fishermen, the Americans were about to enter 

 upon an era of great prosperity. Their fishing stations were 

 located at Canso, in the Bay of Chaleur, and extended along 

 the Labrador coast, and a certain renewal of former successes 

 was just in sight. The navigation laws of England, how- 

 ever, operated so adversely to American interests that the 

 English fishermen, untrammelled by these exactions, soon 

 regained a monopoly in the fishing business. Many New 

 England skippers became discouraged and took their vessels 

 and outfits abroad, where they sold them to their more fortu- 

 nate rivals. By evasions of the law, however, many of the 

 merchants and fishermen of Boston, Salem and Gloucester 



