PERIOD FROM 1^41 TO 1S54. 131 



The Washington case — Decision of Bates, Umpire. 



The schooner Washington was seized by the revenue schooner 

 Juha, Captain Darby, while fisliing in the Bay of Fvnidy, ten miles 

 from the shore, on the 10th of May, 1843, on the charge of violating 

 the treaty of 1818. She was carried to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and 

 there decreed to be forfeited to the cro\m by the judge of the vice 

 admiralty court, and with her stores ordered to be sold. The owners 

 of the Washington claim for the value of the vessel and appurte- 

 nances, outfits and damages, $2,483, and for eleven yeai"s interest 

 $1,638, amounted together to $4,121. By the recent reciprocity 

 treaty, happily concluded between the iTnited States and Great 

 Britain, there seems no chance for any future disputes in regard to 

 the fisheries. It is to be regretted, that in that treaty, provision 

 was not made for settling a few small claims of no importance in a 

 pecuniary sense, which were then existing, but as they have not been 

 settled, they are now brought before this commission. 



The AVasliington fishing schooner was seized, as before stated, in 

 the Bay of Fundy, ten miles from the shore, off Annapolis, Nova 

 Scotia. 



It will be seen by the treaty of 1783, between Great Britain and 

 the United States, that the citizens of the latter, in common with 

 the subjects of the former, enjoyed the right to tahe and cui^e fish on 

 the shores of all parts of tier ^lajesty's dommions in America, used 

 by British fishermen; but not to dry fish on the island of Newfomid- 

 land, which latter privilege was confined to the shores of Nova Scotia 

 in the following words: ''And American fishermen shall have liberty 

 to dry and cure fish on any of the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks 

 of Nova Scotia, but as soon as said shores shall become settled, it 

 shall not be lawful to dr}' or cure fish at such settlement, without a 

 previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprie- 

 tors, or possessors of the ground. ' 



The treaty of 1818 contains the following stipulations in relation 

 to the fishery: "Whereas, differences have arisen respecting the 

 liberty claimed by the United States to talce, dry, and cure fish on 

 certain coasts, hays, harbors, and creeJcs of his Britamiic Majesty's 

 dominions in Arnerica, it is agreed that the inhabitants of the United 

 States shall have, in common with the subjects of his Britamiic 

 Majesty, the liberty to fish on certain portions of the southern, 

 western, and northern coast of Newfoundland ; and, also, on the coasts, 

 bays, harbors, and creeks, from Mount Joly, on the southern coast 

 of Labrador, to and through the straits of Belle Isle; and thence 

 northwardly indefinitely along the coast, and that ^Uuerican fisher- 

 men shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled 

 bays, harbors, and creeks of said described coasts, luitil the same 

 become settled, and the United States renounce the liberty hereto- 

 fore enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, or 

 cure fish, on or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, 

 creeks, or harbors of his Britannic Ivlajesty's dommions in America, 

 not included in the above mentioned limits: provided, however, that 

 the ^\jnerican fishermen shall be admitted to enter such bays or 

 harbors, for the purpose of shelter, and of repairing damages therein, 

 of purchasing wood, and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose 

 whatever. But they shall be under such restrictions as may be 



