104 Industrial Experiments in Colonial America. 



reason of their cod and mackerel fisheries; and in my poor 

 opinion, there is nothing more prejudicial, and in prospect more 

 dangerous, to any mother kingdom, than the Increase of shlp- 

 ing In their colonies, plantations or provinces."^ From the 

 launching of WInthrop's "Blessing of the Bay," in 1631, the In- 

 dustry Increased on the Massachusetts coast, under the patron- 

 age of the Assembly, which granted special privileges to ship- 

 builders and provided for the Inspection of vessels.^ Johnson, 

 in his "Wonder-Working Providence," said, in 1647, that the 

 building of ships was going on gallantly.^ In 1676, Randolph 

 mentions, as the centers of this industry in Massachusetts, Bos- 

 ton, Charlestown, Salem, Ipswich, SaHsbury, and Piscatauqua; 

 and he enumerates the ships of the province, with their tonnage, 

 as follows: Thirty vessels of 100-250 tons, two hundred of 50- 

 100 tons, two hundred of 30-50 tons, and three hundred of 6-10 

 tons. Most of these were fishing ketches, but with the Increase 

 In the exports of masts, lumber and bulky goods, and the grow- 

 ing demands of the carrying trade, the tonnage also Increased. 

 Toward the end of the century, ship-building was extended to 

 other towns and pushed further Inland, where the abundance 

 of timber and the cheapness of living reduced the cost ; * and 

 during the first quarter of the next century the industry ad- 

 vanced steadily in New England. By 1721, Massachusetts 

 launched annually from 140 to 160 vessels.^ 



In 1724, the master builders of the Thames sent In a formal 

 complaint to the Board of Trade that, on account of the great 

 number of vessels built, and likely to be built, in New England, 

 their trade was very much decayed; so that many able ship- 

 wrights In their employ had been obliged for want of work to 

 migrate to America and other foreign parts. This loss of 

 skilled labor was regarded as a serious prejudice not only to 

 the ship-builders, but also to the nation, in case of the necessity, 



1" Discourse of Trade," Ch. 10. 

 ^Weeden, p. 156. 

 *Weeden, p. 207. 

 •*Weeden, pp. 253, 254. 

 ^Weeden, p. 579. 



