FISHERY. 



fish, with which its various creeks, bays, 

 rivers, lakes, and coasts, are replenished. 

 King Charles I. was so sensible of the 

 great advantages to be derived from fish- 

 eries, that he began the experiment, to- 

 gether with a company of merchants, but 

 the civil war soon occasioned that project 

 to be set aside. King Charles II. made a 

 like attempt, but his pressing wants made 

 him withdraw what money he had em- 

 ployed that way ; whereupon the mer- 

 chants that joined with him did so too. 

 Since the union, several attempts have 

 been made to retrieve the fisheries, and a 

 corporation settled to that effect, entitled 

 the lloyal British Fishery. 



In the year 1750, the parliament of 

 Great Britain taking the state of the fishe- 

 ries into consideration, an act was passed 

 for the encouragement of the white her- 

 ring- fishery, granting acharter, whereby 

 a corporation is created, to continue 

 twenty-one years, by the name of the So- 

 ciety of the Free British Fishery, to be 

 under the direction of a governor, pre- 

 sident, vice-president, council, Sec. who 

 are to continue in office the space of three 

 years, with power to make by-laws, &c. 

 and to raise a capital of 500,0001 by way 

 of subscription. And any number of per- 

 sons, who, in any part of Great Britain, 

 shall subscribe 10,GOO/. into the stock of 

 this society, under the name of the Fish- 

 ing Chamber, and carry on the said fishe- 

 ry on their own account of profit andloss, 

 shall be entitled to the same bounty al- 

 lowed to the society. The bounty is 30s. 

 the ton, to be paid yearly, for fourteen 

 years, besides three percent, for the mo- 

 ney advanced by each chamber. The act 

 contains other proper regulations relative 

 to the nets, marks on the herring-barrels, 

 number of hands, and the quantity of salt 

 that is entitled to the bounty, &.c. It is 

 then by the encouragement given by this 

 act, that we now see a laudable emulation 

 prevailing all over the two kingdoms, and 

 fishing busses fitted out from almost every 

 port, in order to repair to the Shetland 

 islands, where the herring fishery is car- 

 ried on with an ardour becoming so im- 

 portant a branch of trade. Scotland, 

 which suffered incredibly from the neglect 

 of this valuable and natural produce of 

 the seas, has not been backward to join 

 in a scheme that tends so evidently to its 

 own advantage: for the cities of Edinburgh 

 and Glasgow, the towns of Montrose,Dun- 

 dee, Perth, Inverness, and some other bo- 

 roughs, have raised the proper sum, and 

 chambers have been erected in each of 

 them; the gentlemen of estates, adjoining 



to the respective places above-mentioned, 

 liberally contributing with merchants to- 

 wards the prosecution of an undertaking 

 so visibly tending to the good of their 

 country in general 



FisHKRf, anchovy. Anchovies are 

 fished on the coast of Provence, in the 

 months of May, June, and July, at which 

 season shoals of this fish regularly come 

 into the Mediterranean through the 

 Streights of Gibraltar. They are likewise 

 found in plenty in the river of Genoa, on 

 the coast of Sicily, and on that of the island 

 of Gorgone opposite to Leghorn ; xthese 

 lust are reckoned the best. It is remark- 

 able that anchovies are seldom fished but 

 in the night time. If a fire be kindled on 

 the poops of the vessels used for this fish- 

 ing, the anchovies will come in greater 

 numbers into the nets ; but then it is as- 

 serted, that the anchovies taken thus by 

 fire are neither so good nor so firm, and 

 will not keep so well, as those which are 

 taken without fire. When the fishery is 

 over, they pull off' the heads of all the an- 

 chovies, gut them, and afterwards range 

 them in barrels of different weights, the 

 largest of which do not weigh above twen- 

 ty-five or twenty-six pounds, and they 

 put a good deal of salt in them. Some 

 also pickle them in small earthern pots, 

 made on purpose, of two or three pounds 

 weight, more or less, which they cover 

 with plaster, to keep them the better. 



FISHERY, cod. There are two kinds 

 of cod-fish, the one green or white cod, 

 and the other dried or cured cod, though 

 it is all the same fish differently prepared; 

 the former being sometimes salted and 

 barrelled, then taken out for use ; and the 

 latter, having lain some considerable time 

 in salt, dried in the sun or smoke. We 

 shall therefore speak of each of these 

 apart, and first of 



FISHERY-, green cod. The chief fishe- 

 ries for Green cod are in the bay of Cana- 

 da, on the great bank of Newfoundland, 

 and on the isle of St. Peter, and the isle 

 of Sable, to which places vessels resort 

 from divers parts, both of Europe and 

 America. They are from 100 to 150 tons 

 burthen, and will catch between 30 and 

 40 thousand cod each. The most essen- 

 tial part of the fishery is to have a master 

 who knows how to cut up the cod, 

 one who is skilled to take the head off" 

 properly, and, above all, a good salter, on 

 which the preserving them, and conse- 

 quently the success of the voyage, de- 

 pends. The best season is from the be- 

 ginning of February to the end of April ; 

 the fish, which in the winter retire to the 



