MASSACHUSETTS: GLOUCESTER DISTRICT. 153 



entire quantity inspected in Gloucester prior to 1812 was only 1,171 barrels. An inspector was 

 appointed for this place in 180S, but he Lad little to do until about 1820, when the great abun- 

 dance of mackerel then in Boston Bay induced the fishermen to actively engage in their capture. 

 Most of the vessels packed out their catch in Boston, and Gloucester had but a small share in the 

 inspection until 1828, -when 34,203 barrels we:e inspected here. 



In 1830 this port had a tonnage of 9,C43 tons employed in the fishery, and caught 51,613 

 barrels of mackerel entirely off the American shore. 



In 1831 mackerel were so plenty off Cape Ann that the fishermen, for several days together, are 

 said to have been employed all day in catching them and all night in splitting and salting. This was 

 one of the most prosperous years in the history of the fishery, and the catch of the Massachusetts 

 fleet was about 383,000 barrels. Gloucester's share of this catch, with a fleet of vessels measuring 

 about 10,000 tons, was G9,759 barrels, all caught off the American shore. From 1831 to 1839 the 

 mackerel business of Gloucester amounted to about 40,000 barrels annually. In 1840 the catch 

 was only 10,241 barrels, and in each of the two following years it was less than 9,000 barrels. 

 From 1842 to 1854 the average tonnage employed by Gloucester in this fishery was 20,000 tons, and 

 the annual catch increased to an average of 40,000 barrels. In 1851 there were 241 vessels, 

 measuring 13,639 tons, and manned by 2,326 men and boys. 



In 1830 Gloucester mackerel vessels first began to visit the Bay of Saint Lawrence, and during 

 the years 1854 to 18G6, the period of reciprocity, a very prosperous fishery was developed in those 

 waters. Several hundred vessels annually fitted out at Gloucester and caught large quantities of 

 mackerel, many thousand barrels of which were shipped home in Provincial vessels, thus enabling 

 the vessels to take two or more fares. The method of fishing was by hook and line, and enormous 

 quantities of bait was thrown overboard to attract the fish alongside the vessel. Each vessel carried 

 as many as 75 barrels of menhaden slivers that were chopped up for bait. 



From 1854 to 1859, the first five years of reciprocity, the catch in the Bay of Saint Lawrence 

 was not up to the average of some previous years, but the continual application of American 

 enterprise and the use of large quantities of bait rendered the fishery more productive than it had 

 ever been before. 



The reciprocity treaty closed in 1866, and American vessels were forbidden the privilege pre- 

 viously granted of fishing inshore, unless they were provided with a license for which 50 cents per 

 ton was charged. This tax was gradually increased to $2 per ton, and the consequence was that 

 American vessels began to abandon the bay and fished in greater numbers off the coast of the 

 United States. By the same methods used to develop the mackerel fisheries in British waters, 

 Americans now increased the value of the fishery on our own shore, so that in 1870 the catch of 

 the Massachusetts fleet on our coast was about 300,000 barrels, the largest since the year 1831. 

 The share of tte Gloucester fleet in this catch was 110,000 barrels. For a few years after the 

 abolishment of the license system in the Bay of Saint Lawrence, American vessels were much 

 annoyed in those waters, and several were seized and condemned by the British for alleged illegal 

 fishing. 



The treaty of Washington, made in 1873, gave to Americans the privilege of again engaging 

 in the Bay of Saint Lawrence fishery without fear of cruising too near the shore. The general adop- 

 tion of the purse seine by the American fleet kept more vessels on our owu shore, since the seine 

 could not be used to good advantage in the Bay. The number of vessels visiting the bay conse- 

 quently decreased until in 1879 the Gloucester fleet numbered only about twenty-five sail, and in 

 1881 only one or two vessels went there, and their voyages were very unprofitable. 



The number of arrivals of mackerel vessels at Gloucester in 1877 was 86 from the Bay of Saint 



