MASSACHUSETTS: BARNSTABLE DISTRICT. 231 



In 18C2, from some cause or other, the number of vessels in the cod fishery dropped to about 

 seventy-six, while the aggregate of the catch was approximately 65,000 quintals. Five years later 

 the fleet had again increased, the number of vessels employed being ninety-one. The crews 

 aggregated the very large number of nine hundred and eighty-eight men. In regard to the size 

 of the fleet Captain Atwood remarks : 



"The list of cod fishing vessels sailing from this port in 1867 to the Grand Bank and Gulf of 

 Saint Lawrence was the largest that has been sent out in any one year either before or since." 



Seventy-eight thousand five hundred quintals of cod were brought in, in salting which about 

 14,000 hogsheads of salt had been used. The bait used in the cod fishery at this period was 

 entirely of clams, salted. The amount used in 1867 was about 4,098 barrels. Oil to the amount 

 of 1,583 barrels was produced on board. 



The vessels engaged in the cod fishery also brought in a considerable amount of halibut. In 

 1867 the quantity of this species taken by the fleet was 15,156 quintals, or nearly one-fifth the 

 catch of cod. In 1868 five of the vessels carried out ice, with the intent to preserve the halibut 

 and bring them into market fresh ; but the experiment, from some cause or other, proved a failure. 

 Each made several trips during the season. 



Between 1867 and 1869 the fleet suffered a decrease of nine vessels, the number employed in 

 the latter year being eighty-two, witli a tonnage of 5,409 tons, and carrying eight hundred and 

 ninety-four fishermen. They went both to the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and to the Gulf of 

 Saint Lawrence, as in former years, seventy-one visiting the former and eleven the latter grounds. 

 Although the number of vessels was less than in 1867, the cod-fishing was considerably better, and 

 the catch exceeded that of the two previous years, the amount being about 80,457 quintals. 

 Halibut, however, appear to have been quite scarce, or else the fishermen were discouraged by the 

 unsuccessful efforts of the preceding year in bringing them fresh to market, for the catch was only 

 7,653 quintals, or less than one-tenth the amount of cod. About 1,283 barrels of crude cod oil 

 were brought in. In catching and curing the fish 3,262 barrels of bait and 13,321 hogsheads of 

 salt were expended. The only loss of life this year was from the schooner John Tyler, from which, 

 while riding at anchor on the bank in a gale, the captain and three of the crew were washed 

 overboard and drowned. The Gloucester Telegraph for January 19, 1870, contains the following 

 item bearing on the cod fishery : 



" The cost of outfits in the spring was high, so that the fishermen on the average will make 

 small pay, and will find that this fishing the last season has not been a paying business. About 

 half the fish are still on hand." 



According to the Provincetowu Advocate the mackerel fishery in 1869 employed seventy 

 vessels and about eight hundred and forty men. 



The following paragraph, from the Provincetowu Advocate, gives some insight into the con- 

 dition of the town and the character of the people at the close of this decade: 



"Provincetowu is rich in fishing vessels as well as in coasters. About three thousand men 

 are engaged. They are all plucky, resolute sailors, of good morals and considerable education. 

 Intemperance does not seem to have crept into Provincetown as into some other of our coast 

 villages. Even when the fishermen return in the fall there is but little drunkenness. One-third 

 of the town's population of 6,000 arc Portuguese, and these make remarkably good sailors. A 

 large number of the fishermen who ship in Provincetown vessels are from other parts of the 

 cape, but are generally Americans or Portuguese." 



