MASSACHUSETTS: NEW BEDFORD DISTRICT. 269 



it. Only a small amount was gathered, and that without charge, by any one who wished it. As 

 its value became known, aud more of it was gathered, a charge at the rate of 5 cents for a single- 

 horse load was made. This was about 1860. In 18C5 the charge had increased to 12 cents a load, 

 aud at the present time 25 cents is willingly paid for the same amount, it is used as a fertilizer. 

 Rock-weed and kelp are also used, aud sold for $1 a ton. The latter, wheu mixed with other sea- 

 weed, is worth only 75 cents. All fish not fit for market are saved, and find a ready sale at 30 

 cents a barrel for fertilizing purposes. 



Thirty gill-nets are used by the fishermen at the Poiiit. The catch consists of bluefish, tautog, 

 scup, squeteague, dogfish, and sharks. Two shore-seines and one purse-seiue are used for the 

 capture of menhaden. The catch for the past season was 750 barrels, all of which was sold to the 

 farmers at 30 cents a barrel. Clams and quahaugs are plentiful almost the entire distance of the 

 west side of Buzzard's Bay from Cohasset Narrows to Scouticut Neck. Twenty-seven meu dig 

 them at various points, some going up the bay a short distance, and others, with teams, driving 

 along the shore and filling their wagons, and selling the contents in the neighboring towns. The 

 catch of lobsters here is small in size and amount. Most of it is used, for bait in the capture of 

 tautog, scup, and squeteague. 



Fourteen men with ten boats dredge for scallops from the middle of October to the middle of 

 January. ' Great quantities are found in the Acushuet Eiver, as well as along all the western shore 

 of the bay. A small dredge, holding about a bushel, is used. It is made with an oval-shaped iron 

 frame 3J feet in length. Wire netting is used in the front part and twine at the back. Small 

 sail-boate, each with two men, fish with from one to twelve of these dredges in tow, sailing with 

 just enough sheet to allow a slow headway. As soon as a dredge is filled, the men "luff up," haul 

 in, empty, and go on. These little boats take from 10 to 75 bushels a day. If the breeze be unfa- 

 vorable, one man takes the oars while the other tends the dredges. 



The total number of persons employed in the Fairhaven fisheries in 1880 was 182. The capital 

 invested iu vessels, boats, weirs, aud other apparatus was $22,725, and the value of the fishery 

 products was $31,289. The catch of the vessels was 410,000 pounds of fish; of the weirs 375,000 

 pounds of fish. 'Twenty boats took 2,100 bushels of scallops, 2,800 bushels of clams, and 3,000 

 bushels of quahaugs. The other shore-boats, the seines, and gill-nets caught 30,000 lobsters, 

 200,000 pounds of menhaden, and 215,000 pounds of other fish. 



In the Fairhaven Star of December 14, 1880, is the following historical review of the whaling 

 business of that town : 



" I will give'the readers of your paper an account of the whaling business. I have made a 

 list of the whaling vessels that have been owned and fitted from Fairhaven since the war with 

 England. Peace was proclaimed on the 18th of February, 18-15, and the ship Herald aud schooner 

 Liberty were fitted on a whaling voyage in the North and South Atlantic in the following July, of 

 1815 ; the only whaling vessels belonging to Fairhaven at that date. The next whalers added 

 were schooner President, brig Agenora, ships Stautou, Pindus, Leonidas, and Amazon; these, with 

 the schoouer Talemacus, were the whaling fleet of Fairhaveu in 1821, being eight iu number. 

 From 1821 they increased gradually until 1S37, when there were thirty-seven vessels iu the busi- 

 ness, the tonnage being 11,054 tons. Value of sperm and whale oil imported, 8296,958.56; whale- 

 bone, valued $25,312.86; total, $322,271.42; men employed, 945; capital invested, $957,000. Popu- 

 lation at the above date, 3,649. From 1837 to about 1850 the ships and barks increased to fifty 

 that were fitted and hailed from Fairhaven. Averaging 28 men to each ship would be 1,400 men 

 in the service; the tonnage of the ships, averaging 315 tons, would be 15,750 tons ; capital invested, 

 averaging $26,000 to a ship, would be, $1,300,000. The largest number fitted in any year were 



