HISTORICAL REFERENCES: RHODE ISLAND. 737 



On August 18, 1735, in order " to protect Pawcatuck River fisheries, it was forbidden to erect dams or weirs on any 

 stream to hinder the passage of fish or to catch them for three days in the week except by hook and line." 



And on June 13, 1737, so as "to preserve the perch in Easton's Pond, it was forbidden to draw seines either in the 

 ponds or creek." 



April 1, 1741 : A petition by Jauies Greene and others to place a dam across the south branch of Pawtnxet 

 River in the town of Warwick, and to erect works thereon for the refining of iron. This petition was against former 

 decisions [as being an obstruction to the fish] but was granted. 



On October 28, 1761, "a lottery was granted to raise 1,500, old tenor, for making a passage around the Paw- 

 tucket Falls, so that fish of almost every kind who choose fresh water at certain seasons of the year may pass with 

 ease." It was represented that the country above the falls would derive much advantage by thus facilitating the 

 access of the fish to the upper waters. Twelve years later, in August, 1773, the assembly passed " an act making it 

 lawful for any one to break down or blow up the rocks at Pawtucket Falls to let fish pass up. * And the 

 said river was declared a public river." 



September, 17G5 : An iron-ore bed was discovered on Pawtuxet River, in Cranston, early in the spring of 17C5, and 

 in September following the petitioners prayed for a dam, and were allowed to build one on condition that they would 

 construct a suitable passage for fish round it, and maintain the same from April 10 to May 20 annually, agreeable to a 

 law that had been in force thirty years. 



February 23, 17C7 : " An act to prevent the Pawtuxet and Pawcatuck Rivers from being obstructed by weirs and 

 seines, so as to prevent the passage of fish, was enforced by a penalty of 50." 



THE WHALE-FISHERIES, 1731 to 1789. " June 14, 1731 : To encourage the whale and cod fisheries a bounty of 5 

 shillings for every barrel of whale-oil, 1 penny a pound for bone, and 5 shillings a quintal for codfish caught by Rhode 

 Island vessels and brought into this [Rhode Island] colony was offered." 



June 11, 1733: " The whale-fishery had long been conducted on a small scale within the colony. Whales fre- 

 quented the quiet waters of Narragansett and were often taken with boats. A stimulus had been given to this 

 enterprise by the recent premium placed upon it, so that vessels began to be fitted out for the purpose. The first 

 regularly-equipped whaleman from Rhode Island of which we have any knowledge arrived in Newport at this tin.e 

 with 114 barrels of oil and 200 pounds of bone, upon which bounty was paid. It was the sloop Pelican of Newport, 

 owned by Benjamin Thurstou, and about fifteen years before smaller sloops had begun to be used at Nantucket for 

 taking whales. At this time some 25 sail, all under 50 tons burden, were there employed, obtaining about 3,700 

 barrels of oil annually." This was the commencement of " that victorious career of industry," long afterwards 

 illustrated in the British House of Commons by the splendid rhetoric of Burke: 



" Look at the manner [said Burke] in which the people of New England have of late carried on the whale fishery. 

 Whilst we followed them amongst the tumbling mountains of ice, and beheld them penetrating into the deepest 

 frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the Arctic Circle, we 

 hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under 

 the frozen serpent of the south." i 



Had not the war with England occurred, no doubt Rhode Island's fisheries would have grown with very rapid 

 strides. Its disastrous effects to the fisheries were acutely felt, as will be seen in the next item: 



" In consequence of the war the Jews, who had done much for their adopted state, had all left by the fall of 1779\. 

 Aaron and Moses Lupez at one time owned 27 square-rigged vessels, several of which were whaling-ships, besides ; 

 many smaller craft." 



The whaling-boats were in this same year (1779) put to a use other than that for which they were built. W 

 next read : 



"In July, 1779, Colonel Barton's corps of infantry were raised for the special purpose of protecting the sea-board" 

 of Rhode Island from Tory forays. They were furnished with whale-boats built expressly for that service." 



THE PKOVIDEXCE FLEET IN 1789. An item in Arnold's history, concerning the Providence fleet, and dated July 

 5, 1789, says : 



"At this time 101 vessels, exclusive of river craft, were owned in Providence, amounting nearly to 10,000 tons, 

 more than three-fourths of which were employed in the foreign trade and on whaling voyages. The ship General 

 Washington returned from China after an absence of nineteen months. This was the first arrival at Providence 

 direct from Canton." 



1 Speech on moving resolutions for conciliation with the colonies, March 22, 1775. 

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