THE BLACKF1SH AND PORPOISE FISHERIES. 



300 



1876. 



lu 1876 one hundred and eighty blackflsh were driven by Provincetown people, and grounded 

 at Orleans. They sold at auction for $2,200. 



" October 27, 187G, one hundred and thirty were driven ashore at Yarmouth. The monsters 

 were driven ashore by boat -books, axes, forks, &c. One hundred fish were captured, or nearly all 

 the school. They were sold to out-of-town parties for $8 to $10 each." 



1878. 



In the first week in January, 1878, one school of one hundred and eleven, another of one 

 hundred and fifty, blackfish were driven ashore at Cape Cod. The first were sold at an average 



price of $6.25 each. 



1879. 



About the 1st of November, 1879, a school of blackfish visited Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts. 

 The fishermen on the north side of Cape Ann, as soon as they found it out, set to work to capture 

 some of them, and a number were driven upon Coffin's Beach and killed. On the 5th of November 

 they heard that another school had entered the bay ; nine dories, containing twenty men, immedi- 

 ately set out from the shore, and about eighty blackfish were driven upon the beach ; the next day 

 fourteen were driven ashore, and five more were captured at Plum Cove, making in all ninety- 

 nine fish secured in three days, and by twenty men. The fish varied in length from 8 to 20 feet. 

 The blubber was sold to Dodd & Co., of Gloucester, at 2 cents per pound, and the heads at $1.25 

 and $1.50 each, yielding $1,000 to the fishermen. 



A few blackfish had been taken here before this time. Capt. George Davis, one of the oldest 

 residents in this vicinity, remembers a school of fourteen being driven ashore and captured in 

 October, 1844 or 1845. He also says that a small number were taken here about ten years ago. 



The following table shows some of the catches of blackfish on the New England coast during 

 the past one hundred and forty years : 



Caleb Cook states that three thousand blnckflsh were found stranded at different points on Capo Cod in 1874. 



SKC. v, VOL. ii 20 



