PREFACE 



There is no industry in America that antedates the 

 fisheries. Fishermen from France, Spain, Portugal and 

 England frequented the banks of Newfoundland before 

 any trade relations between the Old and the New World 

 came into existence. The codfishery of the New England 

 coast was carried on many years previous to the establish- 

 ment of a permanent English colony in our country. 

 Voyages of exploration and settlement to New England 

 were prompted by reports of the valuable fishing grounds 

 lying between Cape Cod and Cape Sable. With the 

 permanent settlement of New England the fisheries became 

 the chief industry of the people, and continued down to 

 the Revolution to be a main source of wealth, and to sup- 

 ply the principal article of trade between the merchants of 

 New England and those of the West Indies and Europe. 



The fisheries of New England were of especial importance 

 during the colonial period and still continue to be of 

 greater economic importance than at any previous period 

 of our history ; yet the industry, with the exception of the 

 whale fishery, has no literature that adequately sets forth 

 its history and value. There are several good accounts of 

 the whale fishery ; but the story of the cod and mackerel and 

 inshore fisheries does not appear to have been an attractive 

 field to writers. The accounts we have of the history 

 and of-, the methods of the fisheries have been prompted 

 largely by government inquiry and exist as government re- 

 ports. 



The present volume aims to show the development and 

 importance of the New England fisheries from pre-colonial 



