60 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



for the gains then would be returned to the place where 

 the promoters dwelt; but to encourage their own people 

 to develop the industry. The same year a fishing trade was 

 commenced at Cape Ann by Mr. Maurice Thompson, a 

 London merchant. The people of Massachusetts hoped 

 that Mr. Thompson would come to settle with them, but 

 there is no record that he availed himself of the measure 

 of encouragement passed by the General Court, or that 

 he ever came in person to Cape Ann. Evidently his busi- 

 ness was conducted by agents, for fishing was carried on 

 at Cape Ann and some stages were built there in 1639. 1 



The fisheries now appear to be as prosperous and ac- 

 tive as at any time in the history of their early devel- 

 opment. Winthrop speaks of the great benefit derived 

 by all the plantations from the abundance of large fat 

 mackerel on the coast during the season of 1639. One 

 boat with three men would take ten hogsheads of mackerel 

 in a week, which found a market in Connecticut at 3 12s. 

 per hogshead. In 1641 he states that the fishermen fol- 

 lowed their calling so well that there were about 300,000 

 dry fish sent to market. 2 



Richmond's Island, on the coast of Maine, was be- 

 coming an important and noted place for the fisheries. 

 Mr. John Winter, the superintendent, often employed as 

 many as sixty men there, and several vessels were furnished 

 with cargoes of cured fish annually. Upon the death of 

 Mr. Winter, in 1645, a commission was appointed to ex- 

 amine into the affairs of his estate. The report of the 

 commission was rendered in 1648. It is of interest to 

 our subject in that it shows the extent of the fishing in- 

 dustry and the price of commodities at the time. Dur- 

 ing the six years between 1639 and 1645, Mr. Winter 

 sent to his principal in England 3,056% quintals of 



iThe Fisheries of Gloucester, p. 20. 

 2 Winthrop, I, p. 308 j II, p. 42. 



