GROWTH AND EXPANSION 71 



fishermen and to burn their dwellings. The inhabitants 

 of the island continued to suffer wrongs and indignities for 

 six years, before this monstrous order was revoked. 



In the meantime, the desired effect had been secured 

 as far as increasing the number of English vessels sent to 

 Newfoundland. But the hostility of the Newfoundlanders 

 towards these vessels was intense. In "1676, there went 

 thither from England, one hundred and two ships for the 

 cod-fishery there ; each ship having twenty guns and carry- 

 ing eighteen boats, and for each boat five men ; in all, nine 

 thousand, one hundred and eighty men. Their convoy was 

 two ships of war. And the total value of the fish and oil 

 they made there, in that year, was computed at 385,400 

 pounds." Then the writer of the above adds, with no re- 

 gard whatever for the outraged Englishmen living at New- 

 foundland, ''how great a nursery, then, is this fishery for 

 English sailors, and how beneficial for the employment of 

 shipbuilding. ' ' 1 



The decline in the boat fishing from the shore and the ex- 

 tra cost of protecting the English vessels on the coast of 

 Newfoundland could result only in increasing the price of 

 fish to enormous figures. The New Englanders were at- 

 tracted to the coast in the year of the edict of depopulation. 

 They took no part in the quarrel between the other two 

 classes of English fishermen, although it does appear that 

 many of the residents of the island migrated to New Eng- 

 land each fall after the fishing season was over. Massachu- 

 setts profited most in the economy, the rapid expansion and 

 the excellent returns of her fisheries during the period of 

 high prices. Five years after the first vessel went from New 

 England to Newfoundland, they had in the employment of 

 the Newfoundland fishery 665 vessels, which measured 

 25,660 tons, and were navigated by 4,405 seamen; at that 

 time they caught between 350,000 and 400,000 quintals of 



ilbid, p. 535. 



