THE RENAISSANCE OF THE FISHERIES 153 



and men obtained employment to the number of from 

 fifteen thousand to twenty thousand. 1 



A more reliable statement of the condition of New Eng- 

 land fisheries during the period from 1790 to 1810, and of 

 their relation to the rising discontent between American 

 and British subjects is obtained from a letter written by 

 a Boston merchant to Adams in 1815. The gentleman was 

 well acquainted with the business and took pains to make 

 his statement correct. The letter is as follows : 



"My calculation is that there were employed in the 

 Bank, Labrador, and Bay fisheries, in the years above 

 mentioned (1790 to 1810), one thousand, two hundred and 

 thirty-two vessels yearly, namely, 584 to the Banks and 

 648 to the Bay of Chaleur and Labrador. I think that 

 the 584 bankers may be put down at 36,540 tons, navigated 

 by 4,627 men and boys (each vessel carrying one boy). 

 They take and cure 510,700 quintals of fish, and average 

 about three fares a year, and consume annually 81,170 

 hogsheads of salt. The average cost of these vessels is 

 about $2,000 each ; the average price of these fish at foreign 

 markets is six dollars per quintal. These vessels also 

 make from their fish annually 17,520 barrels of oil, which 

 commands about $10 per barrel. Their equipment costs 

 about $900 each, annually, exclusive of salt. 



"The 648 vessels that fish at Labrador and the Bay, I 

 put down at 41,600 tons, navigated by 5,832 men and boys. 

 They take and cure annually 648,000 quintals of fish. 

 They go but one fare a year, and consume annually 97,200 

 hogsheads of salt. The average cost of the vessels is $1,600, 

 and their equipment, provisions, etc., $150 each. This de- 

 scription of vessels is not so valuable as the bankers, more 

 particularly that class which goes from Maine, Connecti- 

 cut, and Rhode Island, as they are mostly sloops and of 

 no great value. Most of the vessels cure a part of their 



i Coloquhoun, British Empire in America, p. 296. 



