154 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



fish near the place where they catch them, on the beach, 

 rocks, etc., and the rest after they return home. Several 

 cargoes of dry fish are shipped yearly from Labrador di- 

 rectly for Europe. The usual markets for these fish are 

 in the Mediterranean, say Alicante, Leghorn, Naples, Mar- 

 seilles, etc., as small fish are preferred at these markets, 

 and the greater part of the fish caught in the Bay and at 

 Labrador are very small. The average of these fish is $5 

 per quintal. These vessels also make from their fish about 

 20,000 barrels of oil, which always meets a ready sale at 

 a handsome price, say from $8 to $12 per barrel. Most of 

 it is consumed in the United States. . . . 



" There are many persons who assert that in one year 

 there were at Labrador and up the Bay more than 1,700 

 vessels, besides the bankers, but I am very confident that 

 they are much mistaken. ' ' * This statement of the number 

 of the vessels may be true when it is considered that each 

 trip was reckoned as a single vessel by some, although 

 many vessels made two trips to the Bay and even to Labra- 

 dor each season. 



The war of 1812 produced an entirely different effect 

 upon the fisheries of New England than was felt from 

 the Revolutionary War. In the first struggle our fisheries 

 were so completely checked that it was years before they 

 recovered their former status, but treaty rights were se- 

 cured that were liberal in the extreme. In the war of 1812 

 the deep-sea fisheries were stopped for a couple of years 

 only, and their recovery was rapid after hostilities ceased ; 

 but the former liberal treaty rights were lost, the new ones 

 were designed to restrict the movements of American fish- 

 ermen in British waters, and the interpretations that have 

 since been placed upon them have greatly curtailed the 

 progress of our fisheries in the provincial territories of Great 



i Adams, Duplicate Letters, quoting a letter written to him by a 

 Boston merchant, May 20th, 1815. 



