THE GROWTH ALONG THE COAST 195 



codfishery, aggregating a tonnage of 56,919 tons, and car- 

 rying crews of 7,966 men. The mackerel fishery employed 

 284 vessels, with a tonnage of 17,038 tons, and crews of 

 2,272 men. The total number of vessels engaged in the 

 cod and mackerel fishery was 1,422, of an aggregate ton- 

 nage of 74,957 tons, and carrying 10,238 fishermen. In 

 addition, Massachusetts had a fleet of 514 vessels in the 

 whale fishery, carrying 12,336 men. 



jf 



The records of the fishery industries of the other states of 

 New England are very unsatisfactory. The fishermen of 

 Rhode Island carried on a business from time to time 

 catching menhaden and developing oyster beds. Owing to 

 the high price of paint oils in 1812, the inhabitants 

 of the State began to use fish oil in place of the more 

 costly material. The process of extracting oil from fish 

 was improved in 1820 by first boiling the fish in kettles. 

 Ten years later further progress was made by the incep- 

 tion of steam-cooking. Between 1835 and 1840, the refuse 

 parts of menhaden, known as chum, became of value as 

 fertilizer. The introduction of the purse-seine for taking 

 the fish, probably before 1850, was revolutionary and stimu- 

 lated the industry greatly. Between 1855 and 1860, presses 

 for separating the oil and water from the chum came into 

 use and were of additional economic importance. 1 



The practice of introducing oysters from Chesapeake 

 Bay and laying them down in the shore waters of Rhode 

 Island dates from the early part of this period. The 

 oyster industry in Rhode Island flourished with increasing 

 interest until the Civil War, when it decreased principally 

 because the southern supply of oysters for planting was cut 

 off by the opening of hostilities. The value of the oyster 

 fishery of the State for 1860 is placed at $382,170, by Prof. 

 Goode. The general fisheries of the State for that year 



i Goode, Sec. V, Vol. I, pp. 366-68. 



