﻿King, 
  " 
  'tis 
  an 
  honest 
  trade 
  ; 
  'twas 
  the 
  Apostles' 
  own 
  

   calling." 
  

  

  The 
  Pilgrims 
  sought 
  out 
  a 
  place 
  for 
  their 
  settlement 
  

   which 
  " 
  seemed 
  to 
  offer 
  some 
  advantages 
  both 
  for 
  whale 
  

   and 
  cod 
  fishery," 
  and 
  for 
  two 
  years 
  were 
  sustained 
  in 
  their 
  

   struggles 
  for 
  food 
  chiefly 
  by 
  the 
  fish 
  which 
  they 
  caught 
  in 
  

   their 
  slight 
  nets, 
  and 
  the 
  mollusks 
  which 
  they 
  dug 
  upon 
  the 
  

   shores. 
  They 
  soon 
  received 
  better 
  fishing 
  appliances 
  from 
  

   England, 
  and 
  at 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  third 
  summer 
  (1624) 
  they 
  

   sent 
  home 
  a 
  ship 
  laden 
  with 
  fish, 
  cured 
  with 
  salt 
  of 
  their 
  

   own 
  manufacture. 
  

  

  Before 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  century 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  consider- 
  

   able 
  fleet 
  of 
  ketches, 
  barks, 
  and 
  snows, 
  and 
  at 
  its 
  close 
  

   Massachusetts 
  was 
  exporting 
  annually 
  to 
  the 
  south 
  of 
  

   Europe 
  about 
  one 
  hundred 
  thousand 
  quintals 
  of 
  dried 
  

   codfish, 
  of 
  the 
  value 
  of 
  $400,000. 
  

  

  A 
  century 
  later, 
  at 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  revolutionary 
  

   war, 
  the 
  New 
  England 
  fishing 
  fleet 
  numbered 
  665 
  vessels, 
  

   with 
  crews 
  numbering 
  4405 
  men. 
  

  

  The 
  fisheries 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  are 
  to-day 
  controlled 
  

   by 
  the 
  descendants 
  in 
  the 
  seventh 
  and 
  eighth 
  generations 
  of 
  

   those 
  hardy 
  colonists 
  from 
  the 
  southern 
  coasts 
  of 
  Great 
  

   Britain, 
  and 
  the 
  greater 
  number 
  of 
  the 
  largest 
  vessels 
  are 
  

   manned 
  by 
  men 
  of 
  English 
  blood. 
  Our 
  fishing 
  ports 
  are 
  

   known 
  by 
  such 
  famous 
  English 
  names 
  as 
  Gloucester, 
  

   Boston, 
  Portland, 
  New 
  Haven, 
  Fairhaven, 
  Dover, 
  Norfolk, 
  

   Norwalk, 
  Truro, 
  Barnstable, 
  Chatham, 
  Tiverton, 
  Yarmouth 
  

   and 
  Harwich, 
  New 
  Bedford, 
  New 
  Shoreham, 
  and 
  New 
  

   London. 
  Our 
  fishes 
  are 
  known 
  by 
  familiar 
  English 
  names 
  ; 
  

   and 
  old 
  English 
  words, 
  long 
  abandoned 
  in 
  the 
  British 
  Isles, 
  

   still 
  survive 
  in 
  the 
  dialect 
  of 
  our 
  fisher-folk. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  not 
  inappropriate, 
  then, 
  that 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  estab- 
  

   lished 
  so 
  long 
  ago 
  as 
  colonies 
  of 
  England, 
  upon 
  a 
  founda- 
  

  

  