THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 159 
tute at the wharf. This year trawls were just coming into general use, and an unusually large 
quantity of haddock were caught. The enterprise was, however, fairly successful. He paid his 
substitute $90, and made $90 in addition as his share of the winter’s work. The following year 
trawls were used by every one, and haddock, which had formerly been as valuable as cod, were so 
abundant that the company was nearly swamped. Their agreement with the fishermen was that 
both cod and haddock should be paid for at the rate of $1.25 a hundred-weight. This year had- 
dock brought only 374 cents a hundred-weight at Boston, and, though cod were worth $2.25, the 
venture was a losing one, and the captain had to pay $90 back to the firm in addition to the $90 
which he paid to his substitute. me 
It was at this time that the second petition from the Swampscott people was brought up in 
the Massachusetts legislature, and was referred to the committee of fisheries, of which Captain 
Atwood was the chairman. The committee voted “that the petitioners should have leave to with- 
draw;” but the bill was brought up by the Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, who made an 
eloquent speech on the floor of the house in favor of the petition, stating that he had been told 
that the custom of trawling was rapidly exterminating the haddock, and from present appearances 
they would soon be as scarce as salmon, and that be was told that even at that time poor people 
could not afford to eat them. When he got through, says the captain, most of the members were 
apparently deeply impressed, and those that loved haddock evidently thought that they had eaten 
their last one. Mr. Cushing closed by calling upon the chairman of the committee on fisheries, 
who, he understood, was a practical fisherman, to state his own experience in the matter. This was 
Captain Atwood’s first speech, but, though he felt somewhat diffident, he felt sure of his ground. 
He rose and said that it was nécessary for him to speak somewhat in detail, and began to recount 
the history of the haddock in Massachusetts Bay. He told how in the days of his boyhood they 
had been extremely scarce, so that not more than one haddock was taken to every three or four 
hundred cod; how they had increased gradually in numbers until at the present time they were 
swarming in the waters in the greatest abundance. The gentleman from Newburyport had stated 
that they would soon be as scarce as salmon, and that poor people even then could not afford to 
eat them, and had asked him for his practical experience in the matter. ‘‘I would state, Mr. 
Chairman, that I am one of a company of five fishermen in Provincetown who entered into 
partnership for the purpose of buying all the fish which should be brought to the shore this 
winter; that this very morning we received 4,000 pounds of haddock, for which we paid $1.25 
a hundred, and which we were obliged to sell for 374 cents; not 374 cents a pound, Mr. Chair- 
man, but 374 cents for a hundred pounds; and if any of the members will take the trouble to walk 
down by Commercial Wharf they may see women going back into the city with their arms full 
of haddock, the small fish, which are called unmarketable, for which they had paid not more than 
10 cents for all that they could carry. They might not be too plenty for the people, but they are 
too plenty for the dealer and too plenty for the fishermen.” The speaker’s time had now expired, 
but he was allowed by unanimous vote to continue his remarks; and at their close it was voted 
“that the Swampscott petitioners have leave to withdraw.” 
HISTORY OF TRAWLING IN THE VICINITY OF BATH, WISCASSET, AND BOOTH BAY DISTRICTS.— 
Mr. Daniel Cameron, of Southport, gives the following statements about the introduction of trawls 
into this section: 
“The first ever known of trawling here was a report brought from Cape Ann of Peter Sinclair 
using them on the schooner Anna as early as 1854 or 1855. He used them on the Cape shore and 
Banks for cod and halibut,-and was remarkably successful. In 1858 Booth Bay sent her first 
trawler, the schooner Albatross, Captain Farmer, belonging to N. McFarland. She went to the 
