188 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
decline, being carried on quite as vigorously and as successfully at the present time as ever in its 
history. Although Gloucester is the only port which has extensively engaged in this fishery, a 
few vessels from other New England ports have from time to time participated in it. From 1859 
to 1862 Southport sent several vessels; and Vinal Haven, Me., Marblehead, Rockport, and other 
Massachusetts ports have also had vessels engaged in it. Concerning the history of the George’s 
fishery from Southport, Mr. R. E. Earll obtained the following information of Mr. D. Cameron and 
Mr. B. F. Jewett: 
Hearing the favorable reports of the George’s fishermen of Gloucester from time to time, the 
owners of vessels in Southport decided to send their vessels instead of keeping them so long idle. 
The first vessels-started in February, 1859, and as there was some difficulty about finding men to 
go at that season of the year, the crews were picked up not wholly from the island, but from 
Westport and other towns in the vicinity. Schooner Mazeppa, Capt. W. E. Wells, was sent out 
by Cameron & Orne about the 1st of February, and two others, the Atlantic and 8. H. Cameron, 
started shortly after. They provided themselves with ice for keeping their halibut fresh for the 
Portland market. The fish seemed very scarce und the weather very stormy, so that their trips 
were not profitable, but they continued in the business until about the 1st of July, and finally 
abandoned it. In 1861 or 1862 the schooner Humboldt went during the greater part of the year, 
but the rough weather and poor fishing caused them to discontinue. About this time William 
Decker sent two vessels, the Willie G. and Archer, one season with same results. They were the 
last. ; 
In 1879 there were one hundred and four Gloucester vessels constantly employed in the 
George’s fishery, many of them making over a dozen trips each, and forty-eight other Gloucester 
vessels followed the fishery a part of the season, the entire fleet aggregating one thousand trips 
and landing 23,144,000 pounds of codfish and 995,000 pounds of fresh halibut. 
In 1880 the Gloucester George’s fleet aggregated one hundred and sixty-three vessels, one 
hundred and seven of them engaging exclusively in that fishery, while the others were employed 
for a part of the year io other fisheries. The fleet made one thousand four hundred and thirty trips, 
and landed 27,000,511 pounds of codfish and 1,125,450 pounds of fresh halibut. 
Tn 1831 the fleet was the same size as in 1880, the catch aggregating 22,510,000 pounds of cod 
and 1,087,400 pounds of fresh halibut. 
The dangers and hardships of this fishery are so great that only the most daring and hardy of 
fishermen care to continue in its prosecution. The system of mutual insurance, which has been so 
successful in Gloucester, enables the owners to face the great risks of the George’s fishery with 
less apprebension than can be done by those of any other ports. 
Like the fresh-halibut fishery, the George’s fishery is carried on throughout the entire year. 
Until within a few years it was the practice of the Gloucester vessels to ‘haul up” in harbor from 
November to the Ist of February, since they could not be insured until that date, but at present 
they can be insured at all s®asons, and the competition which exists has now compelled almost all 
of them to keep at work twelve months in the year. The fresh-halibut, haddock, and the George’s 
fisheries are the only fisheries carried on continuously winter and summer.* 
The haddock fishery is carried on to a comparatively limited extent in summer, but it is pros- 
cuted upon a large scale in winter. 
The Gloucester Telegraph of January 4, 1859, contains the remark that “at one time the 
*In 1874, at Christmas time, only four vessels were engaged in this fishery. The W. H. Raymond arrived 
December 22 with 30,000 pounds of fish—a good fare, though the weather was rough. (Cape Ann Advertiser, Decem- 
ber 26, 1874.) = 
