210 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
quite a quantity of fish had been caughf. This was the origin of the business, which has since 
regularly employed from half a dozen to a score of vessels, and from forty to two hundred and 
fifty men during the season. * * * The North Pacific codfish fleet was organized in the spring 
of 1865.” ; 
The Gloucester Telegraph newspaper of October 11, 1865, has a paragraph which is believed 
to refer to the vessel above mentioned; it reads thus: ‘Two years ago a single vessel wandered 
off to the then unknown banks on an uncertain adventure and in three months brought in a 
cargo of codfish that astonished everybody. * * * ‘The fishing grounds are in the Ochotsk 
Sea * * # RL 
The San Francisco Commercial Herald and Market Review in its issue of January 15, 1880, 
tells us that “the North Pacific codfish fleet was organized in the spring of 1865,” in which year 
seven vessels were engaged, and their combined catch was 469,400 fish. In 1866 eighteen vessels 
were employed and the catch was 724,000 fish. In 1868 the number of vessels was reduced to ten. 
The largest fleet in any year since the beginning of the fishery was that of 1870, when twenty-one 
vessels were engaged. Small fleets were out in 1872, 1873, 1874, and 1875, as will be seen by the 
accompanying table. The largest catch recorded is that of 1879, thirteen vessels having aggre- 
gated 1,499,000 fish. The average weight of the cured fish during the earlier years was from 2 tu 
3 pounds; but it ranges now between 3 and 4 pounds.. 
The total weight of the catch of 1879 is reported to have been 1,955 tons, or 4,379,200 pounds. 
The amount of cod brought into Gloucester during the same year was not far from 50,000,000 
pounds, so that the whole cod fishery of the Pacific United States amounted to less than one-tenth 
of that of Gloucester alone, or less than one-twentieth of the entire catch of the Atlantic United 
States. This is by reason of the smaller demand for codfish on the Pacific slope, and not because 
of any scarcity of cod. 
Table showing resulis of the North Pacific codfish fishery. 
Year. Vessels. Fish. Year. Vessels. Fish. .- 
LOGB ta icvisiscicee Scie oc awltcicriaciewa tee tesco eweecie’ 7 469, 400 |] 1878 ...-. nee nee enccnc commen cccene reece ceusenee vi 550,000 
VGBG isc ccicccsccnic ce uicsc cece citer ac cee se ccce cee 18 724,000. || TBTE ccc ecccc cence sucess eesuiensncnwadcccenines . 6 381, 000 
NBO ecrste Cass acse de vascartteeaesoussneecvosees 19/1) | 1048;400.||| 1878 cecesesssesesebsdeesasseee cc seaeeseeeee bes 7 504, 000 
LOGB ic seas ce cces esis teen Wome ceete Cowen esses coe 10 608,000 |) 1876 cisicces ice ciceewetenes sus ascece cece ccceceey 10 758, 000 
QCD in sic odin ocesasseeseewdwesowee stews siecisecsise 19.) 1,082,000 || 1877s sscicececcscanwesne ccentaecacsetecacscances 10 750, 000 
ISTO sccsisiowetob nwa ce cteee cotievcnicewccwecemisse hes 21; | - 335265500 ||| 1878. scedaesawsiewerencivicnsewelecaancsicds'deec aces 12 1, 190, 000 
WT eciceaicecconese (oa Sihe tin a eee aacuis pieltwcisietec i T72,,000 |}), U87D .scic cieceinnjs siccieitecesciecce cletecneveewapacascs 13 1, 499, 000 
1872). 255 va deecknecebslebcoeeiesdewendsccteuaded BE + 1800:000 ||| 1880 :e sinc sc eccwesaceceenenvevccessseocescecivens 8{ 1,206,000 
According to J. L. McDonald (Hidden Treasures, &c., p. 11) the Shumagin fishery dates from 
1866: “In the spring of 1866 Captain Turner sailed from San Francisco in the schooner Porpoise; 
he pursued a northerly course, calling at Queen Charlotte’s, Unga, and Shumagin Islands; around 
the latter-named group he found safe harbors, fuel, water, and other facilities for prosecuting his 
business; while on the grounds fringing those isles he found large, plump, healthy codfish in such 
numbers as to enable him to fill his vessel in a few weeks. After an absence of three months this 
‘hardy toiler on the sea’ returned to the ‘Bay City, having performed a successful voyage, the 
honored pioneer of the northwestern salt fisheries.” 
I was informed by Capt. J. O. Caton, who has taken part in the Shumagin fishery since 1868, 
that the first fleet at the islands consisted, in 1867, of three schooners, the Sanborn, Captain Morse; 
thé Porpoise, Captain Turner; and the Sarah Louise, Captain Holcomb. Oaptain Caton said that 
they caught most of their fish off Nagay ; they came up to hunt fish and discovered these banks; 
