446 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
cargoes. For these reasons the Americans have for some time been interested in the introduction 
of better methods among these people. Many of the New England fishermen have recently carried 
purse-seines on their trips to the island in order that the herring could be readily taken in any 
depth of water and at any distance from the shore. They have usually placed them in the hands 
of the natives, hiring them to catch the fish and paying them a liberal amount for their labor. 
They did this, not because they could not catch their own fish, but because they did not care to 
antagonize these people; in fact the Newfoundlanders had threatened violence in a number of 
cases provided any attempt should be made by the crews of the American vessels to fish their own 
seines. 
INTERNATIONAL DIFFICULTIES AT FORTUNE BAY. 
THE FoRTUNE BAY DIFFICULTY.—Such a condition of affairs existed for a number of years, 
and the feeling between the fishermen of the two countries became stronger with each succeeding 
season. The Americans, accustomed to prosecute the fisheries by means of the more modern and 
expeditious methods, were greatly annoyed at the inconveniences to which they were subjected in 
Newfoundland. Learning that the commissioners, who had been in consultation at Halifax, had 
just decided that the United States should pay the sum of $5,500,000 to the British Government 
for the privileges granted them under the treaty of Washington, they decided that they had a right 
to free themselves from these restraints and to enjoy the privileges for which their Government 
was to pay so largeasum. An attempt to carry these ideas into practice during the winter led 
to the serious disturbance at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, known as “the Fortune Bay outrage,” 
which has caused so much trouble between the two Governments. 
As the difficulty occurred in connection with the herring fishery, and most seriously affects 
the trade in frozen herring, a brief review of it and the steps that led to its final settlement may 
not be out of place in this connection, though an extended discussion of the matter in all its impor- 
tant bearings would lead us too far from our subject.* 
It seems that in the fall of 1877 twenty-six American vessels were sent to Newfoundland for 
the purpose of securing cargoes of frozen herring to supply the principal New England markets. 
Extensive preparations were made for this trade, and after the vessels had been put in order and 
properly ballasted many of them took on board a quantity of merchandise to exchange with the 
natives for herring. Most of them were also provided with purse-seines for use in catching the 
fish. By the middle of November many of them were under way, and three weeks later the last 
one had taken its departure. This entire fleet proceeded to the southern shores of Newfoundland, 
and one after another of them reached Fortune Bay and proceeded to Long Harbor, the principal 
fishing ground of the region. A number arrived early in December, and others came a little later, 
but as the herring had not yet put in an appearance in any quantities, the captains were obliged 
to anchor and await their arrival. 
A few of the captains had succeeded in purchasing small quantities of herring from the native 
fishermen who lived in the region or who came hither in small ‘‘jacks” to engage in the fishing 
with nets and haul-seines; others had, as formerly, hired some of the Newfoundland fishermen to 
take charge of and fish their seines, paying them a definite sum for their labor. By January 5 no 
less than twenty-two American vessels were lying at anchor waiting for herring, and as no vessel 
had succeeded in getting more than a few barrels, the outlook was not very encouraging. 
On Sunday, January 6, bubbles could be seen rising to the surface of the water, an unmis- 
*All of the correspondence on the subject between the two Governments, together with the affidavits of the fish- 
ermen on both sides, appear in the Foreign Relations of the United States for 1879, 1880, and 1881, 
