THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE. . 471 
accustomed, when sending cargoes of dried and pickled fish to the West Indies and other countries, 
to include a quantity of herring, though they have seldom sent cargoes composed exclusively of 
herring. This has been particularly true of Boston, and more herring have been sent from there 
than from any other port. Thete seems to have been no well-established trade in this particular 
fish, however, and the quantity sent has varied considerably from year to year, depending largely on 
the catch and the price, and none of the merchants seemed to exert themselves to secure a supply. 
Our market has as a rule been restricted to our own continent, as most of the European 
countries have large and prosperous herring fisheries, which not only furnish an abundance for 
their own people, but supply many of the other countries with all that their markets require. 
We can, therefore, not expect an extensive European trade so long as our own fishermen give 
so little attention to the fishery, unless the failure of some of the herring fisheries of Europe shall 
create a demand that will warrant our merchants in importing herring in considerable quantities 
from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Such a condition presented itself recently, when 
the failure of the spring herring fisheries of Norway for several consecutive seasons gave a favor- 
able opportunity for our merchants to engage in the trade. The Norwegian herring fisheries are 
among the most important in the world, and her fishermen not only catch fish for their own coun- 
try, but they supply Sweden with enormous quantities and send a good many to the countries 
farther south. The “summer herring,” it is said, still put in an appearance along the north coast, 
but the supply is much below the requirements of the home and export trade. 
The Gloucester merchants saw this opening, and with characteristic energy decided to try the 
experiment of sending cargoes of pickled herring to Sweden, Ireland, and even to Scotland. 
The first cargo of herring exported to Europe from this great American fishery port was seut 
by Messrs. D. C. & H. Babson, who have from the first been more largely engaged in the trade 
than any otber parties. The schooner Nulli Secundus, formerly of Gloucester, was the first vessel 
to sail. Having been sold to Capt. Caleb Lindahl, of Gottenberg, Sweden, in January, 1876, for 
the cod and halibut fisheries of Greenland, and being about to sail to Gotienberg to fit out, it was 
decided to load her with herring. She cleared from Gloucester on the 1st of February and from 
Halifax on the 14th, arriving in Sweden March 8. The venture proved a profitable one, and a 
new vessel, the Herman Babson, left Gloucester for the Magdalen Islands on the 27th of April to 
load with herring for the Gottenberg market. Other vessels followed in rapid succession, some of 
them belonging at Gloucester and others being chartered from other places on Gloucester’s account 
until, by the 1st of February, 1877, thirteen cargoes had been shipped, Messrs. Babson alone, 
according to their statement before the Halifax Commission, having handled 26,208 barrels, of 
which 16,063 were caught on the American shore, and 12,145 came from the Provinces.* 
*The statement of Messrs. Babson was as follows: We have been asked to make a statement of the number of 
barrels of herring caught in American waters on the coast of the United States, and the number of barrels of herring 
caught in foreign waters during the last year handled by us, and to state the relative value of each barrel in its green 
state, as it is when taken from the water. We find upon examination of our books that we have taken in our business . 
during the last year 28,208 barrels of herring. Sixteen thousand and sixty-three barrels were caught on the coast of 
the United States between Eastport, Me., and Provincetown, Mass. The herring cost us for those caught on the coast 
of the United States from $2.25 to $2.75 per barrel; that is, for the herring, not including the barrel, salt, labor, &c. 
Twelve thousand one hundred and forty-five barrels were caught on the coasts of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, 
Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, as follows: 
Caught at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. .......2 222.202. eee ee cece eee cee eee cece ee eee Seat echaer una mean 8, 587 
Caught at Port Hood, Cape Breton . ...2-. 22-22 o cee ee ce ee ce ee ee eee cee ne cee ee ween cannes neces 200 
Caught\at: Nova Scotia. (coast): :2.c0 55 sccsied nce cede peadcniees cpa deacmadeeacuededeuadewe eae sgne hele weeescais 348 
Canghtiat Mag dalens)s-22.<osc 2 cece ence ssc os cecees acs hated cigcee-weened wereee SedeedigenecpeScaahaceec sem sme 510 
Caught at Bay of Islands, Newfoundland. ..---. 2-22. 222. cee ene cee ee cece eens cee cece nen e cane ene cence 2, 500 
