107 



zsffiiifs. " The' report of the commissioners for the plantation at Ricb- 

 Inond's island'," made in 1648, is worthy of notice, as containing eurioa^ 

 facts to show the prices and transactions of the time. The commis- 

 sioners were appointed at the instance of Jordan, who claimed that a 

 balance was due the estate of his father-in-law. It is said in the 

 report, thai, in the six years preceding his decease. Winter had sent his 

 pnncipal in England, "in several ships,- in fish, merchnntable and re- 

 ftise, 3,056 J quintals," and of "core-fish, 38^ quintals;" of "train-oil, 

 11 hogsheads;" and other commodities of the sea ; which, "according 

 to the prices here, cannot amount to less than jG2,292." The inventory 

 of the property belonging to" the fishery, shows three boats in use, with 

 tlieir moorings and appurtenances, ^28; two old boats out of use, 

 valued at \£2; the fishing stage, with a quantity of old casks, ^10 6s.; 

 six dozen hooks, at 16 shillings; five dozen of lines, at '£1 ^ one seine 

 and two old nets, ^4 10#. ; about ninety hogsheads of salt, £&5 10s.; 

 and that there was due the concern by a Mr. Hill, the sum of ^84 15s. 

 9<Z. for one hundred and thirty-three quintals of fish sold but not paid lor. 



The fishermen whb frequented the waters of Maine having often de- 

 ployed timber and wasted the forests on the shores, and having ac- 

 quii-ed the habit of carele'ssly packing and curing their fish, the county 

 court were directed to appoint proper officers to correct these abuses by 

 an ordinance of 1652; at which time Pemaquid had become the principal 

 plantation between the Kennebec and the Penobscot, a great fishing- 

 mart and place of shelter for vessels passing to and fiom the French 

 and English settlements scattered along the coast. 



In 1657, we have an Indian deed of land in Portland as follows r 

 " Be it known unto all men that I, Scittery Gusset, of CascoBay, Sag- 

 amore, do hereby firmly covenant, bargain, and sell unto Francis Small, 

 of the said Casco Bay, fisherman, his heirs, &e., all that upland and 

 marshes at Capisic, lying up along the northern side of.thf river, unto 

 the head thereof, and so to reach and extend unto the river side of Am- 

 moncongan." This iSagamore was, possibly, the murderer of Bagnall, 

 at Richmond's island, in 1631. The consideration for the lands sold 

 to Small was one trading coat and one gallon of liquor annually. Four 

 years later Nicholas White, of Casco Bay, sold to John Breme, " now of 

 the same Bay, fisherman," all his interest in House island, near Port- 

 land, being one quarter part, but reserved liberty to Sanipson Penley 

 to make fish on the island during his life. These conveyances show 

 what was passing two centuries ago at the present commercial capital 

 of the firontier State. 



In 1667 the commissioners of King Charles to New England gave 

 a sad account of the morals of the persons connected with our 

 subject on the " Kennibeck river," upon " Shipscot river," and at 

 " Pemaquid." " These people," say they, " for the most part, are 

 fishermen, and never had any government among them ; most of them 

 aje such as have fled- from other places to avoid justice. Some here 

 are of opinion that as many men may share a woman as they do a boat, 

 and some have done so." Josselyn's* picture of M^ine, at this period, 



*Johii Josselyn arriTed in Boston in 1663, and lived in New England a niuaber of years. 

 His aeeoimt of his adTentures in his two voyages is amusing. 



