11^ 



his employers' ships, may be construed to mean that Englis'h merchants 

 sent their vessels to our coast in mid-winter. 



The colony was indeed in an unpromising condition. For years 

 afterwards there was but little change for the better. The colonislis 

 neglected the soil, and the food necessary- for their^ support was ob- 

 tamed in Virginia and England. "Puscataway," said the noted John 

 Underbill, "is a desirable place, and lies in the heart of fishing ;" and 

 such is the uniform account of the early chroniclers ; but yet, the cap- 

 ital invested there by the origina;l patentees, and by Gorges and Masoii, 

 was entirely lost. 



Winthrop relates that in 1641 a shallop, with eight men,, "though 

 forewarned," set sail on the "Lord's day" from Piscataqua, for Pema- 

 quid ; that, driven before a northwest gale, they were absent at sea 

 about fourteen days, but arrived finally at Monhegan, where four of 

 the men perished of cold, and where the survivors were rescued by 

 a fisherman. 



The trade of Portsmouth was of slow growth. The number of 

 vessels that entered theport in 1681, was forty-nine; but some were of 

 the burden of ten tons, or mere boats, and none were larger than one 

 hundred and fifty tons; while the whole amount of impost or customs 

 collected was less than ^62. A pleasant anecdote of a worthy divine 

 of that town occurs in 1690, which may be here related. This cler- 

 gyman, in speaking of the depravity of the times, is represented to have 

 fallen into the error of saying to his people, that "they had forsaken the 

 pious habits of their forefathers, who left the ease and comfort which they 

 possessed in their native land, and came to this howling wilderness to 

 enjoy, without molestation, the exercise of their pure principles of reh- 

 glon ;" when one of the congregation, interrupting him, rose and repliefk 

 "Sir, you entirely mistake the matter ; our ancestors did not come here on 

 account of their religion, but to fish and trade." The hearer, however 

 discourteous, was in the right as to the fact. 



In 1715, Kittery, opposite to Portsmouth, in Maine, and the seat of an 

 extensive fishery, was made a port of entry in consequence of the im- 

 proper duties and exactions (as was alleged) which the government of 

 New Hampshire demanded of the merchants and fishermen trading at 

 the towns on the Piscataqua. The difficulties which caused this mea- 

 sure seem to have occasioned much excitetnent. Massachusetts, Xo se- 

 cure respect to her authority, erected a breast-work northerly of Kittery 

 Point, and laid a platform sufficient to • mount six guns ; appointed a 

 naval officer and notary; and ordered the masters of fishing "and of 

 other vessels, as well as other persons transacting business on the river, 

 to pay into her treasuiy, imports, powder-money, and other duties, as 

 stipulated by her laws. 



An answer was framed to inquiries of the Lords of Trade and Plan- 

 tations, in 1730, which shows that the commerce of Portsmouth was 

 still small. The exports were stated to be "fish and lumber;" the num"- 

 ber of vessels was only five, of about five hundred tons in the aggregate ; 

 and the tonnage of vessels trading there, ovirned elsewhere, even less. 

 "The province," it was said, "makes use of all sorts of British manu- 

 faictures, amounting to about ^5,000 sterling annually, which are had 

 principally from Boston." "The tirade to other plantations" was to 



