346 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



States), took their fares in Esquimaux Bay ; and the increase of the business was such, 

 that, the season the attack on the Chesapeake frigate took place, upwards of forty ves- 

 sels were employed on that coast from this district, and the whole number from the 

 United States was probably seven hundred, giving employment to nearly ten thousand 



men. 



'' Large shipments of the products of this business were made to the West Indies, 

 principally to the French ports ; eighteen sail of vessels were at one time lying m Pomt 

 Petre from Newburyport, a large proportion of the eastern cargoes of which were fish, 

 the returns of which, being transshipped to Europe, afforded them profitable results, 

 which were the foundation of the great estates of the merchants of that time, some of 

 whom were then, and had been previously, engaged in this business themselves. 



" The shipments to the Mediterranean and other ports in Europe were still more ex- 

 tensive. These, with those to the West Indies and South America, for the five years from 

 1803 to 1807 inclusive, were but little short of ^3,500,000 annually, and in 1804 

 they exceeded $ 3,000,00, owing to the products of the Labrador fishery, both in fish 

 and oil, being peculiarly adapted to the markets. Such were the advantages attending 

 the operations of the American fishermen, in consequence of the European w^ar, which 

 in its eSects operated to make them fishermen for the world, that an investment in this 

 fishery, with the shipment of its proceeds to these markets, generally gave returns of 

 from fifty to one hundred per cent profit. Aside from accident or mismanagement of the 

 voyage, the annual supply from 1803 to 1808 was probably 700,000 to 800,000 quintals. 



" The long embargo, as it has been termed, took place at an inauspicious season of the 

 year for the interests of those engaged in this business. It found them with a year's 

 stock on hand, and, by stopping all exports, the article was reduced to fifty per cent of 

 its former value. But no extensive sale could be made ; the holders were compelled to 

 keep them during its continuance, and at its repeal the damage by depreciation in quality, 

 and the glut of all foreign markets in consequence of large shipments at the same time, 

 resulted in great loss, and the ruin of many of those engaged in the business. 



"At the commencement of the war with Great Britain, in 1812, nearly all the larger 

 and more valuable class of vessels, as they returned from their voyages, were laid up 

 and dismantled. Some few of the others pursued the business during the first season, 

 with but little interruption ; but during the succeeding years, the policy of capturing 

 and destroying all such as were found ^ on his Majesty's waters ' prevailed ; which re- 

 sulted in the entire abandonment of the business, except by market-boats in the 

 vicinity of ports, which afforded them opportunity to escape on the appearance of 

 British cruisers. The whole amount of bounties paid to fishing-vessels, in 1814, was 

 but $ 1,312, including the export bounty on pickled fish. 



