History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 87

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 87

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" The exaggerated valuation of all the fisheries will be better under- stood when it is shown as it already has been, that fish in the water are really valneless. That is, it costs all they are worth to pursue, take and deliver them at the wharves. This is a plain fact, and the books of any fishing concern will show, that allowing a fair valuation for the charter of the vessel, wages of the crew, subsistence and other outfits, the aver- age expenses are equal to the average trips taken. Take our own mack- erel fleet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence the year 1884, sixty of the finest und best equipped vessels commanded by the most experienced and persevering captains that sail out of Gloucester. They gave this fishery a thoroughi and fair trial, and this is the result. Whole bomber of mackerel taken, 15,299 bbls .; number of barrels taken outside three miles, 12,161 ; number hbls. taken inside, 3,138 ; value of outside catch, $68,662; value of inside catch, $18,190; value of the whole, $86,852. This is the consolidation of the trips as they were reported and sworn to by the captains of the vessels after they arrived home. It compre- bends the value of the fish minus the expense of barrels, salt, packing and inspection. There were 267 American vessels fishing for mackerel off our own shores and there were 92 of our American vessels went into the Gulf of St. Lawrence for mackerel. The average catch of the shore fleet was 1870 barrels to each vessel. The average catch of the bay fleet was 231 barrels to each vessel.

" Now what did it cost to produce those fish ? Take first the charter of the vessels for the time they were absent and the expense of outfits, victualing, etc., -$127,517, then add the wages of the men at the rate they would be paid for their time as sailors,-$$0,852, and we have $208,369, actually expended to produce $86,850 worth of mackerel in the whole Gulf of St. Lawrence, and but $18,190 of it in the limits of that magnificent fishery, for which $14,500,000 were claimed and $5,500,000 paid. And in addition to this we find that the United States remits in duties $624,000 yearly to Canada on fish products, making a total in the twelve years of the treaty of $7, 488,000, which with the five and one half millions, make a total of $12,988,000, or nearly the amount first claimed, viz .. fourteen and one-half millions. And all this is for the privilege of taking a few mackerel, every one of which costs ns in labor and expense more than it is actually worth. From July 1873 to January 1885, the whole of the fishing season of the twelve years of the treaty, our vessels took in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 286,435 barrels of mackerel of which 95,480 bbls. were taken inside of the three-mile limit. The value of the whole was 82,100, 802, the value of the inside catch $700,320. There were employed 1160 vessele at a cost on the average for charter, outfits and store and wages $2,801,122. There were 190,955 bbls. caught outside of the three-mile limit, worth $1, 410, 472, making a difference in amount of expense against the whole product of the Gulf of St. Lawrence mackerel fishery of nearly $800,000, and againet the inshore fishery of nearly $2,000,000 more expenses than value of mackerel taken. Now bow do we account for this ? The former methods of taking mackerel by hook and line, left the mackerel free option whether he would be taken or not. Ile had free course to make his way along onr shores or to come in from the Gulf Stream, and in this passage, like migratory birds, he went in flocke, or schools. Nothing but his own appetite betrayed him, and this is not peculiar to mackerel. Then they filled our crocks and harbors, and the Gulf of st. Lawrence seemed to bo their northern resort. With the mackerel came tbe meuhaden. Now where are the menhaden ? the waters that knew them will know them no more, and the mackerel, not even coosulted as to whether he will be caught, is intercepted at every mile of his pro- gress, the schools broken, the line of march destroyed, and he, like the menbaden, cannot court the shore as formerly. So while seining, ac- cording to the highest scientific authority we have, may not perceptibly affect the great hfe of the ocean, still it does affect localities and courses of migratory fish, and it undoubtedly affected the shore fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and our own immediate shores, so that the three- mile limit is not what it was formerly, and its value is one of the myths of the past.

"The traps are a purely local property and should be operated only by local fishermen in the waters of any country. These with the net and boat fisheries should never be an object of barter or trade or reci- procity by any country, for by the very nature of their operation they will not ndlimit of foreign participants. If we want these shore bait fish we must pay, the fishermen are glad to sell them. The vessel fishery ia

nu ocean fishery, and the mackerel and the fish have to be sailed for and taken where the fisherman himself is sole arbiter of his rights.

" Now what is the summary of all this?

" Ist .- The abrogation of all treaty clauses relative to the fisheries, including the treaty of 1818.

"2d .- The maintainance of the tariff as it now exists 'defining the clause' fish fresh for immediate consumption, to be fish not preserved by any artificial means whatever.

"3d .- Snch legislation on the part of congress as shall define the pro- ducts of the American fisheries entitled to free entry to be : all fish of every kind taken by vessels of the United States licensed for the fisheries in any waters, or by the crews of vessels or by any persons, means or methods employed by the masters of sand vessels and which are delivered fresh on board such vessels aud cured or preserved thereou and brought to the United States by such vessels, shall be deemed the product of the American fisheries and entitled to free entry. It being understood that the above liberty shall not apply to the employment of vessels under foreign registry or to their crews, boats, seines, nets or other appor- tenances belonging to such foreign vessels.

4 The object of this legislation is to give to our herring vessels and bankers the right to employ the shore fishermen in the taking of her ring or other bait hish which cannot be obtained in any other manner, and putting this and perhaps other kinds of fisheries into the hands of our fishermen for euring, transportation and distribution, giving to the shore boat fishermen what is their natural right, the taking of these fish, and our own fishermen the right to cure them and bring them to market.

" This has been the practice for the past 25 years, and legislation de- fining the rights of American fishermen in this business will save them from a vast amount of revenue quibbling and expense, which has uvariably been the case in New York and other ports. Our government is bound in honor after building up Canadian fisheries for the past twelve years to give some heed to the claims of her fishermen. Give to the fishermon of the United States a permanent policy of protection for the same number of years that Canada has had our own markets, and we will quadruple our feet and quadruple our number of seumen as she has done.

" Anything less than this and our country is a marine beggar without · vessels or sailors, resources or naval strength. Therefore in no political sense, in no sectional sense, I submit that the American fisheries are the wards as well as the defense of the nation and every treaty or act of legislation calculated to diminish their growth and strength is the act of suicide and national lunacy."

Present scientific methods utilize every portion of the fish and fish waste. Glue factories and the manufacture of fertilizers are important industries. The multiplication of fish-traps along the shore for taking bait and food fish is an imperative need of the ocean fisheries. The system of co-operation of cap- ital and labor that has been in practice in Gloucester for centuries, by which the owner furnishes the ves- sel, boats, seines, outfits and provisions, and the crew furnish their labor and share equally in the products of the voyage, is a good lesson to the labor reformers of the day. Altogether the fisheries of Gloucester demand active enterprise and courage and a physical exposure and risk unknown to any other business. They produce the finest vessels of their class, and the best-trained seamen in the world, who would be in- valuable to the country in case of foreign war. Every maritime nation, not excepting Canada, encourages and sustains their fisheries except the United States.

The census of 1880 shows the amount and value of the United States fisheries to be as follows :

Number of men employed

131,426

Numberof vessels

6,605

Number of boats. 44,804

Value of vessels. ៛9,357,282

Value of boats, 2,465,393

Valne of nets, apparatus and outfits. 8,145,261

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Valur if other capital and shore property .. . .. 17,987,413

Value of fishery products

44,544,153

During the year 1886 the total number of vessels engaged in the fisheries of all kinds, from Gloucester, was four hundred and nine; aggregate tonnage, twenty-six thousand two hundred and eighty-two; number of men in vessels, six thousand and seventy. The subsidiary industries dependent upon the pro- duction of fish support more than one million people.

The official fishery report of Canada shows :

Number of men employed

59.493

Number of vessels.

1,119

Number of boats

28,492

Value of vessels $2,021,633

Value of boats

852,254

Value of pets.

1,219,264

Value of fishing plant.

6,697 460

Value of yield of fisheries.

17,702,973

During thirteen seasons, from July 1, 1873, to De- cember 31, 1885, when the entire shore fisheries of Canada were open and free to American fishermen, there were taken by the American fleet in the open ocean three million five hundred and seventy-nine thousand nine hundred and fifty-one barrels of mack- erel, valued at eight dollars and a fraction per barrel; total, twenty-eight million one hundred and sixty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-seven dollars. There were taken inside of Canadian waters ninety- eight thousand four hundred and ninety-four barrels of mackerel by the American fleet, valued at eight hundred and eight thousand six hundred and thirty- five dollars, being less than three per cent. of the entire catch.

CHAPTER CIX .

GLOUCESTER-(Continued).

Ship Building-The " Schooner"- Foreign and Domestic Trade-Custom- Houw-Post-office - The Granite Quarry s- Banks.

As the first business of the town was fishing, so, for many years, all business was compelled to use the ocean for a highway. Ship-building began as early AN 1613, when one Griffin, employed William Stevens and other ship-carpenters to construct a eraft for him. Johnson, in his "Wonder-working Provi- dence," written about this time, takes notice of the "good timber for shipping" to be found on Cape Ann, and speaks of several vessels that had been built, but not until 1661 have we any other than the above-mentioned particular instance of such work. No further instances can be specified until near the close of the century. Nor does it appear that any vessel larger than a sloop was owned in the town till the beginning of the eighteenth century. Mr. Bab- -on observes that " there is no subject connected with the first century of the history of New England about which so little is known as of the small vessels em- ployed in navigating its waters. . . . The conclusion

to which all inquiry on the subject will lead is, that little is known about the vessels used on the coast of New England before 1713, when Capt. Andrew Rob- inson, of Gloucester, gave a new name to our marine vocabulary, and a new rig to the commerce of the world. A current tradition of the town relates the origin of the 'schooner ;' and abundant testimony of both a positive and negative kind confirms the story so strongly that it is unnecessary to take further no- tice here of the verbal account. Dr. Moses Prince, brother of the annalist, visiting in this town, Sept. 25, 1721, says : ' Went to see Capt. Robinson's lady, &c. This gentleman was the first contriver of schooners, and built the first of the sort about eight years since ; and the use that is now made of them, being so much known, has convinced the world of their convenieney beyond other vessels, and shows how mankind is obliged to this gentleman for this knowledge.' Nearly seventy years afterwards an- other visitor gives some further particulars of this interesting fact. Cotton Tufts, E-q., connected with us by marriage, being in Gloucester Sept. 8, 1790, writes : 'I was informed (and committed the same to writing) that the kind of vessels called " schooners " derived their name from this circumstance, viz., Mr. Andrew Robinson, of that place, having constructed a vessel which he masted and rigged in the same man- ner as schooners are at this day, on her going off the stocks and passing into the water, a bystander cried out, "Oh, how she scoons !" Robinson instantly re- plied, " A scooner let her be!" From which time, vessels thus masted and rigged have gone by the name of "schooners ;" before which, vessels of this description were not known in Europe nor America. This account was confirmed to me by a great number of persons in Gloucester.' The strongest negative evidence confirms these statements. No marine dic- tionary, no commercial record, no merchant's inven- tory, of a date prior to 1713, containing the word 'schooner' has yet been discovered; and it may, therefore, be received as an historical fact that the first vessel of this class had her origin in Gloucester, as stated by the respectable authorities above cited."

The first maritime business of the town, aside from the fisheries, was probably the transportation of cord- wood to Boston and other places on the coast. In 1706 no less than thirty sloops were employed in carrying wood from one section of the town alone; and the whole number engaged in this business was probably not less than fifty. But, of course, this could not con- tinue many years. Foreign commerce was of no great extent prior to the Revolutionary War, but after the establishing of peace it rose to considerable importance. Nearly fifty ships, brigs, schooners and sloops were employed in it in 1790, and for a number of years thereafter, Gloucester vessels visited most of the principal ports of Europe and the West Indies ; and a few made voyages beyond the Cape of Good Hope. There was considerable trade with the West

1331

GLOUCESTER.

Indies, Bilbao and Lisbon. The West India cargoes were fish and other provisions, and the home voyages brought sugar, molasses, rum and coffee. Little except fish was sent to Europe, the exchange for which was salt, fruit, wine and specie. About 1790, Gloucester vessels began to trade with Surinam, the capital of Dutch Guiana, and continued it profitably for many years, but it is now abandoned. The chief article of export was hake, though large quantities of beef, pork, lard, hams and flour were taken out. The re- turn cargoes were made up of molasses, sugar, coffee and cocoa. A whaler was sent out just after the close of the war, but how fortunate or otherwise it proved. is unknown. In 1832 two companies were formed for renewing that business, and two ships were fitted out, but the result was not satisfactory, and the enter- prise was abandoned. As early as 1732 domestic trade with the Southern Colonies was begun, and continued through that century. Mr. Babson says of this trade : " The voyages were made in the winter season, when there was no employment for vessels or men in fish- ing, and the business was conducted in a manner now little practiced in any part of the world. In most cases, perhaps in all, no wages were paid to master or crew ; but, in lieu thereof, the privilege of bringing home a certain quantity of Southern produce was granted to each one, who was also allowed, probably, to take out fish on private adventure; as, in the few invoices preserved, this article does not appear among the shipments by the owners. In these invoices the principal articles are salt, rum, sugar and molasses. Then follows a long list of other things, including iron-ware, wooden-ware, hats, caps, patterns of cloth for breeches, handkerchiefs and stockings; making, in all, a cargo of about £200 value. On these voy- ages the rivers, creeks and inlets of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, were visited; there the cargo was bartered in small quantities for corn, beans, bacon, live hogs and other products of the country."

As early as 1683 Gloucester was made one of the lawful ports of the colony, and annexed to Salem Dis- triet. In 1776 the General Court of the State passed an act, which provided that in the " several sea-ports of Boston, Salem, Marblehead, Gloucester, etc., within this State, there be an office kept, to be called and known by the name of the naval office, for the pur- pose of entering and clearing of all ships and other vessels trading to or from this State, to take bonds in adequate penalty for observing the regulations made or which shall be made by the General Congress or the General assembly of this State concerning trade, take manifests upon oath of all cargoes exported or imported, and keep fair accounts and entries thereof, give bills of health when desired, and sign certificates that the requisites for qualifying vessels to trade have been complied with, and the fees to be demanded and received in said office shall be those following and no greater, that is to say :

" For entering any ship and vessel from any part of the State .. 2 0

For clearing any ship and vessel to any part of the State

For entering any ship and vessel from any other of the United States. 6

For clearing any ship and vessel to any other of the United States, G

For entering any ship and vessel from a foreign voy- age 6

For clearing any ship and vessel for a foreign voyage 6

For a register.

For indorsing a register.

For recording indorsement.

For any bond.

For a certificate to cancel bond.

For a bill of health

For a permit to unload

For a cocket.

For a let pass

Samnel Whittemore received the appointment of naval officer for Gloucester in November of that year, and was reappointed annually, except during a portion of the year 1782, when Solomon Gorham was in the office, until 1789, when a United States custom- house was established.

At the time of establishing a custom-house by the general government upwards of seven thousand tons of shipping were registered and enrolled in Gloucester-a part of it engaged in the fisheries, and the rest in the trade before described. From 1795 to 1810 there were eight ships and twenty-five brigs owned and fitted at this port. At the present time the business of Gloucester with foreign ports is con - fined almost wholly to those from which it imports the salt used in the fisheries,-about one hundred thousand hogsheads per annum; and the places in the British provinces from which it receives firewood, fish, potatoes and a few other articles.

The following-named have heen collectors of ens- toms :

Appointed.

Epes Sargent. 1789

Eli F. Stacy,

1844

William Tuck

1796

John L. Rogers,

1849

John Gibant.

1802

Frederick G. Low 1850

John Kittredge.

1805

William H. Manning 1853

William Pearce, Jr. 1822

1829

John S. Weliber 186]

George D. Hale 1839

William A. Pew 1865

George W. Pearce.

1841

Fitz J. Babson. 1869

Eben H. Stacy.

1843

David S. Presson 1885

A post-office was not established in Gloucester till after the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Be- fore that time the nearest post-office was at Beverly (then a part of Salem), to which place a messenger went twice a week to obtain letters. The messenger received and delivered his letters at the tavern kept by Philemon Haskell. The first postmaster at Glou- cester was Henry Phelps, and the office was kept at his store, from which place it was changed at the convenience of his successsor, and had no permanent location till the erection of a building by the govern- ment for the double purpose of a custom-house and post-office. At the time of establishing the office,

Gorham Babson 1858

William Beach

1332

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and until 1516, the following were the rates of post- age: Single letter, under 40 miles, 8 cents ; under 90 miles, 10 cents ; under 150 miles, 123 cents; under 300 miles, 17 cents ; under 500 miles, 20 cents; over 500 miles, 25 cents.

Gloucester postmasters, with dates of their appoint- ments, have been :

Heury Poche probably 1792

Corham Parsons 1853

John W. Wouson 1858

Wau Steve -

W'm. H. Haskell .1.61

1834

Charles E. Grover 1867

Corham l'at TIM

18 9

David W. Low 1×73

Chas. E. Cressy. 1886 () A. Merrill . 1803

The first regular land communication between Gloucester and Boston was that established by Jona- than Lowe, a tavern-keeper on Front Street, who, on the 25th of April, 1788, began running, twice a week, a two-horse open carriage between the two places. At that time there were, besides this from Gloucester, but four stages running into Boston,-one from Ports- mouth, N. H., one from New York, one from Provi- dence, R. L., and one from Salem. The first change from this arrangement made the trips tri-weekly ; and in 1805 a daily line was established. Four-horse coach s soon followed, and some years after another daily staze was added, by means of which the round trip could be made the same day.

As the result of a meeting of the citizens in Sep- tember, 1544, a survey of the route for a railroad which should connect Gloucester with the Eastern Railroad at Beverly was made, and the road was soon after built by the Eastern Railroad Company as a branch. Regular trips were begun on the 2d of No vember, 1817. It proved a great accommodation to the people, has contributed largely to the prosperity of Gloucester, and is a profitable portion of the com- pany's line of road.

Steamboats have run, with more or less regularity during the summer months, between Gloucester and Boston since 1840. In 1870 the Boston and Glouces- ter Steamboat Company was organized, and com- menced the running of trips through the year.

The rocks of the Cape are granite or syenite, vary- ing in the colors peculiar to those formations on the New England coast. They are easily wrought into blocks of any required size, and have been quarried to serve the necessities and convenience of the in- habitants from a very early date, and more or less for public use and exportation since the first quarter of the present century. Early in the last century Joshua Norwood was employed by the people of Sandy Bay and the other coves outside of the Cape to get out flat blocks of this stone to be used for mooring their fishing-boats. These blocks, about six feet square and trom ten to fifteen inches thick, had a hole about fifteen inches in diameter cut in their con- fre, into which an onk butt, some twenty or more feet in length, having a part of its roots attached, was insertel. Dropped at proper distances from the

shore they afforded a safe mooring, except during heavy easterly gales. Abont the same time Mr. Norwood cut out millstones, which he sold in small quantities. He may, therefore, be regarded as the pioneer stone-cutter of the Cape.

In 1824 an extensive business in quarrying was be- gun by a gentleman from Quincy, who leased a ledge at Sandy Bay. Others followed him, and the busi- ness is still carried on in that territory, now belong- ing to Rockport.

Quarries were afterwards opened at Annisquam and in those portions of the westerly part of the town bordering on Squam River. Foundation stones for buildings, wharves, bridges and other structures, and paving blocks for streets have been, from time to time, obtained in large quantities from these locali- ties. Many of the paving blocks have been shipped to Cuba and to the principal cities of the Union.

The Cape Ann Granite Company, whose quarry is located at Bay View, was organized in 1869, with a capital of $100,000. Jonas II. French, president; HI. H. Bennett, treasurer; Charles W. Foster, super- intendent. The quarry comprises about one hundred and fifty acres, and contains the various kinds of granite adapted to building purposes. The company employ in the various departments of its work seldom less than three hundred men, and at times as many as seven hundred. The chief business is the cutting of granite for building purposes. It furnished the cut granite for the Boston Post-office building and the Post-office and Sub-treasury building in Balti- more; also the interior polished granite work for the new city building in Philadelphia. It has the largest granite polishing works in the United States, and has furnished many prominent monu- ments, the principal one being the base of the General Scott equestrian statue in Washington, one stone of which is the largest ever quarried in this country, weighing, when quarried in the rough, one hundred and forty-nine tons. The company is among the largest producers of paving blocks, making from one million to four million blocks per annum.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 87

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672