USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 10
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In the Revolutionary War it was considered as a military necessity.
It seems almost inconceivable to us of the present day who have witnessed the great undertaking and the enormous cost involved in building the Cape Cod Canal to learn that it was under date of May 1, 1776, when poverty stalked abroad, when the soldiers in the field were without clothing to protect them from winter cold, with a war already began, the outcome of which was extremely doubtful, the council had the courage to send down to the House the following :
Whereas it is represented to this court, that a navigable canal may, without much difficulty, be cut through the isthmus which separates Buzzards Bay from Barnstable Bay, whereby the hazardous navigation around Cape Cod both by rea- son of the enemy and the shoals may be prevented, and a safe communication be- tween this colony and the southern colonies be secured: Therefore
Be it resolved that James Bowdoin and William Seaver Esqs, with such as the House shall join, or a major part of them, be a committee to repair to the
Plym-47
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town of Sandwich and view the premises, and determine whether the cutting of the canal as aforesaid be practicable; and they are hereby authorized to employ any necessary assistance of surveyors and engineers for the purpose. The men appointed on the part of the House were Col. Freeman, Brig. Godfrey and Mr. Cushing.
The men appointed on the part of the House were Colonel. Freeman, Brigadier Godfrey and Mr. Cushing.
Whether those who proposed this Cape Cod Canal thought it might also serve a good purpose in keeping wild animals out of Barnstable County is unknown, but in 1717 the town of Sandwich took action on the proposition of building "a high fence of palisades or of boards from Peaked Cliff to the northeast boundary between Sandwich and Plym- outh, to Wayquaset Bay in Wareham, to keep wolves from coming into the county." Falmouth also took favorable action, regarding it as highly important, but some of the towns beyond the county limits were opposed to permission being granted to the General Court as they did not "wish all the wolves to be shut out of the county upon their own limits."
This fence would have been very nearly over the same line, as the canal intended to unite Barnstable and Manomet bays. Undoubtedly there was much destruction wrought by wolves in those days, and some exaggerated stories have come down to the present generation.
At an earlier period, Woods, in his account of New England, says of the wolf: "One of them makes no more bones to run away with a pig, than a dog to run away with a marrow bone. It is observed that they have no joints, from their tail, which prevents them from leaping or sudden turning. A certain man having shot a wolf, as he was feeding upon swine, breaking his leg only, he know not how to devise his death. On a sudden, the wolf, being a black one, he was loath to spil his fur with a second shot, his skin being worth five or six pound sterling,- wherefore he resolves to get him by the tail, and thrust him into a river which was hard by, which effected, the wolf, not being able to turn his jointless body to bite him, was taken."
This story will do to go with that of Captain Hudson's story of the mermaid seen off Cape Cod by members of his crew, June 16, 1614, referred to on an earlier page in this history.
Sights Seen by a Dutchman-No communication was had between the men of Plymouth and the Dutch settlement at New York until 1627. In that year the Plymouth Colony was visited by Isaack DeRaisiers, who made a report to his government at Manhattan, which included a very interesting word picture of the life at Plymouth, worthy of perusal by people of the present day who would like to know something of the
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life of the Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers during the first decade in Plym- outh. In his report DeRaisiers mentioned :
At the south side of the town there flows a small river of fresh water, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April and the beginning of May there come so many herring from the sea which want to ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river the English have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides with trellice work, through which the water has its course, but which they can also close with slides. At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel pot, with wings where in the middle is also a sliding door, and with trellice work at the sides, so that between the two there is a square pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, that at one time there are 10,000 to 12,000 fish in it, which they shut off in the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that no more water comes in; then the fish run out through the lower trellices and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them to it, de- positing in each hill three or four fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world: and if they do not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, so that such is the nature of the soil.
New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards the seacoast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of 800 yards long, leading down the hill; with a crossing in the middle, northwards to the revilut, and southwards to the land. The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the center, on the cross street, stands the Governor's house, before which is a square enclosure upon which four patereros (steen stucken) are mounted, so as to flank along the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, made of thick- sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six can- nons, which shoot iron balls of four or five pounds, and command the surround- ing country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock in front of the captain's door; they have their cloaks on and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor in a long robe; beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his side arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand,-and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are con- stantly on their guard night and day.
Their government is after the English form. The Governor has his council, which is chosen every year by the entire community by election or prolongation of terms. In the inheritance they place all the children in one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgement for his seniority of birth.
They have made stringnt laws and ordinances upon the subject of fornica- tion and adultery, which laws they maintain and enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst them. They (the English) speak very angrily when they hear from the savages that we should live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment.
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Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, and con- sequently not so suitable for the plow. They apportion their land according as each has means to contribute to the Eighteen Thousand Guilders which they have promised to those which had sent them out; whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to anyone; only if the king should choose to send a Governor General they would be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign chief.
The maize seed which they do not require for their own use is delivered over to the Governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn sends it in sloops to the North for the trade in skins among the savages; they reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver's skins; in the first place a division is made, according to what each has contributed, and they are credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute yearly towards the reduc- tion of his obligation. Then with the remainder they purchase what next they require, and which the Governor takes care to provide every year.
They have better means of living than ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons and cranes, and other small-legged birds which are in great abundance there in the winter. The tribes in the neighborhood have all the same customs as al- ready above described, only they are better conducted than our's, because the English give them the example of better ordinances and a better life; and who, also to a certain degree, give them laws, by means of the respect they from the very first have established amongst them.
The savages there practice their youth in labor better than the savages round about us; the young girls in sowing maize, the young men in hunting; they teach them to endure privation in the field.
Door to Freedom Hinged on Fish-Just what the Pilgrim Fathers expected to do to make a living in the New World, when they set sail from Leyden in Holland, it would be interesting to know. Perhaps the desire for freedom and adventure was sufficiently strong in them so that the method of gaining a livelihood was not considered as a major proposition. Harassed and unwanted as they were in England, it is likely they sought new shores with a conviction that whatever was in store for them could be no less desirable than that to which they were accustomed. They expected to be landed in Virginia as there had been some information concerning Virginia spread about England and it had reached the ears of the Separatists. Instead of Virginia, they were set down in New England and, if agriculture entered into their expecta- tions, they could hardly have found a more barren and unpromising piece of land for planting and reaping that that which greeted the first exploring party which landed in the vicinity of Truro. Plymouth looked better, but it was a bleak shore with little profit to be made from agriculture, especially without the means of fertilization. Necessity compelled the first comers to obtain food in any possible way and the oyster beds, clam flats and the cod-fish which abounded in the bay was the answer. At least one hinge to the door of freedom was made of
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fish. When agriculture was attempted it was fish, planted with the seed, which enabled the Pilgrims to get their seed back and a little ad- ditional for their labor. The sea was from the very first important to the Pilgrims and it is appropriate that the first child born to a Pilgrim mother was born on the salt water, in Provincetown Harbor.
The Dutchmen who followed in the wake of Hendrick Hudson to New York found fertile valleys and splendid opportunities for trading in furs. The Virginia colonists were introduced to rich fields and they became the first Southern planters. All three groups followed the line of least resistance and took advantage of the natural opportunities which presented themselves. If there was an early group who came over with a preconceived ida of what they intended to take up as an occupa- tion, it was those who began a settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine and attempted agriculture. After spending a winter there they industriously applied themselves to hard labor for a distinct purpose. That purpose was to shake the dust of the Kennebec country from their feet and sail back to England. They built what they called a "faire pinnace of thirty tons," cast off, hoisted all sail and said "Home, James."
Come what might, it never entered into the intentions of the Pil- grims to return to England, even after the mysterious illness which so sadly reduced their number to a desperate few before the "Mayflower" sailed on the return voyage. All of those remaining alive or any number of them were given the opportunity by Captain Jones to go back to England but they had "set their hands to the plow" or, at least, to the clam hoe or fish line, and withstood any temptation which they might have had to turn back. They looked to the ocean for their livelihood and took to it as eagerly and naturally as their English broth- ers and cousins of Somerset and Devon.
One of First Return Cargoes Included Slaves-The Pilgrims were exceedingly poor in this world's goods. The Puritans were in better circumstances. It was therefore on the Mystic River, rather than the Jones River, that the first shipbuilding of any consequence began in 1631, when the "Blessing of the Bay," a sixty-ton sloop was launched. Among the first Puritan settlers were many shipwrights, and ship- building became a leading industry along the North Shore by 1660. As early as 1640 the "Desire of Salem," the tenderloin of Puritanism, was trading with the West Indies, and one of the commodities was a cargo of slaves. The first Massachusetts vessel to reach China also was a Salem vessel, the "Grand Turk." This was in 1787. Four years earlier, the "Harriet," of Hingham, a sloop of fifty-five tons, sailed from Boston with a cargo of ginseng for China but sold the cargo to some
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English East Indiamen at the Cape of Good Hope in exchange for Hy- son tea, and returned without completing the voyage. The shipmasters from Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties' ports who afterwards engaged in the trade with China were both skilled and numerous.
The ship "Columbia" of two hundred and twelve tons, and the "Lady Washington," a ninety-ton sloop as tender, sailed from Boston Septem- ber 20, 1787, and a year later arrived at Nootka Sound, the fur trading centre of Vancouver Island. This voyage around Cape Horn by these Massachusetts ships, was the first negotiated by North American-built vessels. The ships anchored in a cove and the crews passed the winter in log huts. In the following summer Captain Gray was sent in the "Columbia" to China by Captain Kendrick who commanded the expedi- tion. The "Columbia" reached Canton, exchanged furs for tea, and con- tinued around the world to her home port of Boston. She was the first ship to carry the United States flag around the globe. The guns of Boston roared to welcome her home from a voyage of 41,899 nautical miles and Governor Hancock gave a dinner in honor of the voyage Aug- ust 9, 1790. The voyage of this little ship was the beginning of the fur trade with the Northwest. In 1801 fourteen out of the sixteen vessels on the Northwest coast-trading expeditions hailed from Boston. Some- times a ship spent a winter securing a full cargo of furs to carry across the Pacific to the Chinese markets.
According to the "New Bedford Mercury," of May 25, 1849, "The 'Rebecca' was the first whale ship that went around Cape Horn. She was launched in the winter of 1785. Although only 185 tons, the 'Re- becca' was a big ship for those days."
From the War of 1812 to the Civil War the American packet line brought many immigrants to these shores. Many of the packets were commanded by captains who had sailed American privateers in the War of 1812. The packet lines were mostly American-owned and man- aged but there were few American-born sailors in the crews. They were European jail-birds and rough-necks who went by the name of "packet rats." According to Samuel Samuels, captain of the "Dread- naught," built especially for him in Newburyport, Massachusetts, "they were the toughest class of men in all respects. They could stand the worst weather, food, and usage, and put up with less sleep, more rum, and harder knocks than any other sailors. They would not sail in any other trade. They had not the slightest idea of morality or honesty, and gratitude was not in them. The dread of the belaying pin and heaver kept them in subjection."
Immigrants from Europe were crowded into the steerage and had to provide and cook their own food. If the voyage was long and many were seasick the immigrants were likely to starve, or become ill and al-
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most smothered in storms when the hatches were battened down. Charles Dickens, however, wrote, in 1848 of "the noble American ves- sels which have made their packet service the finest in the world." The cabin passengers fared fairly well. Ralph Waldo Emerson made a pas- sage on the packet ship "Washington Irving" in 1847 and reported : "I find the sea-life an acquired taste, like that for tomatoes and olives . the wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor." The sailing packet fought the steamship until the Civil War made steam navigation a necessity and the slower method went into the discard. The packet played a large part in the pioneer days of the republic and brought over many latter-day Pilgrims.
World's Chief Whaling Port Was Here-In early days on Cape Cod, whales were frequently seen off shore and Cape Codders were wont to appraise them in terms of candle power. A whale of a certain size was capable of making a certain number of candles or furnish oil for the whale oil lamps which furnished light in the long winter evenings and also in the early winter mornings, for they were needed early and late to illumine the people at their tasks "in those good old days." All that had to be done was to row out to the whale, kill him, tow his carcass ashore, boil out the oil and, in case of candles, run it into a mold or dip the wicking a few thousand times. It was a man's size job, also fur- nishing employment for the women and children, but the Cape Codders accepted the task and that was the beginning of an industry which made this vicinity world-famous, especially New Bedford and the island of Nantucket.
There were three varieties of whales especially desirable to whale- men and the pursuit of these three took the whaling vessels and their skilled officers and crews to the remote parts of the Atlantic, around Cape Horn to the Pacific, even as far as Japan, and even to the Indian Ocean. The deep-sea sperm whales, valuable for the finest quality of oil and for spermaceti; the right whale, furnishing a lower standard of oil but whalebone used for many purposes; and the bowhead whale, found in the northern latitudes, valuable for whalebone and oil alike. As the demand for whalebone, oil and spermaceti increased, the size of the whaling vessels increased, from the sturdy little sloops with square topsails trimmed by braces leading forward to cleats on the bowsprit and a crew of about thirteen men, to vessels of three to five hundred tons. The models remained much the same, the vessels being built for sea- worthiness to withstand rough weather, ice and rough work, rather than for speed or beauty. They presented a far less attractive appear- ance than the clipper ships, which were things of beauty as well as speed.
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Once in the whale latitudes, the man in the crows' nest, high on the main royalmast, kept watch for the spouting of the big game, the hunt- ing of which furnished the most dangerous adventure and keenest thrills, with many hairbreadth escapes in the experience of men devoted to the quest. Harpooners and boat steerers shared in the profits but the pay for members of the crew was small. The owners of whalers made large profits. Many of the members of the crews came from the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands, and many of them, once landing at Nantucket or New Bedford, settled on Cape Cod. They eventually be- came a numerous element in the population, developed into good farmers and laborers, and, for the most part, desirable residents. Many of the choice berths aboard whalers were held by men from Nantucket and New Bedford, as the boys early developed great skill in the use of har- poons and cherished the ambition to wear the "chock-pin," through the upper buttonhole of their jackets, the badge which denoted that the wearers had taken their whales.
At the outbreak of the War of 1812 there were forty-six whalers using Nantucket as the home port and half this number were lost. The loss was repaired in time and Nantucket reached its highest prosperity in the whaling industry in 1843. At that time the fleet numbered eighty- eight whalers, by means of which the island marketed more refined oil and spermaceti than any other place in America. In 1857 the chief whaling port of the world was New Bedford. Her whale fleet num- bered three hundred and thirty ships. All the American whale fleets put together, outside of New Bedford, did not equal this number. Ed- gartown, Provincetown and Fairhaven had considerable fleets, however. New Bedford continued to control the whale oil market as long as whale oil was used for lighting purposes, but experienced a decline with the introduction of coal oil and illuminating gas.
CHAPTER XXXVI. YOUTH TOOK TO THE SEA AND EDUCATION
Founding of Harvard College Excited Much Interest and Early Col- onists Were Among Those Who Took Advantage of its Opportuni- ties-Some Times Corporal Punishment and the Season of Prayer Went Hand in Hand-Some Punishments Which Were Popular as Fitting the Crime in "The Good Old Days"-Provisions of the Courts -Allusion to the Boston Massacre's Legal Side-Sandwich Settled in 1637, Under Direction of Captain Myles Standish and John Alden- Punishment for Duelling-Catching First Sight of a Dead Whale Was Profitable Outdoor Sport-First Suicide-Punishment for Quakers-Preparations for Wars.
Although it was in what is now Barnstable County that the Pilgrims formed themselves into a body politic by a solemn compact and laid the foundation of American liberty, the reputation of Barnstable County, or Cape Cod, has not included much of courts, law and men of the legal profession. Students of history, however, know that it was on this peninsula, shaped like a protecting arm making a gesture of defiance to foes from without, that the majesty of the law and a willing- ness to lay everything on the altar of liberty whenever liberty was threatened, was at all times apparent. In Barber's "Historical Col- lections" there was a footnote on page 32 which read: "A very general prejudice has existed in the minds of many people living in the interior against the inhabitants of the Cape; this has risen from the fact, that seamen, as a class, have been considered as more addicted to vice than many others. This opinion, as far is it regards the inhabitants of this country, is erroneous; and it may be safely stated, that in no part of the State are the people more moral, or the institutions of morality and religion more regarded. The inhabitants of the Cape are literally more purely the descendants of the 'Pilgrim fathers' than any others in any part of the State, as very few foreign emigrants have settled among them."
James Otis, distinguished patriot and statesmen, was born in West Barnstable, February 5, 1725, and graduated at Harvard College in 1743. He was a type of the patriotic, educated Cape Cod citizen. In the early days it was literally true, according to the words of a local song,
"All the way around the Cape
Is the nearest way to Boston,"
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but the long distance from Cape Cod to Cambridge was traveled by the young men of the Cape in as liberal proportion as anywhere in the State to get the benefits of college training.
Prayer Before and After Punishments-One of the Harvard College songs has a refrain "It's a Way We Have at Old Harvard," but some of the ways they had at Old Harvard in the early days never found their way into a song. Thomas Sargeant, a student more than 250 years ago, indulged in some profanity, such as several Harvard students have done in years since. The records of the university say that "Thomas Sargeant was examined by the Corporation : finally the advice of Mr. Danforth, Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Thatcher, Mr. Mather (then present) was taken." This was his sentence: that
being convicted of speaking blasphemous words concerning the H. G. (Holy Ghost) he should be therefore publickly whipped before all the scholars. 2. That he should be suspended as to taking his degree of Bachelour (this sentence read to him twice at the Pr'ts, before the committee, and in the Library ... ) 3. Sit alone by himself in the Hall uncovered at meals, during the pleasure of the President and fellows, and be in all things obedient, doing what exercise was appointed him by the President, or else be finally expelled the College. The first was presently put in execution in the Library .... before the Scholars. He kneeled down and the instrument Goodman Hely attended to the President's word as to the per- formance of his part in the work. Prayer was had before and after by the President.
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