USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 24
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Mr. Barnard associated with the skippers of English vessels, learned their methods, and attempted with little success to persuade his townsmen to engage in fishing. At length he converted a young man named Joseph Swett to his views, and as McFarland has expressed it :
"The business was a success from the start, and in a short time the young merchant was engaged in a prosperous carry- ing trade even to European markets. Others followed his example, engaging in fishing or the carrying trade. The town prospered, the good Mr. Barnard lived among them fifty years, long enough to see the morals of the place change for the better, and the infant industry that he started reach its high-water mark in this seaport town of New England. Before Mr. Barnard's death, Marblehead had the reputation of ship- ping off more dried codfish than all the rest of New England together. In 1732, which was a good year for the fisheries, Marblehead had about 120 schooners of about fifty tons bur- den engaged in the fisheries, with about 1,000 men employed from the town. This number did not include seamen who were upon vessels that carried the fish to market."
17. "Maritime History of Massachusetts," by Samuel Eliot Morison, p. 13. Boston and New York, 1921.
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For another hundred years the fisheries of Marblehead con- tinued to flourish. The Marblehead "Ledger" of 1860 said :18
"The fisheries of Marblehead were most profitable during the first six or eight years of the century. An immense quan- tity of codfish was then exported to France, Spain, and the West Indies, if not to other countries, and those exportations were made mostly in the winter in vessels that had been fishing in the summer, some going direct from the banks to foreign ports. To Spain the fish were carried as often wet as dry, but that sent to the West Indies was always well dried and packed in casks or drums. As a general thing no return cargoes were brought from Spain. The fish sold at Bilboa and other Spanish ports were paid for in doubloons, and our vessels would often proceed to the Cape de Verde Islands and there purchase cargoes of salt. From France we received our pay in silks, wines, olive oil, and other articles, all of which found a ready sale. Sugar, molasses, coffee, rum, pineapples, oranges, lemons, and other tropical products were brought from the West Indies and disposed of without delay. There were times in the Spanish and French harbors when fish com- manded an extremely high price. I was in conversation with an old fisherman, who informed me that he once went to Bil- boa as a mate of a fish laden schooner, and that the cargo was sold at a rate of twenty dollars a quintal. 'We got,' he said, 'about one dollar for every fish we carried out.' He added that he had known the article to bring a still higher price, but this was soon after the termination of the War of 1812."
Though Marblehead continued to hold the distinction of being the principal fishing town of the New World for half a century after the Revolution, when Gloucester took the lead, her position began to decline after 1818. In 1829 about fifty vessels, averaging sixty tons, fitted there for bank fishing. Fifty-seven vessels in the cod and mackerel fisheries are recorded for 1831, carrying four hundred and twelve men and catching fish to the value of $160,490. The most prosperous season for Marblehead was in 1839, when there were ninety-eight vessels, only three of which were under fifty tons bur-
18. G. B. Goode : "The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the United States," Wash- ington, 1884. Sec. II, p. 706. Quoted by McFarland.
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den. During the Civil War the number of vessels in the cod fishery declined from sixty-one in 1862 to twenty-five in 1866.
Today Marblehead, like the other Essex County seaports, except Gloucester, has relinquished its fishing industry for other interests, and receipts of fish there are not mentioned in the "Report on the Marine Fisheries."
SALEM-Salem, despite its importance in other ways, never counted for much in the fishing industry. Between 1786 and 1789 the annual average of vessels fishing on the banks was only twenty, of a total tonnage of 1,300 tons, and employing one hundred and sixty men. The town was fifth in the State in the amount of mackerel packed in 1820 and in 1825, the amount of the latter year being 11,460 barrels. In 1836 there were only fourteen vessels, carrying one hundred and thirty men, out of Salem, and in 1845 the number of boats engaged in the codfishing had dwindled to three.19 Fishing as an industry is now negligible there.
Salem as well as Lynn made an unsuccessful effort to carry on the whaling industry. In 1841 there were thirteen ships registered from Salem to take part in this enterprise. In 1837 sperm oil to the value of $124,440, and whale oil to the value of $40,866 was landed at Salem. The decline in the business is well illustrated by the fact that in 1845 the value of sperm oil landed was $39,306, and the value of whale oil was only $5,686; while the number of hands engaged there dwindled from four hundred and thirty-two in 1837 to one hundred and ten in 1845. Felt spoke prophetically in 1847, when he said: "There are two whalers from Salem. The prospect is that this perilous employment recommenced in hope as to its increase, continuance, and profit will soon terminate in disappointment."
BEVERLY-The fishermen of Beverly were always more concerned with cod than the mackerel. In 1832 there were between forty and forty-five fishing vessels belonging to the town, and in 1839 forty-nine boats employed three hundred and six Beverly hands and one hundred and twelve others. By the middle of the century there were seventy- five vessels from Beverly engaged in fishing, whose crews numbered from 1,200 to 1,400 men. From that time on the fishery declined, except for a short period from 1863-65, until in 1869 there were only twenty-seven schooners employing three hundred and fifty men.
10. "U. S. Fish Com. Report," 1881, pp. 259, 260. Quoted by McFarland.
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NEWBURYPORT-The fishermen of Newburyport used a water tele- scope for locating schools of cod on the shallow bottoms and a seine for catching the fish after locating them.20 For many years Newburyport held a prominent place in the cod and mackerel fisheries. The first ves- sel sent out from Newburyport to fish for cod off Labrador sailed in 1794, and for eighty-five years thereafter there was hardly a fishing sea- son when one or more ships did not depart for the Banks. The fleet grew rapidly : in 1806 it numbered forty-five sail, and in 1817 had increased to sixty-five, including sixty schooners, one brig, and four sloops.21 Until 1820 Newburyport was second only to Boston in the extent of the mackerel fishery, and for twenty years thereafter it occupied third place among Massachusetts fishing towns. Gradually the extent of the industry diminished. The number of barrels.of mackerel packed in the town in 1831 was 36,424, which decreased during the Civil War to 7,500 barrels annually. In 1835 Newburyport had forty-one ves- sels in the cod fishery and about one hundred twenty-five vessels engaged in mackereling; in 1850 there were between forty and fifty vessels only fishing off the coast of Labrador. Like other towns on the Essex County coast, Newburyport is no longer important as a fishing center.
Although the whaling business was largely the monopoly of towns south of Boston, there were some Essex County ports from which whalers sailed for a few years. Among these was Lynn.22 In 1829 Hezekiah Chase and Nehemiah Berry purchased the "Atlas" and the "Louisa." In 1832 they added the "Henry Clay" to their fleet. In 1834 the Lynn Whaling Company was formed, and soon after the "Commodore Preble" and the "Ninus" were registered among the Lynn whalers. These ships at first docked at Boston, but in time a wharf was built upon the Saugus River with special reference to the whaling business, and coopers, sailmakers, and rope- makers moved to town. But unfortunately the enterprise seemed doomed to failure. Fresh water could not be found near the wharf, the "Atlas" grounded on her first attempt to pass up the river, the "Henry Clay" grounded and broke in two, the Eastern Railroad bridge over the Saugus River, built in 1838, made it practically impos- sible to bring large vessels to the new wharf, and the panic of 1837
20. Goode, Sec. II, p. 135. Quoted by McFarland.
21. Ibid., II, p. 135. Quoted by McFarland.
22. "Whale Ships and Ship Yards at West Lynn," by John C. Houghton, in the "Boot and Shoe Recorder," August 10, 1892.
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inflicted the final stroke of ill-fortune. The "Ninus" was finally left among the old hulks at San Francisco, and the "Louisa" and "Atlas" left their bones on distant reefs.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FISHING BOAT-Numerous references have been made to the number of fishing boats which left the various Essex County ports for the fishing banks. What were these boats and how did they develop with the passing centuries ? Without them our fishermen could not have converted the swarming myriads of fish into solid wealth. As Weeden says :23 "Fish became more than mere merchandise for exchange. Though they were always that, they were also a constant factor in the industrial organism of New England for two centuries. Not only the store and shop, but the shipyard, farm, and homestead became parts in a system of manufacture and exchange. In this industrial evolution, fish from the seas was the chief motor in starting the round of exchange."
It is a platitude to say that none of this stimulating effect upon New England life would have been felt had it not been for the fish- ing boats. But, nevertheless, it is worth while to examine them and to observe how efficiently they were designed to carry out their arduous duties.
There is no account of the various types of fishing craft more compact and at the same time complete than that presented by Mr. McFarland in his chapter on "The Evolution of the Fishing Schooner," which is given here :24
"A comparison between the appearance of citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1630 and those of Boston today would afford no greater contrast than would appear if one of the fishing craft used by the first settlers of Gloucester should arrive at T Wharf with a cargo of fish and mingle with the fleet of modern fishing vessels that frequents that great fish-market of New England. Important differences would also be seen in the furnishings of the vessels, in the apparatus used in fishing, and in the methods employed in curing the catch. The condition of the fisherman has improved greatly during the period of three centuries that fishing has been car- ried on along our shores, but the change has not been gradual.
23. Weeden, William Babcock: "Economic and Social History of New England," 1620-1789, I, p. 18.
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For the first one hundred years only one important change is to be noted, one affecting the arrangement of the sails of vessels. Old-fashioned methods of catching and curing fish that had been in use since the days of Bradford and Winthrop were employed by fishermen well down towards the middle of the last century. The most numerous and many of the most important changes have been instituted within the lifetime of the last two generations of fishermen.
"The shallop, the sloop, and the ketch were the kinds of boats most generally employed by the early colonists for their fishing and coast trade. The sea-going craft of the day were of the caravel type, not differing greatly from the vessels employed by Columbus. In these ships the bows and sterns were constructed high above the waist line, the hull was not deep, consequently so much superstructure erected on a moderate-sized hull rendered the vessel unseaworthy in windy or stormy weather, and of little use in making headway against adverse winds.
"The first boat used by the settlers was the wooden canoe, made by the Indians. In Maine these were constructed by fastening strips of birch bark on to light wooden frames; in Massachusetts, the trunks of large trees were hollowed out for the purpose. The majority of the canoes were capable of hold- ing four or five men, yet larger ones were built which held twenty, thirty, and even forty men. This boat was so light, cheap, and convenient that it became the universal oyster boat on the Atlantic coast, being still in use in some localities.
"Ship's boats, called shallops and pinnaces, were employed in the shore fisheries until the colonists had boats constructed for the purpose. At Plymouth, boat-building began in 1624. In addition to the name shallop and pinnace, it is probable that the term lugger was used for the early small craft. They were small boats, often constructed by the settler in his barn or shed during the winter season and hauled to the shore for launching by yokes of oxen. The boats were usually provided with two unsupported masts, each carrying a large square or lug sail. The colonists have left us representations of much of their personal and household belongings, but there is no pic-
Essex-19
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ture left by them of the rig and appearance of their earliest small fishing boats.
"For deeper water the catch, or ketch, was employed. The Dutch called them pinkie, a term derived from the Mediter- ranean region and signifying round at both ends. The first ketches had one mast amidships with a square sail suspended to it cross-wise of the boat. Afterwards, a small mizzen- mast was added away aft; the mainmast was then set up a lit- tle forward of amidships. The mainmast bore two square sails, the mizzenmast a lateen, or triangular shaped sail.
"Ketches were from nine to ten feet deep in the hold and drew seven or eight feet of water. Their width was about two-fifths their length, they were decked throughout, and had cabins aft. The average size was about thirty tons burden, although a few were constructed of eighty tons. Salem was a famous center for the building of ketches. The cost for building was about £3 5s. per ton. The "Sparrow Hawk," which sailed from England in 1626 with forty passengers and was wrecked on Cape Cod, was a typical representative of this early class of vessel.25
"The ketch was an improvement over the lugger in that the sails could be handled more easily, as there were two sails on a mast instead of one large one. This type was a popular form of fishing craft in the seventeenth century, but was unsuited to economy in sailing along the New England shores, where the winds are variable. When the vessel was tacking the lateen sail had to be lowered and changed, an operation involving much labor and hardship among the seamen.26 The lateen yard was hung on the mizzenmast diagonally, with the forward end a few feet above deck and the after end tipped up so that it came nearly on a level with the top of the miz- zenmast. When changes had been made in the arrangement of sail and in the shape of the hull the ketch developed into the brigantine of today. The shallop was the forerunner of two types, the Chebacco boat, or pink, and the sloop.
"The change in the arrangement of sail, brought about by
25. Henry Hall: "Report on the Ship-building Industry of the U. S.," Ioth Census, Vol. VIII.
26. Captain J. W. Collins, the "Evolution of the Fishing Schooner," "New England Magazine," May, 1898.
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the schooner type with sails rigged fore-and-aft, was a wel- come one to the fishermen. Probably a step in the evolution of the schooner-rig was the cutting away of that part of the lateen sail which extended forward of the mast, although the yard itself projected forward as formerly. The complete transformation was made in 1713. Capt. Andrew Robinson, of Gloucester, 'built and rigged a ketch, as they were called, masted and rigged in a peculiar manner.' His vessel had gaffs and booms to the sails instead of lateen yards, previously in use, and the luff or upright edge of the sail was fastened to hoops on the masts. She was also provided with a jib-sail forward. As the vessel entered the water at her launching, she was christened a 'scooner' by her builder, a name ever since applied to vessels with two or more masts rigged with fore-and-aft sails. There is no evidence that Capt. Robinson attempted any change in the shape of the hull.27
"The economy of the schooner was soon evident, as the sails could be handled easily on deck, changes in the vessel's course could be made without lowering and setting sail, and the arrangement of sails allowed the vessel to sail several points nearer the wind. Schooners did not come into general use at Gloucester immediately, but by 1741 there were about seventy of them owned there. For nearly two centuries, the schooner rig of sails has been found to be well adapted to our ocean fisheries, and is the popular style for yachts and pilot boats. Among the deep-sea merchant marine of the world this rig of sail has well nigh superseded the square rig style.
"For many years after 1713 the schooner represented a compromise between the square sails of the ketch and the fore- and-aft sails of the vessels of the Robinson class. The square sails served in place of the top sails of today. The vessels were called top-sail schooners, which was the rig of the pri- vateers of the Revolution and of the War of 1812.28
"Modifications were made in the shape of the hull and the arrangement of the decks. A Marblehead cod-fishing schooner of 1750 is represented with two stout masts supported by stays, a short main-topmast, and a bowsprit. The schooner
27. J. J. Babson : "History of Gloucester," p. 250.
28. W. L. Marvin : "The American Merchant Marine," p. 23.
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had a wide, square stern, there was scarcely any curve to the deck, while the quarter-deck was raised several feet above the waist of the schooner. The bows were blunt, practically a semi-circle. This class of schooner was known as a 'heel- tapper,' from the fancied resemblance that the deck gave to an inverted shoe, the quarter-deck simulating the heel. These schooners generally were without bulwarks forward of the quarter-deck, or at most with a strip spiked to the top timbers to serve as a low rail. It was believed in those days, and the idea was held well into the next century, that it was unsafe to have any rail to prevent the free sweep of water across the main deck. Capt. Collins, writing in 1898, describes this type at length. He says, 'The same idea found expression in build- ing sea-going vessels for commercial purposes until after the beginning of the present century, and even as late as 1815, many had no bulwarks forward of the fore rigging. The quarter deck of one of these old 'heel tappers,' being so much higher than the main deck, was comparatively dry in a gale when the main deck would be all awash; therefore, when anchored on the banks in rough weather the crew stood there to fish, which they could do very well, since at that time only half the men engaged in fishing at the same time, as their rule was to fish, watch and watch, each half of the crew taking its turn of four hours in regular rotation.'
"'The cabin was aft, and entered through a small com- panionway, in the after end of which the binnacle was usually located. A rude fireplace, built of brick or stone, served for heating and cooking. The culinary operations were of the most primitive sort. Berths were arranged around the cabin, which were also equipped with a board table and locker seats. Sometimes this apartment was painted, but generally its dingy hues were attributed solely to smoke and grime. A rude log windlass worked by handspikes, heavy hemp cables and a long tiller were details of equipment that continued in use until near the middle of the present century, though in the meantime fishing vessels had undergone material changes in other respects. There was in these early schooners no attempt at ornamentation except in rare instances, when a broad white
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or yellow band stretched along the side, or when representa- tions of windows were painted on the stern. Ordinarily they had only a plain gannon-knee head and were coated with tar, at least as high as their bends. They had long floors, with barrel-shaped bottoms, and excessively full ends. This form continued in vogue until early in the nineteenth century.'
"'A long high-steeved bowsprit, two rather short, clumsily made masts-the foremast stepped well forward-a maintop- mast, and rather short mainboom, projecting just beyond the taffrail, constituted the more important features of the spar plan. The hemp sails had very little angle to their peaks; they were baggy and ill-formed, when considered from present standards, and one marvels how such vessels, with no light sails and with such a diminutive sail era, managed to make pas- sages to and from the distant banks or, stranger still, to Euro- pean ports. Only three sails were usually carried-jib, fore- sail and mainsail; but the desire for supplementary sail area in light winds led to a modification in the rig, to the extent of having in addition a single square foretopsail and some- times a flying jib. The gafftopsail and maintopmast staysail, now so generally used by fishing vessels, had not been adopted.'29
"The Revolution annihilated our fisheries and with them the fishing craft that had been employed. When peace had been made and the fisheries were again resumed, the fishermen could not afford to build vessels of large size. The craft that came into general use subsequent to the war was the chebacco boat, so named because they were constructed at first at the parish of Chebacco, now a part of the town of Essex. These were from three to five tons at first, but were constructed of larger size as more of them came into use. They usually had sharp sterns, were partially decked, having standing-rooms in which the crew stood to fish, and had a little cabin, or cuddy, beneath the forward deck which served for sleeping quarters and cooking. The stem of the chebacco boat always stood high above the bow and served as a bitt-head for the boat's hawser when she was at moorings. Later the chebacco boats
29. Collins, pp. 337-38.
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were constructed as large as twenty tons burden, and some had square sterns. These were called 'dogbodies,' to distinguish them from the other kind. Both kinds were cat-rigged, with two masts, the foremast standing as far in the bow as possible.
"From the round sterned chebacco boat to the pinky was an easy and natural step in vessel construction. Boats were needed for offshore fishing, so the chebacco boat was enlarged, a bowsprit and jib were added, and thus a new type was brought into use. The pinky was very much in favor from the close of the war of 1812-15 down to 1840 or later. The special feature of the pinky was the extension of the rail and bulwarks away aft until they met and were fastened to a V-shaped board, like the stern of a dory, with a hollow crotch on top to serve as a rest for the main boom. This was the 'pink,' and was usually curved upward sharply. The cabin was forward, with a brick chimney and fireplace. It was dingy and dark, being lighted only by the companionway and two or three dead-lights of thick glass. The sails were of hemp, or what was called Raven's duck, as cotton duck was then unknown. With these sails went a 'scout horn,' to wet them down when the wind was moderate. As hemp sails were porous, and did not have the wind-holding properties of duck, the 'scout horn' was an indispensable instrument. It consisted of a pole about fifteen feet long, with a leather pocket on the end holding about a pint of water. By means of the 'scout horn,' water was thrown on the sails to make them less porous.30
"The square-sterned chebacco boat, or dogbody, was the forerunner of the square-sterned schooner, a vessel used exten- sively in the mackerel fisheries when the fish were caught with the jig; hence the name 'jigger' was applied to this kind of a schooner. This vessel had several points of superiority over the old type with high quarter deck. Although her bow was as full as an apple and her sides as round as a barrel still her lines were more symmetrically proportioned. 'Instead of an open waist, the bulwarks were filled in from deck to rail; the long low quarterdeck made such vessels better adapted to the
30. "Fishermen's Own Book," pp. 38-40.
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mackerel hook and line fishery; and the introduction of jib- booms and additional light sails increased their speed and efficiency in summer weather. They were much better adapted to the needs of ocean fishery than the pinky, since the yawl- boat or dingy had to be stowed on the deck of the latter, thus limiting the deck space, while it could be hoisted to the stern davits of the schooner, leaving the deck clear for fishing or for temporarily stowing the catch. Then, too, the cabin was aft, and the accommodations for sleeping and cooking were more commodious, if not yet luxurious.'31
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