USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 28
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"Today, besides owning and operating its huge fleet of fishing vessels, the company has available the catch of many
49. "New England's Prospect," 1933. "The Fisheries of New England," by Gerald A. Fitzgerald, p. 269.
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Gloucester vessels. It owns and operates a large series of plants for curing, preparing, and packing fish, but with all its growth, the factories maintain much of the old-time pic- turesqueness that is a part of Gloucester.
"In 1928 the Gorton-Pew concern purchased the adjoining plant of the William H. Jordan Co., formerly one of the largest enterprises in the city.
"The schooner 'Esperanto,' built by the company pri- marily for mackerel fishing, was used for all branches of the fisheries business, including cod-fishing off the Banks, and when, in 1920, citizens of Halifax, Nova Scotia, challenged citizens of Gloucester to an international race of fishing ves- sels, the 'Esperanto,' just in from a long fishing trip, was the only Gloucester ship available. She was entered in the event without special preparation, and after one of the most thrill- ing sea races ever sailed, won the international cup and prize money. The following year the 'Esperanto' was lost at sea, after striking a submerged wreck.
"Selling fish by mail originated in Gloucester. When a Gloucester man conceived the idea some years ago of selling fish by mail the plan was regarded as chimerical, but it repre- sented merely the steady growth and development of a policy which Frank E. Davis, of the Cape Ann city, had carried out on the cabin of his father's vessel, when, as a boy, he learned how to clean and cure fish in such a way that it would keep in- definitely. Returning to port one day, young Davis dispatched a pail of salted mackerel to some inland friends, and the let- ter of thanks suggested to him the feasibility of sending sea- food to the interior; and from the initial circular he prepared grew a business which, today, supplies some 200,000 families whose homes are scattered throughout the country, with care- fully selected and packed fish. In the beginning, Davis and his wife were able to care for the orders, but long since the little wooden building on the wharves of Gloucester, where the ear- lier distribution was made, has given way to a large, wooden structure where up-to-date sanitary and culinary methods are employed.
"Within four years the General Sea Foods Co., of Glouces- ter, has taken over 40,000 square feet of floor space in this
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city, following several years of experimentation, research, and machinery development based upon recommendations of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, and is revolutionizing the hith- erto prevailing practice of supplying the interior of the coun- try with fresh fish which will arrive at its destination in perfect condition.
"The methods employed comprehend the use of only fresh fish, greater care being exercised in treating the catch on board the vessels; the employment of automatic machinery in the plant, which reduces the possibility of contamination; the utili- zation of the rapid freeze method, where a temperature of 45° below zero is attained, which insures the product reach- ing the market while still in a frozen state, thus enabling it to retain its superior flavor, and packing only the fillets of solid meat, the catch being scaled, cleaned, dressed, and boned before being packed and sealed in sanitary containers sur- rounded by heavily insulated cartons.
"A bacteriologist tests for purity and tests in a specially equipped laboratory all the product before shipment.
"The concern expended more than $125,000 on equip- ment in addition to a large sum on research and machinery design, before it placed its product on the market, and employing the most modern methods of distribution, its success has been phenomenal.
"It is appropriate that there should be centered in Glouces- ter a variety of manufacturing concerns whose products are collateral to the great American fishing industry which has been her birthright from the beginning of the Cape Ann set- tlement, and today one can buy at the very doors of the plants, nets and twines, dried, pickled, canned, salted, and smoked fish, oiled clothing of all types, cod liver oil, fog horns, wooden boxes and cooperage products, marine and copper paints, fish- ermen's spars, leather clothing, vessel supplies, including sheet metal specialties, anchors and castings, etc."
OTHER ASPECTS OF THE FISHERIES-Other aspects of Essex County fisheries might be dealt with, but since they are of less impor- tance and not so closely connected with the history and development of the county, they will only be mentioned. Much is being done by
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the Bureau of Marine Fisheries to conserve the lobsters which fre- quent the rocky portions of our coast line. This work takes the form of forbidding the capture of small and egg-bearing lobsters, and of releasing egg-bearing lobsters in various localities. In 1931, 1,304 egg lobsters were released on the North Shore. In 1933, 468,395 pounds of lobster, worth $116,201, were taken by Essex County lobstermen.
The soft-shelled clam, which in its fried state is familiar, at least by name, to all motorists driving through Essex County, is care- fully watched over by the Bureau of Marine Fisheries to see that none are dug in contaminated areas. It is stated that there was, in 1931, $1,500,000 worth of clams in the contaminated areas of Essex County alone.50 In that year the chlorinating plant at New- buryport worked for the full twelve months treating clams from the Newburyport and Salisbury areas. An average of fifty-two men were employed each working day and these dug 43,8131/2 bushels from approximately 67 acres of flats.
Fishways are maintained at Lawrence, in the Parker River, and at other places so that alewives, smelt and other anadromous fish may ascend the river to spawn. During the latter part of May, 1931, fish were observed going through the Parker River fishway faster than they could be counted, many of which spawned as soon as they reached the stream above.51
An occupation dignified by the title of the Bait Worm Industry consists in securing two species of sea worms-blood worms and green worms-for the use of New York fishermen. The Bureau of Marine Fisheries states that the surprising total of 15,000,000 bait worms, worth $90,000, were shipped from Massachusetts to New York in 1932. Of these $5,000 worth was dug at Newburyport, Ipswich, and Essex.
What of the future of the Essex County fisheries ? They have in the past been a large source of income for Massachusetts and New England, and it seems probable that they will continue to be so in the future. Certainly the consumption of fish throughout the coun- try will increase as people learn more of its dietary value. As Mr. Radcliffe states in "New England's Prospect, 1933" :52
50. "Report on the Marine Fisheries," 1931.
51. Ibid.
52. Quoting from "Nutritive Value of Fish and Shellfish," Appendix X to the "Report of the U. S. Commission of Fisheries, 1925," Washington, 1926.
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"Sea products are rich in minerals, and there is much less danger of our encountering deficiencies in such elements by eating products of the sea than if our diet is confined to land foods. It has been shown that marine fish and shellfish con- tain a higher percentage of iodine than any other common foods. Oysters, clams, and lobsters contain about 200 times as much iodine as milk and eggs; shrimp, 100 times as much; and crabs and most ocean fishes 50 times as much. These facts should be of interest to persons living in the so-called goitre belts, and particularly to those planning the diet of young people living in areas where the disorders of the thyroid gland are common. The proteins of salmon, mackerel, and butterfish are easily and almost completely digested, as are also the proteins of oysters, clams, scallops and mussels."
With this growing appreciation of the food value of fish, with improvements in the methods of catching, packaging, and merchan- dising them, such as are described above, it seems inevitable that the fisheries will continue to be one of the staple industries of Essex County.
BIBLIOGRAPHY-The following books are listed for those who may be interested in reading farther on the subject of the preceding chapter.
Adams, J. T. (etc.) : "New England's Prospect, 1933." Ameri- can Geographical Society of New York, 1933, 501 p. Chapters : Fisheries of New England, Production and Administration, pp. 247- 260. Fisheries of New England, Economic Factors, pp. 261-77. Good description of frozen fish processes.
Dodge, S. D .: "Geography of the Codfishing Industry in Colo- nial New England." "Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Phila- delphia," Vol. XXV, January, 1927, pp. 43-50.
Felt, J. B .: "History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton." Cam- bridge (Mass.). C. Folsom, 1834, 304 p.
The Fisheries (Chapter 6, pp. 99-124, in Lamson "History of the Town of Manchester.")
Goode, George Brown: "The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the United States." Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, 1884. 8 Vols. See Vol. V. (United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. )
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"The Fisheries of Gloucester from the First Catch by the English in 1623 to the Centennial Year, 1876." Gloucester, Procter Bros., 1876, 88 p.
"The Fishermen's Own Book, comprising the list of men and vessels lost from the port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, from 1874 to April 1, 1882, and a table of losses from 1830, together with valu- able statistics of the fisheries; also notable narrow escapes, startling adventures, fishermen's offhand sketches, ballads, description of fish- ing trips, and other interesting facts and incidents." Gloucester, Procter Bros. c. 1882, 274 p.
Hawes, C. B .: "Gloucester by Land and Sea." Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1923. Chapter: The Fisherman, pp. 170-206.
Houghton, J. C .: "Whale Ships and Ship Yard at West Lynn." In "Boot and Shoe Recorder," August 10, 1892, pp. 79-83.
Lodge, H. C .: "Gloucester and New England Fisheries" (pre- sented to the Senate, Washington, 1902), 27 p.
McFarland, Raymond: "A History of the New England Fish- eries," Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1911, 457 p. Bibliography, pp. 338-63.
Peabody Museum of Salem, Salem, Massachusetts: "The Whaling Industry." Exhibition of objects illustrating the whaling industry, history of Essex County whaling vessels (Salem, 1908), 10 p.
Procter, G. H .: "The Fishermen's Memorial and Record Book, containing a list of vessels and their crews lost from the port of Gloucester from the year 1830 to October 1, 1873; . . . also con- tains valuable statistics of the fishing business, offhand sketches, big trips, tales of narrow escapes, maritime poetry and other matters of interest." Gloucester, Procter Bros., 1873, 172 p.
Sabine, Lorenzo: "Report on the Principal Fisheries of the American Seas." Washington, 1853, 317 p. McFarland says: "This is the first attempt at writing a history of American Fisheries, one of the standard sources, may safely be considered both a history and a source."
Smith, Sylvanus S .: "Fisheries of Cape Ann." A collection of reminiscent narratives, also some interesting comments on fisheries legislation and cause of the decline of the fisheries. Gloucester "Times," 1915, 131 p.
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Starbuck, A .: "History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876." Waltham, published by the author, 1878, 767 p.
Stanford, Alfred: "Men, Fish and Boats: The Pictorial Story of the North Atlantic Fishermen." 115 photographs. New York, 1934.
Waters, T. F .: "Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony." Ipswich, Massachusetts, Ipswich Historical Society, 1905-17. 2 vols. Vol. II, Chapter X, Fishing and Commerce in the Eighteenth Cen- tury. Vol. I, Chapter VII, Trades and Employments.
Ships and Shipping
Essex-22
CHAPTER IX
Ships and Shipping By Robert K. Vietor
The character of the coast of Essex County dictated that it should become, almost from the first settlement, an essentially maritime region. In the valley of the Merrimac, with its vast resources of oak and pine, and on the forest clad hills near the sea, materials for ship- building were plentiful. Many harbors well suited for the maritime commerce of former times were to be found. On the north, the mouth of the Merrimac provided a commodious though dangerously barred port for the town of Newbury, while the river's twenty-odd miles of tidewater, navigable by vesseis of medium draft, gave the villages of Salisbury Point, Amesbury, Bradford, and Haverhill access to the sea. The long barrier beach of Plum Island, stretching southward from the mouth of the Merrimac to the Ipswich River bar, gave protection to the ports of Old Newbury, Rowley, and Ipswich, all served by shallow and circuitous though navigable tidal rivers leading back from Plum Island Sound. Southward, past the bluffs of Ipswich and the Essex River, the rocky outcropping of Cape Ann afforded several havens-Annisquam, Pigeon Cove, Rockport, and, notably, the excellent harbor of Gloucester. Further to the south, the closely clustered ports of Beverly, Salem, and Marblehead formed a maritime group which for a time rivaled the supremacy of Boston itself.
The possession of timber for the construction of ships and the existence of suitable harbors were not in themselves sufficient to cause Essex County to prosper in maritime affairs. Other factors entered in, such as the discovery of suitable markets for local products, the incentive provided by the knowledge that the rocky soil could not in
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itself support a prosperous agricultural population, and the fortunate presence in the Colony of many artisans and sailors to whom the con- struction and operation of vessels were familiar.
Shipbuilding was begun in Massachusetts as early as 1631, when Governor Winthrop's "Blessing of the Bay" was launched on the Mystic River. Experienced builders had apparently reached New England as early as 1629, for a letter from the managers of the Mas- sachusetts Bay Company to the Governor and Council dated April 27 of that year, stated that six shipwrights, under the leadership of Robert Moulton, had been sent across. No record exists of ship- building within the present bounds of Essex County before the year 1641, although previous to that time Rev. Hugh Peters, of Salem, had strongly urged that it be attempted. In 1641, Richard Hollings- worth, formerly a noted English builder, constructed a ship of three hundred tons burthen at Salem, and two years later William Stevens, or Stephen, commenced the building of vessels at Gloucester.
During the next ten or fifteen years shipbuilding became a leading industry in Ipswich, Rowley, Gloucester, and Salem, and in most of these towns continued to thrive well up into the eighteenth century. But almost from earliest times the towns along the Merrimac took the lead, and soon the lower Merrimac Valley came to be recognized as New England's most important shipbuilding center. Records do not indicate clearly just when the first vessels were constructed on the river banks of Newbury and Salisbury, but there is reason to believe that the industry was active before 1650.
According to tradition, and substantiated to some extent by record, George Carr, the ferryman of Salisbury, was the first to build vessels on the Merrimac. Carr is supposed to have been a ship carpenter previous to his settlement in Ipswich in 1635. Five years later, as a citizen of the new town of Salisbury, he was granted the island that bears his name and given the privilege of conducting a ferry from Salisbury to the Newbury shore. Carr was, apparently, both a man of substance and an able carpenter, for not long after the assumption of his duties as keeper of the ferry he built, at his own expense, a bridge from the island to the Salisbury shore, and from that time forward people using the ferry crossed by boat from the Newbury side to the island, and from thence to Salisbury by the bridge. The ease with which timber could be rafted from above, and the experi-
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ence and wealth of Mr. Carr, made his island a logical place for the commencement of shipbuilding. That graving, caulking, and repair- ing, at least, were practiced on Carr's Island before 1650 is indicated by the fact that Thomas Whicher was given permission by the town of Salisbury in 1649 to make three barrels of tar, two for Carr and one for the town. In the division of the estate of George Carr, who died in 1683, the "old building yard" and the "lowest building place for layeing of vessels and graving and layeing of boates" were men- tioned, thus proving that by 1683 there was more than one shipyard on Carr's Island.1 Shipbuilding was apparently continued here for many years, and an inventory of the estate of Captain Richard Carr, son of George Carr, made in 1727, mentions "a sloop on ye stocks, £60.11.0."
Another indication that the building of vessels on the Merrimac commenced at an early date is found in the deposition of Nathan Gold, in 1652, that planks for vessels had been sawed in the past at William Osgood's mill at the falls of the Powow River, in Salisbury. This sawmill had been built in 1641, and perhaps from the first sawed planks for the early shipwrights of Salisbury and Newbury.
From these small and vaguely recorded beginnings, shipbuilding on the Merrimac increased rapidly toward the latter part of the seventeenth century, Newbury early taking the lead. In 1680 the town of Newbury voted to grant to Benjamin Rolfe, Dr. John Dole, and Richard Dole land near Watt's Cellar for a shipyard and wharf. Doubtless other land along the Newbury shore was in similar use at the time. The appendix of Currier's "Historical Sketch of Ship Building on the Merrimac" contains an interesting list of vessels con- structed on the river and registered under the authority of the Gov- ernment of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The list includes vessels registered from 1693 to 1714, many of which were built previous to the beginning of registration. Currier believed that many other vessels were built during this period, but, being made for for- eign or English owners, were not registered in the Province. The oldest vessel listed was the Brigantine "Endeavour," Boston, Edward Ashley master, twenty tons burthen, which was built in Newbury in 16SI. One hundred and twenty vessels were mentioned as being
I. John James Currier : "Historical Sketch of Ship Building on the Merrimac River, Newburyport." William Huse & Co., 1877. p. 17.
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NEWBURYPORT-BROWN SQUARE
Courtesy of The Essex Institute
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built on the Merrimac from 1681 to 1714, of which one hundred and seven were from Newbury, four from Salisbury, four from Amesbury, three from Haverhill, and two from Bradford. Most of these vessels were small sloops and brigantines for the growing coastwise trade, but several of great size for those days were built for foreign owners; between 1698 and 1714, eleven vessels, one of them the ship "Bond," of London, three hundred and ten tons burthen, were built for British owners at Newbury. The year 1713 was a banner one for the ship- yards of Newbury, as fully a score of vessels were built within the limits of the town.
Although the town of Merrimac took the lead in shipbuilding almost from the beginning of the eighteenth century, the industry was also strongly entrenched, as it had been for many years, in most of the seaport towns of the county. By 1665 there were at least four noted builders at Salem. Land was granted in Ipswich in 1668 for use as a shipyard, supposedly at Treadwell's landing, and two years later Edward Randolph wrote of this town as a place where ship- building was carried on. According to Currier's list, twelve vessels were known to have been built in Ipswich between 1686 and 1714. Duncan Stewart & Sons were building vessels in Rowley previous to 1680. During the seventy years prior to the Revolution shipbuild- ing was an important industry all along the coast of Essex County, and thrived particularly in Salem, whose merchants as a rule preferred home built vessels for their growing commerce to those constructed in the more important shipbuilding centers.
The years between the outburst of prosperity following the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 and the Revolutionary War saw the lower reaches of the Merrimac transformed from a wilderness, broken only here and there by scattered farms and villages, into an active and pros- perous industrial and commercial region. The constant and some- times rapid increase in shipbuilding brought many subsidiary indus- tries. Ironworks, sail lofts, rope walks, and numerous other activities connected with the building and fitting of vessels made the port of Newbury, which later became Newburyport, the mart and workshop of northern Essex County.
It is well known that from the outset of the eighteenth century to the Revolution the shipbuilders of Newbury were many and active, and some record of their identity and relative importance has come
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down to the present. But, unfortunately, there is very little definite information about the number, description, and tonnage of the vessels built here during this period. Probably a large proportion of them were small ketches, sloops, and schooners for fishing and for coastwise trade. But as time went on the growing West India and European trades of the colonies brought an increasing demand for vessels of greater tonnage; by the outbreak of the Revolution a number of master builders, capable of constructing large and fleet ships of war as well as first-class merchant vessels, carried on their trade in Mer- rimac Valley towns. The art of shipbuilding in those days was passed from father to son, each generation becoming more proficient than the last, and each making improvements in design and construction.
Of the Newbury builders of these early days several names are outstanding, such as Woodman, Somerby, Cross, Woodwell, Gerrish, Greenleaf, and Woodbridge. Jonathan Woodman was among the earliest of the noted builders of Newbury, having been engaged in the business as early as 1675. Major Henry Somerby commenced build- ing vessels at the place near Watt's Cellar, known as the "middle ship-yard," about the year 1712. This location was a favorite place for shipbuilding for a great many years as a publicly owned yard, and was finally sold to Samuel Gerrish in 1768. By the 1730's the New- bury shore of the river was literally lined with building yards. About this time such noted shipwrights as Gideon Woodwell, Samuel Mog- garidge, and Rolf Cross, as well as other builders, were actively engaged in supplying the growing commerce and fisheries with their ever-increasing yearly quota of vessels. Woodwells and Crosses con- tinued to engage in this industry for several generations; as late as Revolutionary and Federalist times their names still appeared among the shipbuilders of the town.
As it has been suggested above, it is very difficult to estimate the magnitude of the industry in these times, but the fact that seventy- two vessels were in the process of construction in 1766 between Pierce's farm, near the part of Newburyport now known as "Joppa," and Moggaridge's Point, near the Newbury side of Carr's ferry, indi- cates the importance of shipbuilding on the Merrimac in the later years of the Province.
This great activity among the shipbuilders of Newbury came at a time when the growth of Boston had been temporarily halted, and
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when Salem was progressing but little. During the latter part of this period Newbury appeared to be overtaking her larger rivals, both in wealth and size. Subsidiary industries grew up in large number, and the wealth of the town increased rapidly. Many new and radical steps were taken in shipbuilding and commerce, but perhaps the most unique of them was the experiment of the "Jew's rafts."
Before the year 1770 a Mr. Levi, a Jew, undertook a most unusual enterprise. He caused to be constructed at or near the Moggaridge shipyard in Newbury several large rafts of lumber, each bound together in the general form of a ship, and rigged as a sailing vessel. These structures were manned and sailed to England, where they were taken apart and sold as lumber. The exact number of these cumbersome craft built for Mr. Levi is not known, but some of them did reach their destination. An English newspaper of 1770 men- tioned the safe arrival of one, under the command of Captain Rose, of Newbury.2 The last one to sail, however, met with misfortune and was never heard from after clearing the Newbury bar.
Even less definite information is to be had about shipbuilding further up the Merrimac in Salisbury, Amesbury, and Haverhill. Although there is no doubt but that Newbury was the scene of the greatest shipbuilding activity during this period, a large amount of shipping was built in the other towns of the valley. Salisbury, in par- ticular, had a reputation as a shipbuilding center.
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