At the beginning of the Revolution the cod fishery of Plymouth
was active and successful, and during the previous ten years had
employed an average of sixty vessels. During the war it was of
course seriously depressed, but after the declaration of peace
its recuperation was rapid. In 1802 it had reached its maximum of
prosperity, before the embargo and the war of 1812 again crippled it.
In that year there were thirty-seven vessels engaged in it, employing
two hundred and sixty-six men, and landing twenty-six thousand, one
hundred and seventy-five quintals of codfish, or an average of seven
hundred and seven quintals for each vessel. All but six of these
vessels made two trips. The following list of the vessels engaged
that year with their tonnage, the names of the skippers and the fare
of each may be interesting to some of my readers.
Lucy, Thomas Sears, 75 tons, 800 quintals.
Old Colony, George Finney, 80 tons, 850 quintals.
Wm. Davis, Jr., Elkanah Finney, 90 tons, 1000 quintals.
Mary, Clark Finney, 75 tons, 450 quintals.
Swan, Thadeus Churchill, Jr., 60 tons, 895 quintals.
Polly, Amasa Churchill, 45 tons, 800 quintals.
Ceres, Wm. Brewster, 60 tons, 1,100 quintals.
Washington, Amasa Brewster, 90 tons, 840 quintals.
Swallow, Melzar Whiting, 50 tons, 900 quintals.
Benj. Church, Nathaniel Clark, 70 tons, 350 quintals.
Crusoe, Stephen Payne, 60 tons, 900 quintals.
Nightingale, Ansel Holmes, 35 tons, 700 quintals.
Union, Samuel Virgin, 70 tons, 850 quintals.
Rose, Barnabas Dunham, 55 tons, 710 quintals.
Dove, Wm. Barnes, 34 tons, 650 quintals.
Seaflower, Isaac Bartlett, 60 tons, 1,000 quintals.
— — — Nathaniel Sylvester, 80 tons, 800 quintals.
— — — Ansel Holmes, 60 tons, 500 quintals.
Phebe, John Allen, 75 tons, 700 quintals.
New State, Joseph Holmes, 50 tons, 700 quintals.
Drake, Barnabas Faunce, 44 tons, 550 quintals.
Columbia, Truman Bartlett, 70 tons, 700 quintals.
Neptune, Chandler Holmes, 55 tons, 600 quintals.
Esther, Seth Robbins, 45 tons, 600 quintals.
Lucy, Eben Davie, 50 tons, 600 quintals.
Caroline, Ellis Holmes, 60 tons, 800 quintals.
Hero, Joseph Doten, 60 tons, 600 quintals.
Industry, Joseph Ryder, 60 tons, 600 quintals.
Federalist, Finney Leach, 80 tons, 750 quintals.
Eagle, Jabez Churchill, 30 tons, 300 quintals.
Polly, Lemuel Leach, 70 tons, 700 quintals.
Leader, Job Brewster, 35 tons, 660 quintals.
Manson, Ellis Brewster, 105 tons, 450 quintals.
Rosebud, Andrew Bartlett, 40 tons, 580 quintals.
Hawk, Samuel Churchill, 60 tons, 700 quintals.
Seaflower, Ansel Bartlett, 40 tons, 790 quintals.
Rebecca, —— Codman, 50 tons, 700 quintals.
After the peace of 1815 the fishery entered upon a season of renewed
activity, which continued with occasional periods of relaxation
until its final extinction. The government having found during the
revolution that fishermen made up a large share of naval enlistments,
adopted the policy of aiding and encouraging the fishing industry,
and in 1789 Congress passed an act granting a bounty of five cents
per quintal on dried fish, and imposed a duty of fifty cents per
quintal on imported fish. In 1790 the bounty of five cents was
increased to ten, but on the 16th of February, 1792, the bounty of
ten cents per quintal was discontinued, and an allowance was made to
vessels employed in the cod fishery at sea for four months between
the last day of February and the last day of November, according to
the following rates: Vessels between twenty and thirty tons were
to receive $1.50 per ton annually, and those of more than thirty
tons, $2.50 per ton, but the allowance to any vessel was limited to
$170. In 1797 the allowance was increased one-third; but in 1807
all bounties were abolished. In 1813 the bounty was revived and the
allowance fixed as follows: To vessels from five to twenty tons,
$1.60 per ton; to those from twenty to thirty, $2.40 per ton, and to
those above thirty, $4, but no vessel was to receive more than $272.
In 1819 an allowance was made to vessels from five to thirty tons
of $3.50 per ton, and to those of more than thirty, $4 per ton, but
vessels having a crew of ten men were to be allowed $3.50 per ton
on a service of three months and a half. No vessel, however, was to
receive more than $360. By an act passed in 1817, it was required in
order to entitle a vessel to receive a bounty that the master and
three quarters of the crew should be citizens of the United States,
but in 1864 this requirement was limited to the masters. By an act
passed July 28, 1866, bounties were abolished, and duties on salt
used in curing fish were remitted.
The abolition of bounties was a blow to the fishing interests, which
was destined to be followed by a more deadly one. It cannot, however,
be said that it was wholly undeserved, for the requirement of four
months’ service at sea had been often evaded. A very considerable
number of the fishing fleet returned home before four months had
expired, and anchoring in beach channel by night and cruising in the
bay by day, spent the time in what was called bounty catching, until
the expiration of the four months.
But a severer blow than the loss of bounty soon fell on the fishery.
In 1871 the treaty of Washington between the United States and Great
Britain provided that “fish oil and fish of all kinds, except fish
of the inland lakes, and of the rivers falling into them, and except
fish preserved in oil, being the produce of the fisheries of the
United States, or of the Dominion of Canada, or of Prince Edward
Island, shall be admitted into each country, respectively, free of
duty.” This treaty went into operation July 1, 1873, to remain in
force for ten years, and further until the expiration of two years
after the United States or Great Britain shall have given notice to
terminate it.
At the time of the repeal of the bounty law in 1866, the product of
the Plymouth fishery taking the returns from the previous year as a
basis of an estimate was as follows: Value of fish, $261,053; value
of oil, $24,530; bounties, $14,249, and the number of men employed
was 420. I am inclined to think that the largest number of vessels
ever employed was in the year 1862, when sixty-seven were employed,
but in 1873, the year the treaty of Washington went into operation,
there were only twenty.
As nearly as I can judge the following is a correct list of vessels
engaged in the fishery since 1828:
Abby Morton
Abeona
Adelaide
Adeline
Albatross
Albert
Albion
Annie Eldridge
Anti
Arabella
Arno
Aurora
Austin
Avon
Banker
Ben Perley Poor
Betsey
Blue Wave
Black Warrior
Brontes
California
Caroline
Ceres
Challenge
Charles
Charles
Charles Augusta
Charles Henry
Christie Johnson
Clara Jane
Climax
Clio
Clifford
Cobden
Coiner
Columbia
Columbus
Conanchet
Confidence
Congress
Constitution
Cora
Costello
Deborah
Deliverance
Delos
Delta
Dolphin
Drake
Duck
Eagle
Elder Brewster
Eleanor
Eliza
Eliza Ann
Elizabeth
Ellis
Engineer
Enterprise
Essex
Experience
Fairplay
Fair Trade
Favorite
Fearless
Fisher
Flash
Flora
Fornax
Florida
Forest King
Fortune
Franklin
Fred Lawrence
Fredonia
Gentile
George
George Henry
Glendora
Glide
Grampus
Guide
Hannah
Hannah Coomer
Hannah Stone
Hattie Weston
Helena
Herald
Hercules
Hero
Hiram
Home
Horatio
Howard
Independence
Industry
Jane
John Eliot
John Fehrman
Joshua Bates
Juvenile
Latona
Leo
Leonidas
Lewis Perry
Linda
Linnet
Lizzie W. Hannum
Louisa
Louise
Lucy
Lyceum
Malvina
Manchester
Manomet
Maria
Martha Washington
Mary A. Taylor
Mary Baker
Mary Chilton
Mary Holbrook
Mary Susan
Massachusetts
Matilda
May
Mayflower
May Queen
Medium
Molly Foster
Mona
Mountain King
Nahant
Naiad Queen
Nathaniel Doane
Neptune
N. D. Scudder
Oasis
Ocean
Old Colony
Olive Branch
Ontario
Orion
Oronoco
Pamlico
Perseverance
Philip Bridges
Pezarro
President
Profit
Rainbow
Reaper
Reform
Rescue
Resolution
Risk
Rival
Robert Roberts
Rollins
Roxanna
Sabine
Samuel
Samuel Davis
Sarah and Mary
Sarah E. Hyde
Sarah Elizabeth
Scud
Seadrift
Seaflower
Seafoam
Sea Witch
Seneca
Silver Spring
Speedwell
Storm King
Stranger
Sunbeam
Surprise
Susan
Swallow
Thatcher Taylor
Thetis
Three Friends
Traffic
Tremont
Vesper
Village Belle
Volant
Wampatuck
Wanderer
Wave
Wide Awake
Willie Lord
Wm. Tell
Wm. Wilson
Winslow
The following list of vessels employed in 1868 shows the gradual
reduction of the fleet from sixty-seven in 1862 to twenty in 1873:
Abby Morton
Adeline
Avon
Charles
Charles Augusta
Clara Jane
Climax
Cora
Delos
Dolphin
Elizabeth
Engineer
Favorite
Florida
Forest King
George
George Henry
Glendora
Helena
Herald
Joshua Bates
Juvenile
Linnet
Louisa
Manomet
Manchester
Martha Washington
Mary Chilton
Mary Taylor
Mary Susan
Matilda
May Flower
May Queen
Nahant
Naiad Queen
N. D. Scudder
Oasis
Ocean
Olive Branch
Oronoco
Profit
Risk
Samuel
Samuel Davis
Seadrift
Sea Witch
Silver Spring
Sunbeam
Surprise
Swallow
Thatcher Taylor
Tremont
Volant
Wave
Wampatuck
Winslow
In 1869 there were fifty-four; in 1870, fifty-two; in 1871, forty; in
1872, twenty-six; in 1873, twenty; in 1874, twelve; in 1876, twelve;
in 1878, eleven; in 1879, ten; in 1880, eight; in 1881, seven; in
1882, two; in 1883, two; in 1884, eight; in 1885, three; in 1886,
one; in 1888, one, the Hannah Coomer, Capt. Nickerson, the last
vessel to go to the Banks from Plymouth. In 1882 Prince Manter bought
the Sabine, and Capt. James S. Kelley made seven trips in her in four
summers, the last vessel to go to the Grand Banks, while the Hannah
Coomer was the last to go to Quereau Bank.
The following is a list of fishing vessels lost since 1828, as
complete as I am able to make it:
Abby Morton, Joseph Whitton, master, lost in Hell Gate, New York.
Adelaide, Capt. Joseph Sampson, was lost on the Banks.
Samuel, condemned in Nova Scotia.
Brontes, on a passage from Aux Cayes, to Boston, left Holmes Hole
December 31, 1862, and was never heard from. Her crew consisted of
John E. Morton, captain; George Morey, mate, and Samuel Howland,
Isaac Howland, Bartlett Finney and Josiah H. Swift.
Charles, Isaac Howland, master, was lost on Cape Cod.
Charles, Isaac Swift, master, left Plymouth September 29, 1868, on a
fall fishing trip, and was never heard from.
Congress, owned by Samuel Doten, was lost.
Wampatuck, seized in Nova Scotia in 1870 or 1871.
Delos, sunk in Nantucket Roads in 1872.
Wm. Tell, sold before 1828, and lost on Grand Banks in 1829.
Christie Johnson, Solomon M. Holmes, master, was lost on the banks in
1874.
Ellis, was lost on Cape Cod in 1844.
Flash, Eli H. Minter, master, was lost in the West Indies in 1865.
Fred Lawrence was lost.
Herald, lost or sold in Nova Scotia in 1870.
Linnet, Wm. Langford, master, was lost with all hands, in September,
1870.
Martha Washington, Capt. Gooding, was lost in Nova Scotia in 1874.
Mary A. Taylor, Lewis King, master, was lost or sold in Nova Scotia
in 1874.
May was lost in 1871.
Ocean, Jerry McCuskey, master, was lost in Nova Scotia in 1870.
Olive Branch was lost in 1869.
President, John Ellis Bartlett, master, lost in 1828, bound to
Martinique.
President, Stephen D. Drew, master, was lost on Cape Cod in 1844.
Rollins, Charles Harlow, master, was lost on Cape Cod in 1868.
Seadrift was lost or sold in 1871 in Nova Scotia.
Speedwell was lost in the West Indies in 1865.
Swallow was lost or sold in Nova Scotia in 1871.
Thatcher Taylor, James Simmons, was lost or sold in 1871.
Fearless, Capt. George N. Adams, sailed from Boston for Aux Cayes,
August 13, 1862, and was never heard from.
John Eliot, Francis H. Weston, master, sailed from Boston October 9,
1863, for Cape Haytien, and crew taken off November 21 by schooner
Thrasher, and landed at Port Spain.
Mary Holbrook, was lost in the Gulf, January 25, 1831.
Joshua Bates was lost on Richmond Island in February, 1876.
Franklin was lost at the Western Islands in 1837.
George Henry, Lamberton, master, was condemned in West Indies, 1869.
Vesper, Capt. Burgess, sailed from New York, February 28, 1846, for
Jamaica, and was lost probably in a gale March 2.
Flora, Benjamin Jenkins, master, was spoken August 8, 1846, with
15,000 fish; August 21, with 21,000; August 28, with 23,000;
September 17, with 30,000, and was probably lost in a gale which
occurred September 19, 1846.
Coiner, Samuel Rogers, master, was lost on a passage home from Inagua
in 1865.
Stranger was lost at sea near St. Thomas, 1835.
Oronoco was lost in 1871.
Schooner Maracaibo, changed to a brig before she entered the whale
fishery, has been earlier mentioned without any details of her
loss. She sailed from Plymouth on a whaling voyage September 12,
1846. On the 19th, in latitude 38.22, and longitude 72.35, she
was capsized, losing second mate, Wm. Tripp, of Tiverton, David
Sylvia seaman, and George Ellis of Plymouth, also a seaman, who was
drowned in the forecastle. The masts went by the board, and the brig
righted, and Capt. Collingwood and eighteen men were lashed to the
wreck ninety-six hours with only a barrel of sugar to eat. On the
twenty-third they battened down the hatches and bailed the vessel
out, and on the twenty-fourth set up jury masts. On the twenty-fifth
they obtained from the bark Newton of New Bedford two spars and gear,
and a quadrant, and finally, after being on the wreck twenty-one
days, were taken off by the bark Clement.
The question is often asked, what becomes of all the vessels that
have been built? Upon this question official records throw some
light. The last accessible statistics show that during the ten years
from 1879 to 1889, nineteen thousand one hundred and ninety United
States vessels were wrecked on or near the coasts, or on the inland
waters of the United States, and during the same period, sixty-six
hundred and forty-one British vessels.
The following is an imperfect list of skippers since 1828:
Benjamin Nye Adams
George Adams
George N. Adams
John Allen
George Allen
Winslow Allen
Thomas Atwood
Wm. Atwood
Solomon Attaquin
Coleman Bartlett
Frederick Bartlett
Nathaniel Bartlett
Benjamin Bates
Braman L. Bennett
John Briggs
Frederick Burgess
Henry Burgess
James Burgess
Phineas F. Burgess
Horatio G. Camero
A. R. Carnes
John Chase
John B. Chandler
Samuel Chandler
Ephraim F. Churchill
Joseph Churchill
Lionel Churchill
Edward Clough
Isaac Connors
James Cornish
Thomas E. Cornish
Edward Courtney
Ichabod Davie
Lemuel Doten
Nathaniel Doty
Horace J. Drew
Stephen D. Drew
Daniel Eldridge
Barnabas Ellis
Stephen Finney
Henry Gibbs
Grenville W. Griffin
John Griffin
Wm. Grindle
Frew Gross
Thomas Hannagan
Branch Harlow
Charles Harlow
Richard W. Harlow
Nathan Haskins
Robert Hogg
Gideon Holbrook
Barzillia Holmes
George Holmes
Solomon M. Holmes
Isaac Howland
John Howland
Lemuel C. Howland
Abiatha Hoxie
Nathaniel Hoxie
Robert Hutchinson
Benjamin Jenkins
Wm. Jordan
James S. Kelley
Lewis King
Robert King
William King
Wellington Lambert
Wm. Langford
Moses Larkin
Ezra Leach
Lemuel Leach
David Manter
David L. Manter
George Manter
Prince Manter
Owen McGahan
Jake McCarthy
Jerry McCluskey
Duncan McDonald
Eli H. Minter
George Morey
Wm. Morrisey
John Morse
Josiah Morton
Lemuel Morton
Levi P. Morton
Wm. Mullins
Grant C. Parsons
John Parsons
Ezra Pierce
Ignatius Pierce
Richard Pike
Calvin Raymond
Henry Rickard
Warren P. Rickard
Francis Rogers
George Rogers
David Robertson
Joseph Ross
Thomas Ryan
Andrew Sampson
Joseph Sampson
Nathan B. Sampson
Sylvanus Sampson
Angus Scott
Daniel Sears
Hiram B. Sears
Wm. Sears
Nathaniel Simmons
James Simmons
Wm. Stephens
Isaac Smith
Joseph Smith
Luther Smith
Peter W. Smith
Thomas Smith
— Sparrow
Isaac Swift
Philip Snow
Nahum Thomas
Lewis W. Thrasher
Oliver C. Vaughn
Perez Wade
John B. Walker
Robert Washburn
Solomon Webquish
John Whitmore
Samuel O. Whittemore
Joseph Whitten
Samuel M. Whitten
George R. Wiswell
Lemuel R. Wood
Edward Wright
There are several disconnected items which may be mentioned in this
chapter. The Sunbeam, sold a few years ago, was employed in 1905
in carrying gravel from the Gurnet to Boston, and the Sabine, sold
at the same time, is used as a house boat in Boston harbor by a
Portuguese lobsterman. The Maria of Plymouth, and the schooner R.
Leach of Bucksport, Me., were the first United States vessels to
use, in 1859, trawls in salt fishing. It was a method of fishing
introduced by the French, and until the above date was looked upon as
an experiment. It may not be generally known that there is a Plymouth
Rock on the banks. It is laid down in “Sailing Directions for the
Island and Banks of New Foundland,” etc., published in 1882, as one
of the Eastern shoals, a group around Nine-fathom Bank, which latter
lies in latitude 46.26.45 N. and longitude 50.28.06 W. Plymouth Rock
has 15 fathoms of water, and was named in honor of Capt. Burgess, of
the schooner Lyceum of Plymouth, who discovered it.