The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-09-19
FISHING.
ANTIQUITY OF THE PISCA-
TORICAL CALLING.
Origin Of Fisheries in the Old
World and Their Inception
and Wonderful Growth in
American Waters.

earliest records of the world, while hum
BILE and lowly, has made for itself his
tory rep:ete with interest and incident,
while its members have won both fame
and honor on the page of history.
The fisheries are identified with the
earliest records of commerce. The Phe-
nicians called fish sidon. According
to some authorities Sidon, the most an.
cient of maritime cities, derived its
name from the abundance of fishes that
inhabited the waters near its site. Tyre,
which has been termed the daughter of
Sidon," was founded by Sidonians, and
became the greatest commercial mart of
the ancient world. From a particular
kind of shell fish the natives extracted
brilliant purple dye which formed one
Of the most extensive branches of its
trade and wealth. Its value was placed
ou a par with gold, and the skill of the
natives carried it to the highest degree
of perfection.
Genoa grew rich and powerful from
her fisheries, and not content with her
own property undertook the conquest of
other fishing grounds in the Bosphorus.
Amsterdam, from village of herring
catchers, cabins and odd shaped huts,
rose by the skill of the natives and fame
of their commodities in foreign coun-
tries to ahuence and grandeur. Two
centuries ago the sayings were every
where current that ':Amsterdam is
founded on herring bones," and that
'Dutchmen's bodies are built of picked
herrings."
The Romans, like the Egyptians, car
ried the art OF rearing fish to great per-
fection, and almost every rich citizen
had fish pond. At some of their feasts
a thousand of the choicest fishes were
set upon their tables. 1t was a custom
at one time to carry the dolphin to their
banquet rooms alive in order to glut
their eyes with its changes of color when
dying. Cato, in complaining of his
countrymen, said: cit was hard matter
to save Rome from ruin, when q fish was
sold for more than an OK" The ruins
of Roman fish ponds have been found in
modern excavations.
About the year 1000 there was but one
quay or wharf in the city of London
The first was a Billingsgate, the great
6sh market. The wharfage was half
penny for every boatload Of fish landed.
The first dry dock constructed in the
same city (now so celebrated for its i'm
mense docks and warehouses) was used
by the Greenland whale fishers. Liver
pool also was once poor fishing village,
and its first step toward wealth and i'm.
portsnce was toward The close of the
twelfth century, when Henry II. used it
ss a station for the embarkation of
troops to Ireland. Glasgow in the
reign of James ]. was small village,
and owes its first impetus to the wealth
derived from the fisheries.
The first fishers in American seas were
Frenchman, and there is a tradition
among the hardy race of Biscay that
their forefathers had found the way to
Newfoundland before the advent of
Columbus. 1t is matter of fact, how
ever, that the fisheries of newfoundland
were known to,the Biscayaus and Nor
mans as early as the year 1901. Cabot,
when he returned from his voyage of
discovery, reported that the waters of
America contained an abundance of fish,
creating an intense excitement, and ves-
sells bearing aloft the flags of France,
England, spain and Portugal came an
nually in search of cod for nearly a cen.
tury before European colony was
founded in America north of the limits
of the United States.
The Englishman who made the first
direct voyage across the Atlantic was
Bartholomew Gosnold, who explored the
coast in 1902, and, catching Goldfish near
the southern cape of Massachusetts,, gave
the name which it still bears. Close
upon him followed the celebrated John
Smith, who took $40, 900" fish, which he
dried, and "7O00," which he "corned,"
or picked, in the waters of Maine, and
purchased large quantity of furs from
the natives. The profits of his voyage
were upwards of seven thousand dollars.
Nova Scotia, down to the commence
ment of the revolution, was hardly
known and rarely spoken of, except in
connection with its fisheries. The prox.
unity of the fishing grounds to the nu-
merous harbors combine to make Nova
Scotia the most valuable spot in the
world for catching and curing fish.
Mackerel fishing takes the lead, receives
more attention and is far more popular
than the other branches. The reasons
aye apparent at a glance: it is the least
laborious and most profitable.
The fisheries of Cape Breton. Prince
Edwards Island, Magdalcne islands, and
the Bay of Chaleur are all more or less
important and invested with interest.
The Bay of Chaleur was explored by
Jaques Cartier in 1874. He called it the
ebay of Heat" and on its shores are
some of the oldest settlements in North
America. Many of the fishermen are
Acadian French. The women, like
those of the ancient fisheries town Di-
eppe, from which their ancestors came,
wear calico caps over the head, short
petticoats of wooen stuff striped with
red, white and blue, while the men wear
short jackets, scarlet waistcoats and blue
pants.
The fishing grounds off the coast of
Labrador are comparatively of recent
date. and but few cod were caught there
previous to the revolution. In the Pill.
grims' time the subject of fishing had
become an important one. The Dutch
had at the time 1000 vessels engaged
in their herring fishery. In 1u13
British whalers went armed and
the British Russia Company had
received monopoly of the whale fishery
The year following, Holland recei' ed the
same privilege, and in 1913 the contro-
versy eliminated in general war. In