Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-09-14
Essex County Herald.
U. B. BISHOP, Publisher.
ISSUED EVERY FRIDAY
A.
ISLAND POND, VT.
TERMS, $1.50 Per Year, in Advance.
FISHING.
ANTIQUITY OF THE PISCA-
TORICAL CALLING.
origin of Fisheries in the Old
World and Their Inception
and Wonderful Growth in
American Waters.

line Callllg Ol uSuoTLu6Hs lTOm Tie
Earliest records of the world, while hum
ole and lowly, has made for itself his
tory replete 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 Ph9-
uicians called a 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 a
brilliant purple dye which formed one
Of the most extensive branches of its
trade and wealth. Its value was placed
Ou 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 Bos phorus.
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 affluence 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 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
fish 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
portance was toward the close of the
twelfth century, when Henry II. used it
as station for the embarkation of
troops to Ireland. Glasgow in the
reign of James /. was a 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 Bscay 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 Bscayaus and Nor
mans as early as the year 1901. Cabot,
discovery, reported that the waters of
America contained an abundance of fish,
creating an intense excitement, and YES
sells bearing aloft the flags of France,
England, Spain and Portugal came an
nually in search of cod for nearly a cen
tury before a 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 ''7000," which he "corned "
or picked, in the waters of Maine, and
purchased a 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
are apparent at glance; it is the least
laborious and most profitable.
The fisheries OF Cape Breton, Prince
Edwards Island, Magdalene 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 1884. 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 woolen stuff striped with
red, white and blue, while the men weal
short jackets, scarlet waistcoats and blue
pants.
The fishing grounds off the coast o.
Labrador are comparatively of recent
date, and but few cod we're caught there
previous to the revolution. In the Pill
grims' time the subject of fishing hat
become an important one The Dutci
had at the time 1000 vessels engaged
in their herring fishery. In 161;
British whalers went armed, anC
the British-Russia Company haC
received a monopoly of the whale fishery
The year following, Holland received th,
same privilege, and in 1913 the contro
yersy eliminated in general war. II
1924 the Pilgrims sent vessel to England
laden with fish, cured with salt of thei
own manufacture, and in 1926 opened
trade with the fishing vessels at Mon
hogan. Fifty years after the settlement
of Plymouth the profits of the mackerel
bass and herring fisheries at Cape Coo
were granted to found free school.