The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-06-03
The New England Fisheries.

Catching mackerel was the poetry of
fishing. Ordinarily there was only dan
ger enough to give zest to its prosecution,
while the rivalry between vessels, and
even between different individuals of a
crew, had all the elements of sport
Each cove had its clipper that could
outstrp others, at least in the opinion of
Its local champions, and each of the larger
ports usually had several claimants to the
honor of being the swiftest of the fleet.
The fame of the more noted of these
spread from end to end of the coast. The
names of swift fishing schooners became
household words among the seafarers,
and at many a fireside and grocery, from
Eastport to New London, discussions of
their respective merits divided attention
! with tales of big catches of fish.
Evidently there was pride in the ves-
sells and reliance upon the industry, and
though the returns sometimes failed to
meet expectations-for the sea- harvest is
an uncertain one at best-reasonable pros
perity prevailed, and there were happy
and contented homes along the shores of
the Northeastern States, where in many
cases fishermen spent their winters with
their families, and some even deferred
going to sea in spring until after ''the
planting was in.'' Then these farmer
fishermen devoted the remainder of the
season to the sea, leaving the gardening
at home to be attended to by the 'wo-
men folks" or by boys too young to pull
an oar or haul a line.
The schooner was invented at Glouces-
ter by builder of fishing vessels. His
tory records that Captain Robinson built
and rugged hetch, as they were then call
ed, masted and rugged it in peculiar man
mer; when launched the peculiar motion
she made as she glded into the water from
the stocks caused one OF the bystanders
to eXclaim, oh, how she scoons. Rob
inson instantly dashed bottle of rum
against her bow and exclaimed, "A scoon-
CT let her be- And thus the schooner
originated" This event happened in / 713,
and three years later mention is made of
the employment of a ''scooner'i in the
fisheries of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia
The invention of the schooner was an
important event to the New England
fisheries, for its rig has been found after
nearly two centuries of trial, we'll adapt
ed to fishing vessels employed in the
western Atlantic 1t has been materially
improved, however, since its adoption,
and the lofty, yachtlike fishing clipper of
| to-day bears little resemblance to its an
cient prototype, even though the rig re-
mains the same in principle
Immediately after the Revolutionary
war the adoption of the "Chebacco boat
became quite general, especially along the
north shore of Massachusetts. These di-
mnutive craft, at first ranging from about
five to ten tons, derived their specific
name from Chebacco now part of the
town of Essex, Massachusetts, where they
originated Cat rugged, with two masts,
they We're "handy'' boats, and became so
popular that they could be met with on
almost all of the inshore grounds In
later years, when some We're as large as
from fifteen to twenty tons, they grew
more venturesome, and their cruises ex-
tended to the off shore banks.
Indeed, tradition tells of some going as
far as the West Indies during the EN-
barge period, carrying out cargoes of fish,
and returning with rum, sugar, or mo-
that time often made these ventures
profitable, and apparently less risk was
taken in these diminutive vessels than in
larger craft.
AS early as 1920 the pinky began to
supersede the Chebacco boat This was
similar in form to the latter being
sharp-st craft, but it was larger, and
carried bowsprit and jib, thus having
full schooner rig. 1t was most generally
in use north of Cape Cod until about
1910 In the mean time, square stern
schooners, usually with low quarter decks
(thus distinguished from the old fashion
ed high quarter deck craft of the Marble
head type(, We're built, and for some years
after the last mentioned date they were
generally preferred to all others. Pros
perity led to continued improvement, and
about the middle of the century mater-
al change was made in the Introduction of
the modern clipper schooners. From
'Decadence of the New England Deep
Sea Fisheries, by Joseph William Collins,
in Harper Magazine.