Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-04-17
EARLY FISHERIES.
Important Port Played by Fisher
men In Peace and War.

men III tsttf anu war.
| IAN address by Prof Raymond Mcfarland. n,
Middlebury, Vt, college, formerly Of La
moline, at annual reunion and bauuuet Of
the Master Mariners association, Of Glou-
cester. Mass.l
A sail skirts our coasts-the two-masted
ketch OF the colonist, built from oak trees
that grew on neighboring banks and
equipped with handmade hooks and nets.
During the years when the struggle for
existence bore heavily upon the coionists
they resorted constantly to the sea in the
rude ketch and shallop for food to help
out meagre harvest. When, through
the expansion OF trade and commerce,
prosperity smiled upon the Puritan, its
cause could be traced more often to the
enterprising fisherman than to any other
source.
Within seventy-fiye years.from the set
Element Of Massachusetts, bay, the indus
try OF the sea had become the backbone OF
life and trade in New England. Their
fishing vessels ventured from the confines
OF Cape Cod and Cape, Ann to the coast Of
Maine, from there to Sable Island and the
adjacent coast OF Nova Scotia, and finally
swarmed by the hundreds ON the Grand
Banks of Newfoundland. They outdid
the mother country in the quantity and in
this quality OF the catch. They established
the triangular route of the North Atlantic
trade that remained until the Revolu-
tionary war.
The story of fishermenis patriotism at
Louisburg was repeated at the opening OF
the Revolutionary war when fishermen
formed the nucleus OF our first navy; it
was repeated and emphasized in the
second war with Great Britain-that for
Independence upon the open seas; and ii
was enacted once more when the ships of
Porter and Farragut were manned by fish
ermeu from New England shores; 1t is the
story of how men who go down to the sea
in ships OF peace gladly change them into
effective instruments of war when their
country's flag is endangered.
Fishermen, when again your course
takes you to Cape Breton, enter the quiet
harbor and visit the ruins of Old Louis
burg. There are ruins a century and n
hall old; there are the marshes across
which your ancestors OF the sea charged
to death or victory; there, also, is monu-
n ment erected to commemorate the capture
of Louisburg In 1745, a lasting memorial to
the fishermen OF old New England.
l Did you ever stand ON Signal Hill, that
guards the entrance to the haroor OF st.
A Johns, and from the vantage point of this
q eminence look out into the face OF the At
laaticf 1t is an inspiring view, filled with
y charm and grandeur; but more inspiring
81 still are the thoughts one has OF deeds that
i have trsnspired within full view OF the
lofty headiand.
Here, in the year 1000, the aboriginal
Beothies of Newfoundland may have stood
10 amaxement as they beheld the white
winged ships OF Lief Ericsson sweeping
down the coast, From this spot half a
thousand years later descendants OF the
earlier savages doubtless witnessed the
entrance of John Cabot into the western
seas. Beneath the base OF the cliff
doughty fishing craft from Dieppe, Hon
tieur and the west counties OF England
ietsurely repaired to dry their fish on the
4 rocks, or scudded for safety into the land
locked harbor beyond more than a century
before permanent French or English set
! Elements were made in America.
4 To the southwark, beyond Cape Race,
4 diminutive fishing vessels passed and re-
II passed to the off-shore fishing banks or to
Il the shores OF New England years and
4 years before the Pilgrims settled at Ply
Il mouth, or the handful of fishermen was
II left by the Dorchester company at Cape
Il Ann.
II A sail is on the horizon-the square
sailed fisherman's caravel that followed
4 close in the wake OF the Cabots and Cor
tereals. It is the ship OF the fishermen
explorers from Normandy, Brittany and
England who first cast their lines on the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland more than
century before Jamestown was settled.
Two DECADES before DeSoto saw the Mis-
sissippi river, huts for the use OF fisher
men were constructed in Newfoundland.
When Drake set call IN l577 on his
memorable voyage around the world, 315
fishing vessels sailed out OF European
ports to fish in American waters. Before
the pioneer voyages of Gosnold and Pring
and DE Monts had been made and recorded,
, the hardy fishermen OF western Europe
had made thousands OF voyages across he
Atlantic with scarce thought of the
hardships encountered, and scarce a word
written to chronicle their deeds.
sail is entering the harbor - the
clipper schooner of the deep-ses fisher
man, loaded with the harvest OF the sea.
He it is who with infinite pains and effort
restored the fisheries after the ruin of the
Revolution had driven every sail from the
sea; he it is who developed and expanded
this time honored industry until it re-
ceived fresh honors on land as well as at
sea; he il is who has lured the succulent
cod from his lair in the deep recesses of
Georges and Grand Banks; he has cap
tured the great halibut in Davis strait and
around iceland; he has followed the trail