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PETER GOTT, 
 
 T IT IS 
 
 CAPE ANN FISHERMAN, 
 
 BV 
 
 , 
 
 REYNOLDS, IV). D. 
 
 FOURTH THOUSAND. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & COMPANY. 
 
 CLEVELAND, OHIO : 
 
 JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON. 
 NEW YORK : SHELDON, ULAKBMAN AND COMI ANV. 
 
 1856. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress In the year 1856, by 
 
 JOHN T. JEWETT & COMPANY, 
 in the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts 
 
 AMERICAN STEREOTYPE COMPANY, 28 PHfENIX BUILDING, CORNER OF 
 DEVONSHIRE STREET AND EXCHANGE PLACE, BOSTON. 
 
 PRINTED BY D. S. FORD AND COMPANY. 
 
CONSENTS. 
 
 /INTRODUCTION, ... ... 7 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Winter fishing. Pigeon Cove. Gloucester Harbor, . 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mr. Dennis. Sandy Bay. An incident of the last war 
 with Great Britain. Fishermen and their owners. 
 Settlement of Cape Ann, ...... 26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Peter s parents. His father goes to the Banks. Bank 
 fishing, ......... 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV- 
 
 Fishermen s grub. Fogs. The Grand Banks. Troll 
 
 fishing, ......... 52 
 
 (3) 
 
 L555 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Peter s father lost on the Banks. The vessel returns to 
 Pigeon Cove. The news of a man lost, reaches there 
 before her, 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mr. Dennis informs Peter s mother of her sad loss. 
 Kind neighbors. The afflictions of the poor. A 
 widow s struggles, and her reward, . . . . 75 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Peter s boyhood. His early education. Engages in shore 
 fishing. Visit to the harbor with his mother, . . 87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Hake fishing. Making isinglass, 98 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Peter s first trip to the Banks. How the earnings of Bank 
 fishermen are divided. Peter s care for Ins family. 
 Second trip. A storm, and its consequences, . . 107 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Pollock fishing. Lobster catching. Political troubles, . 120 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Peter ships on board a privateer. Is taken and carried 
 to Halifax. Dartmoor prison, 1.31 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Return home. Changes at home, ... 144 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Peter becomes skipper of a fishing vessel. Labrador 
 fishing. Clannish feeling. Peter builds a house, and 
 marries a wife, - . 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mackerel fishing. Peter s entcrprize. Bait mills, . 1 RA 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Smuggling. Treaties. Revenue cutters, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Peter thinks of quitting fishing. Goes one trip more. 
 A terrible storm, . . . . 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Kindness of the people of Prince Edward s Island. The 
 storm ceases. They repair damages as far as they 
 can, and return home. The loss of a year s work, . 213 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Peter Gott builds a vessel after a new model. Goes to 
 the Banks in her, and to the Bay of St. Lawrence again. 
 
 Bounty laws, 226 
 
 1* 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Forms a partnership with Mr. Dennis. His family. 
 Schools. A busy life. Dissolves partnership. A 
 new store and a new firm. Voyage to the West 
 Indies, 242 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Mullet fishing. Clam digging. Peter Gott gradually 
 withdraws from the business of the firm. Becomes a 
 cultivator of the soil. Goes to the legislature. His 
 character, and the closing scenes of his life, . . . 256 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE object of the following pages is to exhibit 
 the e very-day life of the fishermen, whether ashore, 
 on the Banks, or at the Bay. The incidents are 
 not fictitious, are not exaggerated, are not too 
 highly colored. They may not have occurred in 
 the exact chronological order in which they are 
 here set down, but hundreds of fishermen can tes 
 tify to their truth, from their own experience. 
 
 Very few of his fellow citizens understand any 
 thing of the nature of the employment by which 
 the fisherman is enabled to draw his daily bread 
 from the briny deep. Some may have dozed over 
 the pages of " gentle Isaak Walton," and enjoyed 
 the pictures of still life, which he has so graphically 
 
 (7) 
 
Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 drawn. They see the old man seated under the 
 shade of a decayed willow, in the quiet autumn 
 days, or stretched at length on the grassy brink of 
 some gently flowing stream, watching his baited 
 hook, and they will think they have some idea of 
 fishing. Others may have whiled away some hours, 
 with a pleasant companion, on a cloudy morning, 
 angling for trout or pickerel, and think they know 
 something about fishing. Some may have visited 
 the shore, in the sultry days of August, to enjoy 
 the cool breezes from the sea; they may have 
 sailed ^out into the bay, with a fishing party, under 
 the care of a trusty skipper, furnished with all the 
 fixings necessary to enable them to have a good 
 time, and returned at evening, tired with the day s 
 sport, and this is all they know of the life of the 
 fisherman , 
 
 Landsmen, I believe, generally suppose that 
 fishermen pursue their business only in pleasant 
 weather, when the sun shines, and the waves are 
 calm around them. Little do they think of the 
 storms, the howling winds, the heaving billows, 
 the rock-bound coast ; the long, dark nights, the 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 anxious hours and days and weeks, in which they 
 stand their watch, battling with unremitting strife 
 and sleepless eyes, the fiercely assailing waves. 
 They are lying to, on George s Bank, in a stormy 
 night. They must keep their little craft head on 
 to the sea. If they suffer it to broach to for a 
 moment, the coming wave, thundering and roaring, 
 with its foaming crest higher than the head of 
 their mast, may bury them many fathoms deep 
 beneath the green waters. A watchful eye, a 
 steady hand and a bold heart needs the fisherman 
 on such a night as this. He thinks not of him 
 self alone ; his thoughts are with the loved ones 
 at home ; and he knows, too, that they are think 
 ing of him, that their prayers are besieging the 
 throne of Mercy in his behalf. He, too, prays 
 to the God of the orphan and widow, for he 
 doubts if he shall see his wife and children again. 
 0, how he longs for the morning ! And when it 
 comes, it brings him no relief from his life-struggle. 
 He rises upon the crest of a mountain wave, and 
 far as his eye can reach, the ocean is one white 
 field of foam. But he catches, or fancies that he 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 catches, a glimpse of the schooner with which he 
 sailed in company, lying upon her beam ends at no 
 great distance from him, and he thinks of the fate 
 of these playmates of his boyhood and youth ; and 
 then he goes down, down into the green depths of 
 ocean, until he fears that the next moment his keel 
 will strike upon its oozy bed. And now only the 
 master and mate, and one well-tried hand, can be 
 trusted with the helm, and they must be lashed, in 
 turn, to the rudder head. And thus they heave 
 and toss through the livelong day. As the sun is 
 setting, a gleam of light is seen in the west. The 
 wind hauls round in the course of the night, and 
 the wild and broken clouds disperse, the stars shine 
 out, and the storm is past. The morning sun, as it 
 rises from its ocean bed, shines brightly upon him. 
 0, how glad and thankful is his- heart. 
 
 But he cannot resume his labor. The ocean 
 heaves and swells for two or three days, before it 
 becomes so calm that he can drop his line into its 
 depths. He waits patiently, and at length begins 
 anew his toil. But, perhaps, before he has com 
 pleted his fare of halibut or cod, the wind suddenly 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 chops round into the north-east, and he has to en 
 counter a storm from that quarter. The wind is 
 cold ; the sharp sleet cuts like a knife, whenever he 
 turns his face to the wind. His deck is loaded with 
 snow : his rigging is stiff and immovable from ice ; 
 he stands through his long watch, in the face of the 
 howling wind, noting the sleet and snow as they 
 drift past him upon the surface of the water. No 
 cessation, no rest does he know. And thus, for 
 two, three or four days, does this second life-battle 
 last ; and at the end of sixteen or twenty days, he 
 returns to port, with half a fare, and with the loss 
 of his boats or of a cable and anchor. In hundreds 
 of instances has this experience been verified in the 
 winter fishing on George s Bank. Scarcely a sea 
 son passes in which two or three crews are not lost 
 in this business. How little do we, who are lying 
 snugly in our beds, know of the matter ! 
 
 Believing that the Life of PETER GOTT would 
 interest landsmen as well as seamen, not only in his 
 simple, brave and affectionate character, but in the 
 class of men which he represents, I have told his 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 story in a plain, straight-forward style, throwing into 
 the narrative such statistical and explanatory re 
 marks as will enable my readers to understand 
 something of the nature and importance of our fish 
 eries, as one of the great industrial pursuits of New 
 England, and of their bearing upon the commerce 
 and navigation of the country. 
 
 CONCORD. DEC. 20, 1855. 
 
PETER GOTT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WINTER FISHING. PIGEON COVE. GLOUCESTER 
 HARBOR. 
 
 AH, Pete, you are in luck this time ! your 
 dory fleets. Well, take in your killick, and 
 Idle up the painter ; then give my dory a 
 shove ; may be you ll want a lift to-morrow. 
 That s good. Heave, yo ! There she goes ! 
 once more ! good ! There she fleets. 
 
 Well, Abe, it looks rather gusty. What 11 
 it be to-day ? will the wind come up with 
 the sun ? 
 
 I hope not. It was so rough yesterday I 
 did nothing, and I have done but little for 
 a whole month. Now fish brings a good 
 price, I wish we might have a long spell of 
 good weather. 
 
14 PETER GOTT, 
 
 Well, we must take it as it comes. Where 
 are you going this time ? 
 
 I think I shall go out back-side of Sal 
 vage s. The last time I was there fish was 
 plenty. 
 
 That s a long pull. I thought I would 
 go on to the flat ground. 
 
 I was there yesterday. Found fish scace. 
 Come, let s pull outside. I should like your 
 company. 
 
 Well, here she goes ! 
 
 The above dialogue took place just as 
 the day began to dawn in the east, between 
 Peter Gott and Abraham Tarr, upon the 
 beach at Pigeon Cove. This cove is formed 
 by two ledges of rocks jutting out into 
 Sandy Bay, with a narrow opening between 
 their extremities; thus forming a small 
 basin, in which a number of boats and fish 
 ing schooners might lie, in comparatively 
 still water, the force of the sea being broken 
 by the ledges. When severe storms oc 
 curred, and the wind was east, the sea beat 
 over these ledges in one complete mass of 
 foam, and the fishing craft lying inside were 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 15 
 
 often driven on to the beach, or pitched 
 and plunged against each other, to their 
 very great damage, and sometimes to their 
 total loss. Often, if the coming storm was 
 foreseen in season, the schooners would run 
 across the bay, and rounding the point of 
 Bearskin Neck, would take shelter in Long 
 Cove. If the wind continued to blow from 
 the north-east or north, they rode out the 
 gale in safety. But if it blew directly from 
 the east, they were not unfrequcntly driven 
 on to the beach even here. If it was late 
 in the season, and the storm had been brew 
 ing for several days, so that they antici 
 pated a long storm, the larger craft more 
 generally ran round Eastern Point, and laid 
 up in Gloucester Harbor. 
 
 This harbor is sheltered on all sides, ex 
 cept the south-west, and is the safest harbor 
 on the coast ; and here, in former days, all 
 the larger vessels employed in the fishing 
 business, belonging to the smaller and more 
 exposed harbors and coves around the Cape, 
 were accustomed to lay up for the winter. 
 Now that breakwaters and artificial harbors 
 
16 PETER GOTT, 
 
 are built at Sandy Bay, Pigeon Cove and 
 Lane s Cove, this is less frequently done 
 than formerly. But many of the more val 
 uable vessels from these places, and most of 
 the vessels from Essex and many from Man 
 chester, continue to lay up here to the 
 present day, as they lie more quietly and 
 are less exposed to injury, and can be read 
 ily got out when they are wanted. Many 
 a time, in a cold November night, have 
 these hardy sons of the ocean turned out 
 of their warm berths, and finding the wind 
 blowing from the north-east, in sharp and 
 spiteful gusts, and black masses of broken 
 clouds tumbling and careering through the 
 sky, and now and then spitting small, dry 
 flakes of snow, or sharp needles of frozen 
 mist, they have hauled on their thick fish 
 ing boots, their Kersey jackets and their 
 woollen neck cloths, and hoisted their sails 
 and beat out of the bay, and running 
 through the strait that separates Thatcher s 
 Island from the main, have passed to the 
 windward of Salt Island, rounded Monu 
 ment Point, and beat into Gloucester liar- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 17 
 
 bor in the midst of a thick snow storm, or 
 with the sleet and the rain driving full into 
 their faces. 
 
 They are all skilful pilots into this har 
 bor, and can find their way into it in the 
 darkest night After passing the Point, 
 they stretch over towards the Stage Rocks ; 
 then hauling upon the other tack, they lay 
 the head of the vessel for Ten Pound Island 
 Light; then tacking again, they run for 
 Fort Point ; then hauling again, they run 
 between this and Ten Pound Island, stretch 
 ing over towards Rocky Neck. The next 
 tack lays her head towards Harbor Cove ; 
 they run in this direction till they are on 
 a line between Duncan s Point and Fort 
 Point, and the next tack brings them in 
 side of Harbor Rock; there they drop their 
 anchor, haul down their sails and make all 
 snug. They now go ashore in their little 
 boat, and landing at Pearce s Wharf, or 
 Duncan s Point, start for home, a distance 
 of six miles, right in the eye of the wind, 
 encumbered with their thick boots and 
 heavy wet jackets. On they go, tramp, 
 i* 
 
18 PETER GOTT, 
 
 tramp, for three mortal hours, and reach 
 their homes about noon ; and this, perhaps, 
 without having had a morsel of food since 
 their supper, the evening before. Usually 
 three, but sometimes only two hands came 
 round with the craft on these occasions. 
 When the wind is boisterous and the night 
 is dark, it is not only an adventure of a 
 toilsome and exhausting nature, but one of 
 great hazard. Few veteran sailors would 
 undertake it unless driven to it by" neces 
 sity. But these men, inured to toil from 
 their childhood, cradled among the rocks, 
 hardy and fearless, when they set foot upon 
 the deck of a favorite boat, know no dan 
 ger. Their craft behaves like a thing of 
 life, and seems obedient to the word of com 
 mand. It is sometimes wonderful to see 
 these schooners winding their way between 
 rocks and ledges, doubling the sharpest 
 points, and shooting up in the very teeth 
 of the wind, as though conscious of their 
 danger, and aware of the only course by 
 which it could be avoided. These fishing 
 boats were made on purpose to swim, and 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 19 
 
 there are no better sea boats in the world, 
 and none that will hold on better when 
 beating against the wind. We shall have 
 opportunity to make their acquaintance 
 and learn their qualities in the course of 
 our narrative. 
 
 Peter and Abe pulled on, side by side. 
 Leaving Pigeon Hill to the north-west, they 
 passed to the north of the ledge known by 
 the name of Salvages since the early set 
 tlement of the country. Our Pilgrim fa 
 thers spelt the word savages in that way, 
 and it is supposed they gave this name to 
 that dangerous mass of rocks, from the wild 
 and savage aspect which they presented, 
 as they approached the extremity of the 
 Cape. They continued to pull on till they 
 had reached about a mile to the eastward 
 of the ledge. By this time, the sun began 
 to shoot his golden rays athwart the ocean, 
 and the sheen from the rippled surface was 
 like the reflection from ten thousand mov 
 ing mirrors. 
 
 Pete and Abe now took their berths 
 within speaking distance of each other, un- 
 
20 PETER GOTT, 
 
 shipped their oars, threw over their killicks, 
 and prepared to engage in the business of 
 the day. But first, each took out from un 
 der the seat in the stern of his dory, a par 
 cel wrapped in a brown paper, which he 
 carefully unfolded, and took out a portion 
 of cold meat and bread, which he had 
 brought from his home. Having eaten 
 this, and drank a draught of cold coffee 
 from the earthen jug which held his daily 
 supply, and carefully replaced the paper 
 and the jug, the contents of which were 
 reserved for a lunch in the middle of the 
 day, each now charged his hook with a 
 clam from a bucket standing near the stern? 
 threw over his sinker, and cast off the line 
 from his reel. 
 
 The day s work was now fairly begun. 
 In about ten minutes each had hauled in a 
 fine fish ; and thus they continued for about 
 five hours, sometimes taking in three or 
 four in rapid succession, then waiting fifteen 
 or twenty minutes for a bite. At the end 
 of this time each had taken from thirty to 
 forty fish, cod and haddock. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 21 
 
 And now they began to think it was 
 time to make for the shore. First, they 
 ate up what remained of the morning 
 meal, then reeled up the line, hauled in 
 the killick, set their bows for Pigeon Cove, 
 and now came the hardest part of the toil 
 of the day. The weight of the fish which 
 they had caught caused their dories to 
 draw more water than they did in the 
 morning. They were fatigued with the 
 labors of the day. The wind had chopped 
 round into the north-west. A short sea 
 was running, but they were used to such a 
 termination of their day s toil, and were no 
 ways discouraged. They pulled away with 
 patience and perseverance, and about three 
 o clock in the afternoon they reached the 
 mouth of the cove. Here they found a 
 heavy swell; but watching their chance, 
 they shot between the points of the ledges, 
 and run their dories upon the beach. 
 
 And now, kind reader, you think the 
 day s work is over, and they will go to 
 their homes, and get a warm dinner, and 
 put on some clean clothes, and spend the 
 
22 PETER GOTT, 
 
 evening in comfort. Not quite so fast. 
 There is more work to be done. As they 
 entered the mouth of the cove they noticed 
 three or four wagons standing by the side 
 of a row of small, black, dilapidated build 
 ings, called fish houses. These wagons be 
 long to hawkers, who come here to buy the 
 fish, as they are brought in fresh from the 
 water. As soon as the dories have struck 
 the beach, these men come down to see 
 how many fish they have taken. They 
 will not make an offer yet. They will wait 
 till all the boats get in. There have been 
 a good many out, and they hope they will 
 bring in good fares ; then they will be able 
 to get them three or five cents a hundred 
 cheaper. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the fish are to be dress 
 ed. So taking his clam bucket and reel, 
 the fisherman goes to the fish-house where 
 he keeps his gear, and depositing them in 
 their proper places, he takes his handbar- 
 row, his oil bucket, and a sharp knife, and 
 returns to his boat. Then placing his bar 
 row athwart the bows, he takes his stand in 
 the water by its side. Then seizing a fish 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 23 
 
 by the head- with his left hand, he makes a 
 cut across the throat, just hehind the gills ; 
 then slitting down the belly with one stroke, 
 he seizes the liver between the edge of his 
 knife and the thumb of his right hand, and 
 detaching it from its connections drops it 
 into his oil bucket which stands before him, 
 towards the stern. Now dropping his knife 
 upon a thwart, he seizes the whole mass of 
 entrails in his right hand, and holding the 
 fish firmly in his left, tears out the whole 
 with a sudden jerk, and throws it into the 
 water. Then he throws the fish into the 
 barrow, and seizing another with his left 
 hand, and his knife with his right, goes 
 through with the same motions. Thus he 
 procee.ds with the rapidity and regularity of 
 a machine, until the fish are all transferred 
 from the bottom of the dory into the hand- 
 barrow. He now carries up his oil bucket, 
 and empties the livers into a cask or butt 
 which he keeps for the purpose. He is 
 now ready to dispose of his fish. If the 
 boats are all in, and the fares are not very 
 large, the hawkers will offer seventy-five 
 
24 PETER GOTT, 
 
 cents a hundred. After a good deal of 
 haggling, Peter gets eighty cents for his. 
 Taking them to the scale, which stands 
 near the passage leading down to the beach, 
 they are found to weigh 150 pounds. They 
 are now taken to the wagon of the pur 
 chaser, who pays Peter one dollar and 
 twenty cents. He now returns to his boat, 
 takes out his oars, dips up a bucket of 
 water, washes out the boat, and throwing a 
 bucket of water into it, rolls it over on to 
 its side and lets the water run out. Then 
 carrying up his killick high on to the 
 beach, he gathers up his oars, and carries 
 them to the fish-house. T.hese houses are 
 generally occupied in common by several 
 dory men, each of whom pays rent for the 
 corner in which he keeps his own gear. 
 
 Now it is sundown, and his day s work is 
 done. He dips a bucket of fresh water 
 from the spring, just back of the fish-house, 
 and washing the gurry from his hands and 
 face, starts for his home, and carries to his 
 mother the dollar and twenty cents which 
 he has earned. She receives him with a 
 smile and a kind word, and sets before him 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 25 
 
 a mug of hot coffee and a plate of bread, 
 baked before the fire, and some bits of 
 dried fish. If Peter has had good luck for 
 several days, they get a pound of butter 
 and a piece of cheese, in addition to the 
 bread and fish. 
 
 The history of this day, was the history 
 of many of his days during the winter and 
 spring after Peter Gott arrived at the age 
 of fifteen. During at least half the days, 
 the weather was so cold and stormy that 
 he could not go out at all; and many 
 times, after pulling out two or three miles 
 on a dark and cold morning, the wind would 
 come up with the sun, and the sea would 
 become so rough that he could not fish, 
 and he would have to pull back, perhaps 
 against the wind, and thus would return 
 having only his labor for his pains. Per 
 haps about one day in three, he was able 
 to fish. When there were no hawkers on 
 the ground to take off his fish, he sold 
 them to Mr. Dennis, who kept the store at 
 the cove. He allowed seventy-five cents a 
 hundred for them, and paid out of the store. 
 
26 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MR. DENNIS. SANDY BAY. AN INCIDENT OF THE LAST 
 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. FISHERMEN AND THEIR 
 OWNERS. FIRST ATTEMPT TO SETTLE CAPE ANN. 
 
 MR. DENNIS was a quiet,, easy man. He 
 purchased second and third rate goods, and 
 sold them at a dear rate. But then he 
 took his pay in fish, and this he had to salt 
 and make, and carry to market, and then, 
 perhaps, wait four or six months for his 
 money; and he was obliged to charge a 
 large profit. But he took in his fish at 
 such a lay, that he made a good profit on 
 this, and another large profit on the goods 
 which he sold. He had grown rich in this 
 business, and owned about half of the small 
 houses which nestled among the rocks and 
 ledges on the eastern declivity of Pigeon 
 Hill, besides a good two-story house, with 
 green blinds, which stood a little to the 
 northward of the cove, surrounded by a 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 27 
 
 pretty enclosure, and a score or two of ap 
 ple and pear trees. This house stood on 
 an elevated site, and commanded a fine 
 view of the ocean to the east and south. 
 The whole bay was under the eye of Mr. 
 Dennis, together with the little village of 
 Sandy Bay, which lay along its southern 
 shore. This village at that time had but 
 one church, and that stood within gunshot 
 of deep water. 
 
 During the last war with England, a 
 British cruiser was lying in the bay ; and 
 one morning, about daylight, sent a barge 
 ashore, armed with a swivel, to reconnoitre 
 the village. Some fishermen, who had just 
 turned out for their daily task, discovered 
 the barge before it reached the shore, and 
 rang the bell to alarm the inhabitants. 
 The midshipman in command of the barge, 
 said he would silence that tell-tale, and or 
 dered the gunner to fire at the bell. He 
 charged his gun heavily and lodged a ball 
 in one of the posts that support the bal 
 cony. There it remains to the present 
 time, and is shown to visitors with no small 
 
28 PETER QOTT, 
 
 degree of pride, as proof of the part which 
 the people of that village took in that war, 
 and the dangers to which they were ex 
 posed. The sequel of the story is never 
 omitted, which was as follows : When the 
 gun was discharged, its recoil caused the 
 barge to spring a leak. The water fast 
 gaining upon them, in spite of their exer 
 tions to keep the barge free, the middy, 
 with his crew of eight men, called out lust 
 ily for help. Several fishermen, who had 
 now collected on the shore, seeing their 
 condition, put off in their dories and brought 
 them ashore, and kept them as prisoners. 
 Now it so happened, that James Eowe 
 and David Pool, two fishermen, being out 
 in a wherry two days before, had been 
 picked up by the cruiser, whose officers 
 took a fancy to a meal of fresh cod, with 
 which the wherry was loaded. These men 
 were still detained on board the cruiser. 
 The British sailors immediately proposed 
 an exchange of prisoners. But no one be 
 ing authorized to negotiate an exchange, 
 the affair was managed with true Yankee 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 29 
 
 shrewdness. The British officer and crew 
 solemnly promised, that if they were fur 
 nished with a boat to return to the frigate, 
 they would send it back in charge of James 
 and David. Trusting to their honor, their 
 captors, thinking their two townsmen worth 
 more than the nine British seamen, showed 
 them a boat to which they might help 
 themselves ; and one day, when their guard 
 was at dinner, they escaped from the room 
 in which they were confined, seized the 
 boat, and put off to the cruiser. They 
 reached her in safety, and honorably fulfil 
 led their promise, sending back Jim and 
 Dave, with the borrowed boat. 
 
 In addition to the real estate which Mr. 
 Dennis had accumulated on shore, he own 
 ed a large share of five or six schooners, 
 whose outfits he furnished, and whose 
 proceeds he received and marketed. The 
 crews for these vessels, consisting of eight 
 or ten hands to each, were usually shipped 
 in the winter. From the time they were 
 shipped, Mr. Dennis supplied them and 
 
 their families with groceries, shoes, and 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 most of their clothing. After the vessels 
 put to sea, he continued to supply the fam 
 ilies during the spring and summer. If the 
 vessel was doing well, he continued to sup 
 ply them till she was hauled up, late in the 
 fall ; but if she did not make good fares, he 
 refused to supply them at an early day in 
 the fall. It very often happened that strong 
 and active men, after having labored hard 
 through the season, had not a dollar com 
 ing to them when the voyage was settled, 
 with which to supply the wants of their 
 families through the winter. This was 
 owing, in part, to the want of economy in 
 the families, and in part to the high prices 
 which they had to pay for every thing 
 which he furnished them. Mr. Dennis al 
 ways considered it an object to bring about 
 this result. Even if they owed him a few 
 dollars at the settlement, it was all the bet 
 ter, for then he was sure of their services 
 the next year. Thus they were bound to 
 him by a bond which they found it very 
 difficult to break. He had all their earn 
 ings in his hands, and paid for them in 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 31 
 
 goods at his own price, and how could he 
 fail to grow rich, or they to remain poor ? 
 He had several men who had been in his 
 employment from twenty to thirty years, 
 and had rarely, if ever, been out of his debt. 
 If a man, with a family, once got into his 
 debt, his only hope was, that when his boys 
 got old enough to have their labor of some 
 value, their wages, added to his own, might 
 enable him to pay off his debt to Mr. Den 
 nis, and begin to lay by a little capital for 
 himself. The earnings of the sons of fish 
 ermen are always claimed by the parents. 
 Hence a father, who has three or four boys, 
 if he can maintain his family by his own 
 earnings, and lay up the wages of his sons 
 from the time they are sixteen till they are 
 twenty-one, amasses enough to buy for him 
 self a snug house and a part of a schooner, 
 and then he thinks his old age well provided 
 for. Thus a family of sons becomes a for 
 tune to those who are fortunate enough to 
 have them. Early marriages are almost 
 universal among this class of men, and thus 
 it often happens, that before a man is forty, 
 
32 PETER GOTT, 
 
 he has several sturdy boys, by whose assist 
 ance he is laying up a competence for his 
 wife and family, during the remainder of 
 their lives. 
 
 Peter Gott s parents were of the number 
 of those who had married early in life. His 
 father, whose name he bore, was but twenty- 
 two, and his mother but seventeen. His 
 father was a lineal descendant of James 
 Gott, who was one of the first company 
 that established a fishing station at Cape 
 Ann. This first attempt to make a settle 
 ment was abandoned, and the men engaged 
 in it returned to Charlestown. They were 
 driven away, not so much by the hardships 
 incident to a new settlement and the re 
 moteness and desolate character of the 
 place, as by the unearthly and strange 
 noises which were heard in various direc 
 tions, especially at night. At first they 
 supposed these noises were the roaring of 
 lions. But no lions having been seen in 
 the day time, they came to the sage con 
 clusion that it must be the howling of de 
 vils, who, they supposed, were disturbed by 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 33 
 
 their taking possession of this spot, which 
 the devils claimed as peculiarly their own 
 property, and were taking this method to 
 warn them off. The cause of these sounds 
 is now well understood. The whole of 
 the Cape is little else than a bed of 
 granite, thinly covered with gravel and soil. 
 Through this granite, veins of green stone 
 have been forced up, at intervals, by some 
 violent convulsion of nature. These veins 
 are from one to six feet in width at the 
 surface, and in some instances may be 
 traced nearly or quite across the Cape, and 
 sometimes far out into the adjacent bay. 
 Where these veins of green stone are ex 
 posed to the action of the sea, they have 
 been worn away by it, leaving chasms ex 
 tending from one to two hundred feet into 
 the shore. Of these, the Gully, at Nor 
 wood s Head, and Raves Crack near Kettle 
 Cove, may be taken as samples. It has 
 often happened that a mass of granite, or 
 some neighboring boulder, has been driven 
 by some violent storm into one of these 
 chasms, and the chasm being too narrow to 
 
34 PETER GOTT, 
 
 admit of its reaching the bottom, it has re 
 mained, its sides resting against the per 
 pendicular walls of granite which constitute 
 the sides of the chasm. Between the lower 
 face of this rock and the bottom of the 
 gully, there would sometimes be left a 
 small opening. Through this opening the 
 air is driven with great force, when a lofty 
 wave rolls in upon the shore, filling sud 
 denly a large portion of the chasm, giving 
 rise to sounds that may be compared to a 
 dozen steam whistles of various sizes and 
 keys, from a sharp treble to a heavy pro 
 longed bass, all sounding together. When 
 these screeches are heard in the darkness 
 of midnight, mingling with the howling of 
 the winds and the dashing of the waves 
 upon the rocks, and the echoes from the 
 woods, they produce an effect upon the 
 nerves of persons unacquainted with their 
 cause, any thing but agreeable ; and a few 
 solitary, and perhaps home-sick persons, 
 strangers in a strange land, may well be 
 excused for considering them supernatural. 
 After a few years, another attempt to 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 35 
 
 effect a settlement was more successful. 
 James Gott was among the number who 
 settled on the north side of the Cape. They 
 established their village, a little distance 
 from the sea-shore, upon the western de 
 clivity of a hill, which overlooked Ipswich 
 Bay. Fifteen or twenty log houses were 
 erected. The cellars, over which these 
 houses were built, may still be seen, though 
 not one of the houses remains, nor is there 
 a single house in the immediate vicinity. 
 The spot is now known all over the Cape 
 by the name of Dog Town. 
 
36 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PETER S PARENTS. HIS FATHER GOES TO THE BANKS. 
 
 BANK FISHING. 
 
 PETER GOTT S mother was Patty Tarr, 
 whose ancestors were also among the set 
 tlers of Dog Town. Peter was their oldest 
 son, and was born before his mother was 
 eighteen years of age. In the course of 
 the next six years, tw r o boys and two girls 
 were added to the family. To supply their 
 wants, from day to day, demanded of the 
 young father the full exercise of all his 
 powers, and the practice of the most rigid 
 economy. Peter loved his wife and chil 
 dren, and her cheerful smile, and their 
 noisy mirth at his return from the toils of 
 the day, were an ample reward. But at 
 the close of the seventh winter of his mar 
 ried life, he found himself deeply in debt to 
 Mr. Dennis, who had been induced to trust 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 37 
 
 him to a considerable amount, by his well 
 known honesty and industry, although he 
 did not belong to either of his vessels. His 
 fifth child had just been born, and his wife 
 had been sick some weeks, in consequence 
 of too early exposure. He had been com 
 pelled to hire a nurse and to call on the 
 doctor ; and his anxiety about his wife, and 
 the care of his children, had kept him at 
 home during several days of good weather. 
 When the spring opened, his wife had re 
 gained her health, but was somewhat low 
 spirited and discouraged in view of the 
 prospect before them. Peter felt the sense 
 of oppression that results from the con 
 sciousness of being in debt, and not seeing 
 very clearly how the obligation was to be 
 discharged. Under the influence of this 
 feeling, he listened the more readily to a 
 suggestion from skipper Tarr, who com 
 manded the Jane, that he should ship on 
 board his schooner, which was bound to the 
 Grand Bank, and was to sail on the sixth 
 of April. He talked the matter over with 
 Patty ; told her his circumstances, and re- 
 
38 PETER GOTT, 
 
 ferred her to several young men of their 
 acquaintance, who had been engaged in 
 Bank fishing, and had had better success 
 than he had in shore fishing. Patty shed 
 many tears at the idea of Peter s being ab 
 sent ten or twelve weeks at a time, which 
 is the usual length of trips to the Banks. 
 But at length, confiding in his judgment, 
 and influenced by his assuring her that it 
 was much easier than shore fishing, she 
 consented, and the next day Peter Gott s 
 name was added to the list of the Jane s 
 crew ; and now Patty was fully employed 
 in getting her husband ready for the trip. 
 Two new red flannel shirts must be made ; 
 two pairs of socks must be knit, and three 
 or four pairs of woollen nippers. Every 
 moment that could be spared from the care 
 of her babes, she plied her needle with the 
 utmost diligence, and when they were 
 sleeping quietly, three of them nestled in 
 the trundle-bed and one in the cradle, and 
 the infant in her lap, her knitting-needles 
 moved, almost without cessation, far into 
 the night. At length they were all ready, 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 39 
 
 and Peter, with a new Kersey jacket and 
 his boots well stuffed, was ready for the 
 voyage. On the morning of the sixth, he 
 took leave of his weeping wife, and kissed 
 his little ones, and went on board. The 
 tide was full ; the schooner, freshly painted 
 and in perfect order, was afloat. A gentle 
 breeze from the north-west was springing 
 up. Her jib and mainsail were run up; 
 the warp that held her to the wharf was 
 cast off, and hauled on board ; she gradu 
 ally fell off from the wharf, and soon, tak 
 ing the breeze, with the skipper at the 
 helm, she made her way gracefully out of 
 the Cove. 
 
 Little Peter had come down with his 
 father to see him off. He stood among the 
 few spectators on the wharf, and joined 
 heartily in the cheers which they gave, as 
 the vessel left the harbor. When Peter 
 left his family, he confidently expected to 
 see them again by the Fourth of July at 
 the farthest. 
 
 The Cape Ann fishermen have, from the 
 earliest settlement of the Cape, been accus- 
 
40 PETER GOTT, 
 
 tomed, for the most part, to return to the 
 Cape with their fares, and make the fish at 
 their own homes. The owners of the ves 
 sels have a flake-yard in the vicinity of 
 the landing places, to which the fish are 
 carried on being landed. The flakes consist 
 of three long poles laid upon crotched posts 
 driven into the ground. These poles are 
 placed parallel to each other, about two feet 
 apart, and covered with brush ; upon them 
 the fish are spread. At night they are 
 thrown into small heaps, called hakes, with 
 the skin upwards. They are spread in the 
 morning, when the weather is fair, and 
 turned once or twice a day. 
 
 The making of fish has, in latter years, 
 become a business by itself. Individuals 
 own large flake-yards, and take the fish 
 from the vessels and make them, receiving 
 every fifteenth quintal for their services. 
 The fishermen from Cape Cod, Marblehead, 
 and many other places, were formerly in 
 the habit, when they had loaded their ves 
 sels, of running for the nearest points of 
 Nova Scotia or Newfoundland, and landing 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 41 
 
 their fish and piling them in large heaps, 
 where they were left two or three days to 
 drain. In the meantime, they erected their 
 flakes and a hut which they used as a 
 dwelling while they were drying their fish, 
 and as a store-house when the process was 
 completed. After they were sufficiently 
 drained, they were carried to the flakes on 
 hand barrows, and spread and turned and 
 haked up at night until they were suffi 
 ciently dried. This process, which is called 
 " making," occupies from four to ten days, 
 according to the state of the weather. The 
 utmost care is needed, when the sky is 
 clear and the weather hot, to prevent their 
 burning, as it is called. If they become 
 too much heated, they are rendered tender 
 and brittle, like fish that is cooked, which, 
 in fact, is the case with burnt fish. To 
 prevent this, the fishermen shaded them 
 with green boughs, or covered them with 
 sails in the middle of the day. In modern 
 days yankee ingenuity has so arranged the 
 flakes, that they can be turned from the 
 sun at such an angle as to prevent his direct 
 
 4* 
 
42 PETER GOTT, 
 
 rays from falling upon them. When the fish 
 were sufficiently made, they were stacked 
 up in the hut and left upon shore. 
 
 The fishermen now scrubbed the vessel s 
 bottom, payed her seams with tar, filled up 
 their water casks, and put off again for the 
 Grand Banks. By the middle of Septem 
 ber they usually completed the second fare, 
 and returning to the shore, spread their 
 fish upon the flakes. The weather has 
 now become cold on that northern and in 
 hospitable coast. The nights are frosty, 
 and occasional snow squalls vary the mo 
 notony of the scene. The process of mak 
 ing occupies at least a week longer than in 
 July ; but the fish are better made, they 
 do not require to be salted -so high to pre 
 serve them. What are called "dun fish" 
 are made in the autumn. The fall fares 
 command a better price than the spring 
 fares. While the fish are making, they 
 clean out the hold of their vessel, and, se 
 lecting a clear day, pack away the first, 
 or spring fare, in the bottom. When the 
 second fare is ready, they stow that upon 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 43 
 
 the other ; then shutting down the hatches, 
 they hoist their sails and bear away for 
 their distant homes, having been absent 
 from six to eight months. If they have 
 been lucky, they will have made from ten 
 to twelve hundred quintals of fish, one half 
 of which goes to the vessel, and the other 
 half to the skipper and crew. 
 
 Since the last war with England, the fish 
 ermen from the States have not been 
 allowed to make their fish upon the shores 
 of the British Provinces, and have returned 
 home at the close of each fare. 
 
 When Peter sailed, on the sixth of April, 
 he expected to return as soon as they had 
 wet their salt. When vessels are on the 
 Banks, it is usual for them, at the close of 
 each day, to dress off their fish. The heads 
 are cut off, the fish split open, the livers 
 saved in butts provided for the purpose, 
 and the entrails thrown into the sea. The 
 fish are then salted in layers in the hold of 
 the vessel, or in butts. When they have 
 taken fish enough to use up all the salt on 
 board, they say they have wet all their 
 
44 PETER GOTT, 
 
 salt. It was the custom, at the period of 
 which we are speaking, to save the roe or 
 spawn of the fish, and salt it in barrels for 
 the European market. This was quite an 
 important article of trade. This is not now 
 preserved on board the American vessels. 
 The French vessels still continue to pre 
 serve it. 
 
 The Jane sailed out of the bay with a 
 brisk wind, and passing between Sal 
 vage s and Stretchmouth Island, she laid 
 her course for the Grand Banks, and was 
 soon out of sight of the rocky headlands of 
 the Cape. They went on all that day and 
 the following night with a favorable wind. 
 On the second day at 9 o clock they spoke 
 the good brig David Pearce, from Bilboa, 
 where she had been through the previous 
 Lent, supplying the inhabitants with fish 
 and salted roe, called by the fishermen, 
 "Pec" which at that period was shipped in 
 considerable quantities to that port. She 
 had made a good voyage. The year was 
 now completed since the Jane, and other 
 bankers, had sailed on the previous April 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 45 
 
 for the Banks ; and the David Pearce was 
 bringing back, in salt, olive oil and wine, 
 the returns of the fish which they had 
 taken. Thus commerce distributes the 
 products of the land and the sea over the 
 face of the earth, furnishing employment to 
 thousands, and enriching, or at least sus 
 taining, those engaged in it. The vessels 
 passed so near each other, that the men 
 readily recognized each other upon deck, 
 and saluted one another with a hearty 
 cheer. The crew of the David consisted 
 mostly of fishermen, who, after the close of 
 the fishing, the previous fall, had shipped 
 for a voyage to Bilboa. 
 
 It is a common thing for fishermen, es 
 pecially those who are young, and have no 
 families, to ship in November and December 
 for a winter voyage of three or four or five 
 months. One is induced to do so by a de 
 sire to see the world ; another, that he may 
 add something to the gains of the year, and 
 be enabled to marry the girl he loves ; 
 another, the head of a family, is driven by 
 necessity to ship as a sailor, that he may 
 
46 PETEE GOTT, 
 
 earn bread for his growing flock at home. 
 When he is far away upon mid ocean, in 
 the darkness of midnight, with the storm 
 howling around him, as he turns in at the 
 close of his watch, to his cold and damp 
 berth, he thinks of the loved ones at home, 
 and sends up his brief prayer to Heaven for 
 a blessing upon them. He feels that earnest 
 prayers are going up for his safety ; and 
 who shall say that any more acceptable 
 prayers meet and mingle in the presence 
 of our Father above, than the prayers of 
 the rough and hardy sailor, and the wife 
 and children whom he has left behind. 
 When we leave our warm parlors and soft 
 couches and retire to our downy beds, as 
 we listen to the peltings of the pitiless 
 storm without, to the sleet or the drifting 
 snow as it drives against our closed blinds, 
 or to the wind as it whistles through the 
 trees around our dwellings, we sometimes 
 think of the sailor, and perhaps say, " God 
 bless him! * But the sailor s wife, as she 
 lies upon her hard bed, with her babe nest 
 ling in her bosom, as she listens to the 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 47 
 
 howling tempest, and thinks of him tossing 
 upon the heaving billows and buffeting the 
 briny waves, or perhaps lashed to the 
 helm in the pitchy darkness, with the salt 
 spray and the sharp sleet driving full into 
 his face, with no ray of light but the little 
 twinkle in the binnacle that casts an indis 
 tinct gleam upon the compass. how 
 sincere, how heartfelt, how earnest are her 
 prayers! When she falls into a dreamy 
 sleep, she sees him perhaps struggling in 
 the cold, dark waters, or borne upon a 
 green curling billow, about to be dashed 
 upon some ragged, projecting rock, and 
 awakes with a scream of agony ; and again 
 she prays, how earnestly, to Him who 
 alone can save him. Thus it is, " Out of 
 the abundance of the heart, the mouth 
 speaketh." And is it not the heart-speech 
 that is accepted ? 
 
 Fishermen make excellent seamen. They 
 are faithful, brave and intelligent, and soon 
 learn the terms used on board square-rigged 
 vessels, and the manoeuvres employed in 
 working them. Many of the most enter- 
 
48 PETER GOTT, 
 
 prising masters and seamen in our mer 
 chant service, had their first training in 
 fishing vessels. A voyage to Europe, to 
 the West Indies, or to the Coast of South 
 America, is, on the whole, the best employ 
 ment for the fisherman in the winter. The 
 great evil in the life of the fisherman is, 
 that he is idle through the winter, and eats 
 up, during that portion of the year, what 
 he had earned in the summer. This it is 
 that keeps most of them poor all their lives. 
 Various attempts have been made to furnish 
 them with some mechanical employment 
 on shore during the cold season, as shoe- 
 making, boat-building, coopering, &c. ; but 
 they have all failed, from the fact that sea 
 men have a sovereign contempt for all the 
 occupations of landsmen. They will not 
 be converted into land lubbers. Hence a 
 large proportion of the fishermen spend 
 their winters loafing about in the stores 
 and fish-houses, smoking their pipes and 
 telling stories ; and when their money is 
 gone, running in debt for supplies for their 
 families, on the anticipation of the next 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 49 
 
 year s earnings. The result is what might 
 be naturally expected. They are always 
 poor, and always in debt. 
 
 After speaking the David, the Jane kept 
 on her course, and the following night en 
 countered a north-east wind, which blew in 
 spiteful gusts. The clouds were broken 
 and black. In the morning the storm burst 
 upon them. The snow fell with great vio 
 lence, and soon loaded the deck. They 
 laid her to, under a close reefed foresail, and 
 all hands, except the man at the helm, took 
 refuge in the cuddy. Here they spent the 
 day and the following night, each taking 
 his turn at the helm. The next morning 
 the wind worked to the eastward, and the 
 snow was followed by a cold, driving rain. 
 As the sun was setting on that day, a glin 
 was seen in the west. The wind came 
 round into the north-west, and the cold be 
 came intense. The wet snow upon deck 
 was converted into solid ice. Their run 
 ning rigging became immovable. The bows 
 and bowsprit were heavily loaded with ice, 
 and they were drifting at the mercy of the 
 
50 PETER GOTT, 
 
 wind. They at length succeeded in put 
 ting her before the wind, and run for the 
 Gulf Stream, hoping to reach warmer water, 
 and thus free themselves from ice. After 
 running and beating about in the latitude 
 of the Gulf Stream, they set their head to 
 the north and east, and on the twenty- 
 fourth of April found themselves sailing in 
 green water, which indicates soundings, and 
 trying the lead, they found sixty fathoms. 
 They were now fairly on the Bank. But 
 they were enveloped in a fog so dense that 
 they could scarcely see the length of the 
 deck. Every thing in the vessel was satu 
 rated with moisture. Their pea jackets and 
 baize shirts were doubled in weight by the 
 moisture which they had imbibed. The 
 water hung in drops from the ceiling of the 
 cuddy even the bed and blankets in their 
 berths, when they turned out in the morn 
 ing, steamed like so many uncovered wash 
 boilers. They had scarcely been dry for 
 the last fifteen days, and their skins were 
 completely parboiled. But they had come 
 to catch fish, and having with much diffi 
 culty and some peril reached the fishing 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 51 
 
 ground, they were not to be frightened at 
 a fog bank, and immediately set about pre 
 paring for action. They cast anchor in sixty 
 fathoms. Cleared the deck, took off their 
 hatch covers, uncaulked the hatches and un 
 covered the hold. They fixed their oil 
 butts in their places, and hoisted out some 
 water barrels and a barrel of salted clams. 
 They got out their reels, hung their sink 
 ers and ganged their hooks. They next 
 got up their buckets and sharpened their 
 splitting knives and overhauled their chests, 
 to find their woollen mittens and nippers. 
 These arrangements occupied the remain 
 der of the day. 
 
 Peter, and two or three others, who had 
 now come upon the Bank for the first time, 
 were anxious to try their luck. So they 
 put a clam upon their hooks, and dropped 
 their sinkers into the green water. After 
 waiting patiently, as only a fisherman 
 knows how, they hauled up four or five 
 noble cod, which were soon sputtering in 
 the cook s fry-pan, and furnished them with 
 a hearty supper, to which they set to with 
 right good will. 
 
52 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FISHERMAN S GRUB. FOGS. THE GRAND BANKS. 
 TROLL FISHING. 
 
 FISHERMEN, in those days, ate much more 
 fish on their trips than they do at the pre 
 sent time. They were fitted out with a 
 good supply of salt pork and molasses, with 
 a plenty of India meal, a little flour and 
 hard bread. Their bread was made of meal 
 and water, with a little salt and molasses 
 added, and baked upon tin sheets or pieces 
 of barrel-heads, before the fire. Once or 
 twice a week they had tea made, by put 
 ting tea into a boiler, and adding a quantity 
 of molasses, and boiling it as coffee is boiled. 
 Coffee was seldom used at sea in those days, 
 and their sugar was kept to sweeten their 
 grog, which was duly served out to them 
 twice a day. On Sunday, it was common 
 to have a flour short-cake, which was pre- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 53 
 
 pared in the following way : The head was 
 broken out of a flour barrel; the flour 
 scooped out of the centre so as to make a 
 basin-like cavity, sufficiently large for the 
 cook s purpose ; he then poured into it a 
 pint of pork fat, which he had fried out of 
 slices of salt pork, a quantity of molasses 
 and a little hot water, and mixed in the 
 flour till it was of the proper consistence. 
 It was then taken out in a mass, and baked 
 in a Dutch oven over the fire. This is no 
 contemptible dish, and contains nearly as 
 many good qualities as Lord Peter s leg of 
 mutton ; and many a hearty breakfast of a 
 Sunday morning do the fishermen make of 
 it, with their pot of boiled tea. Those who 
 have never tried a dish of boiled tea, will 
 be surprised to find how good a substitute 
 it is for coffee, especially if a little sweet 
 milk is added just at the close of the boil 
 ing. In modern times, the fishermen are 
 fitted out with a much greater variety ancl 
 abundance of food, than in the days of 
 which we are speaking. Salt pork and 
 beef, potatoes and cabbages, flour and hard 
 
 5* 
 
54 PETER GOTT, 
 
 bread of a superior quality from Johnson s 
 bakery,, and coffee three times a day, is 
 their common fare. Cape Ann fishermen 
 are famous for their good living. I have 
 known men among them who have drank 
 their strong coffee three times a day for 
 forty years, and, as if on purpose to prove 
 the fallacy of all that has been said about 
 the injurious effects of coffee, they have 
 persisted in having good heolth for the 
 whole of that time. But fish, fresh or corn 
 ed, was the principal article of food at the 
 time when Peter made his first trip to the 
 Banks. 
 
 A few years after the time referred to, 
 Capt. Burnham sailed from Essex in a fifty 
 ton schooner, on a fishing trip to the east 
 ern shore, victualled for six w r eeks. After 
 spending four weeks unsuccessfully on the 
 coast of Maine, and having now but two 
 weeks provision on board, he sailed for 
 the Banks, determined not to return till he 
 had filled his little craft with fish. On ar 
 riving at the Bank, they found an abun 
 dance of fish. But soon their provisions 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 55 
 
 were all gone ; not a crumb of bread, not a 
 slice of pork, not a drop of molasses had 
 they left. Halibut fins and napes, fried in 
 their own fat, and boiled codfish, consti 
 tuted their only food for six weeks. Not 
 even a drop of tea or. a drink of grog had 
 they left. Fish, fish, fish ! was their break 
 fast, and dinner, and supper. But they wet 
 all their salt, and returned to the Cape at 
 the end of twelve weeks from the time they 
 sailed, all fat and hearty. They had been 
 given up as lost by their friends some weeks 
 before they arrived. An old man, who was 
 one of the crew, on relating this incident 
 of his early life, remarked, that the whole 
 crew were as fat and savage as bears. 
 
 ,The next morning, when the sun arose, 
 he was dimly visible through the thick veil 
 that had so long concealed his face. Tak 
 ing this as an omen of good luck, they com 
 menced their work in good earnest. For 
 some days they were not very successful, 
 taking only three or four quintals per day. 
 On the third day, their solitude was re 
 lieved by a Marblehead schooner, which 
 
56 PETER GOTT, 
 
 had arrived on the ground, and dropped 
 her anchor about a mile from the berth 
 which they occupied. They now felt that 
 they had some neighbors, and could enjoy 
 the pleasures of social intercourse with 
 their fellows. If there is any situation in 
 the wide world where men feel solitary and 
 alone, it is on the Banks of Newfoundland, 
 with no object in sight to break the monot 
 ony of the scene. Neither sun, moon nor 
 stars are seen for many days. They are 
 enveloped in a dense fog, which shuts them 
 up from all the world. In the long, damp, 
 chilly nights, they are enclosed as with a 
 solid wall of darkness. When a lantern is 
 brought on deck, it literally renders the 
 darkness visible. There you lie, rocking 
 to and fro, and rising and falling with the 
 swelling surges, day after day and night 
 after night ; your deck slimy and slippery, 
 the water trickling in streams down the 
 windward face of your mast, and a large 
 drop hangs ready to fall from the loose end 
 of every gasket. Below deck matters are 
 not much better ; every thing is wet and 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 57 
 
 sticky in the cabin, and in the hold all i^ 
 chilly and dank, like some deep, dark cav 
 ern in the mountain side. When fish are 
 plenty, and the crew take from twenty to 
 thirty quintals a day, the feeling of success 
 enables one to bear the solitude. But 
 when you are doing nothing, or only catch 
 ing now and then a dog-fish, the feeling of 
 dreariness is sometimes very oppressive. 
 In a voyage at sea, although you are in 
 mid ocean and not a sail in sight, the very 
 motion of the vessel has something inspir 
 iting and animating in it. She moves 
 through the water as a thing of life. And 
 then the daily routine of labor, in working 
 the ship and keeping her clean and snug, 
 keeps all hands employed. If a storm 
 overtakes you, or a gale comes down upon 
 you, all is life and activity ; all your energy 
 and skill are called into requisition. You 
 have a battle to fight with the elements, 
 and your safety depends upon your skill 
 and endurance. Here is no feeling of 
 tedium or ennui. The sailor, the world 
 over, prefers the storm to the calm. 
 
58 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 A fisherman often spends weeks on the 
 Banks without seeing a vessel, although 
 hundreds are on the ground. This is ow 
 ing partly to the fogs which abound there, 
 and partly to the immense extent of that 
 portion of the Atlantic known as the Grand 
 Bank. The Bank is a range of submarine 
 mountains lying between the eastern shores 
 of North America and Northern Europe. 
 This range runs nearly north and south, 
 and is twelve hundred miles in length. Its 
 width is very variable, as are the heights of 
 its summits. In some places they approach 
 within forty fathoms of the surface, at other 
 points they are one hundred and twenty or 
 fifty fathoms below it; thus resembling 
 mountain ranges upheaved upon the land. 
 A parallel range, lying to the westward of 
 the main bank, is known by the name of 
 the Western Bank, and is preferred by 
 some fishermen to the Great Bank. The 
 cod frequent all this immense portion of 
 the Atlscntic, and during the fishing season, 
 vessels are scattered on every part of 
 it ; and it often happens that a vessel will 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 59 
 
 be at work for weeks, without a sail in 
 sight. 
 
 The Jane remained at her first berth 
 about two weeks ; during this time they 
 took less than a hundred quintals, and be 
 coming dissatisfied with their success, they 
 hauled up their anchor, and ran about fifty 
 miles to the north-east, and anchored in 
 seventy fathoms. Here they were more 
 successful, striking immediately a school of 
 large fish. They now made up for lost 
 time, and in the course of four weeks they 
 had four hundred quintals on board, beside 
 several barrels of halibut cut into slices and 
 salted, and two large sword-fish. 
 
 But now the school was exhausted, or 
 driven from the ground by sharks or some 
 other monsters of the deep, that visit the 
 Banks to prey upon the cod. It often hap 
 pens that codfish will all at once cease to 
 take the hook, without any known cause. 
 The same thing is true of pollock and 
 mackerel, and indeed all fish that go in 
 schools. They appear to move in a body, 
 and to be actuated by a common impulse. 
 
60 
 
 Their habits and the laws that govern them 
 are little understood, although many facts 
 respecting them have been known for scores 
 of years. 
 
 After remaining idle some days, waiting 
 for the fish to take the hook, they again 
 shifted their berth about thirty miles to 
 the northward. They had now salt enough 
 for a hundred quintals more, and in the 
 course of a week they had nearly wet it all. 
 The weather had now become warm and 
 pleasant, and the rising sun generally dissi 
 pated the fog that enveloped them during 
 the night. One bright morning, about nine 
 o clock, as the fog lifted from the water and 
 floated like a cloud in mid air, one of the 
 men discovered a string of buoys, about 
 half a mile distant. This informed them, 
 that a French vessel had been fishing in 
 the vicinity, and had lost one of her lines. 
 
 The French go upon the Banks with 
 large vessels, commonly high-decked brigs, 
 with numerous crews, and having selected 
 a berth, put down a couple of anchors, and 
 make arrangements to spend four or six 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 61 
 
 months. They are generally furnished with 
 four large boats, with a crew to each. They 
 run out long lines, about half an inch in 
 thickness, made of flax, hard twisted and 
 very strong. These are from sixty to a 
 hundred fathoms long. They are attached 
 to buoys, and laid in different directions 
 from the brig. To these lines they attach 
 short fish-lines, at the distance of about a 
 fathom from each other, with a baited hook 
 at the end of each. These long lines are 
 called trolls, and this mode of fishing is 
 called trolling. The boats overhaul these 
 trolls daily, and when fish are plenty, twice 
 a day, and take off the fish that they find 
 upon the hooks, and re-bait the hooks. 
 The fish are then hoisted upon the deck of 
 the brig, and dressed and salted. When 
 the wind is high, or the sea is rough, they 
 are sometimes unable to visit their trolls 
 for several days in succession, and the fish 
 that are caught are either eaten by other 
 fish, or become spoiled and unfit for use. 
 The Americans never adopt this method, 
 although in good weather it is easier than 
 
62 PETER GOTT, 
 
 that which they pursue. The hauling of 
 fish over the rail of a vessel, with lines 
 sixty or seventy feet long, is by no means 
 an easy task. When a halibut or large 
 cod is attached to the line, it requires the 
 man to put forth his whole strength, and 
 sometimes the aid of another man, with a 
 gaff, which is a pole with an iron hook at 
 the end, is needed, to bring it on board. 
 The Yankees consider this method the most 
 expeditious, and they are not so sparing of 
 muscular efforts as the French. Besides, 
 the high-decked vessels of the French ren 
 ders fishing with long lines much less prac 
 ticable than it is on board the low-decked 
 schooners of the Americans. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PETER S FATHER LOST ON THE BANKS. THE VESSEL 
 RETURNS TO PIGEON COVE. THE NEWS OF A MAN 
 LOST, REACHES THERE BEFORE HER. 
 
 THE crew of the Jane on discovering the 
 troll, made all haste to get out their boat, 
 to go and pick it up. Peter, who had never 
 before seen a troll line, was eager to be 
 one of the party, and no sooner was the 
 boat alongside than he jumped into her, 
 and, with two other hands, briskly pushed 
 off in the direction of the buoys. They 
 danced merrily over the green waves. They 
 soon reached the most distant buoy, and 
 heading the boat in the direction of the 
 Jane, began taking in the troll, clearing 
 the hooks of the dead fish as they pro 
 ceeded. It proved to be a long line. They 
 had hauled in about half of it, when find 
 ing a large fish attached to a hook, Peter, 
 in his eagerness to clear the hook, lost his 
 
64 PETER GOTT, 
 
 balance and fell over the side of the boat. 
 The men being occupied with the line, 
 were unable to seize him as he fell, and 
 being encumbered with his pea jacket and 
 thick boots, he immediately sunk. They 
 prepared to seize him as he rose ; but as 
 he rose at some distance from the boat, 
 they failed to do so. After struggling for 
 a moment, he again sank, and this was the 
 last they saw of poor Peter. They laid by 
 an hour, watching for his rising, but he 
 never appeared. They had cut off that 
 portion of the line which they had not 
 taken in, and now slowly and with sad 
 hearts, returned to the vessel. On learn 
 ing the loss of Peter, the skipper and two 
 fresh hands jumped into the boat and pulled 
 for the buoys ; but after searching for half 
 an hour in vain, they returned with heavy 
 hearts to the Jane. A sudden gloom came 
 over them all, and every countenance wore 
 a deep expression of sorrow. 
 
 Seamen say but little upon the subject 
 of death. Indeed they seem reluctant to 
 speak of it ; yet they deeply feel the loss 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 65 
 
 of a messmate. Although there is but a 
 plank between them and a watery grave, 
 death, when it comes, seems as unexpected 
 to them as to men on land. Peter was be 
 loved by all the crew, and a big tear stood 
 in every eye, when it was certain they 
 would see him no more. They thought of 
 his wife and children. " Poor Patty," said 
 one, who had left his young wife and child 
 at home, " it might have been me, and 
 then what would Mary have done ?" and 
 the tears flowed afresh at the thought. 
 They now picked up Peter s lines, and all 
 his traps, and stowed them in his chest, 
 and with little appetite sat down to their 
 dinner. 
 
 They had still two or three barrels of 
 salt left ; but no one could think of resum 
 ing the fishing. They walked the deck in 
 silence, or going into the cabin, stretched 
 themselves upon the lockers. Scarcely a 
 remark was made. About four o clock, as 
 the skipper emptied the ashes out of his 
 fourth pipe, he quietly remarked, " Well, 
 boys, I don t think ye re inclined to fish 
 
 6* 
 
66 PETER GOTT, 
 
 any more, and I think we may as well 
 heave up the anchor, and set her head for 
 Cape Ann." This was the very proposition 
 which they all desired, and which, in fact, 
 they had been expecting all the afternoon. 
 Indeed one or two of the men, who kept 
 their dunnage in the forecastle, had for an 
 hour past been overhauling and re-stowing 
 it, preparatory for the run home. They 
 immediately set about making preparation 
 to carry the skipper s proposal into execu 
 tion. They washed their lines and hooks 
 in fresh water, and hung them over the 
 taffrail to dry. They cleaned their knives 
 and buckets, and stowed them in the hold. 
 Covered the oil butts, put on the hatches 
 and barred them down. Then they bailed 
 up salt water and scrubbed down the deck, 
 and by sundown they had all snug, and 
 ready to sail in the morning. 
 
 After supper, they all turned in ; but 
 there was little sleep on board the Jane 
 that night. Their hearts were sad, and 
 their thoughts were far away, busied with 
 their wives and little ones, nestling among 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 67 
 
 the rocks of the Cape. Nearly eleven 
 weeks had now expired since they left the 
 wharf in Pigeon Cove, and Patty was look 
 ing for their speedy return. She had been 
 for some time counting the days that would 
 intervene, before the fourth of July, which 
 was the day set for their return. For a 
 week, she had seen Mr. Dennis every morn 
 ing, before going down to his store, stand 
 ing in the scuttle of his house, sweeping 
 the horizon with his spy-glass, to see if 
 they were in sight ; and she had gone down 
 regularly to the cove every day, after giv 
 ing her children their breakfast, to inquire 
 the news. Here she generally met two or 
 three other women, who had come down 
 on the same errand. On the very morning 
 that the Jane left the Banks, she met her 
 cousin, Jane Tarr. On seeing her, she ex 
 claimed, " how glad I shall be when 
 Peter comes. Every morning, when I get 
 back from the cove, little Patty says, aint 
 father come ? when will father come ? 
 I shall be so glad when he comes ! " 
 
 Poor girl ! her hopes were all bright, and 
 
68 PETER GOTT, 
 
 sunshine was in her loving heart. She 
 little thought of the sad bereavement that 
 awaited her. She little anticipated the 
 bitter feeling of desolation that was so soon 
 to come over her, and which she was to 
 carry with her, as a heavy burden, to her 
 grave. The blighted hopes, the burning 
 tears, the cruel anguish that wrings the 
 widow s heart, how little did she imagine 
 she was soon to know them all, in her own 
 bitter experience. She had repaired his 
 summer clothes, had made him a pair of 
 new striped shirts, and knit two pairs of 
 socks, and had them all washed and ironed, 
 and neatly stowed in a basket, which Peter 
 had made, during a snow-storm, the previ 
 ous winter. She had some hills of beans 
 and cucumbers and a few cabbages growing 
 in a little patch before her door, which she 
 tended with the skill that love had taught 
 her, because Peter would like them so, 
 after being so long away upon the salt 
 water, without the taste of any green thing. 
 Two nice broods of chickens were peeping 
 and scratching among the rocks, and all 
 was bright and cheerful. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 69 
 
 On the morning to which we have refer 
 red, all hands on board the Jane turned 
 out with the first gleam of day. Each man 
 went silently and quietly to his work. No 
 discordant sound was heard. They set 
 about weighing the anchor. But the " yeave 
 ho !" as they pulled at the windlass bars, 
 had a faint and mournful sound. They 
 next set the jib and run up the mainsail. 
 The skipper took the helm, and as she felt 
 the breeze that was rising with the sun, 
 put her away before it. The cook, in the 
 meanwhile, was preparing breakfast. After 
 partaking of this, they put on all her can 
 vas, and laid her course for the rocks of 
 Cape Ann. 
 
 Nothing of special interest occurred dur 
 ing the homeward passage. The weather 
 was good ; but as she was heavily loaded, 
 and the wind blew from the westward 
 nearly every morning, tKeir progress was 
 slow. About eleven, A. M., the wind gen 
 erally hauled to the eastward, when they 
 put on all sail, and made the most of it till 
 it went down with the declining sun. Two 
 
70 
 
 days after leaving the Bank, they fell in 
 with the ship George, bound from London 
 to Boston. They reported their catch, and 
 the loss of a man. The ship reached Bos 
 ton two days before the Jane arrived at 
 her port. How often is it true, that " com 
 ing events cast their shadows before them." 
 Skipper Norwood was in Boston, and had 
 just discharged his little freighter of her 
 cargo of dry fish, and taken in some stores 
 for Mr. Dennis, and was just ready to sail 
 when the George came up to the wharf. 
 The mate of the George, seeing a Cape 
 Ann jigger at the stern, hailed the skipper 
 and reported the Jane on her passage, with 
 the loss of a man overboard. The jigger 
 reached Pigeon Cove that night, and by 
 sunrise the next morning, the report was 
 circulating among the families at Pigeon 
 Cove, Dog Town and Sandy Bay, that the 
 Jane was coming/ and that one of her hands 
 w r as lost. Great anxiety pervaded all minds, 
 and every face wore an expression of sad 
 ness. The loss of a man at sea, was no 
 new thing in their experience, yet when 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 71 
 
 such an event occurred, it was always at 
 tended with a general feeling of sorrow. 
 The inhabitants are all connected by inter 
 marriage, and constitute, as it were, one 
 large family, and when one of their num 
 ber is lost, it is felt as a general loss. It is 
 with them, as with men on ship board at 
 sea, when one is lost, each one is made to 
 feel that death has come very near to him, 
 and that his turn may be next. 
 
 When Patty went down to the cove in 
 the morning, she learned the sad news, and 
 oh ! how her heart beat with anxiety and 
 fear. A sad feeling of depression came 
 over her, as she slowly returned to her cot 
 tage. But hope still predominated in her 
 bosom ; she could not realize that she was 
 to be the principal sufferer, that the stroke 
 was to fall most heavily upon her head. " I 
 hope it is not Jemmy Tarr ! Poor Jane, it 
 will kill her if it is ! And Mary, she was 
 married but a year ago last Christmas, I 
 hope it is not Tim !" And thus she went 
 over the whole list of the families con 
 nected with the crew, finding some strong 
 
72 
 
 reason in her sympathizing heart, why the 
 loss should not fall upon either of them. 
 The skipper they all felt was safe ; but then 
 it might be his son, who was one of the 
 crew, so that his wife had her full share of 
 anxiety with the rest. 
 
 How little do the farmers and dwellers 
 in the country know of the anxiety and 
 cruel suspense which the families of sea 
 men and fishermen suffer*. With their 
 friends and children around them, and rare 
 ly separated from them, if, in the course of 
 nature, or during the prevalence of some 
 epidemic, they become sick, they have the 
 privilege of ministering to their wants, and 
 solacing their sufferings by all the kind 
 offices that affection can suggest; and if they 
 are taken from them, they follow them 
 affectionately to the grave, and see them 
 decently interred in some consecrated spot, 
 where their parents or friends have been 
 laid before them, and where they expect 
 themselves at length to repose. But the 
 mother and wife of the sailor, who is lost 
 at sea, have no such consolations. They 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 73 
 
 think of him struggling in the cold waves, 
 and lying upon the oozy bed of the ocean. 
 Their gentle hands have not been permit 
 ted to smooth his dying pillow, and no kind 
 words of parting can they treasure up in 
 their hearts, as precious mementos of the 
 departed. There is nothing to break the 
 force of the blow as it falls upon them, or 
 to mitigate the bitterness of their grief. 
 
 On the evening of the second of July, 
 the crew of the Jane made the lights on 
 Thatcher s Island. In the course of the 
 night they anchored in the bay, and at day 
 light hoisted their jib and worked into the 
 cove, and made fast to the ring-bolt on the 
 capstan of Dennis s wharf. The sun was 
 just rising as she reached her wharf. The 
 news of her arrival almost instantly spread 
 through the village. But all was still and 
 quiet as a Sabbath morning. Most of the 
 men were away upon the water. Mr. Den 
 nis, Skipper Norwood and his two men, and 
 the few men and boys that were at home, 
 soon collected upon the wharf. But the 
 women, who were so eager the day before 
 
74 PETER GOTT, 
 
 to learn the name of the lost one, actuated 
 by a common feeling, remained at their 
 homes, dreading the announcement which 
 must but too soon be made. As soon as 
 they had made all secure, the skipper and 
 all the crew washed their faces, and took 
 their several ways to their homes. Patty 
 was busy with her children, in the expecta 
 tion of soon seeing Peter coming across the 
 rocky pasture, upon the border of which 
 her cottage stood, 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MR. DENNIS INFORMS PETER S MOTHER OF HER SAD 
 LOSS. KIND NEIGHBORS. THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE 
 POOR. A WIDOW S STRUGGLES, AND HER REWARD. 
 
 MR. DENNIS was a kind-hearted man, and 
 no sooner had he learned from the skipper 
 the circumstances attending Peter s loss, 
 than he took his way along the footpath 
 that wound its course among the rocks and 
 over the hill to Peter s cottage. The mo 
 ment Patty s eyes fell upon him, the sad 
 truth flashed into her mind. As he enter 
 ed her door, her heart fell like lead, and a 
 sense of suffocation came over her. " Oh, 
 Mr. Dennis ! " she exclaimed, " it s Peter ; 
 it s he that is lost ! " and she fell upon a 
 seat near the door, as if stunned by the 
 overwhelming blow. 
 
 She sat for a time speechless. Mr. Den 
 nis sat down by her side, and tried to speak 
 
76 PETER GOTT, 
 
 some words of consolation. Her children, 
 awed by the expression of her countenance, 
 gathered around her. Little Mary, the 
 youngest, who was sitting upon the floor, 
 crept to her feet and put up her hands im 
 ploringly. Mr. Dennis took her upon his 
 knees. Peter and Patty stood by their 
 mother s side, with the feeling that some 
 terrible calamity had befallen them. 
 
 At length little Patty, with tears stream 
 ing from her eyes, exclaimed, " Is father 
 drownded ? Won t he never come home 
 again ?" And now the mother s tears burst 
 out in sympathy with the tears of her 
 child, and catching her in her arms, she 
 cried, " Yes, my child, dear father is drown 
 ed in the deep, cold sea. You will never 
 see him any more. This is what I was 
 always afraid of. How many times have I 
 dreamed that I saw him struggling in the 
 cold waves ! But he did it for the best. 
 Pie went for my sake, and for the sake of 
 the children." And mother and child min 
 gled their streaming tears, as if they gushed 
 from one fountain. After waiting a few 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 77 
 
 minutes, Mr. Dennis gently placed the 
 child,, that had been quietly sitting upon 
 his knee, upon the floor, and uttering a few 
 kind words, withdrew, and left her alone 
 with her sorrow. 
 
 The poor have no time for sorrowing. 
 The demands of nature require of them 
 unremitting exertion. But the very efforts 
 which their circumstances compel them to 
 make, enable them the better to bear the 
 burden of their griefs. This is one of the 
 ways in which " the wind is tempered to 
 the shorn lamb." It seems a severe disci 
 pline to the broken-hearted widow, to be 
 compelled, even in the first hours of her 
 fresh bereavement, to assume the whole 
 burden of that care which has been hitherto, 
 shared by a kind and loving husband, and 
 to be made to feel, in all its overwhelming 
 force, that she is now the only guide and 
 protector of her children ; and yet how 
 often does the destitute widow bear up 
 under the crushing weight of her burden, 
 and nerve herself for the stern conflict of 
 life, better than she who is made a widow 
 
 7* 
 
78 PETER GOTT, 
 
 in circumstances of affluence, without a care 
 for the supply of her future wants, and sur 
 rounded by sympathizing friends. She 
 gathers around her every token of his love 
 and every memento of her loss. Scenes of 
 past endearment, words of affection and 
 smiles of love, though perhaps long forgot 
 ten, come crowding into. her memory, and 
 she thinks there never was loss like hers, 
 and refuses to be comforted. She cherishes 
 her grief, and broods over her sorrow as 
 though it were a duty she owed to the lost, 
 until she is unfitted for the high responsi 
 bilities of a parent, which devolve upon her 
 by the very fact of her being released from 
 the duties of a wife. Not so is it in the 
 cottages of the laboring poor. New cares, 
 new wants and new responsibilities demand 
 of the widowed mother new and redoubled 
 effort ; and these new cares and new wants 
 are present wants and present cares. They 
 cannot be put off to a future day. These 
 new responsibilities must be assumed at 
 once. There is no time for indulging the 
 " luxury of grief." Daily bread must be 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHEKMAN. 79 
 
 won by daily toil. The mother s heart 
 makes active the mother s hands ; and. 
 trusting in the widow s God, she finds 
 " strength according to her day." 
 
 So it was with Patty. Her children, 
 Peter s children, must be provided for. Af 
 ter the first burst of grief was over, she 
 set herself at once to encounter the stern 
 realities of life. She relied chiefly upon 
 her needle. Her poor neighbors were able 
 to do but little for her, but that little they 
 did cheerfully and in the kindest possible 
 manner. Many a thoughtful father, as he 
 was dressing his fish, after his return from 
 his day s work, selected a nice fish and sent 
 home by little Peter, who had gone down 
 to the cove, to see the men and boats as 
 they returned at night ; or when he put 
 his wooden skewer through some nice slices 
 of halibut, to carry home for his supper, 
 remembered to add another generous slice, 
 and left it at Patty s door, as he passed by. 
 When James Tarr, in the late autumn, had 
 placed his quintal of dry fish upon his 
 wheelbarrow, to carry home for his winter s 
 
80 PETER GOTT, 
 
 store, he thoughtfully added a large armful 
 to his load, and left them at her cottage, as 
 he passed by to his own dwelling. Many 
 a bowl of warm chow r der was sent in, just 
 at the time when it was most wanted. 
 Peter was now in his seventh year, and 
 often he would take his father s hatchet, 
 stroll off into the neighboring thicket, and 
 cut a bundle of bushes and young beeches 
 or alders, and bring them home for fuel ; 
 and as the cold weather came on, many a 
 back-load of wood was thrown down before 
 her door by some one who remembered 
 the widow and orphans. Mary s husband 
 took it upon himself to cut the wood which 
 was thus brought to her door, and when 
 the snow drifted around her house, he al 
 ways brought his shovel, and made her a 
 wide and clean path. 
 
 Much of the land in the interior of the 
 Cape belonged at that time to the Com 
 moners, as they were called ; that is, it be 
 longed in common to the proprietors to 
 whom it had been first granted by the gov 
 ernment, and to their descendants ; it had 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 81 
 
 not passed into private hands. These 
 rocky hills were mostly covered with wood, 
 which was looked upon by the fishermen 
 as a common stock, from whence they ob 
 tained fuel for the winter. As there were 
 no roads into the woods, and they had no 
 teams, they brought home most of their 
 wood, in bundles, upon their shoulders. 
 This practice was continued through seve 
 ral generations, and has scarcely ceased, 
 even at the present day. The land had all 
 passed into the hands of private owners 
 before my day. But it was with great 
 difficulty that the fishermen could be made 
 to understand that they had not a perfect 
 claim to young trees wherever they could 
 find them. Often, of a cold snowy morn 
 ing, have I seen a group of fishermen start 
 ing for the woods, each with his hatchet 
 and two or three yards of cod line. When 
 they had cut as much as they could con 
 veniently carry, they made up a bundle 
 with the line, and took it upon their shoul 
 ders and trudged home, more than a mile, 
 perhaps, through the snow. More than 
 
82 PETER GOTT, 
 
 once have I seen a woman staggering under 
 a burden of wood, which it seemed impos 
 sible for her to carry. 
 
 This, in the time of the past generation, 
 was no uncommon sight. In those days, 
 the wives and daughters of the fishermen 
 worked out of doors a considerable portion 
 of their time. They cultivated their little 
 patches of land with garden vegetables. 
 They gathered their fuel in the summer. 
 I was for many years acquainted with an 
 excellent woman, who had been left a 
 widow, with a large family of children de 
 pendent upon her for a living. She has 
 often told me how she used to put on a 
 pair of thick boots, and take her clam fork 
 and go upon the flats, with her little boys, 
 and dig clams, during ebb tide, day after 
 day, in the cold of autumn and winter, to 
 get bread for her children. When I knew 
 her, she was in circumstances of comfort, 
 surrounded by her children and grandchil 
 dren, who looked upon her grey hairs with 
 reverence, and cheerfully supplied all her 
 wants. For several years, she, with her 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 83 
 
 little boys, brought home on a hand-sled, 
 or on their backs, all the wood which they 
 burned through the long cold New England 
 winters. She persevered, trusting in the 
 widow s God, and she has found the promise 
 fulfilled, " Train up a child in the way he 
 should go, and when he is old he will not 
 depart from it." Her three sons and five 
 daughters are now all useful and respeci>- 
 able members of society. The wives and 
 daughters of the fishermen, in those days, 
 were accustomed to make the fish. They 
 were thrown in heaps upon the flakes by 
 the men, after being properly salted, and 
 left in the care of the women. They 
 spread them, and turned and tended them, 
 until they were sufficiently cured. 
 
 Some of the women became very expert 
 in this business, and were employed, at day 
 wages, during the season of making fish. 
 Patty was thus employed for many days 
 every summer by Mr. Dennis, who uni 
 formly treated her with kindness. He fur 
 nished her with flannel to make into shirts, 
 and with woollen yarn to knit into socks, 
 
84 PETER GOTT, 
 
 and although he was very strict in his 
 reckoning, yet he allowed her the highest 
 price, and now and then, in making change, 
 gave her the odd cent, although it was 
 justly his due. Thus, by constant toil, by 
 the practise of the most rigid economy, and 
 by those ingenious shifts which were sug 
 gested by a mother s love, she managed to 
 feed and clothe her children. At the close 
 of the year, it would have been impossible 
 for her to tell how her daily wants had 
 been supplied, nor could she tell from 
 whence her supplies in future were to be 
 derived. But that Providence that feeds 
 the little birds, and clothes the lilies with 
 beauty, watched over her and never suffer 
 ed her to want. 
 
 As years rolled on, though the wants of 
 her children increased, yet they were able 
 to render her more assistance. Many a 
 time, during the long evenings of winter, 
 as she plied her needle far into the night, 
 with aching eyes and weary hands, with 
 the wind howling and the snow drifting 
 around her little cottage, while those dearer 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 85 
 
 to her than life were sleeping quietly around 
 her, feelings of -desolation and sadness 
 came over her, and she was almost ready 
 to give up in despair. But she looked 
 up, and behind the dark cloud she saw a 
 gleam of light, and her hope revived and 
 her courage was renewed. No New Eng 
 land mother will apply to the town for aid, 
 until reduced to absolute despair. A feel 
 ing of self-reliance, a love of independence, 
 a desire to see her children standing upon 
 a level with those around them, sustain her 
 amidst a world of difficulties and hardships. 
 Call it pride if you will. It is not that 
 pride, connected with vanity, which is 
 founded upon a false estimate of one s char 
 acter or merits, which prompts one to con 
 ceal from himself, or from others, his true 
 condition, and which, in the order of Provi 
 dence, is destined to mortification. It is a 
 feeling founded upon true self-respect, which 
 leads to the formation of habits of industry, 
 economy and integrity, habits which nat 
 urally result in elevating the character and 
 condition of those who possess them. Thou- 
 
86 PETER GOTT, 
 
 sands of the sons of New England have 
 risen from the struggle with toil and pov 
 erty, to a position of usefulness and respect 
 ability, and have had cause to bless the 
 pride of the mother, who has directed and 
 encouraged their efforts. 
 
 Patty, in common with her neighbors, 
 had a full share of this feeling ; and this, 
 added to her trust in the widow s God, kept 
 her from yielding to the feelings of despon 
 dency that sometimes came over her. Thus 
 she struggled on, and with the lapse of 
 time found her comforts increasing, and 
 new sources of supply and of hope opening 
 up before her. Her character for honesty 
 and industry was well established. Her 
 children were comfortably clothed, were 
 affectionate and obedient to their mother, 
 respectful to their superiors, and thankful 
 for the little aids and encouragements which 
 they received from those around them. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 87 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PETER S BOYHOOD. HIS EARLY EDUCATION. EN 
 GAGES IN SHORE-FISHING. VISIT TO THE HARBOR 
 WITH HIS MOTHER. 
 
 PETER, at the commencement of our story, 
 had just completed his sixteenth year, and 
 was able, by his daily labor, to contribute 
 very much towards the support of the fam 
 ily. As he handed his daily earnings to his 
 mother, it was with a feeling of thankful 
 ness that he was able to cheer her toil, and 
 do so much for her assistance. He felt as 
 much real pleasure, when his brother ex 
 hibited his new cap, or his sister her new 
 shoes, that had been purchased by the 
 money which he had earned, as when he 
 put on his own new Kersey jacket, or his 
 new thick boots. He had none of that 
 selfish feeling, that required that the largest 
 share of his earnings should be expended 
 
88 PETER GOTT, 
 
 for himself. Indeed, he looked upon his 
 younger brothers and sisters with no small 
 degree of parental feeling, while, on their 
 part, they looked up to him with feelings 
 that partook of filial affection. He had 
 been their guide and protector in their 
 rambles in the woods and on the hills, 
 where they often went in the summer for 
 berries. When they set snares in the fall 
 and winter, for partridges and rabbits, he 
 led the way. He was with them when they 
 fished for cunners from the rocks; and when 
 they ventured from the cove, in Mr. Den 
 nis s wherry, for mackerel, he had always 
 brought them safely back to their mother, 
 to whom he always felt that he was respon 
 sible for the precious charge entrusted to 
 him. Hence had sprung up the filial feel 
 ing with which they regarded him, and the 
 parental anxiety which he felt for them. 
 
 Patty had been taught to read in her 
 childhood, and by the aid of Perry s spel 
 ling-book, she had taught all her children 
 to read. Peter had obtained Dilworth s 
 Assistant, and by the aid of Jemmy Tarr, 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 89 
 
 he had mastered the four first rules of 
 Arithmetic, and was able to multiply and 
 divide with tolerable correctness. The 
 nearest school was at Squam, a mile and a 
 half distant, and the time of Master Riggs 
 was fully occupied in teaching arithmetic 
 and penmanship to the older boys and 
 young men., during the two months in the 
 winter, which were occupied by his school, 
 so that Peter had derived no benefit from 
 the free school. 
 
 When he was fifteen years of age, he 
 purchased a wherry of Mr.. Dennis, for 
 which he paid out of the earnings of the 
 ensuing summer. At first he seldom went 
 more than a mile from the shore, and never 
 except in company with some of the old 
 men , who followed the shore-fishing. When 
 fishermen become old and somewhat infirm, 
 they seldom ship on board the larger crafts, 
 but confine themselves to the business of 
 making fish on shore, or to wherry fishing. 
 They go out only in good weather, but 
 being well acquainted with the grounds 
 which are frequented by the fish, they are 
 
 8* 
 
90 PETER GOTT, 
 
 often quite successful. Young boys may 
 be often found in company with them, and 
 if they are kind and respectful to them, 
 they will readily impart to them the secrets 
 of the craft. 
 
 During the first season, Peter generally 
 kept in their company. He had, with the 
 assistance of his mother, manufactured a 
 sail out of a piece of an old schooner s sail. 
 He next cut a sapling pine, and trimmed 
 off the limbs, peeled off the bark, and fitted 
 it for" a mast. Old George Saunders showed 
 him how to step his mast, and assisted him 
 in bending his sail, so that when the wind 
 was fair, he was saved in great measure the 
 labor of rowing. Peter now, when on a 
 bright morning he had pulled his dory out 
 of the cove, and run up his sail, and drawn 
 his sheet taut, and shipped his rudder, and 
 taken his seat in the stern, felt himself 
 quite a man. He was proud of his boat, 
 and of his skill in managing her. A quick 
 eye and a skilful hand are often needed in 
 managing one of these little boats along 
 shore, even in the pleasant days of summer. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 91 
 
 Sometimes a white squall will come off 
 shore, so unexpectedly, that before the 
 fisherman can let go the sheet, his little 
 craft is lying with her gunwale in the wa 
 ter, or completely capsized. Many a poor 
 fellow has been, in this way, emptied into 
 the cold water, with all his gear, and unless 
 assistance was at hand, has been lost. 
 
 In August and September, several schools 
 of mackerel came into the bay, and Peter 
 was quite successful in taking them, some 
 times making three or four dollars a day. 
 Mr. Dennis furnished him with barrels and 
 salt ; and with the assistance of his brother, 
 he dressed and salted them. When the 
 mackerel fishing was over, he liad ten bar 
 rels of mackerel, for which Mr. Dennis 
 allowed him five dollars a barrel, which, 
 after paying for the barrels and salt, left 
 him forty-four dollars. He worked dili 
 gently through the season, and after pay 
 ing for his dory, his lines and bucket, and. 
 his clams for bait, his earnings at the close 
 of the year amounted to eighty dollars, in 
 addition to which he had a pile of nice 
 
92 PETER GOTT, 
 
 scrods, and as many salted fish for winter 
 as the family needed. His mother ventur 
 ed, upon the strength of his earnings, to 
 run in debt a little at Mr. Dennis s store ; 
 but after paying off the whole, she had a 
 larger sum of money than she had ever 
 seen at one time since the death of her 
 husband. Peter was anxious that his mo 
 ther should have some articles of clothing 
 more comfortable than she had been accus 
 tomed to wear, and that his brothers and 
 sisters should share with him the comforts 
 which might be purchased by the money 
 he had earned. He never once thought of 
 hoarding any portion of it for his own use, 
 or spending it for his own gratification. 
 
 At Peter s urgent request, on a pleasant 
 day, the week before Thanksgiving, Patty 
 set out, with him by her side, for the "Har 
 bor." Gloucester harbor was at that time 
 quite a village, and contained several stores, 
 in which a much larger assortment of goods 
 was to be found than at Mr. Dennis s store 
 at the cove, and where, it was supposed, 
 cash might be laid out to much better ad- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 93 
 
 vantage. The women from all the settle 
 ments around the Cape were in the habit 
 of going once or twice a year to the Har 
 bor, to lay out the little sums which they 
 had saved, and this excursion was one of 
 the events of the year. They usually went 
 in companies of three or four, and carried 
 home their purchases in large bundles. 
 The young women purchased ribbons and 
 calicoes and morocco shoes, and the ma 
 trons linen cloth, India cottons, flannels, 
 and rnuslins for caps, and needles and tapes, 
 and various articles, of which mothers only 
 know the use. Patty had made an excur 
 sion to the Harbor every year, while her 
 husband lived. Peter had never been to 
 the Harbor, except on one occasion, when 
 he went round with Skipper Norwood, with 
 a deck-load of salted pee, which was to be 
 shipped for Bilboa. Now for the first time 
 he visited the metropolis of the Cape with 
 his mother. 
 
 They arrived at the Harbor soon after 
 the middle of the day, and passing through 
 Middle Street, took a deliberate survey of 
 
94 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the church, which had just been completed, 
 and which was the most magnificent struct 
 ure Peter had ever seen. Then passing 
 down Centre Street, they came into Front 
 Street, which then, as now, was the princi 
 pal business street of the village. They 
 went into one of the largest stores, attract 
 ed by the gay show of goods at the win 
 dows. Peter was at first quite bewildered 
 at the variety of articles displayed on the 
 counter and shelves. His mother, after 
 deliberately looking around the shop, began 
 to inquire the prices of the several articles 
 which she wished to purchase. The first 
 article which she selected, was a piece of 
 drab-colored Kersey, to make Peter a 
 jacket. The next was a nice Scotch cap, 
 and then a large cotton handkerchief. 
 These were for Peter. She then selected 
 some yards of cotton and linen check, for 
 gowns for the girls, and some cotton and 
 wool cloth for the boys, and lastly, a pattern 
 of calico for a gown for herself. Peter had 
 been for some time looking with much at 
 tention at a pile of nice woollen shawls that 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 95 
 
 lay upon the counter. When she had com 
 pleted her selection, he called her attention 
 to one of these, that had struck his fancy. 
 She refused to take it, saying that she 
 could do without it, and that they could 
 not afford it. But Peter was very urgent 
 that she should have it, and the shopkeeper 
 joined him in persuading her to take it. 
 At length, finding that Peter s heart was 
 set upon it, and that he would feel hurt if 
 she did not take it, she consented. Peter 
 next selected a pink ribbon for his sister 
 Patty s hair, a nice piece of calico for an 
 apron for little Mary, and a couple of pock 
 et knives for Jemmy and George. He then 
 insisted that his mother should put on her 
 new shawl. The goods were then paid for, 
 and packed up into a large bundle, which 
 Peter took under his arm, and marched off, 
 by the side of his mother, more highly grat 
 ified with her respectable appearance in 
 her new and comfortable shawl, than most 
 lads are, when, for the first time, they put 
 on a long-tailed coat and a standing dickey. 
 About sundown they reached their home, 
 
96 PETER GOTT, 
 
 and sat down to a warm supper, which sis 
 ter Patty had got ready for them, with 
 thankful hearts. When Peter retired to 
 his humble couch that night, the reflection 
 that he had been able to do so much for 
 the comfort and happiness of his mother 
 and his brothers and sisters, caused his 
 heart to swell with gratitude, and he felt 
 completely repaid for all the labor he had 
 undergone. His joyful feelings kept him 
 awake a long time, as he lay forming plans 
 for the future. At length he fell into a 
 sweet sleep, while pleasant dreams occupied 
 his mind. He fancied himself the skipper 
 of a nice new schooner, while his brothers 
 and the boys, his daily companions, com 
 posed his crew. They brought in full fares 
 of large, fine fish, which, when spread, cov 
 ered all the flakes in the yard. A long 
 tier of barrels, filled with fat mackerel, was 
 piled upon the wharf. A neat, new house 
 occupied the place of the old cottage ; his 
 mother, dressed in her new gown, and 
 wrapped in her nice shawl, superintending 
 the affairs of the house, and Patty, with her 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 97 
 
 blooming face, her hair neatly combed and 
 tied with a pretty pink ribbon, and Mary, 
 with a bright-colored apron, assisting in her 
 labors, were always the most prominent 
 actors in the shifting scenes. 
 
98 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HAKE FISHING. MAKING ISINGLASS. 
 
 IN the morning, refreshed and happy, 
 Peter was up before the sun, and immedi 
 ately set about preparing for the work of 
 winter. In the latter part of autumn and 
 the early part of winter, hake abound in 
 the bays and coves around the Cape. This 
 fish is inferior to the cod. It is about the 
 size of the haddock, is somewhat coarse 
 meated, and covered with large scales. It 
 is taken at certain seasons, in large num 
 bers, and salted for the West India and 
 South American markets, where it is con 
 sumed by the negroes on the plantations. 
 The principal article received in exchange 
 for this fish is molasses, the better quali 
 ties of which are sold for consumption in 
 families, and the inferior qualities for the 
 use of the distillers. When the large ves- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 99 
 
 sels are laid up for the winter, the crews 
 often engage in hake fishing. Hake, at the 
 time of which we are speaking, were plenty 
 in Ipswich Bay. Some of the men at the 
 cove had already caught and salted several 
 butts of these fish. The sounds of the hake 
 are much larger and thicker than those of 
 the cod and haddock, and it is from these, 
 chiefly, that the American isinglass, or fish 
 glue, is manufactured. The sounds are 
 taken out by the fishermen when they 
 dress the fish. They are then washed in 
 fresh water, by the women and boys, and 
 the black cuticle with which they are cov 
 ered, rubbed off. They are then strung 
 upon twine, like dried apples, or spread 
 upon the flakes and dried in the sun. 
 
 There has existed for many years at Sandy 
 Bay a factory for the manufacture of isin 
 glass. More than thirty years ago, a patent 
 was granted for machinery, by which it is 
 manufactured. At this factory one may 
 often see from ten to twenty cords of hake 
 sounds in one heap, ready to undergo the 
 manufacturing process. This process con- 
 
100 PETER GOTT, 
 
 gists in soaking the dried sounds in warm 
 water until they become soft. Then they 
 are passed between iron rollers, by which 
 the glutinous mass is worked into large 
 cakes, about half an inch thick. These are 
 passed between other rollers, until- the 
 whole is wrought into a mass of uniform 
 consistence. This is now passed through a 
 succession of rollers, from the last of which 
 it comes out in ribbons, about four inches 
 wide, and several yards long, of about the 
 thickness of brown paper. These ribbons 
 are then hung upon poles and dried, after 
 which it is screwed into barrels, when it is 
 ready for market. 
 
 The rollers by which the sounds are 
 wrought into isinglass, were formerly turned 
 by cranks, two men being attached to each 
 set of rollers. This work was mostly done 
 in the winter, and from forty to fifty fisher 
 men, chiefly old men, were engaged in this 
 laborious employment. This labor is now 
 performed by a steam engine. 
 
 The hake, for some unknown reason, 
 more readily take the hook in the night 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 101 
 
 than in the day time. Probably their eyes 
 are so formed, that, like the owl, they see 
 better in the night than when the sun is 
 shining. However this may be, it is cus 
 tomary to fish for them in the night. The 
 men go out in their dories in gangs of from 
 three to six. They go out soon after 
 nightfall, on still, pleasant nights, and return 
 before dawn in the morning. It is a cold, 
 hard and dreary business, but it lasts only 
 a few weeks, the hake then leaving the 
 grounds where they have been feeding. 
 Probably, as the water becomes cold, they 
 migrate into deeper and warmer water. 
 
 Peter determined to join one of these 
 gangs of hakers. His mother, at first, made 
 many objections ; but finding him in ear 
 nest about it, she consented and putting 
 him in charge of old Saunders, who prom 
 ised to take good care of him, she clothed 
 him up warm and fitted him off. With his 
 Scotch cap, and his new cotton handker 
 chief around his neck, about six o clock he 
 stepped into his dory, and pulled out with 
 the gang. In about an hour they reached 
 
 9* 
 
102 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the fishing ground in Ipswich Bay, when 
 they threw over their killicks and com 
 menced their night s work. The night was 
 dark and cold ; but they lay within a few 
 fathoms of each other, so that they could 
 call to each* other and hear each other s 
 movements. They soon began to take in 
 fish. At first Peter pricked his fingers in 
 disengaging the hook from the fish in the 
 dark. But he soon learned how to throw 
 them off with a jerk, without exposing his 
 fingers to the barb. Before midnight, he 
 found it hard to keep awake, and his head 
 would often nod, while he sat waiting for 
 a bite. But soon a sudden pull upon his 
 line would rouse him, when he would draw 
 in his hake. At times his feet were be 
 numbed, and his fingers ached with the 
 cold ; but the taking of several fish in rapid 
 succession, would quicken his circulation 
 and restore warmth to his extremities. 
 
 Thus while other boys of his age were 
 sleeping quietly in their warm beds, Peter 
 was upon the dark waves, with the cold, 
 damp wind blowing in his face, with no 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 103 
 
 shelter but the broad canopy of heaven, 
 toiling, with wet and aching fingers, not 
 for himself, but for his dear mother and his 
 brothers and sisters. Let no one say that 
 warm hearts and strong affections are not 
 found in the bosoms of the laboring poor, 
 or that they are not capable of generous 
 impulses, and great self-sacrifice for others. 
 Because such men have a rough exterior, 
 and a weather-beaten face, shall we, who 
 may have a little more of this world s 
 goods, turn away from them and treat them 
 with disdain ? They are our brethren, and 
 not seldom the truest brothers we have, 
 and entitled to our sympathy and our love, 
 and even to our reverence, for the kindness 
 of their hearts and the purity of their lives. 
 About four o clock in the morning, hav 
 ing nearly filled their boats, they took in 
 their killicks and pulled for the cove, where 
 they arrived about daylight. Leaving his 
 boat upon the beach, Peter went to his 
 home, where his mother was ready to re 
 ceive him with a nice warm breakfast. 
 After eating his breakfast, and resting a 
 
104 PETER GOTT, 
 
 short time, he returned to the cove and 
 dressed and salted his fish, which took him 
 till almost noon. His brothers carried home 
 the bucket of sounds, and set about washing 
 and cleaning them. Their mother showed 
 them how to string them, and they soon 
 had them drying in the sun. After Peter 
 had got his dinner, he took off his jacket 
 and boots and threw himself upon the bed 
 and slept soundly for four or five hours. 
 But he was awake and had got his supper 
 and was on the ground at the appointed 
 time, ready to commence the labor of the 
 succeeding night. This he continued every 
 pleasant night until the middle of Decem 
 ber, when the fish becoming scarce, they 
 quit this kind of fishing. By this time he 
 looked worn and weary. 
 
 Young persons, during the period of their 
 growth, suffer more from the loss of their 
 accustomed sleep, than from almost any 
 amount of labor performed during the day. 
 In truth, Peter s strength was not suffi 
 ciently matured, to sustain him long under 
 the unnatural labor to which this night 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 105 
 
 work subjected him. The loss of sleep, the 
 exposure to cold, and the severe labor atr 
 tending this night fishing, breaks down 
 many of the strong, hardy fishermen, and 
 renders them prematurely old, giving to 
 men of fifty the appearance of seventy. 
 It is well for them that the hake fishing 
 lasts but a few weeks. 
 
 Soon after the close of this work, Peter 
 commenced the regular business of winter 
 fishing, in which we found him engaged 
 at the commencement of our story. Abra 
 ham Pool, and two or three other young 
 sters, were his frequent companions. Some 
 twenty or thirty fishermen, residing in the 
 vicinity of the cove, regularly followed the 
 same business. It is a kind of labor that 
 exposes those who engage in it to great 
 hardship. They endure severe cold. Their 
 feet become often so benumbed that they 
 can scarcely walk. Their hands are con 
 stantly w r et. They are frequently over 
 taken, while out on the water, with storms 
 of rain^ sleet, or snow. Sometimes when 
 they have gone out on a pleasant morning, 
 
106 PETER GOTT, 
 
 they return in a driving snow storm, with 
 their boats loaded with snow. 
 
 As people in the country sit down to a 
 dinner of nice codfish, they little think of 
 the hardship and even danger to which the 
 fisherman has been exposed in taking it. 
 Many of these men suffer much from rheu 
 matism and neuralgic pains. Their muscles 
 become contracted and stiffened, and they 
 look and move like men bowed by old age. 
 But, notwithstanding the hardships neces 
 sarily connected with their business, they 
 pursue it patiently and unrepiningly, and 
 win their bread from the ocean by unre 
 mitting toil. 
 
 Peter followed this kind of fishing through 
 the winter with tolerable success, earning 
 from one to two dollars a day in good 
 weather. During the stormy days, he im 
 proved his time in the study of Daboll s 
 Arithmetic, and in learning to write, and 
 in assisting his brothers and sisters, who 
 were now learning to add and subtract. 
 The family got through the winter more 
 comfortably than ever before, by the aid 
 of Peter s labor. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 107 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PETER S FIRST TRIP TO THE BANKS. ; HOW THE EARN 
 INGS OF BANK FISHERMEN ARE DIVIDED. PETER S 
 
 CARE FOR HIS FAMILY. SECOND TRIP. A STORM 
 AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 SOME time in March, Mr. Dennis pro 
 posed to Peter to ship on board one of his 
 vessels, offering him a full share with the 
 men. This was more than any lad of his 
 age received, and was considered a highly 
 advantageous offer. Peter immediately told 
 his mother, saying, u Now, mother, you will 
 not have to work so hard. Mr, Dennis has 
 offered me a full share if I will ship in the 
 Polly, and it will not be half so hard as 
 wherry fishing." This proposal brought 
 to Patty s mind the scenes and the feelings 
 connected with her husband s trip to the 
 Banks, as though they had occurred but 
 yesterday, and her eyes filled with tears at 
 the recollection. She promised to think of 
 
108 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the matter. The next morning she went 
 to Mr. Dennis s store, where she found 
 James Tarr, who had ever been to her a 
 faithful friend. They joined in persuading 
 her that this was an opportunity for Peter 
 which she ought by no means to neglect. 
 Especially they urged, that by shipping on 
 board a Banker, he would in a few years 
 be qualified for a skipper, while in the 
 shore fishing he would never be qualified 
 for this office. This situation is the one to 
 which young and enterprising fishermen 
 look forward as the height of their ambi 
 tion; and Patty felt her mother s pride 
 gratified with the praises which they be 
 stowed upon her darling boy, and with the 
 prospect of soon seeing him in command of 
 a fine schooner. These considerations pre 
 vailed, and she gave her consent, and im 
 mediately set about fitting him for the 
 voyage. This was speedily accomplished ; 
 and early in April he sailed in the schooner 
 Polly, Ca.pt. Griffin, of sixty tons, for the 
 Grand Bank. 
 
 This was an important event in Peter s 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 109 
 
 life, and her neighbors heartily congratu 
 lated his mother upon his good fortune. 
 The Polly made her first trip, encountering 
 only the usual amount of wet and foggy 
 weather, and returned the last week in 
 June, with eight hundred quintals of fish. 
 On her next trip, which was completed 
 about the last of October, she brought in 
 seven hundred more. This made her fif 
 teen hundred quintals. These fish were 
 sold by Mr. Dennis for two dollars and 
 twenty-five cents per quintal, amounting to 
 three thousand three hundred and seventy- 
 five dollars. The oil amounted to one 
 hundred and twenty dollars. Half of this 
 sum, seventeen hundred thirty-seven dol 
 lars, deducting half the cost of the salt, or 
 forty-three dollars, belonged to the crew. 
 From this also was to be deducted five per 
 cent., which belongs to the skipper, over 
 and above his equal share with the rest of 
 the crew. There remained then to be di 
 vided among the nine persons on board, 
 sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, giving to 
 
 each man one hundred and eighty-three 
 10 
 
110 PETER GOTT, 
 
 dollars. This sum was more than the aver 
 age made by the Bankers that season. But 
 Capt. Griffin was resolute and enterprising, 
 and most of the crew were smart, active 
 men. There is much said among fishermen 
 about good and bad luck ; and indeed ves 
 sels do sometimes seem to meet with a 
 Godsend, in the shape of a fine school of 
 fish. But it is generally found that enter 
 prising, energetic men are more successful 
 in fishing, as well as in all other kinds of 
 business. 
 
 The Polly was thought to have been re 
 markably lucky, and her good luck was a 
 frequent subject of conversation in the fam 
 ilies at the cove through the ensuing win 
 ter. Peter was now thought to be rich, 
 and many of his neighbors congratulated 
 him upon his success, There were few 
 among them, even those who had earned 
 but little, who envie$ his good fortune. 
 He was known to be so kind to his mother, 
 and to have worked so hard for the support 
 of his family, that all his neighbors consid 
 ered it but his just reward. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. Ill 
 
 After paying Mr. Dennis for the articles 
 which he had had by way of outfit, and for 
 what his mother had taken up for the fam 
 ily during the summer, he had one hundred 
 and ten dollars left. This he put into his 
 mother s hands, with the request that she 
 w^ould use it for the comfort of herself and 
 the children. The usual excursion to the 
 Harbor was undertaken, and a stock of 
 clothing purchased for the winter. Some 
 articles of comfort were added to their 
 scanty stock of furniture. - Peter employed 
 a carpenter to make him a nice sea-chest. 
 When the carpenter had completed this 
 chest, he engaged him to shingle the cot 
 tage and repair the windows, and make a 
 new door. These repairs, in addition to 
 some others made by himself, rendered their 
 habitation more comfortable than it had 
 been for several years. He then procured 
 some cheap lumber, and erected a shed to 
 protect their fuel during the storms of 
 winter ; then he and his brothers labored 
 diligently for several days in collecting 
 fuel. This they piled up snugly in the 
 
112 PETER GOTT, 
 
 shed which he had built. These various 
 operations occupied the whole of the month 
 of November. 
 
 Peter was not disposed to engage, this 
 year, in the work of night fishing ; but he 
 got out his dory and caulked anew her gap 
 ing seams, and payed her bottom with tar, 
 and painted her gunwales, and fitted her 
 with a new set of thole-pins, and overhauled 
 his lines, and got ready for winter fishing. 
 Most of the men who go to the Banks in 
 the summer, refuse altogether to engage in 
 fishing in the winter, especially if they have 
 had tolerable luck in the summer. A few 
 of them, as we have already stated, engage 
 in foreign voyages for the winter, but most 
 of them spend their time in idleness, from 
 the time the vessel is hauled up until she 
 is fitted out again in the spring, by which 
 time they have generally consumed all 
 they had earned, and run up a considerable 
 bill at the store. But Peter had grown up 
 with habits of industry, and had been ac 
 customed to labor in winter, as well as in 
 summer ; so he joined the company of win- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 113 
 
 ter fishermen ; and every pleasant morning 
 through the winter was one of the first to 
 get his wherry afloat, and put out into the 
 bay for a day s work. The fish which he 
 caught through this winter, amounted to 
 sixty dollars ; in addition to which, he car 
 ried home, for the use of the family, every 
 day a fresh fish, a good mess of cods heads, 
 or a nice mess of tongues and sounds. So 
 that instead of consuming the earnings of 
 the previous summer, his labors supported 
 the family, and in the spring, they found 
 themselves possessed of even more than 
 they had in the fall. 
 
 When the spring arrived Peter shipped 
 again for the Banks. They sailed the first 
 week in April. The weather was cold and 
 stormy, and they had a boisterous passage 
 to the Banks. They were driven out of 
 their course far to the eastward of the Banks, 
 and it was fourteen days before they found 
 themselves on the fishing ground. They 
 did very well for a few days ; but the 
 weather was cold and cloudy, and they had 
 frequent snow squalls. At length, after an 
 10* 
 
114 PETEE GOTT, 
 
 unusually pleasant night, the wind began 
 to blow from the east in gusts, accompanied 
 with a peculiar howling sound, and the sea 
 was heaving with a heavy swell. As they 
 were going below to breakfast, the skipper 
 observed, " After we have had our grub, we 
 must make all snug, for we re going to 
 have a snorter." When they returned on 
 deck, the wind was blowing in sharp, spite 
 ful gusts, and the snow was rapidly falling. 
 They immediately dressed off all the fish 
 that were on deck, gathered up their fish 
 ing gear and carried it below, barred down 
 the hatches, secured the water cask, and 
 made every thing as fast as possible. Be 
 fore noon the storm had fearfully increased. 
 The wind blew a hurricane ; the snow 
 drifted in sheets along the surface of the 
 ocean, and so filled the air that it was im 
 possible to see to windward the length of 
 the vessel. They payed out all their cable, 
 expecting every moment that it would part, 
 or that the vessel would drag the anchor. 
 But she held on through the remainder of 
 the day, and until about daylight the next 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 115 
 
 morning. The night was a fearful one. 
 The vessel hove and rolled the livelong 
 night. About daylight the cable parted. 
 There had. been no sleep on board through 
 the long watches of that night. 
 
 The moment the cable parted, the skip 
 per sprung to the helm and tried to keep 
 her head to the wind ; but finding that in 
 spite of all his efforts she would broach to, 
 he determind to get her before the wind, 
 and scud under bare poles. To effect this, 
 he watched his opportunity, and the first 
 time she broached to, he gave her the 
 helm ; but as she fell off, a heavy sea struck 
 her broadside and buried her many feet 
 deep under the green waters. For a mo- 
 ment it seemed as if she were settling down 
 into the depths of the ocean ; but in ano 
 ther moment she came up, trembling in 
 every joint, and freed herself from the 
 water. The men caught by the stays, and 
 clinging with a death grasp, saved them 
 selves from being washed overboard. When 
 the vessel righted, it was found that her 
 windward bulwarks had been carried away, 
 
116 PETER GOTT, 
 
 her boat stove, and every thing movable 
 had been washed from the deck. Before 
 the succeeding sea reached her, she had 
 come round, and shot forward, like a bound 
 ing steed, before the wind. 
 
 She held on her course, pitching and 
 plunging through the foaming waves until 
 past the middle of the day, when the storm 
 began to abate. As soon as she would 
 bear it, they got up a double-reefed fore 
 sail, and just at night, a small piece of the 
 mainsail, so as to keep her steady, and hold 
 on her course through the night. Before 
 morning the wind got into the north-west, 
 and the sky cleared up ; but a high sea 
 continued to run for two or three days. 
 As they had lost their best anchor and 
 cable, and their boat was stove, and their 
 bulwarks badly damaged, the skipper de 
 cided to run home. The first light they 
 made, was that of Cape Cod. The wind 
 being northerly and the sea rough, they 
 were three days more beating about the 
 bay, before they reached their port. It was 
 about four weeks before the repairs were 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 117 
 
 completed, and they were ready for sea 
 again. 
 
 It was now the first week in June. The 
 first trip, of course, was lost. But they 
 were successful on the summer trip, and 
 filled the vessel, and reached home by the 
 10th of September. On selling the fish 
 and making up the voyage, they divided 
 ninety-two dollars to each man. This was 
 their whole summer s work, all they had 
 earned during the six best months of the 
 year, from the first of April to the end of 
 September. The outfits which Peter had 
 taken up in the spring, and the bill for 
 goods which his mother had taken up dur 
 ing the summer, amounted to sixty-two 
 dollars, leaving but thirty dollars for Peter 
 to receive on the settlement. Most of the 
 crew were in debt to Mr. Dennis, their 
 families having taken up more than ninety- 
 two dollars. 
 
 To a man under such circumstances, with 
 a wife and children to feed and clothe, the 
 approach of a long and cold winter is any 
 thing but agreeable. In all our fishing 
 
118 PETER GOTT, 
 
 ports, such instances occur nearly every 
 year ; and some years, the number is by 
 no means small. Such men are then en 
 tirely dependent upon what they can earn 
 from day to day, during the short, cold 
 days of winter. Perhaps they have never 
 been accustomed to winter fishing, and own 
 no wherries or fishing gear. They have 
 no money to purchase them. If they run 
 in debt for them, it will take half the win 
 ter s earning to pay for them. If they 
 should be taken with sickness, in conse 
 quence of their unwonted exposure, their 
 families are often thrown into circumstances 
 of real distress, and become dependent on 
 charity for their daily bread. 
 
 But Peter had no feelings of discourage 
 ment. He was accustomed to labor in the 
 winter, and he expected to do it. He 
 was now a stout young man of nineteen, 
 and his brother was fourteen. He was not 
 in debt, but had something in the locker, 
 and he would not allow his mother to de 
 prive herself of any of the comforts to 
 which she had been accustomed for the last 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 119 
 
 two years. Capt. Griffin determined to 
 make an effort to retrieve the bad luck of 
 the year, not so much on his own account, 
 as on account of some of the crew, who 
 had large families to support. So, instead 
 of hauling up his vessel, he proposed to 
 Mr. Dennis that he should fit her out, and 
 let them try their luck at pollocking. 
 
120 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 POLLOCK FISHING. LOBSTER CATCHING. POLITICAL 
 TROUBLES. 
 
 THE pollock is a kind of fish that is found 
 in schools, and is sometimes found in im 
 mense numbers on our coasts, late in the 
 autumn, on its return from the north to 
 more southern regions. It is about the 
 size of the codfish has a sharper head, and 
 its back is of a dark blue color. Its flesh 
 is somewhat coarser and darker than that 
 of the cod, and contains more gluten. 
 When this fish is preserved with but little 
 salt, and dried in the cool weather of au 
 tumn, it is a favorite fish for the table. It 
 is eaten raw, stripped into small pieces. 
 But it is generally high salted, and shipped 
 with the hake to the south, for the use of 
 the plantation negroes. 
 
 The pollock is caught and cured in the 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 121 
 
 same way as the cod. The season for tak 
 ing it lasts but a few weeks. Capt. Griffin 
 was ready about the last of October, and 
 was joined by most of the men who had 
 been with him to the Banks. Two of 
 them, men who had no families, had gone 
 to Boston, to ship for a voyage to St. Do 
 mingo. Their places were readily supplied 
 by two other men. They went as far east 
 as Mount Desert, and in the course of three 
 weeks took four hundred quintals, worth, 
 when cured, one dollar and a quarter per 
 quintal. This gave to each man about 
 twenty-seven dollars, a matter of no small 
 importance to a destitute family. 
 
 The Polly was now stripped, and laid up 
 for the winter. Most of the men immedi 
 ately engaged in winter fishing, and those 
 who were industrious got through the win 
 ter without absolute suffering. 
 
 By the first of December, Peter was in 
 his wherry, engaged in his usual winter 
 employment. He was tolerably successful, 
 although the codfish had mostly left the 
 
 coast. These fish often leave the coast in 
 11 
 
122 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the winter almost entirely. When this is 
 the case, the fishermen depend chiefly upon 
 the haddock. These fish are somewhat 
 smaller than the cod, and are esteemed in 
 ferior to them when codfish are plenty ; 
 the haddock do not bring so high a price 
 in the market as the cod. But when cod 
 are not to be had, the haddock sell freely 
 at about the same price that is usually paid 
 for cod. The flesh of the haddock is white 
 and delicate, but drier and less glutinous 
 and oily than the cod. When salted and 
 dried, they become very hard, and will 
 keep well. In this state they are shipped 
 in great quantities, with hake and pollock, 
 to the southern market. 
 
 About the first of March, Peter engaged 
 in the service of a company, that had set 
 up an establishment for the catching of 
 lobsters, on Thatcher s Island. These shell 
 fish formerly abounded along the rocky 
 shores of the Cape, and were often taken 
 of very large size. There still exist, among 
 the fishermen, traditions, of a somewhat 
 mythical character indeed, of lobsters hav- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 123 
 
 ing been taken that weighed forty pounds. 
 If there is any truth in these traditions, the 
 Pilgrim Fathers must have found " feasts of 
 fat things among the treasures of the sand." 
 From traditions of the same date we learn 
 that the clams and quohogs of those days 
 corresponded in size to these many-armed, 
 mail-covered monsters. What glorious clam 
 bakes they must have had ! 
 
 Lobsters are taken in a sort of baskets 
 called lobster-pots. These are about three 
 feet long, and two feet wide, of semi-cylin 
 drical form, that is, the bottom is flat and 
 the sides and top are in the form of an 
 arch. At each end is an opening for the 
 ingress of the lobster ; around this opening 
 are placed short flexible pieces of wood, 
 projecting into the basket, so arranged that 
 they will easily separate and allow the lob 
 ster to enter, but their points close together 
 after him and prevent his egress. They 
 have a door upon the top, through which 
 the lobster is taken out. 
 
 A long line is attached to these pots ; a 
 heavy stone, sufficient to sink them, is 
 
124 PETER GOTT, 
 
 placed in them, and they are baited with 
 the heads or offal of fresh fish, and sunk to 
 the bottom at about low water mark ; the 
 other end of the line is made fast to a block 
 of light wood, called a buoy. The fisher 
 men go out with their wherries, freighted 
 with these pots, and drop them at short 
 intervals along the shore. During the sea 
 son of lobster fishing, which lasts from 
 March to July, hundreds of these buoys 
 may be seen bobbing up and down like so 
 many seals heads. The fishermen visit 
 them every morning, draw them up along 
 side of their boats, take out the lobsters, 
 replenish the bait, and drop them again 
 into the water. The lobsters, when first 
 taken, are very fierce, and seize with their 
 strong pincers upon whatever may be with 
 in their reach. When thrown together 
 into the boat, they will grapple with each 
 other and tear off each other s feelers and 
 legs. Without much care in handling them, 
 the fingers of the fishermen get many a 
 hard bite. To prevent them from injuring 
 each other, the fishermen provide sharp- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 125 
 
 pointed wooden pegs, which they insert 
 into the joint or hinge of their pincers, 
 which prevent them from closing. When 
 they have visited all their pots, they row 
 to their landing-place. If they now wish 
 to preserve them for several days, they put 
 them into a long box or kench, made of 
 plank and bored full of holes, which is 
 moored in the water at a little distance 
 from the shore. If they wish to prepare 
 them immediately for market, they are 
 taken ashore in hand-barrows and carried 
 to a sort of shed, in which is fixed a large 
 cauldron. This is filled with water. A 
 brisk fire is kindled under this kettle, and 
 when the water boils, the living, crawling, 
 squirming lobsters are thrown into it and 
 covered with a heavy plank cover. Here 
 they are kept boiling until their color, 
 which when taken out of the water was a 
 dark green, becomes a bright scarlet. They 
 are now ready for the market. In this state 
 we see them for sale on the stalls in our 
 cities and hawked about the streets. 
 
 Peter continued in this employment 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 through the month of March. It is a busi 
 ness attended with severe exposure to the 
 weather, and often, when the water is 
 rough and the surf is breaking upon the 
 shore, with considerable danger. He was 
 glad to be freed from it ; and about the 
 first of April engaged in fitting out the 
 Polly again for the Banks. She sailed on 
 the tenth, and made two trips during the 
 season with tolerable success. His share of 
 the proceeds, this year, was two hundred 
 and twenty dollars. His brothers and sis 
 ters were now able to earn their own liv 
 ing. One of his sisters was living as a 
 housemaid in the family of C apt, Saunders, 
 at the Harbor. By her industry, fidelity, 
 and good temper, she had secured the good 
 will and confidence of this family, and re 
 ceived from them many presents, in addi 
 tion to the two and sixpence per week 
 which she received as wages. Patty was 
 now in circumstances of much comfort, and 
 was considered by her neighbors as quite 
 independent. Having studied in the school 
 of affliction, she had a sympathizing heart 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 127 
 
 for all who were suffering from bereavement 
 or want, and was ever ready to aid them by 
 her counsels, and to impart to them of her 
 moderate store. She found frequent occa 
 sion for her services among the sick, and 
 w T as looked up to t by all her acquaintance 
 with much confidence and respect. But 
 other trials were now preparing for her 
 trials which she was to undergo in common 
 with her neighbors and countrymen. The 
 cloud which for years had been gathering 
 over the political horizon, but which had 
 hitherto but little affected these peaceful 
 dwellers upon the shore, was daily growing 
 darker. The difficulties between the colo 
 nies and the mother country were begin 
 ning to assume a serious aspect. The trade 
 of Boston was much embarrassed, and its 
 entire extinction threatened. It was be 
 coming difficult for the fishermen to obtain 
 from Boston the means of fitting out their 
 vessels, and the market for their fish was 
 growing uncertain. 
 
 The next March, the owners of fishing 
 vessels in Gloucester sent a vessel to Ports- 
 
128 
 
 mouth, for the first time, to obtain salt, be 
 cause it could not be obtained in Boston. 
 Arid it was with difficulty, and at a high 
 cost, that they obtained molasses, pork and 
 meal for their Bankers. Sailcloth, cordage 
 and anchors had hitherto been almost en 
 tirely imported from England. As the 
 trade with the mother country became in 
 terrupted, these, and other needful articles, 
 assumed an exorbitant price. The fisher 
 men struggled along under these difficul 
 ties until Boston harbor was actually closed 
 by the presence of a British fleet. 
 
 From that time, owing to the impossibil 
 ity of obtaining the means of sailing their 
 vessels, to the loss of their market, and to 
 the danger of capture by British cruisers, 
 the Bank fishing was entirely given up. 
 During the seven years that followed, the 
 only branch of the fisheries pursued, was 
 the shore fishing. This was carried on to 
 some extent, in small sail-boats and wher 
 ries, especially in the winter, when cruisers 
 could not remain on the coast. These boats 
 pursued their business between Cape Ann 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 129 
 
 and Cape Cod, running out occasionally as 
 far as the middle bank, and carried their 
 fares into Boston and Salem for a market. 
 A small trade also sprung up between the 
 coast and the interior, the farmers carrying 
 their pork and corn to the coast, and ex 
 changing them for fresh or salted fish. 
 But the Bank fisheries, which just before 
 the Revolution had become of great value, 
 were completely ruined, and the men en 
 gaged in them were driven to seek other 
 employments, to obtain a livelihood. Some 
 few, who had acquired sufficient means, 
 removed into the country and purchased 
 land and became farmers. But sailors and 
 fishermen are in general averse to engage 
 in any occupation upon the land. They 
 prefer to linger upon the shore, and draw 
 a precarious subsistence from the ocean. 
 A sailor, when away from the water, is like 
 a fish out of his proper element. The 
 mountain and the forest have no charms 
 for him. But the fishermen entered heart 
 ily into the struggle for the defence of the 
 liberties of their country. Two companies 
 
130 PETER GOTT, 
 
 of militia, from the Cape, under Capts. 
 Warner and Kowe, were in the battle of 
 Bunker Hill. Two men were killed and 
 two wounded in Capt. Warner s company, 
 and three killed and two wounded in Capt. 
 Rowe s, in that battle. Capt. Warner s 
 company continued in the service, under 
 Washington, and was in the famous retreat 
 from Long Island. Upwards of two hun 
 dred and twenty men voluntarily enlisted 
 from the Cape, during the first campaign 
 of the Revolution. When Congress re 
 quested every State to furnish its full quota, 
 137 men were assigned as the proportion 
 from Gloucester. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 131 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PETKR SHIPS ON BOARD A PRIVATEER. IS CARRIED 
 TO HALIFAX. DARTMOOR PRISON. 
 
 WHEN letters of marque were issued by 
 the authority of the American Congress, 
 and privateers were authorized to be fitted 
 out, many of the seamen and fishermen, 
 who were out of employment in the ports 
 of the Eastern States, eagerly engaged in 
 this business and did much to annoy the 
 commerce of England. The schooner War 
 ren, lying idle in Gloucester harbor, was 
 immediately fitted out, under the command 
 of Capt. Lane, who had been engaged in 
 the West India trade. He was a good sea 
 man, and the young fishermen were earnest 
 to enlist under his command. The schooner 
 carried two guns, and had a crew of fifty 
 men. Peter entered heartily into the cause 
 of his country, and as many of his associ- 
 
132 PETER GOTT, 
 
 ates had enrolled their names among the 
 crew of the Warren, it required but little 
 persuasion to induce him to do the same. 
 This was a sore trial to his mother, and she 
 shed many tears in view of the hardships 
 and danger to which her son might be ex 
 posed. But in those days the women of 
 America were not backward in the cause 
 of their country, but were ready to sacri 
 fice their own ease and comforts to pro 
 mote that cause that was so dear to their 
 husbands and sons. Many brave-hearted 
 mothers consecrated their sons to the ser 
 vice of their country. During the darkest 
 periods of that long struggle, when many 
 prudent men became disheartened and de 
 sponding, the courage of the women never 
 failed. They felt that their cause was just, 
 and without entering into minute calcula 
 tions, with regard to the means at their 
 disposal, they confidently believed that the 
 issue would be in favor of the right. 
 
 When Peter had decided that it was his 
 duty to enlist, his mother, although she did 
 not actually give her consent, immediately 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 133 
 
 set about preparing his clothing for the 
 voyage ; and when, in a few days, he left 
 her to embark on board the Warren, which 
 was now ready for sea, she gave him her 
 hearty blessing. 
 
 Capt. Lane, who had an eye for a good 
 sailor, no sooner saw the clean and active 
 limbs of Peter, his intelligent eye, and his 
 manly and thoughtful countenance, than 
 he at once set him down for his boatswain. 
 He immediately undertook the duties of 
 his office, and the captain had never occa 
 sion to regret his choice. 
 
 As the Warren left the wharf, she was 
 cheered by the whole population of the 
 harbor, assembled on the shore. On the 
 fourth day out, they fell in with an English 
 vessel, loaded with lumber, bound from 
 Halifax to Jamaica. As she had but few 
 men, and was unarmed, she immediately 
 surrendered. They took her crew on board 
 their own vessel, put three men on board 
 her and sent her into port, where she ar 
 rived in safety. 
 
 They now laid their course for the West 
 12 
 
134 PETER GOTT, 
 
 Indies, hoping to fall in with some English 
 merchantman. In a few days they descried 
 a sail, and immediately gave chase, with all 
 the sail they could carry. But they soon 
 discovered that the vessel of which they 
 were in pursuit was no merchantman, but 
 a British sloop of war, that was now bear 
 ing down upon them. As soon as this dis 
 covery was made, the schooner was put 
 about, and all sail crowded, to escape the 
 enemy. The sloop made every effort to 
 come up with her. But the Yankee showed 
 a clean pair of heels, and when the sun rose 
 the next morning, her pursuer was nowhere 
 to be seen. 
 
 In abput twenty days from the time they 
 sailed, they were in the neighborhood of 
 Jamaica. Here they cruised for two days, 
 when they fell in with a small brig, with a 
 cargo of sugar, cofiee, rum and molasses. 
 They ran across the stern of the brig, and 
 demanded her surrender; but, instead of 
 this, the brig crowded all sail, hoping to 
 escape. Capt. Lane now sent a ball through 
 her sails, and ran alongside, witn the inten- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 135 
 
 tion of boarding her. The captain of the 
 brig finding that the schooner was fully 
 armed, and that he had no chance of es 
 cape, hauled down his flag and hove her 
 to. The privateer immediately took pos 
 session of her, and removed her officers to 
 his own vessel. Upon looking at her man 
 ifest, Capt. Lane found her cargo to be 
 very valuable, as West India goods then 
 bore a high price in the American market. 
 He was very desirous of getting her in 
 safely. So after taking out a box of sugar, 
 a puncheon of rum, some bags of coffee 
 and two or three barrels of molasses, for 
 the use of his crew, he selected five of his 
 most efficient men and three of the brig s 
 crew, and ordered her into Boston. Peter 
 was one of the five men whom he selected 
 for this hazardous task. 
 
 On the fourth day after they parted 
 company, the privateer fell in with a ship, 
 bound from London to Jamaica. Her crew 
 was well armed. But after a conflict, which 
 lasted about fifteen minutes, during which 
 two of the British seamen were killed, and 
 
136 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the first mate was wounded, and four of 
 the Americans were wounded, they suc 
 ceeded in boarding and taking possession 
 of her. Capt. Lane took from the ship 
 the remainder of her crew, and put his 
 maie and eight men on board, and sailed 
 for home in her company. In eighteen 
 days he moored his prize safely in Salem 
 harbor. But the prize crew, on board the 
 brig, were not equally fortunate. When 
 they had arrived within two days sail of 
 Boston, they were descried by a British 
 sloop of war, and the brig being a dull 
 sailer, and heavily loaded, was soon cap 
 tured. The British captain placed the five 
 Americans in irons, and putting an officer 
 and three men on board, in addition to the 
 three English sailors whom he found in 
 her, sent her to Halifax, where she arrived 
 in six days. 
 
 As the brig did not arrive in the United 
 States, it was a long time uncertain whether 
 she had foundered at sea, or had been re 
 captured by the enemy. It was generally 
 supposed that she had been lost at sea, as 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 137 
 
 there had been a somewhat severe gale 
 about the time when she must have been 
 approaching the coast. Of course, Patty, 
 as well as the friends of the other four 
 men, Peter s companions, was greatly dis 
 tressed, and held in a state of most anxious 
 suspense. This state of cruel suspense, in 
 which the mind fluctuates between fear 
 and hope, is often worse than the dread 
 certainty of loss. It is often surprising, 
 with what tenacity the friends of the lost 
 sailor will cling to the hope of his return. 
 His vessel has been run down, and he has 
 been saved by leaping on board the vessel 
 which has struck them, or he has taken to 
 the boat, and been picked up by some out 
 ward bound vessel, and will return in her. 
 Such events, no doubt, sometimes do 
 occur. But they are, "like angel visits, 
 few and far between." But the bare pos 
 sibility of such an occurrence is sufficient 
 to buoy up the desponding heart of a be 
 reaved wife or mother. Often have I known 
 such a wife or mother cling to such a for 
 lorn hope, after all others had arrived at 
 12* 
 
138 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the certain conviction that their friends 
 were lost. 
 
 Patty could not believe that her beloved 
 son, the joy of her heart, was lost. She 
 chose to cherish the belief that the brig 
 had been recaptured. But her heart was 
 heavy and her countenance sad, and night 
 after night did she wet her pillow with 
 tears, as she thought of the hardships he 
 was suffering as a prisoner in the hands of 
 the enemy. Still more bitterly did they 
 flow, when she admitted the possibility that 
 his fair form was lying upon the oozy bed 
 of the ocean, or had been a prey to the 
 monsters of the deep. Sorrow rapidly per 
 formed the work of time upon her person, 
 and her hair became prematurely grey. 
 But hope never entirely forsook the mo 
 ther s heart. She loved to talk of his vir 
 tues with her children and neighbors, and 
 to tell of the toils he had endured and the 
 hardships he had undergone, for her sake, 
 even in the tender years of his boyhood. 
 
 She could not give him up ; hope still lin 
 gered in her heart. Reports began to be 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 139 
 
 circulated about this time, respecting the 
 treatment to which American prisoners 
 were subjected in the prison-ship at Halifax. 
 It was said they were confined in the damp, 
 leaky hulk of a condemned man of war, and 
 that at every rising tide they were obliged 
 to pump for their lives, to keep down the 
 water, which would otherwise have drown 
 ed them, that they were kept in irons, 
 and allowed barely food enough to sustain 
 life, and that, often of so poor a quality that 
 only starving men could eat it. These re 
 ports brought little consolation to the hearts 
 of those who believed their friends were the 
 subjects of such treatment. But they 
 served to exasperate Americans against a 
 nation whose government could be guilty 
 of such barbarous conduct. Alas ! for the 
 unholy passions enkindled by the usages 
 of war. More than two generations have 
 passed away since these events occurred, 
 but the bitter feelings which they produced 
 in many hearts, are scarcely yet forgotten. 
 About two years after Peter was taken 
 prisoner, he succeeded in sending a letter 
 
140 
 
 to his mother, acquainting her with the 
 circumstances of his capture, and the fact 
 that he was still a prisoner. With a delicacy 
 which can exist only in a loving heart, he 
 made no complaint of the cruelty to which 
 he had been subjected, lest the details 
 should distress his beloved mother. But 
 he told her not to be discouraged ; that he 
 should one day be set at liberty, and be 
 returned to his country and his friends. 
 He stated that his four companions were 
 alive and well. Oh ! what a thrill of joy 
 did this short letter send through the hearts 
 of those who had given up their friends for 
 lost, and how did it reward the faith and 
 hope of Peter s mother. It seemed that 
 her prayers were about to be answered, 
 and her hopes realized. But, thankful as 
 she was that her beloved son was alive, her 
 patience was to have yet a longer trial ; 
 her maternal anxieties were not yet ended. 
 It was soon reported that fever was pre 
 vailing among the prisoners at Halifax, and 
 that many of them had fallen victims to it, 
 and then it was reported that the Ameri- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 141 
 
 can prisoners were to be transferred to 
 England, and there be tried as rebels against 
 their king. 
 
 No further news from Peter reached his 
 friends until the expiration of another year, 
 when a letter, dated in England, reached 
 them, informing them that the prisoners 
 had been removed from Halifax to Eng 
 land, and were now confined in the prison 
 of Dartmoor. He had been sick, very sick 
 of the fever, but was now in tolerable 
 health. Two of the men from Gloucester, 
 his companions, had died of the fever, and 
 they had all suffered severely from it. The 
 prison of Dartmoor had npt then the noto 
 riety which it subsequently attained. In 
 the war of 1812, five thousand American 
 prisoners were at one time confined there. 
 On one occasion, without any provocation, 
 the British soldiers on guard fired upon the 
 unarmed prisoners, and killed seven in cold 
 blood, and wounded several others. The 
 cruelties to which these prisoners were 
 subjected within its walls, have rendered 
 its very name a disgrace to the British na- 
 
142 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 tion. This prison is situated in the middle 
 of a bleak moor, upon a damp, marshy soil, 
 without a tree to shelter it from the scorch 
 ing sun in the summer or to screen it from 
 the piercing blasts of winter. Its inmates 
 were lodged upon the damp ground, and 
 fed upon the coarsest fare. Many strong 
 and vigorous constitutions were broken 
 down by the hardships which they here 
 suffered. Jail or typhoid fever was almost 
 always present, owing to the depressing 
 circumstances by which the prisoners were 
 surrounded, and at some seasons was aw 
 fully fatal. 
 
 Peter had a lynd heart, and after his 
 own recovery, most of his time was em 
 ployed in nursing his sick associates. Dur 
 ing his own sickness, he had felt the want 
 of a kind and sympathizing friend. The 
 offices of such a friend he now supplied to 
 many of his countrymen ; many a young 
 man, attacked with disease, and with home 
 sickness, owed his recovery to his sympa 
 thizing care, and to his efforts to cheer his 
 spirits and to keep alive the dying embers 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 143 
 
 of hope. These efforts, no doubt, reacted 
 favorably upon himself. They furnished 
 employment to his body and mind, and 
 served to strengthen his own hope of final 
 deliverance. . 
 
144 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PETER RETURNS HOME. CHANGES AT HOME. 
 
 AFTER Peter had been confined two years 
 and a half within the walls of this prison, 
 he was returned to New York on board a 
 cartel, which was sent out by the British 
 government to effect an exchange of pris 
 oners. He reached New York in safety, 
 after a passage of forty days, but so chang 
 ed in appearance, that, when he landed 
 upon the wharf, even the maternal instinct 
 of his own mother would not have known 
 him. Here he was, with the other returned 
 prisoners, delivered to the officer deputed 
 by General Washington to receive them. 
 After being comfortably clothed, partly from 
 the government stores and partly by the 
 charities of the citizens of New York, and 
 remaining a day or two to recruit their 
 wasted strength, Peter and his two com- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 145 
 
 panions from Gloucester started on foot, 
 and travelled from New York to Cape 
 Ann, living upon the charity of the inhabi 
 tants by the way. Early one morning, 
 after having walked during the night from 
 Boston, they appeared in the midst of their 
 friends and neighbors, as men risen from 
 the dead* On entering the village of 
 Gloucester, they stepped into- a small shop, 
 which stood nearly opposite to where the 
 Gloucester House now stands. One of the 
 travellers was immediately re-cognized by 
 the keeper of the shop, with whom he had 
 formerly sailed on a trip to the Banks. 
 
 The news of their arrival flew through 
 the village. On leaving the shop, they had 
 scarcely passed half the length of the street, 
 before they were surrounded by a crowd 
 of men, women and children, eager to see 
 them, but many of them doubting their 
 identity. A gentleman by the name of 
 Sargent observing the crowd from his win 
 dow, stepped out to inquire its cause, and 
 immediately invited them into his house, 
 and gave them a warm and hearty "breakfast., 
 
146 PETER GOTT, 
 
 The three men belonged in different sec 
 tions of the town, On leaving the house 
 of Mr. Sargent, they separated, to find their 
 own homes. Peter, wayworn and foot-sore, 
 started for the home of his childhood, on 
 the eastern declivity of Pigeon Hill. He 
 reached his mother s house a little before 
 noon. The scene that occurred upon his 
 meeting his mother and sister, we will not 
 attempt to describe. It may be better im- 
 igined than described. 
 
 He found his mother greatly altered in 
 appearance during the five years of his 
 absence. Sorrow and anxiety had rendered 
 her countenance pale, had changed her 
 locks to grey, and planted wrinkles in her 
 brow. But the same loving and trusting 
 heart still throbbed in her bosom. His 
 sister had grown to be a woman. His older 
 sister had married a young man, who had 
 become acquainted with her while living 
 at Capt. Saunders s, and was living at the 
 harbor. His brother, who was now an in 
 dustrious young man, was absent on a fish 
 ing trip. On his labor his mother was now 
 chiefly dependent for support. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 147 
 
 The appearance of the whole neighbor 
 hood had undergone a marked change. 
 The indications of thrift, which it presented 
 at the breaking out of the war, were no 
 longer visible. The houses presented a 
 dilapidated aspect. The shops and wharves 
 at the cove were falling into decay. Many 
 of the most active and efficient inhabitants 
 were gone. Many women, whom he had 
 left happy wives, were now clothed in the 
 weeds of widowhood. The whole popula 
 tion of the town, and especially the male 
 portion of it, was much diminished. It is 
 a historical fact, that the number of tax 
 payers in five years ending with 1779, di 
 minished from 1053 to 696. This loss fell 
 chiefly upon the seafaring population. 
 Nearly every family had been bereaved of 
 a husband or a son ; and when the people 
 were assembled upon the Sabbath, or on any 
 public occasion, they appeared like a com 
 pany of mourners assembled for a funeral 
 service. 
 
 The fishing business, and especially the 
 Bank fishing, which had been the principal 
 
148 PETER GOTT, 
 
 source of the prosperity of the town, had 
 almost entirely ceased. Some wherries 
 and a few sail-boats, from ten to fifteen 
 tons burden, were employed in shore fish 
 ing. At Gloucester harbor the grass was 
 growing upon the wharves, and many of 
 the larger class of fishing vessels were rot 
 ting at their moorings. This loss of men, 
 of business and of property, and the heavy 
 taxes which the survivors were called upon 
 to pay for the support of the army, was 
 their share of the price which our fathers 
 paid for our national independence. While 
 we are enjoying the blessings which have 
 resulted from this independence, how little 
 do we think of the cost at which our 
 fathers purchased it. 
 
 Peter s health had been much impaired, 
 and his strength much exhausted by the 
 long confinement and the hardships which 
 he had undergone. But his youth and 
 good constitution, after a few weeks rest, 
 restored him to health and strength, so 
 that when winter came on, he fitted up his 
 dory and engaged with his brother in his 
 old business of winter fishing. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 149 
 
 In the meantime, soon after Peter s re 
 turn, Cornwallis surrendered to General 
 Washington, and hostilities between the 
 colonies and the mother country ceased. 
 Negotiations were entered into between 
 the hostile countries, and our independence 
 was acknowledged. 
 
 Returning peace gave a new impulse to 
 business. American enterprise showed it 
 self in various directions. Notwithstand 
 ing the currency was in a very embarrassed 
 condition, and the country was staggering 
 under the burden of taxation, the energetic 
 men of New England began to bestir them 
 selves. Vessels that had been lying for 
 years at the wharves, were overhauled and 
 repaired and refitted, and the flag of the 
 United States began to show itself in for 
 eign ports. 
 
 Mr. Dennis still survived, and notwith 
 standing all his losses, a considerable amount 
 of his property remained. One of his ves 
 sels was pronounced seaworthy, and he 
 purchased another, the property of a man 
 who had been killed on board of a privateer. 
 
 13* 
 
150 PETER GOTT, 
 
 These were fitted for sea in the best man 
 ner that his means permitted. Mr. Dennis 
 now invited several old fishermen, who had 
 formerly been in his employment, to en 
 gage again in his service. Many lads, 
 whose fathers had sailed in his vessels, 
 but who had been lost in the service of 
 their country, had now grown up to man 
 hood. For these, it was noticed, he ever 
 had a special regard. Several of them were 
 shipped on board his two vessels. Mr. 
 Dennis had no sooner commenced the work 
 of repairing these vessels, than he offered 
 the command of one of them to Peter, who 
 at once accepted it. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PETER BECOMES SKIPPER OF A FISHING VESSEL. 
 LABRADOR FISHING. CLANNISH FEELINGS. PETER 
 BUILDS A HOUSE AND MARRIES A WIFE. 
 
 PETER was a true Yankee. Although 
 possessed of a large share of prudence, he 
 was fond of new enterprises. So he deter 
 mined to seek his fortune in a new field. 
 When the vessel was ready for sea, he 
 laid his course for the Bay of St. Lawrence, 
 and entering to the eastward of Cape Bre 
 ton, he crossed it to the coast of Labra 
 dor. He had heard that codfish were 
 abundant along this shore. He found the 
 report correct. The fish, though smaller 
 than the Bank fish, were very numerous. 
 He anchored a few miles from the shore, 
 and immediately commenced operations, 
 and in a few weeks had his vessel filled 
 with the shore cod. In the meantime, he 
 
152 
 
 had examined the shore for several miles, 
 in his boat, and having selected a small 
 cove suited to his purpose, when his vessel 
 was filled and the fish salted, he ran into 
 the cove and anchored near the shore. A 
 part of the crew were occupied in landing 
 the fish, and himself, with the remainder, 
 erected fish-flakes and a hut. In a few 
 days the fish were all spread, and the pro 
 cess of drying was rapidly going on. 
 
 The weather on this coast during the 
 short summers of this climate, is delightful. 
 The green grass and the modest violets 
 spring up along the edge of the melting 
 snow. Summer immediately follows win 
 ter, and spring is unknown. So at the 
 close of summer, winter immediately sets 
 in, without the intervention of autumn. 
 From the middle of May to the middle of 
 September, the long days push vegetation 
 rapidly forward, and these rugged shores 
 are covered with the richest verdure. The 
 sun shines with such intensity that the ut 
 most care is necessary in making the fish. 
 They require to be turned two or three 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 153 
 
 times a day ; but by this process the dry 
 ing is rapidly accomplished. 
 
 They had no sooner got their fare upon 
 the flakes, and taken in a fresh supply of 
 water from a sweet spring which they 
 found at a short distance from the shore, 
 than they put off again to the fishing- 
 ground, leaving one of their most experi 
 enced men to make and house the fish. In 
 about three weeks they filled the vessel 
 again with fish, and took them to the shore. 
 When they had got their flakes again filled, 
 a part of the crew was occupied in tending 
 them, while the rest cleaned out the hold 
 arid prepared it for the reception of the 
 dried fish. As soon as this was done, they 
 began stowing the dry fish on board. By 
 careful stowage, two fares of dry fish may 
 be stowed in the space occupied by one of 
 fresh fish. In a few days the work was all 
 accomplished, and the hold was packed full 
 of dry fish. The oil-butts and fishing gear 
 were secured upon the deck, and wood and 
 water sufficient for the trip home was taken 
 on board. 
 
154 PETER GOTT, 
 
 Towards the close of the day, when the 
 dew began to fall and the fish had been 
 thrown into hakes, the younger portion of 
 the crew usually roamed into the surround 
 ing forest with their guns, or crawled along 
 the shore, concealed by the bushes, in pur 
 suit of the sea-fowl, that abound at this 
 season in these waters. Many a meal of 
 fresh game from the woods, or of ducks and 
 brandt, was thus obtained. When they 
 were ready to sail for home, the skipper 
 and all the crew spent one whole day in 
 hunting. During the day they shot one 
 deer and several small animals, and got 
 sadly frightened by a bear, which, after a 
 smart fight, finally escaped them. But 
 they returned to the shore at night heavily 
 loaded with game, and, carrying it all on 
 board, prepared to sail with the rising sun 
 of the next day. 
 
 They had a pleasant run home, and 
 reached the Cape on the twentieth of Sep 
 tember. On landing, and weighing off their 
 fare, it was found to amount ito six hundred 
 and fifty quintals. The fish found a ready 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 155 
 
 market in Boston, but owing to the depre 
 ciated state of the currency, a large part of 
 the pay was received in goods, which Mr. 
 Dennis, after charging them with his com 
 mission and the expense of carrying the 
 fish to market, fairly divided among the 
 crew. 
 
 Peter, now having the command of a 
 vessel, was not disposed to lie idle ; so, fit 
 ting her out again, he engaged, about the 
 middle of October, in the pollock fishery. 
 In this he had good success, and hauled up 
 his schooner the last week in November, 
 just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with 
 his mother, and brothers and sisters. This 
 was the first time for seven years, that they 
 had been together on this, the annual festi 
 val of New England. They talked of the 
 happy days of former years, of the separa 
 tion and trials and hardships they had 
 since endured, and recounted, with swelling 
 hearts, the mercies they were now enjoy 
 ing. Such united sacrifices upon the altar 
 of gratitude do good to all hearts. May 
 these time-honored gatherings around the 
 
156 PETER GOTT, 
 
 hearth-stones of their childhood never cease 
 among the sons of New England. 
 
 Peter spent the ensuing winter chiefly at 
 home, making preparations for an early 
 trip the ensuing spring. During the long 
 w r inter evenings, he became acquainted 
 with Mary Griffin, the daughter of Capt. 
 Griffin, with whom he sailed in the Polly, 
 before the breaking out of the war. Capt. 
 Griffin had sailed from Gloucester as mate 
 of a privateer, which was never heard from 
 after she sailed, and was believed to have 
 been lost at sea. Mary was about twenty 
 years of age. The acquaintance very natu 
 rally ripened into an attachment, the result 
 of which was their marriage in about two 
 years from this time. Peter s care for his 
 mother, and the vicissitudes and hardships 
 to which he had been exposed, had pre 
 vented him from forming any early attach 
 ment, as was then, and is still common 
 among fishermen. It has ever been a rare 
 thing for a young fisherman to go off the 
 Cape, or out of the circle of his acquaint 
 ance, for a wife. Hence all old families on 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 157 
 
 the Cape are connected by intermarriages, 
 and have become, as it were, one family. 
 This gives rise to a feeling of union, to a 
 common interest in each other s welfare, 
 and perhaps to a degree of clannish feeling. 
 They live in a little world of their own. 
 For a century past, it has been a strange 
 thing for one of their number to go from 
 home, and marry and settle in another 
 town. A natural effect of this attachment 
 to their home has been, that whatever pe 
 culiarities there might be in their habits of 
 life, in their modes of intercourse with each 
 other, in their language and in their man 
 ners, has been handed down from genera 
 tion to generation, and become ingrained 
 into their very constitutions. They feel a 
 degree of jealousy towards all strangers 
 who come among them, and although they 
 exercise the virtue of hospitality in a high 
 degree, they continue to call them stran 
 gers, until they have resided fifteen or 
 twenty years among them. Even after a 
 man has been a useful citizen among them 
 during this length of time, if he attempt to 
 
 14 
 
l r ;S PETER GOTT, 
 
 take an active part in public affairs, he 
 must expect to be reminded by the older 
 fishermen, that he is a stranger in their 
 midst. 
 
 This state of feeling is now undergoing a 
 change. The influx of settlers from the 
 country, and especially from Nova Scotia 
 and New Brunswick, has somewhat enlarg 
 ed their world. These men are intermar 
 rying with the daughters of the old fami 
 lies of fishermen, and this clannish feeling 
 is dying out. But to return from this di 
 gression. Peter was ready for sea by the 
 first of April, and sailed for the Banks. 
 Here he met with good success, although 
 he and his crew suffered a good deal from 
 the cold and the snow-storms which they 
 experienced during the month of April. 
 But he returned by the end of June, with 
 a full fare. He landed his fish with all de 
 spatch, and taking in a full supply of salt, 
 sailed for the Bay of St. Lawrence. Tak 
 ing a position near the mouth of the Strait 
 of Belle Isle, he commenced operations. By 
 the tenth of August he had filled his vessel, 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 159 
 
 and taking possession of his old flakes, lie 
 refitted them, and landed his fish. By the 
 tenth of September, he was ready to return 
 home with a full fare of dry fish. The 
 weather had now become quite cold, and 
 rain and squalls of snow indicated the speedy 
 approach of winter. He was glad to leave 
 this inhospitable shore. So taking on board 
 as much wood as he could conveniently 
 carry on deck, he sailed for home, which 
 he reached about the twenty-fourth of the 
 month. Having spent a few weeks in the 
 pollock fishery, in October and November, 
 he run his vessel round to Gloucester har 
 bor, and laid her up in harbor cove for the 
 winter. 
 
 This winter he spent without labor, liv 
 ing upon the earnings of the summer, only 
 going out occasionally, on a pleasant day, 
 in his wherry. He now began to think se 
 riously about getting ready for his contem 
 plated marriage with Mary Grifiin. The 
 first step was to build a house. So during 
 the winter he purchased an acre of land, at 
 a short distance from his mother s house. 
 
160 PETER GOTT, 
 
 About half of his acre was occupied with a 
 ledge of granite ; but at one corner of it 
 was a pleasant little sunny nook, where the 
 soil was good. Here he engaged a laborer 
 to dig him a cellar, 16 feet by 25, and stone 
 it up. He next made a contract with a 
 farmer, who lived about a mile north of the 
 cove, near Halibut Point, to cut and haul 
 the timber for the frame of his house, and 
 to cut the board logs which he needed, 
 and haul them to Dennison s saw-mill to 
 be sawed. He next contracted with a car 
 penter from Sandy Bay, to erect him a one 
 story house during the ensuing season. It 
 was to be completed by the end of October. 
 In the following spring he fitted out 
 again for the Banks, and after having made 
 one trip, he returned to his old fishing 
 ground on the Labrador coast. He had 
 been so successful in his previous trips to 
 the bay, that this year he was accompanied 
 by two schooners from Gloucester harbor, 
 whose skippers anchored in his immediate 
 vicinity, and erected their flakes near his. 
 They were successful in their fishing; 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 161 
 
 but during the first week in September 
 they encountered a violent storm, which 
 did them considerable injury, and came 
 near driving them upon the rocks. Such 
 storms are of frequent occurrence on this 
 coast, after the first of September, and ren 
 der fishing at this season highly dangerous. 
 But they repaired damages as well as they 
 were able, and reached home in safety. 
 
 In the latter part of November, on 
 Thanksgiving week, Peter was married to 
 Mary Griffin, and took possession of his 
 new house, amidst the congratulations of 
 all their friends. He had now a new in 
 ducement to industry and enterprise ; for 
 he had not only his own family to support, 
 but he felt bound to render his mother the 
 same assistance that he had hitherto done. 
 Indeed, in about a year from his marriage, 
 he took his mother into his own house, 
 leaving the old house to his brother, who 
 had then taken to wife his cousin, Margaret 
 Tarr. She remained in his family, the ob 
 ject of his fond and filial regard, the re 
 mainder of her life. Her other children, 
 
 14* 
 
162 PETER GOTT, 
 
 indeed, and their families, shared her care 
 and affection, but Peter s house was her 
 home. Peter now seemed settled for life, 
 and to have found a course of business that 
 yielded income sufficient to supply his 
 wants, and support his family in comfort, 
 lie continued this course of fishing several 
 years, going to the Banks once, and to the 
 Bay of St. Lawrence once in the season, 
 and fishing more or less during the winter. 
 The second year after Peter s marriage? 
 Mr. Dennis had a new vessel of fifty tons 
 built at Essex. Her whole cost, when fitted 
 for sea, was twenty-six hundred and fifty 
 dollars. The contract with the builder 
 was, that he should receive one third of 
 the pay upon delivery, one third in one 
 year, and the remainder in two years. Of 
 this new vessel, Peter took one fourth and 
 became her skipper. He had paid for his 
 house, and saved money enough to pay 
 one third of his portion of the vessel. This 
 new vessel, which he named for his wife, 
 Mary Gott, they fitted out for the Banks? 
 and continued to run her to the Banks and 
 the Bav for several years. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 163 
 
 Peter was now in a thriving way. In 
 addition to his share, as one of the crew, 
 and his commission as skipper, he had his 
 share of the earnings of the vessel. They 
 usually stocked from thirty-five hundred to 
 four thousand dollars per year. One half 
 of this belonged to the vessel. When their 
 stock, or the produce of their year s work, 
 amounted to four thousand dollars, two 
 thousand of it belonged to the vessel. 
 After deducting the cost of the outfit, in 
 surance and repairs, the remainder consti 
 tuted the profit which the vessel had made. 
 This, when the vessel met with no extraor 
 dinary injury, was from eight hundred to 
 a thousand dollars ; so that Peter s income, 
 from his fourth of his vessel, was from 
 two hundred to two hundred and fifty dol 
 lars per year. At the end of two years, he 
 had paid for his fourth of the vessel, and 
 had accumulated more than two hundred 
 dollars besides. 
 
 The next year another new vessel was 
 added to the fleet. Of this, he owned three- 
 eighths. At the end of two years more he 
 had oaid for his proportion of this vessel. 
 
104 PET Eli UOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MACKEREL FISHERY. PETER S ENTERPRISE. BAIT 
 MILLS. 
 
 ABOUT this time some attention began to 
 be paid to the mackerel fishery. These 
 fish usually begin to appear in schools 
 along the shores of Massachusetts and 
 Maine, in July. They are then going north. 
 Their principal haunts are in the Bay of 
 St. Lawrence, in the Straits of Belle Isle, 
 along the eastern coast of Labrador, and in 
 the Bay of Chaleur, and around the Island 
 of Newfoundland. They feed chiefly upon 
 a minute reddish colored insect, that 
 abounds in these waters from July to No 
 vember. When they first come upon the 
 coast, they are lean and tough, and of little 
 value ; but they rapidly accumulate fat 
 when they reach the waters in which their 
 favorite food abounds. By the last of 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 165 
 
 August they become fat and tender. The 
 best mackerel are usually taken in October, 
 when the schools are beginning to return 
 to the south. 
 
 The habits of these fish are very peculiar. 
 And altho.ugh they have been taken in im 
 mense numbers for three-quarters of a cen 
 tury, their habits are not well understood. 
 They often move in immense bodies, ap 
 parently filling the ocean for miles in ex 
 tent. They are found near the surface. 
 Sometimes they will take the hook with 
 the greatest eagerness. At other times, 
 not a mackerel will bite for days, although 
 millions of them are visible in the water. 
 When they are in the mood for taking the 
 bait, ten, twenty, and even thirty barrels 
 are taken by a single vessel in a few hours. 
 They usually bite most freely soon after 
 sunrise in the morning, and towards sunset, 
 at evening. They all cease to bite about 
 the same time, as if they were actuated by 
 a common impulse. They are easily fright 
 ened, and will then descend into deep water. 
 It has often happened, that a fleet of ves- 
 
166 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 sels has been lying off the Cape, a mile or 
 two from the shore, in the midst of a school 
 of mackerel, and taking them rapidly upon 
 their decks, when the firing of a gun or the 
 blast of a rock would send every mackerel 
 fathoms deep into the water, as suddenly 
 as though they had been converted into so 
 many pigs of lead ; and perhaps it would 
 be some hours before they would reappear. 
 They are caught most abundantly near the 
 shore, and very rarely out of sight of land. 
 The commencement of the mackerel fish 
 ery dates many years back. But since the 
 peace of 1815, it has become a business of 
 great importance to Massachusetts, Maine, 
 and the British Provinces. An immense 
 amount of capital, several thousand men, 
 and some hundreds of vessels are now en 
 gaged from July to November in this fish- 
 ery. It is much easier than cod fishing, 
 though perhaps less certain in its results. 
 "When fishermen can make as much in a 
 few weeks at mackerelling, as in as many 
 months at codfishing, as is sometimes the 
 case, they prefer to run their chance in the 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 167 
 
 former, rather than to work all the season 
 laboriously at the latter. But they some 
 times fail of success in the former, either 
 because the mackerel do not appear in suf 
 ficient numbers, or, if found, they will not 
 take the hook. But in the cod fishing they 
 more rarely fail, unless it be from storms 
 or disasters at sea. Mackerelling is often 
 called a lottery. But then there are higher 
 prizes in it than in codfishing, if there are 
 more blanks ; so that it has become of late 
 the favorite branch of the fisheries among 
 the men of the line. 
 
 Peter proposed to Mr. Dennis, that when 
 the Mary Gott returned from the Banks, 
 she should be fitted out for the mackerel 
 fishing. This was a new business, and re 
 quired considerable preparation. Barrels 
 were to be provided. A new set of lines 
 and hooks were necessary. The deck must 
 be furnished with a different set of fixtures. 
 Mr. Dennis was to provide whatever was 
 necessary for this new business, and have 
 it ready by the first of July. Peter had 
 led the way in the Labrador fishing, and 
 
168 PETER GOTT, 
 
 he was now ready to commence the mack 
 erel fishing, and run the risk which attends 
 all new enterprizes. Having made all ne 
 cessary arrangements, he set sail for the 
 Banks. He met with his usual good suc 
 cess, and returned on the fourth of July. 
 
 Immediately after landing his codfish, he 
 took on board two hundred barrels and his 
 mackerel gear, and sailed for the coast of 
 Maine. Many of the old fishermen looked 
 upon it as a wild enterprize, and predicted 
 that he would lose his labor. Men who 
 move in a narrow circle are guided by ex 
 perience and rarely strike out new plans, 
 and are always reluctant to engage in new 
 enterprizes. But Peter had seen some 
 thing of the world, and being a true Yan 
 kee, had some notions of his own. Mr. 
 Dennis had much confidence in his judg 
 ment, and although a cautious man, yet, as 
 he had succeeded so well in his Labrador 
 fishing, he was willing he should make the 
 experiment. He laid his course for Mount 
 Desert Island, and lay for several days in 
 the vicinity of the island. Soon signs of 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 169 
 
 mackerel began to appear. They threw 
 over their baited hooks, and now and then 
 caught a mackerel. They continued in 
 this way for several days, fishing through 
 the whole day, and at the end of a week 
 had taken two barrels of poor, small fish. 
 Some of the crew were getting discouraged, 
 when suddenly, one morning, just as the 
 sun was rising, they found themselves sur 
 rounded by mackerel ready to take the 
 hook the instant it touched the water. 
 They would seize the bait, whether large 
 or small, with the greatest avidity. They 
 took them on to the deck with great rapid 
 ity, jerking them from the hook as soon as 
 they were over the rail, and dropping the 
 hook again instantly into the water. So 
 voracious were the fish, that they would 
 oftentimes seize the bare, unbaited hook, 
 almost before it struck the water. This 
 exciting scene continued about two hours, 
 when, all of a sudden, they ceased to bite, 
 and not another fish could they induce to 
 take even the best-baited hook. Finding 
 they could catch no more, they ceased their 
 
 15 
 
170 PETER GOTT, 
 
 labor and partook of their breakfast, which 
 the cook had had ready for them more than 
 an hour. After breakfast, they dressed and 
 salted their fish, and found they had taken 
 twenty barrels in two hours. After clean 
 ing the deck, they again threw over their 
 hooks, but few mackerel were to be seen, 
 and of those which they saw swimming 
 about the vessel, only now and then one 
 would take the hook. 
 
 The next morning the same scene was. 
 repeated. They turned out at daylight, 
 and chopped into small pieces with a hatch 
 et upon a block, the smallest of the mack 
 erel which they had caught the preceding 
 morning, and which they had preserved 
 in a barrel of salt water for this purpose. 
 They thus prepared two or three bushels 
 of bait, that no time might be lost in pre 
 paring it after the fish began to bite. Just 
 before sunrise they began their work, and 
 this morning they took fifteen barrels. 
 They could not acqount for these singular 
 movements of the fish. But they did not 
 forget them, and learned to be always ready 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHEKMAN. 171 
 
 to try their fortune with the rising of the 
 sun. This accidental discovery, that the 
 mackerel had a habit of feeding early in 
 the morning, contributed greatly to the 
 success of their voyage. They were 
 greatly encouraged by the result which 
 they had obtained in the two days. But 
 the mackerel had now disappeared. So 
 they hoisted their sails, and coasted along 
 until they came into the bay of Castine. 
 Here they lay to among the islands, and in 
 the course of a week caught forty barrels 
 more. They found the fish were growing 
 larger and fatter, and of course more valu 
 able. This circumstance also greatly en 
 couraged them. 
 
 For many years the only method of pre 
 paring the bait was that which I have 
 mentioned, viz., chopping it upon a block 
 placed on deck for the purpose with hatch 
 ets. But some years since, Yankee inge 
 nuity invented a machine for this purpose, 
 called a bait-mill. It consists of a box of 
 plank, from the inside of which project 
 short, stout knives, placed about an inch 
 
172 PETER GOTT, 
 
 apart. Within this box a wooden cylinder, 
 about five inches in diameter, is made to 
 revolve by means of a crank. The peri 
 phery of this cylinder is studded thickly 
 with similar knives. Above this box is 
 placed a kind of hopper, into which the fish 
 to be cut are thrown. When they have 
 passed through the mill, they fall upon the 
 deck. This mill greatly facilitates the pre 
 paration of the bait. 
 
 Small mackerel, ale wives, and a short, 
 broad fish, called hard-heads or pohegan, 
 are chiefly used for bait. This latter fish 
 is sometimes found in immense schools in 
 the small bays and coves near the shore. 
 They are taken in seines. Sometimes two 
 or three hundred barrels are taken at one 
 haul. They are prepared for use in the 
 following way : They are thrown upon a 
 table. The dresser seizes one by the head, 
 and with a sharp, thin knife shaves off a 
 thick slice from just below the head to the 
 tail. Then turning it, he shaves off a simi 
 lar slice from the other side, leaving little 
 else than the head, backbone and tail. The 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 173 
 
 slices, or slivers as they are called, are then 
 salted in barrels, and sold to the mackerel 
 catchers. Before being used, they are cut 
 into small pieces in the bait mill. 
 
 But Peter and his crew had none of these 
 conveniences ; they had to use the mack 
 erel which they caught for bait. They 
 pursued their course to the eastward until 
 they reached the Bay of Passamaquoddy. 
 Here they filled up the remainder of their 
 two hundred barrels, and by the twentieth 
 of August, set sail for Cape Ann. Here 
 they arrived and landed their mackerel, 
 amidst the congratulations of their neigh 
 bors, and much to the surprise of the 
 croakers, who had confidently predicted 
 their failure. 
 
 The fare consisted mostly of poor and 
 small fish, such as would now be reckoned 
 No. 2 and No. 3. They were worth from 
 $3 to $4.50 per barrel. The last they had 
 caught were quite fat and large ; and so 
 good had been the result of the trip, that 
 Peter was disposed to repeat it. He took 
 in 250 barrels, and sailed for Eastport. He 
 
 15* 
 
174 PETER GOTT, 
 
 continued in the bay six weeks, during 
 which time he encountered a severe storm, 
 which made it necessary for him to run 
 into Eastport river for shelter. He suffered 
 no material damage, and at the end of that 
 time he had filled his 250 barrels with fat 
 mackerel, with which he reached home in 
 safety. 
 
 This time the mackerel were nearly all 
 No. 1, and were worth $6.50 per barrel, 
 making the whole fare worth about $1,600. 
 The first fare was worth $700. This, added 
 to the fare of Bank fish, which was worth 
 $1,100, made the year s stock $3,400. This 
 was not a great year s work ; but it was 
 quite satisfactory, and Peter had demon 
 strated that the mackerel fishery was both 
 practicable and profitable, and he antici 
 pated that with the experience he had 
 gained, the result would be still more satis 
 factory in time to come. 
 
 The skippers of "two vessels from Sandy 
 Bay, resolved to try their fortune in the 
 same business the next season. Mr. Den 
 nis, and the owners of the two other ves- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 175 
 
 sels, contracted with a cooper to furnish 
 them with five hundred pine barrels each, 
 by the next July. This contract set in 
 motion the music of the cooper s adze, 
 which continued to play a brisk tune 
 through the livelong winter and the fol 
 lowing spring. 
 
 When the spring arrived, Peter fitted 
 out, as usual, for the Banks. And after his 
 return, the three mackerel vessels sailed in 
 company for the Bay of Fundy about the 
 first of August, each having 300 barrels on 
 board. About the tenth of August they 
 commenced operations in the Bay. For 
 the first two or three weeks they found the 
 mackerel rather small. But about the first 
 of September, they fell in with a school of 
 fine, fat mackerel, and by the middle of 
 the month they had filled all their barrels. 
 More than half of their fares were No. 1 s, 
 and the remainder were mostly No. 2 s. 
 After landing their fares, they took on 
 board two hundred barrels each, and fished 
 along the shores of Maine, without much 
 success at first. At length, near Cape 
 
176 
 
 Elizabeth, they found plenty of fine mack 
 erel, and soon filled their barrels. Vessels 
 from Newburyport and Portsmouth began 
 this season to engage in the business, and 
 met with encouraging success. 
 
 This was the best year s work Peter had 
 ever made. He and Mr. Dennis made ar 
 rangements to have all their craft engage 
 in the mackerel business the following year. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SMUGGLING. TREATIES. REVENUE CUTTERS. 
 
 DURING the winter, Peter purchased a 
 fourth of another schooner. He was now 
 part owner of three vessels. Of one of 
 these, his brother now took command. The 
 next season, quite a little fleet fitted out 
 for the mackerel fishery, and sailed for the 
 Bay of Chaleur. They frequently landed 
 on the coast of Nova Scotia, and purchased 
 wood and potatoes, and milk and eggs, and 
 poultry of the inhabitants. For these pur 
 chases, they usually paid out of the stores 
 of the vessels, giving tea, coffee, sugar, flour, 
 or shoes, in return for what they received. 
 This was a profitable trade for both parties, 
 the Americans obtaining wood and pota 
 toes much cheaper than they could get 
 them at home, and the British people get- 
 
178 PETER GOTT, 
 
 ting tea and sugar at about half what they 
 paid for them to British merchants. This 
 was especially true with respect to tea. 
 
 The East India Company, as is well 
 known, has enjoyed a monopoly of the 
 trade in tea for many years, so that all the 
 tea drank by the .subjects of the British 
 crown, in Europe and America, had to pass 
 through its warehouses, and pay to it a 
 large profit. Until within a short time 
 past, there has been no exemption from 
 this rule. But the Americans, bringing 
 their tea directly from China, without the 
 intervention of a monopoly, are able to sell 
 it at a much lower rate. The fishermen 
 were not slow to learn that teas, and certain 
 manufactured articles, in demand among 
 the people of the Provinces, would pay a 
 good profit. Hence arose a petty trade 
 in smuggled goods, in which the fishing 
 vessels often took a part. The inhabitants 
 of the British shores encouraged this trade, 
 much to the annoyance of the merchants 
 at Halifax and St. Johns. Self interest led 
 these merchants to exert themselves to pre- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 179 
 
 vent, by treaty stipulations, the American 
 fishermen from frequenting the coasts of 
 the Provinces. A few years after, when 
 they themselves had become engaged in 
 the mackerel fishery, they induced the 
 British ministers to put such a construction 
 upon the treaties that had been made, as 
 should prohibit fishermen from the States 
 to fish within three miles from any of their 
 shores. As the mackerel abound most near 
 the shore, and within the line of three 
 miles, this prohibition has been a source of 
 great vexation, and of much ill blood be 
 tween the American fishermen and the 
 people of the Provinces. For many years 
 past, individuals from Nova Scotia have 
 been in the habit of shipping on board 
 American fishing vessels, during the fishing 
 season, and returning home during the 
 winter. These people, knowing the value 
 of American goods, and the wants of their 
 neighbors and friends, and being well ac 
 quainted with all the bays and inlets of the 
 coast, have been the most active in carry 
 ing on the smuggling trade, while by Brit- 
 
180 PETER GOTT, 
 
 ish merchants, it has all been charged upon 
 American fishermen. These last, knowing 
 the charge to be unjust, and at the same 
 time finding themselves, on account of it, 
 cut off from the best fishing grounds, have 
 submitted to the prohibition with much re 
 luctance, and no doubt often caught mack 
 erel within the prohibited line. 
 
 After the mackerel fishery had greatly 
 increased, and become a business of much 
 importance to the British colonies, that 
 government annually sent several armed 
 revenue cutters on to the coast during the 
 autumn, to keep off American fishermen. 
 When the fleet was numerous, the fisher 
 men would often combine together, and 
 defy the cutters ; and they seldom attempt 
 ed to capture a fishing vessel under such 
 circumstances, even if they were within the 
 forbidden limit. But when the captains of 
 the cutters were disappointed of their prey, 
 and irritated by the daring conduct of the 
 Yankees, woe be to any solitary vessel that 
 might be found straggling out of sight of 
 the fleet. It was immediately seized as 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 181 
 
 lawful prey, even though five or six miles 
 from the shore. When such vessels were 
 not taken in the act of violating the treaty, 
 the captain of the cutter would swear that 
 they had done so at some former time, or 
 that he had good reason to believe that 
 they intended to do so, on some future oc 
 casion ; and upon the ground of this oath, 
 the court at Halifax issued a libel against 
 the vessel. The case then, after due delay, 
 was examined by the proper authorities. 
 If any defence was attempted, the British 
 lawyers and courts were sure to make the 
 costs equal to the value of the vessel and 
 cargo, even if she got clear, which was sel 
 dom the case. The Yankees soon learned 
 a more economical way of managing the 
 business. They allowed their vessels to be 
 condemned, without defence, in all cases ; 
 and when they were sold at auction, they 
 bid them off, and drawing an order on some 
 mercantile house in Boston, took possession 
 of them, and sailed for home. 
 
 Many hair-breadth escapes and stirring 
 adventures occurred during the period in 
 
 16 
 
182 PETER GOTT, 
 
 which this annoying state of things contin 
 ued. Sometimes a clipper-built fisherman 
 would lead the cutter a long chase along 
 shore, and run among shoals and islands for 
 the sake of leading her pursuer into dan 
 ger. Sometimes she would run out of some 
 cove or harbor under the very guns of the 
 cutter, the men all lying upon deck, and 
 receiving her fire. And sometimes, when 
 there was plenty of sea-room, two or three 
 fishermen would attempt to run into the 
 cutter. Such daring on the part of the fish 
 ermen taught the cutters caution in their 
 attacks upon them, and compelled them to 
 wink at many open acts of violation of the 
 law. But they were sure to take their re 
 venge when they could do it without dan 
 ger to themselves. Many a skipper and 
 crew, that had carefully conformed to the 
 requirements of the law, confiding in their 
 innocence, were taken and carried into 
 Halifax, and condemned upon the oath of 
 the captain of the cutter, in revenge for the 
 bold and daring course of others, who were 
 guilty. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 183 
 
 This was a great source of annoyance to 
 the owners and crews, and led them con 
 stantly to petition the government for 
 redress. The freedom of the fisheries in 
 British waters was one of the subjects of 
 negotiation between this country and Great 
 Britain for many years. But those to whom 
 the construction of treaties was entrusted, 
 could not be made to understand the nature 
 and importance of the subject. Something 
 was attempted to be done by the Ashbur- 
 ton treaty, which was negotiated by Mr. 
 Webster and Lord Ashburton. But the 
 provision in this treaty respecting the fish 
 eries, was the least satisfactory part of the 
 treaty, and did not meet the difficulties of 
 the case ; and nothing effectual was done 
 for the relief of the fishermen until the 
 reciprocity treaty of 1854, when the privi 
 leges which they had formerly enjoyed 
 were again restored to them. 
 
 Peter Gott, and the vessels in which he 
 was concerned, engaged in a small way in 
 this traffic with the inhabitants, without the 
 least intention of injuring any one, or vio- 
 
184 PETER GOTT, 
 
 lating any international law. It was mere 
 ly a matter of mutual accommodation. But 
 both parties finding it a profitable business, 
 it insensibly increased. The inhabitants in- 
 several places depended upon the fisher 
 men to bring them an annual supply of 
 certain goods, and contracted with them 
 for a certain amount ; and the fishermen in 
 their turn agreed to receive certain articles 
 of produce at a fixed price in return. The 
 amount of these articles was soon greater 
 than was wanted for the consumption of 
 the vessels. At first, the excess was shared 
 by the skipper and crews, and consumed in 
 their families. Soon, however, it was re 
 ceived by the owners as a part of the re 
 turns of the voyage, and sold for the benefit 
 of all concerned. Mr. Dennis and Peter 
 found it quite convenient, when they were 
 fitting out their vessels in July, to put on 
 board a good assortment of thick shoes, 
 teas, coffee and hard soap, and a few other 
 articles that found a ready sale. These 
 were exchanged for butter, eggs, oats, and 
 peltries. This barter trade sometimes add- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 185 
 
 ed two or three hundred dollars to the 
 profit of the trip. 
 
 Another trade soon grew out of this, 
 which Peter was not slow to take advan 
 tage of. The mackerel fishery required a 
 considerable outlay of capital. The vessels 
 employed in it, at the period of which we 
 are speaking, were w r orth from fifteen to 
 twenty-four hundred dollars each, when 
 fitted for sea. From six to eight hands 
 were employed on board. Much time was 
 consumed in sailing to and from the fishing 
 grounds, and often a great deal of time was 
 wasted in searching for fish, or in waiting 
 for their arrival on the coast. We have 
 already remarked, that these fish are found 
 in the greatest abundance within a line of 
 three miles from the shore. Now it must 
 be obvious, that the inhabitants of the coasts 
 frequented by them, can take them at much 
 less cost of time and money, than those 
 who go from the ports of Massachusetts. 
 Eight men, in four boats, worth ten or 
 twelve dollars each, with no outfit but their 
 lines and hooks and reels, can row out from 
 
 16* 
 
186 PETER GOTT, 
 
 their own homes, when the fish are on the 
 coast, and take as many mackerel in a day, 
 as the same number of men on the deck 
 of a fishing vessel that is worth two thou 
 sand dollars, and has sailed fifteen hundred 
 miles to reach the ground. Barrels and 
 salt are worth no more in the Provinces 
 than in the States. Hence the people upon 
 the coast could afford to sell the mackerel 
 which they caught, at a much lower rate 
 than the Yankee fishermen ; and they were 
 the more ready to do this, as they had but 
 few facilities for getting them to a market, 
 and were compelled to take such prices as 
 the Halifax traders were pleased to give 
 them. If they received half what the fish 
 were worth in Boston, they made a greater 
 profit upon them than did the Ameri 
 can fishermen. When, by the Ashburton 
 treaty, the inhabitants of the Provinces 
 were allowed to export mackerel to the 
 States, upon paying one dollar and a hah 
 duty, per barrel, they sent them in great 
 quantities, and were even then able to 
 undersell the American fishermen to such 
 degree as almost to ruin their business. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 187 
 
 Peter Gott was the first to perceive that 
 it would be a good operation, both for him 
 and the people on the coast, to employ 
 them to fish for him, or to purchase of them 
 mackerel already caught and packed, es 
 pecially if he could pay for them in Amer 
 ican goods. In this way, he was able to 
 fill his vessel in a few days, and thus make 
 three or four trips in a season, instead of 
 two. But the Halifax traders, who fre 
 quented the small ports, to purchase the 
 mackerel caught by the inhabitants, soon 
 got wind of his doings. As his traffic inter 
 fered with theirs, they used strenuous exer 
 tions to break it up. And as he paid for 
 the fish which he purchased, in whole or in 
 part, by prohibited goods, they had some 
 ground for complaint, notwithstanding the 
 trade was beneficial to the people. Mer 
 chants have a sharp eye for their own in 
 terests, and are always ready to make a 
 great noise about national rights, and the 
 violations of treaties, and the laws of trade, 
 when their own profits are injurously affect- 
 ed. The convenience and the advantage 
 
188 PETER GOTT, 
 
 of the people are of small consideration, 
 when compared with their own. The loss 
 of profit by the Halifax traders has been, 
 in fact, the great source of all the troubles 
 and difficulties which the fishermen have 
 had to encounter during many years on 
 che eastern coast. It was this that led to 
 the new and more stringent construction 
 of treaties, and which subjected the British 
 government to the expense of sending rev 
 enue cutters on to the coast during the 
 fishing season, and which caused so much 
 tedious and unprofitable negotiation be 
 tween the two nations. But, in the mean 
 time, Peter and Mr. Dennis managed to 
 make a considerable sum out of this business. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PETER THINKS OF QUITTING FISHING. GOES ONE TRIP 
 MORE. A TERRIBLE STORM. 
 
 PETEK GOTT now began to be considered 
 by his neighbors as a wealthy man. He 
 was known over the whole Cape, as a man 
 of enterprize and integrity ; and as he had 
 been successful in all his enterprizes, his 
 judgment was much depended upon, and 
 he was often consulted by all who were 
 engaged in the various branches of fishing. 
 He w r as now part owner of six vessels. He 
 had a thriving family, and occupied one of 
 the best houses in the village of Pigeon 
 Cove, which had much increased during the 
 five past years. He began to think seri 
 ously of quitting the fishing himself, and 
 commencing business on shore. His wife 
 and mother were, of course, disposed to 
 encourage this project, as it would keep 
 
190 PETER GOTT, 
 
 him at home, and he would no longer be 
 exposed to the perils of the ocean. On 
 proposing the subject to his old friend and 
 early patron, Mr. Dennis, he found that he 
 had a plan in view which he thought would 
 meet the wishes of Peter, and would be of 
 mutual advantage to them both. Mr. Den 
 nis was beginning to feel the infirmities of 
 age. He had accumulated considerable 
 capital, and he had entire confidence in 
 Peter s honesty and capacity. His plan 
 was, that at the close of the ensuing season, 
 Peter should go into partnership with him 
 self upon equal shares. This plan was im 
 mediately agreed upon, to the satisfaction 
 of all parties, and, at once, they set about 
 preparing the outfit for the ensuing season. 
 Peter went to Boston, under a commission 
 from Mr. Dennis, and purchased a good 
 supply of such articles as he deemed best 
 suited for the trade upon the coast. The 
 vessels were all fitted out early in the 
 spring, a part of them for coast fishing, and 
 the largest of them for the Banks. This 
 spring they were not very successful. The 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 191 
 
 vessels at the Banks encountered a severe 
 storm, One of them lost two cables and 
 anchors, and had her boat stove, and was 
 obliged to return home with but two thou 
 sand fish ; another carried away her main 
 sail, and a third sprung her foremast and 
 had her bulwarks stove in. Several ves 
 sels from Marblehead and other places were 
 severely injured in this storm. Several 
 men were lost from the fleet, and one ves 
 sel from Beverly was never afterwards 
 heard from, and was supposed to have sunk 
 at her anchor. 
 
 The vessels from Pigeon Cove all reach 
 ed home about the first of July, and re 
 paired damages as speedily as possible. 
 The losses which they had sustained were 
 nearly equal to the value of all the fish 
 they had taken, so that they had to depend 
 for the profits of the year upon the catch 
 of mackerel during the remainder of the 
 season. The Mary Gott rode out the storm 
 with but slight damage ; but one of her 
 men was swept from her deck by a sea that 
 struck her broadside. Peter himself came 
 
192 PETER GOTT, 
 
 near sharing the same fate. He fortunate 
 ly caught the leeward mainstay, and hung 
 over the side of the vessel, clinging to the 
 stay until the sea had gone by, when he 
 threw himself on deck. The danger to 
 which he was thus exposed, made a deep 
 impression upon his mind. While he hung 
 suspended over the side of the vessel, the 
 scenes of his past life were all present to 
 his mind. His venerable mother, his be 
 loved wife and children stood before him ; 
 and notwithstanding all the dangers he had 
 previously passed through, he never thought 
 himself so near to eternity as he did at that 
 moment. When he was safe on deck, his 
 heart swelled with gratitude for his deliv 
 erance. The impression made upon him 
 at that time was never forgotten, but con 
 tributed to the development of those seeds 
 of piety which his mother s instruction had 
 early implanted within him. The danger 
 which he thus escaped afforded an addi 
 tional reason for quitting the line, and en 
 gaging in business on shore. 
 
 In a few days, the damages were all re- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 193 
 
 paired, the outfits were received on board, 
 and the whole fleet was ready for sea. 
 Damage to the sails and rigging of fishing 
 vessels is soon repaired. The fishermen 
 can all work as riggers, upon an emergency. 
 They can bend a sail and set a stay nearly 
 as well as professed risers, and many of 
 them can use carpenters tools in a work 
 manlike manner. 
 
 Peter now took leave of his wife and 
 children, and went on board his schooner 
 for his last fishing trip. On the twentieth 
 of July the fleet set sail for the Bay of St. 
 Lawrence. They agreed to rendezvous at 
 Prince Edward s Island. On their arrival 
 at the Gut of Canso, they found that some 
 fifty vessels from Massachusetts and Ports 
 mouth had passed through before them. 
 They had fine weather while on the pas 
 sage, but they did not find the mackerel 
 abundant. They run about among the 
 islands, catching a few mackerel daily, and 
 occasionally touching into some bay or 
 cove, and trading with the inhabitants. 
 During the month of August they caught 
 
 17 
 
194 PETER GOTT, 
 
 but few fish. But the mackerel were daily 
 growing fatter and better. Early in Sep 
 tember, they found the mackerel more 
 abundant, and by the tenth of the month 
 most of the vessels had taken from seventy 
 to a hundred barrels. 
 
 The weather was now getting cold ; the 
 nights were frosty. Storms in this north 
 ern latitude are of frequent occurrence at 
 this season, and are often accompanied by 
 squalls of snow. At the time of the Sep 
 tember equinox, severe storms usually 
 occur in the bay. The eleventh was a 
 still, mild day. There was a slight haze in 
 the atmosphere, just sufficient to produce 
 that quivering shimmer upon the surface 
 of the water, that is often seen upon the 
 land in the quiet days of October, when 
 the cattle are drowsily chewing the cud, 
 and nature, having perfected the growth of 
 vegetation, is waiting the ripening of the 
 golden corn, and enjoying a Sabbath rest. 
 The wind was in the east, but was scarcely 
 sufficient to produce the slightest ripple 
 upon the water. In the afternoon a gentle 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 195 
 
 swell began to be noticed now and then, 
 which gradually increased as the day wore 
 on. At length a sound, like a distant groan, 
 was heard at first, so low as scarcely to be 
 noticed by those who did not know what 
 it indicated. Soon it resembled a growl 
 rather than a groan, and seemed to be ut 
 tered in an angry tone. The older skippers 
 were at once aware that a storm was 
 approaching. They had taken mackerel 
 freely through the day, and to the inexpe 
 rienced there appeared no danger. But 
 about three o clock, Peter ordered his crew 
 to reel up their lines and dress off the fish 
 upon deck, and make all snug as fast as pos 
 sible. By four this was accomplished, when 
 he immediately hoisted sail and shaped his 
 course for Eichmond harbor, which was 
 about eight miles distant to the south-west. 
 Soon after he was under way, he noticed 
 five or six other vessels running up their 
 sails. Their skippers had noticed the indi 
 cations of the weather, and prepared to 
 seek shelter from the coming storm. Most 
 of the fleet, however, seemed wholly uncon- 
 
196 PETER GOTT, 
 
 scious that any change was approaching, 
 and remained on the fishing ground, won 
 dering at the movements of those who were 
 leaving the fleet. These last moved slowly 
 through the water, there being only now 
 and then a puff of wind sufficient to fill 
 their sails. But the swell increased ; and 
 the unearthly sounds, that came booming 
 over the water, became more and more 
 distinct. Towards night a thick, dark line 
 of haze appeared in the east, and the air 
 became damp and chilly. The wind grad 
 ually increased, and soon after the sun had 
 disappeared, dark, broken masses of clouds 
 began to be seen in the south-west. Soon 
 after night-fall, Peter and those who had 
 left the fishing ground with him, reached 
 the little port of Richmond, and succeeded 
 in getting within the line of breakers, and 
 anchored their schooners, and reefed their 
 sails, and barred down their hatches, and 
 made all as secure as possible. The wind 
 now rapidly increased, and the darkness 
 became very dense, and those who were on 
 deck noticed now and then a drop of frozen 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 197 
 
 rain, or a flake of snow. There was then 
 no light house on the island, and it was 
 very difficult for even those who were well 
 acquainted with the channel, to run into 
 the harbor in the night. They felt great 
 anxiety for those whom they had left in 
 -the bay, many of whom were wholly unac 
 quainted with the shores of the island, and 
 with the channel which led into the harbor. 
 Soon after Peter and his companions had 
 left the fishing ground, the remainder of 
 the fleet became aware of the cause which 
 induced him to leave it. They saw the in 
 dications of the coming storm. Several o 
 them attempted to follow him; but the 
 darkness thickened around them, and the 
 violent gusts of wind rendered it almost 
 impossible for them to carry sufficient sail 
 to keep their vessels on their course, and 
 they were tacking and beating about the 
 bay for several hours, uncertain of their 
 course and in great anxiety. At length 
 they approached the line of breakers. The 
 roaring and rushing of the waters, as they 
 broke upon the reef, and were thrown up 
 
 17* 
 
198 PETER GOTT, 
 
 in a dense mass of white foam, first showed 
 them their position, and, at the same time, 
 but too plainly warned them of their dan 
 ger. They attempted to haul off from the 
 shore, and get an offing in the bay ; but, 
 at every tack, they found themselves nearer 
 to the foaming rocks. Two of the vessels, 
 after encountering the greatest hazard, ran 
 along by the edge of the sounding reef, at 
 the imminent risk, every moment, of being 
 swept on to it, and found the opening that 
 led within it, and shot through it, and came 
 to an anchor near the Mary Gott. Three 
 of the vessels finding themselves near the 
 edge of the reef, dropped their anchors and 
 attempted* to hold on till the daylight 
 should enable them to find the channel. 
 They took in all their canvas, and payed out 
 all their cable, and for a time had strong 
 hopes that they should hold on ; but towards 
 morning the wind increased in violence, 
 and the snow and rain drove into their 
 faces with the greatest fury. One of them 
 parted her cables anjd drove into the midst 
 of the breakers. The other two dragged 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 199 
 
 their anchors until the stern of one of them 
 was in the edge of the foam, when her an 
 chor again held. The other, as she entered 
 the boiling cauldron, parted her second 
 cable and plunged into the foaming waves, 
 and drove clear over the reef into the com 
 paratively smooth water on the inside. 
 The one that first drove upon the breakers, 
 struck upon a rock and lay rolling and 
 beating through the night, the crew ex 
 pecting every moment she would go to 
 pieces. Finding she held together, they 
 cut away her masts, and commenced throw 
 ing over their mackerel. This was a work 
 of great difficulty, owing to the fury of the 
 storm and the violent motion of the vessel ; 
 but before morning they had thrown over 
 seventy barrels of mackerel and all their 
 salt. At length a wave lifted her from the 
 rock on which she had been fastened, and 
 she suddenly drove through the boiling 
 waters to the inside of the reef, much to 
 the astonishment of the crew and of all 
 who had beheld her in her perilous and 
 hopeless situation. Being without an an- 
 
200 
 
 chor, the crew were unable to bring her 
 up, and she soon drifted on to the beach ; 
 and the men, to their great relief, reached 
 the shore in safety, though greatly ex 
 hausted by labor, anxiety and exposure to 
 the cold storm. 
 
 The storm continued three days, the wind 
 blowing most of the time with great fury. 
 Sometimes they were drenched with tor 
 rents of rain ; sometimes the air was filled 
 with sleet and snow, so that it was scarcely 
 possible to see the length of the deck. The 
 eight vessels at anchor in Richmond Bay, 
 rode out the storm in safety ; but the re 
 mainder of the fleet which Peter left on 
 the fishing ground, when he ran for this 
 port, did not all escape so well. Most of 
 them ran for Souris, a little port near the 
 other end of Prince Edward s Island. A 
 rocky headland juts out from the shore, 
 and forms one side of the little harbor. 
 Under shelter of this, the anchorage ground 
 is good. Fishing vessels often take refuge 
 in this place when the wind is east. Sev 
 eral of the fleet reached this shelter during 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 201 
 
 the night. Three or four were unable to 
 find it in the darkness ; and after driving 
 about the bay most of the night, went 
 ashore to the northward of Souris. As it 
 was light before they went ashore, the men 
 all succeeded in escaping to land. When 
 one of the vessels struck, her mainmast 
 was thrown out of her, and fell with the 
 head to the land, and thus formed a bridge, 
 by which the crew reached the rocks. 
 These men thus fortunately thrown upon 
 the shore, succeeded in hauling a line from 
 one of the other vessels, which drove broad 
 side on to the shore, and made it fast to a 
 rock, by means of which its crew reached the 
 shore. One of the vessels, when within two 
 hundred feet of the shore, struck broadside 
 upon a rock, which stove a hole in her side 
 and held her fast. She heeled towards 
 the shore, and the sea made a clean breach 
 over her. The men were in the most im 
 minent danger, expecting the vessel would 
 instantly break up and go to pieces. The 
 deck was swept clean of every movable 
 thing, and it was with the utmost difficulty 
 
202 PETER GOTT, 
 
 that the men could hold on by the stays 
 and rigging. At length one of them got 
 three cod lines and tied them together, and 
 tied a fish lead to one end, then coiling the 
 line, he attempted to throw the lead on 
 shore, but, after repeated attempts, he failed. 
 Necessity is said to be the mother of inven 
 tion. It often leads men to think of means 
 of relief, that they do not think of when 
 not under its stimulating influence. One 
 of the crew, when all were ready to give 
 up in despair, happened to think of a wooden 
 bottle in the cabin, containing West India 
 rum, and although the cabin was nearly 
 filled with water, he contrived to get hold 
 of the bottle, and brought it on deck. 
 Then taking a hearty draught from it, he 
 poured out the remainder, and making a 
 loop around the bottle, with the bite of a 
 fish line, he threw it overboard, holding on 
 to the other end of the line. Finding that 
 the waves carried it towards the shore, he 
 tied on another line, and payed out his 
 line, carefully watching his bottle as it was 
 tossed about by the dashing waves. The 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 203 
 
 undertow would sometimes draw it back 
 nearly to the vessel, when it had almost 
 reached the shore. One of the men on 
 shore, who w r ere anxiously watching their 
 proceedings, perceived the floating object 
 in the water, and as the men on board 
 were eagerly pointing towards it, he was 
 at once aware of its purpose. He immedi 
 ately cut a small sapling with his knife, 
 and wading into the water to his waist, 
 after many attempts, entangled his pole in 
 the line that was attached to the wooden 
 bottle. The men on shore now shouted 
 encouragement to those on board. The 
 man who had bethought himself of this 
 messenger to carry a line ashore, now cut 
 away the fore sheet, and drawing it through 
 the block, attached one end of it to the 
 line which he had made fast to his wrist. 
 Then, with the assistance of the skipper, 
 who was holding on to the windward main 
 stay, he cut away the main sheet, and fast 
 ening the ends of the two sheets together, 
 made signs for those who held the bottle 
 end of the line, to draw it in. They drew 
 
204 PETER GOTT, 
 
 it in carefully, but when drawn to its ut 
 most length, the doubled sheet was found 
 to reach but little more than half way to 
 the shore. There was no more rope on 
 board within reach of the benumbed and 
 exhausted men, by which they could 
 lengthen their line. 
 
 At length, one of the men on shore be 
 thought him of the line by which he had 
 been saved, and taking one of his shipmates 
 with him, he ran to the spot where the 
 wreck of his vessel lay, and leaping upon 
 the rock to which the line was fastened, he 
 seized the line and passed along it into the 
 boiling surge, hand over hand, until he 
 reached the side of the vessel to which it 
 was attached ; then, drawing his knife, he 
 cut the line at a blow, and fell with it into 
 the water. His shipmate on the rock, the 
 moment he saw him fall, drew in the line, 
 and soon they were both standing safe upon 
 the rock. They now cast off the line from 
 the rock, and, leaping on shore, carried it 
 as fast as they were able to the spot where 
 the men were now all assembled, holding 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 205 
 
 on to the fish line which had been brought 
 ashore by the bottle. The question now 
 was, how this line should be attached to 
 the end of the sheet, which lay upon the 
 water about half way between the vessel 
 and the shore. The wooden bottle was 
 again put in requisition, and made to serve 
 another good turn. A running noose was 
 made in the end of the line which the men 
 had brought from the other vessel. To 
 this noose the wooden bottle was attached 
 by a small piece of the fish line, and the 
 noose was passed on to the fish line, and 
 the bottle thrown into the water. Soon 
 the undertow taking it, drew it out toward 
 the vessel, which still held together. The 
 noose ran along the line, drawn by the 
 bottle, in the same way that a messenger 
 runs up the line of a boy s kite. In a short 
 time it worked along the line until it passed 
 over the loop by which the end of the sheet 
 had been made fast to the fish line. After 
 it had passed some way on to the sheet, the 
 man who held it on shore began to draw 
 upon the line, and soon he perceived that 
 
 18 
 
206 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the noose was tightening upon the line, and 
 in a few moments he had the satisfaction to 
 find that it grasped the sheet firmly just 
 beyond the loop. And now the men on 
 shore shouted to those on board to take 
 courage. The poor fellows were exhaust- 
 ed with fatigue and excitement, and be 
 numbed with the cold. The cold rain and 
 snow and sleet had been driving full in 
 their faces for some hours. They had been 
 holding on to the rigging, constantly 
 drenched with the cold spray, and every 
 few minutes a wave breaking over them. 
 But when they saw that there was now 
 some chance of their escape, and that a 
 way had been prepared for their rescue, 
 they took courage and made every exer 
 tion to avail themselves of the means that 
 had been provided for them. Bailey, the 
 man who had first sent the bottle ashore 
 with the fish line, now seized the line, and 
 let himself down into the water. He soon 
 succeeded in warping himself ashore. The 
 line being buried several feet under water 
 most of the time, and the surf beating with 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 207 
 
 great fury, this is a work of much greater 
 difficulty than one would imagine who has 
 never seen it performed. It requires much 
 presence of mind, and a great deal of mus 
 cular strength. When a man is caught by 
 the undertow, he is very liable to be torn 
 from his hold on the line. When the line 
 is buried deep by a wave, he may be 
 drowned, holding on to the line, before the 
 wave runs by, or he may be struck by some 
 floating body in the water. All these diffi 
 culties are much increased, when his hands 
 are benumbed and his limbs stiffened by 
 the cold. Bailey had exerted himself so 
 much on board, that he had retained the 
 full use of his hands and rapidly reached 
 the shore. One of the men on shore wad 
 ed into the water to meet him, and seized 
 him by the collar as soon as he came with 
 in reach, and assisted him to land, where 
 he was received with a shout. The skipper 
 next followed his example. When he had 
 passed about half way, a tremendous wave 
 came over him, submerging him many feet 
 deep. Finding himself about to suffocate, 
 
208 PETER GOTT. 
 
 he let go his hold of the line, and rose to 
 the surface to get breath ; but fortunately, 
 when the undertow took him down again, 
 it brought him in contact with the line, 
 which he instinctively caught, and again 
 pushed for the shore. This time he came 
 so near to the shore that his feet found the 
 bottom, where he stood holding on to the 
 line until the next wave had broken, when 
 he was soon helped to land. One after 
 another, the crew let themselves down upon 
 the line ; and, after encountering many 
 hazards, they all reached the shore, except 
 one poor fellow, who had lashed himself to 
 the main stay, and his hands had become 
 so benumbed with the cold that he could 
 not untie the cord that bound him. After 
 shouting and beckoning to him some time, 
 and finding that he remained in the same 
 position, the men on shore believing him 
 to be dead or disabled, the skipper, who 
 first landed, volunteered to go to his rescue. 
 This feat he accomplished at the imminent 
 risk of his life, for when he had reached the 
 side of the vessel, a heavy wave broke over 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 209 
 
 it, lifting it from its bed and rolling it on 
 to its beam, crushing another large hole in 
 its side. This movement of the vessel let 
 him fall into the water, and it was by 
 means of the utmost exertion . that he 
 avoided being drawn under the vessel. 
 But holding on to the line with a death- 
 grasp, he soon brought himself to the sur 
 face, and drew himself to the rail, which 
 was now under water. Then, raising him 
 self over the rail, he caught a cleat near the 
 foot of the mainmast, which was used in 
 tautening the main sheet. Drawing him-, 
 self up by this, he got his foot against the 
 mast, and, springing upward, he seized the 
 main stay, to which the poor benumbed lad 
 hung suspended by a cord around his waist. 
 Instantly drawing his knife, he cut the lash 
 ing that held him, and let him fall to the 
 lower edge of the deck. Then letting him 
 self down after him, he seized him, and 
 grasping the collar of his jacket with his 
 left hand, and boldly plunging into the icy 
 water, seized the line with his right. 
 
 The man whom he had thus far rescued, 
 
 18* 
 
210 PETER GOTT 
 
 1 3 
 
 was able to make but little effort, and his 
 strength. seemed every moment failing, and 
 it was with great difficulty that he could 
 keep his head out of water sufficiently to 
 prevent his drowning. But he struggled 
 on bravely, throwing himself forward as far 
 as he was able with one hand, then watch 
 ing his opportunity, he would let go his 
 hold, and reaching forward seize the line 
 again, drawing after him the helpless sea 
 man. In this way he slowly worked his 
 way towards the shore. Several of the 
 men were upon the point of going to his 
 assistance, but they feared the line would 
 part by their additional weight ; indeed, 
 they greatly feared that it would be parted 
 by the weight of the two men that were 
 now supported by it ; and stood in almost 
 breathless suspense, watching the move 
 ments of the two men as they were thrown 
 about by the foaming waves. When they 
 had passed that part of the line where the 
 noose that was run out from the shore 
 grasped the loop of the sheet, the inner end 
 of the line being the strongest, and having 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 211 
 
 no fear that that portion of it would part, 
 one of the men slipping rapidly out upon 
 the line, soon came to the skipper, and giv 
 ing him an encouraging word, passed be 
 yond him until he came to the noose ; then 
 holding on to the inner portion of the line, 
 he cut the noose with his knife. The men 
 on shore being prepared for this, imme 
 diately drew in the line with the three men, 
 and lifted them on to hard land. The skip 
 per was completely exhausted and unable 
 to stand, and it was with great difficulty 
 that they loosed the iron grip of his hand 
 from the collar of the now dying sailor, the 
 muscles of his arm and hand had become so 
 rigid and unyielding from violent contrac 
 tion and the cold. Some of the men ap 
 plied themselves to the relief of the man 
 who had thus been brought on shore by 
 the bold and heroic effort of the skipper ; 
 but in a few moments after he was laid on 
 the shore he breathed his last, completely 
 overcome by the cold and exposure. 
 Others removed the brave skipper under 
 
212 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the shelter of a projecting rock, and rub 
 bed his hands and arms, and rendered him 
 all the assistance in their power under the 
 circumstances. He soon recovered ability 
 to stand and walk, and in a few hours was 
 entirely restored. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 
 
 KINDNESS OF THE PEOPLE OF PRINCE EDWARD S ISLAND. 
 THE STORM CEASES. THEY REPAIR DAMAGES, AS 
 FAR AS THEY CAN, AND RETURN HOME. THE LOSS 
 OF A YEAR S WORK. 
 
 BEFORE the events of which we have been 
 speaking had transpired, several of the in 
 habitants of the island had collected at the 
 scene of the disaster. They were very kind 
 to the shipwrecked fishermen., and offered 
 them all the assistance in their power. 
 The people of this island, and those who 
 inhabit the coasts of the Provinces, are in 
 general very hospitable and kind to those 
 who are thrown upon their shores, reliev 
 ing their immediate wants to the extent of 
 their means. They led the dripping and 
 half frozen men to their houses, which were 
 situated at the distance of half a mile. 
 They kindled large fires, and arranged them 
 
214 PETER GOTT, 
 
 around them, and the women soon cooked 
 them some warm food, and did all in their 
 power to make them comfortable. They 
 partook of their hospitality with thankful 
 ness, and after they had got warmed, and 
 partially dried, their hosts led them to the 
 village of Souris, about four miles distant, 
 although the storm was beating with piti 
 less fury. They were desirous of reaching 
 this place before dark, hoping to be able to 
 communicate with their friends who had 
 reached that port. Before starting for 
 Souris, they engaged two of the islanders 
 to bring, upon a handbarrow, the dead 
 body of their lost shipmate to one of the 
 houses, where it could be kept in safety till 
 the storm was over. They reached Souris 
 about dark, wet and weary, and as it was 
 impossible for them to go on board of the 
 vessels of their comrades in the harbor, 
 even if the danger to which these were 
 exposed had not been such as to forbid it, 
 they were kindly received by the villagers, 
 who distributed them in their families, and 
 provided them fire and food. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 215 
 
 These people, most of whom are engaged 
 in fishing or coasting, are exposed to great 
 danger in navigating their rockbound and 
 stormy shores, and can fully sympathize 
 with the sailor in distress. Our fishermen 
 have often been indebted to their kindness 
 and hospitality. A large number of the 
 fleet had reached this port, and through 
 the day had rode in safety under the pro 
 tection of the jutting headland, and their 
 crews were indulging the hope that they 
 should ride out the storm, although it beat 
 upon them with great violence. But after 
 nightfall, the wind increased to a perfect 
 hurricane, and lashed the waves into a mass 
 of foam. About midnight the wind hauled 
 two or three points more to the north, and 
 the headland now no longer afforded them 
 protection against the rushing waves. Soon 
 one of the vessels began to drag her anchor, 
 and drifted against another that was an 
 chored a short distance to the leeward, 
 causing her to part her cable, and now the 
 two drifted foul of a third. They lay some 
 time pounding and beating against each 
 
216 PETER GOTT, 
 
 other, and at length drifted all together 
 upon the beach. 
 
 This was about daylight. The men were 
 all so fortunate as to reach the shore in 
 safety. Before morning, most of the fleet 
 had drifted from their holding ground, and 
 were in imminent hazard of going on to 
 the rocks. Some of them cut away their 
 masts, and paying out all their cable, were 
 enabled to hold on. In the course of the 
 day, six more of them went on shore, two 
 of which beat to pieces upon the rocks. 
 The four others falling upon the beach, 
 held together, and were ultimately got off. 
 
 The storm continued with great violence 
 through the day, the wind varying from 
 east to north-east. The inhabitants, shel 
 tered by the rocks and buildings on the 
 shore, watched the vessels and their move 
 ments with the deepest anxiety, expecting 
 them all to go on shore. About noon, the 
 master of the schooner Atalantis, from New- 
 buryport, finding that his vessel was going 
 adrift, and would soon be upon the rocks, 
 hoisted a double reefed foresail and the 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 217 
 
 peak of his jib, and cut away his anchor, 
 and beat out of the harbor in the face of 
 the storm, greatly to the surprise and as 
 tonishment of the inhabitants. This was 
 the first time that this feat was ever at 
 tempted in this harbor in a storm. But he 
 accomplished it safely, and obtained a suffi 
 cient offing to enable him to put to sea ; 
 and although his bulwarks were torn away 
 and his sails badly split, he reached home 
 in safety. 
 
 Towards night the wind hauled to the 
 north-west, and a gleam of light in the west, 
 at sunset, indicated that the storm was over. 
 The wind, after its change, continued to 
 blow with great strength through the night, 
 and the weather was intensely cold ; but 
 no more vessels went ashore. In the morn 
 ing the sun shone out bright and clear. 
 The day was cold ; but the men from the 
 vessels that still rode in the bay, came on 
 shore to refresh themselves, and were kindly 
 entertained by the people of Souris. They 
 now set about repairing damages, as far as 
 they were able. 
 
 19 
 
218 . PETER GOTT, 
 
 The vessels that went ashore to the 
 northward of the harbor were entirely lost. 
 Some sails and rigging, a few fish lines, 
 some articles of clothing, and a few barrels 
 of mackerel, were all that was saved from 
 them. The three vessels that first went 
 ashore in the harbor, were so badly injured 
 that they could not be repaired. Their 
 crews, with the help of those who had lost 
 their vessels, got out the mackerel, and de 
 posited it on shore, and stripped the ves 
 sels of their sails and rigging. The vessels 
 which had cut away their masts, needed 
 the masts to replace those which they had 
 lost. When the storm had ceased, and the 
 swell of the ocean had subsided, they man 
 aged to take out these masts. And placing 
 a dismasted vessel between two others, 
 whose masts were standing, and rigging 
 a derrick upon her deck, they hoisted out 
 the stumps of the cut masts, and passing 
 a strap around the middle of one of the 
 foremasts, which had been taken from the 
 vessels on shore, and which had been floated 
 alongside, they weighed it on board and 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 219 
 
 soon stepped it into its place in the keel 
 son. Repeating the same operation with 
 the mainmast, they soon had two masts 
 standing, which, if a size too small, or too 
 large, yet answered the purpose very well, 
 and enabled them to reach their home. 
 Three vessels were thus fitted with masts 
 in a short time. The stays were set up 
 and the sails bent, and they were ready 
 for sea. 
 
 Four of the nine vessels that went ashore 
 at Souris, were got off, after taking out 
 their mackerel and salt. They were more 
 or less damaged, and considerable time was 
 required to repair them, so as to fit them 
 for the voyage home. Peter Gott, and the 
 vessels that got into the harbor of Rich 
 mond, rode out the storm without material 
 damage. As soon as the weather would 
 permit, they took out the cargo of the ves 
 sel that had gone upon the beach, and fit 
 ting some skids under her bottom, they 
 threw her upon her side and launched her 
 into her proper element. Finding her hull 
 tight, they took the cargo again on board, 
 
220 PETER GOTT, 
 
 and overhauled her rigging, and soon had 
 her ready for sea, though with only a small 
 anchor, which was lent her by one of the 
 other vessels which had it on board as a su 
 pernumerary. In the meantime, they had 
 sent one of the skippers across the island 
 to Souris, and learned the fate of the ves 
 sels that had put into that port. Several 
 of these had been badly injured, and as the 
 season was getting late, and they were 
 likely to encounter more bad weather, it 
 was not thought best for them to engage 
 again in fishing. 
 
 They, therefore, agreed to put the mack 
 erel and sails and rigging which had been 
 saved from the wrecked vessels, on board 
 of these, and despatch them to their re 
 spective ports. Some ten days had now 
 been consumed by the storm and the re 
 fitting of the vessels, and they were rap 
 idly approaching the end of September. 
 But those whose vessels were still seawor 
 thy, determined to make an effort to fill 
 them up. Peter Gott was the more desirous 
 of doing this, as two of the vessels lost at 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 221 
 
 Souris belonged to him and Mr. Dennis, 
 and they were but partially insured. As 
 soon as he had come to this decision, he got 
 under way, and was followed by six other 
 vessels from Richmond harbor. 
 
 The nights were now cold and frosty, 
 and Kersey jackets and woollen mittens 
 were in demand. They found that since 
 the storm, the body of the mackerel had 
 moved to the northward, and they followed 
 them across the bay, taking a few barrels 
 daily. They were now large and fat, one 
 barrel being worth two barrels of those 
 which they caught when they first came 
 into the bay. They continued beating 
 about, and fishing when the weather would 
 permit, for eight days, and had taken from 
 forty to fifty barrels each, when perceiving 
 indications of another storm, they hoisted 
 all sail and ran through the Gut of Canso 
 and made for Liverpool, which they reached, 
 and got into a safe harbor just as the storm 
 broke upon them. They lay here until the 
 third day, when the weather clearing up, 
 they made all sail for home, which they 
 
 19* 
 
222 PETER GOTT, 
 
 reached about the middle of October. The 
 vessels which they had despatched from 
 Souris reached home a few days before 
 them, and reported the sad disaster which 
 they had met with. The Atalantis reached 
 Newburyport on the fifth of October, and 
 reported all the vessels at Souris lost. This 
 report had reached Cape Ann, and pro 
 duced the most intense anxiety among the 
 people, especially the friends of all the 
 crews that had sailed from the Cape. 
 About the tenth, the vessels that had es 
 caped at Souris arrived, and reported the 
 true state of things, and relieved the good 
 people of their worst fears. They reported 
 the men from the Cape all safe. The relief 
 thus afforded them from a state of most 
 distressing suspense was almost indescriba 
 ble. They congratulated each other upon 
 the good news, and rejoiced with the most 
 heartfelt gratitude that the lives of their 
 friends had been so wonderfully preserved 
 in the midst of the most appalling dangers. 
 On the next day, which was the Sabbath, 
 all the clergymen on the Cape offered up 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 223 
 
 the most sincere thanksgivings for the pre 
 servation of the crews, and the most earn 
 est petitions for their safe restoration to 
 their families and friends ; and when, on 
 the fifteenth, Peter arrived at Pigeon Cove, 
 he was received with open arms, almost as 
 one from the dead. In the course of three 
 or four days the vessels all arrived and 
 landed their fares. 
 
 This storm was the most disastrous which 
 had occurred since the mackerel fishing 
 had been commenced by the fishermen of 
 Cape Ann. There was but little loss of 
 life indeed. In this respect they were 
 wonderfully favored. But the loss of pro 
 perty was great. Eleven vessels were 
 wholly lost, and many others seriously 
 damaged, and the whole fleet was prevent 
 ed by it from obtaining full fares. In the 
 early part of the year the fishing had not 
 been as successful as usual ; but few of the 
 vessels had made enough to pay for re 
 pairs and outfits, and the owners were 
 depending mainly upon the results of this 
 trip for the profits of the year and for the 
 
224 PETER GOTT, 
 
 means of meeting the payments becoming 
 due for the vessels which they had previ 
 ously purchased. 
 
 The winter was fast approaching, and a 
 large number of the families of the fisher 
 men had already taken up all the wages 
 which they had earned, and some of them 
 had much overdrawn their credit. Fisher 
 men are generally improvident, and have 
 nothing laid up in store for the future. 
 They depend for a livelihood upon the la 
 bors of the present year ; when these labors 
 are unsuccessful, they and their families 
 are destitute of their usual comforts, unless 
 they can get credit with their employers. 
 But this year most of the employers, owing 
 to the losses which they had made, and the 
 want of the profit which they had not made, 
 were unable to give the needed credit. In 
 this state of things, most of the men were 
 compelled to engage in winter fishing. 
 Several men, who had been able to sustain 
 their families comfortably through the win 
 ter upon the earnings of the summer, were 
 now obliged to resort to this laborious em- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 225 
 
 ployment to gain their daily bread. Several 
 of the owners were obliged to get an ex 
 tension of their credit, and some were 
 obliged to sell property at a sacrifice, to 
 meet their payments. There had not been 
 so much distress among the laboring fish 
 ermen and their families for some years as 
 was experienced during this winter. The 
 spring fishing had been unproductive, and 
 nearly all the fishermen on the Cape had 
 engaged in the mackerel fishing, hoping to 
 make up for the want of success in the 
 spring, and the disastrous result of this 
 branch of their labor had left them disap 
 pointed and nearly destitute. It had also 
 revealed to them the danger of this fishery, 
 and destroyed their confidence in it to a 
 great extent, 
 
226 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PETER GOTT BUILDS A VESSEL AFTER A NEW MODEL 
 GOES TO THE BANKS IN HER, AND TO THE BAY 
 OF ST. LAWRENCE AGAIN. BOUNTY LAWS. 
 
 AFTER settling up with the several ves 
 sels in which he was interested, selling the 
 mackerel, and paying up the expenses of 
 the year, Peter found that he had lost dur 
 ing the year about fifteen hundred dollars. 
 This was to him a heavy loss ; but he was 
 by no means discouraged. He had now 
 seen a good deal of the world, and he had 
 found out that losses are incident to all 
 kinds of business, especially to such as are 
 carried on extensively. He had reflect 
 ed upon his business in all its relations, 
 and losses had entered into his calculations. 
 He had also learned something by his ob 
 servations at the Bay, and during the storm 
 at Prince Edward s Island. He had noticed 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 227 
 
 that the largest vessels made the best 
 weather, or in other words, that the men on 
 board the larger vessels were better pro 
 tected from the weather and suffered less 
 than those in the smaller craft. Pie had 
 also noticed that all the vessels that were 
 lost were poorly fitted with ground tackle, 
 while those that had long strings of cable 
 and heavy anchors, rode out the storm in 
 safety. He was a man to profit by his ob 
 servations ; and as two of the vessels in 
 which he owned a share had been lost, he 
 induced Mr. Dennis to join him in contract 
 ing for a schooner of seventy-five tons, 
 upon a model somewhat different from that 
 upon which fishing vessels had hitherto 
 been built. She was to have a longer 
 beam in proportion to her depth, and be 
 better adapted to the stowage of cargo. 
 Her cabin was to be larger, and to afford 
 better accommodations to her crew. She 
 was to be fitted with stouter rigging, and 
 larger and longer strings of cable than 
 any fisherman had previously carried. Of 
 course, upon such a model it would take 
 
228 
 
 more timber to build her, and her hull 
 would cost more per ton, and her rigging 
 would be much more expensive. But he 
 was convinced that she would be safer, and 
 would do more service ; and besides, if she 
 should not meet his expectations, she could 
 readily be converted to some other use. 
 
 Having completed his arrangements, he 
 immediately visited Essex, and contracted 
 with Choate & Burnham, two of the most 
 enterprizing builders of that place, for a 
 vessel upon the proposed model. Her keel 
 was soon laid, and by Christmas her frame 
 timbers were set up. She attracted much 
 attention as the work progressed, and was 
 visited by many fishermen and owners, and 
 was the subject of much speculation. She 
 was to cost about a third more, in propor 
 tion to her tonnage, than any fishing vessel 
 that had ever been built at Essex. Many 
 doubted whether she would answer the 
 purpose for which she was intended as well 
 as the old model, and still more doubted 
 the expediency of employing in this busi 
 ness vessels of such costly construction. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 229 
 
 In every pursuit of life, new ideas work 
 their way with difficulty. They are op 
 posed by the cautious and the conservative. 
 The vain and the self-conceited consider 
 every man who advances a new idea, as 
 tacitly reproaching them for not having 
 had the same idea in their own minds. It 
 is doubtless well that most men are held 
 back by caution from rashly adopting new 
 ideas, and acting upon them before they 
 have been properly tested. Peter was not 
 deficient in caution, but he had also enter- 
 prize and calculation, and his careful obser 
 vation furnished him a safe basis for his 
 calculation, and he was seldom deceived in 
 the results which he anticipated. He lis 
 tened with good nature to the remarks of 
 all sorts of critics. 
 
 The work went vigorously on, and by 
 the first of April he brought round his 
 beautiful new schooner, under full sail, with 
 the stars and stripes at her topmast. This 
 was quite an event at Pigeon Cove, and 
 served greatly to encourage the dispirited 
 fishermen, who had struggled through the 
 
 20 
 
230 PETER GOTT, 
 
 winter with great difficulty, many of them 
 being almost exhausted by the severe labor 
 and exposure to which they had been sub 
 jected. The losses which Peter had made 
 the previous year, and the cost of his new 
 vessel, one half of which belonged to him, 
 induced him to relinquish his purpose of 
 remaining on shore, and going into part 
 nership with Mr. Dennis for another year, 
 and determined him to take command of 
 the Dennis, which was the name given to 
 the new vessel. 
 
 A good skipper can always get a good 
 crew. Before his vessel was off the stocks, 
 Peter had shipped a crew of smart young 
 men ; he had his pick among all the ambi 
 tious young men in Pigeon Cove and San 
 dy Bay. The crew mustered at Essex, 
 took on board the needful ballast, and as 
 sisted in navigating the vessel across Ips 
 wich Bay, around Halibut Point, and into 
 Pigeon Cove, on the first of April. They 
 now set about fitting her for the Banks, for 
 this was the destination of her first trip. 
 It is no small job to fit a new vessel for 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 231 
 
 sea ; the seamen find many things to be 
 done after she has left the hands of the 
 carpenters. The first thing is to take on 
 board a sufficient quantity of ballast, and 
 see that this is properly secured. In a flat 
 bottomed vessel this is of the utmost im 
 portance. When the hull of a boat is heel 
 ed on to her side by the wind, if the ballast 
 is loose, it will naturally roll into that side 
 that is in the water. "When this happens, 
 it will sometimes prevent the boat from 
 righting, in consequence of which it soon 
 fills with water, and founders. Many a 
 small vessel has been lost at sea in conse 
 quence of the shifting of its ballast. To 
 prevent this, a partition of plank is built on 
 the keelson, dividing the hold lengthwise, 
 and the ballast is packed one half on one 
 side of this partition, and one half on the 
 other side. Then a chimney is built in the 
 cabin to convey the smoke from the stove, 
 and various fixtures are put up in different 
 parts of the cabin and hold ; loops are fitted 
 to the stanchions, to hold harpoons and 
 boatrhooks. The water-cask is mounted on 
 
232 PETER GOTT, 
 
 deck and secured ; the harness-cask is fitted 
 in its place. Then provisions, water and 
 salt are taken on board and stowed away. 
 Fishing lines and reels and splitting knives 
 are put in their proper places ; lines are 
 rove to the water buckets ; oil butts are 
 put in their place ; wood is cut and split, 
 and taken on board for fuel. Mattresses, 
 bedding, and, lastly, sea-chests are taken on 
 board ; and when every thing is ready, the 
 skipper carries on board the compass. 
 
 During the first voyage of a new vessel, 
 the seamen find many little things to be 
 done, which occupy their leisure hours, 
 such as whipping the loose ends of the 
 sheets and the ends of the boats painters ; 
 lashing pieces of old canvas around the 
 cables, where they lay in the hauseholes, 
 to prevent chafing ; and various things that 
 tend to make the rigging safe and contri 
 bute to the convenience of its working. 
 Peter and his crew were ambitious that 
 every thing on board their new craft should 
 be ship-shape, and when they returned from 
 the Banks, not a vessel in the whole fleet 
 was in so perfect order as the Dennis. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 233 
 
 They sailed about the middle of April. 
 The vessel proved a good sea-boat ; she 
 sailed well. But as rapid sailing had not 
 been the leading object with her skipper, 
 he had not fitted her with masts so tall 
 that it was difficult for her to keep on her 
 legs, whenever she met a capful of wind. 
 The crew found themselves more comforta 
 ble on board her than they had ever been 
 before in a fishing vessel. They reached 
 the fishing ground in safety, and remained 
 on the Banks nine weeks. At the end of 
 this time they had caught six hundred and 
 fifty quintals of fish. The vessel was found 
 to stow her fare more conveniently than 
 those of shorter model. Her deck was 
 wider, and it was more convenient to dress 
 the fish upon it than on any of the old 
 vessels. Soon after they left the Bank for 
 home, she encountered a gale, which tried 
 her strength and qualities as a sea-boat. 
 She stood the trial to the entire satisfac 
 tion of all on board, although she was load 
 ed down almost to her water-ways. She 
 reached Pigeon Cove on the sixth of July, 
 
 20* 
 
234 PETER GOTT, 
 
 without damage, discharged her fare, and 
 immediately fitted out for the Bay of St. 
 Lawrence, for a mackerel trip. She took 
 on board her mackerel gear, which is en 
 tirely different from that required for cod 
 fishing, and six hundred barrels, a suffi 
 cient supply of salt, and provisions for six 
 months. 
 
 One of the first acts of the American 
 Congress, after the establishment of Inde 
 pendence, was to offer a bounty to fisher 
 men who should be actually engaged in 
 fishing four months in the year, and who 
 should catch a certain number of quintals 
 of fish per ton of the vessels employed. 
 At the period of which we speak, the fish 
 ermen pursued such branch of the fisheries 
 as they found convenient or most profita 
 ble, and at the end of the year received 
 the bounty, provided they had caught the 
 number of quintals required, without much 
 regard to the time actually employed in 
 cod fishing. For some years past, the law 
 has been more stringently interpreted. No 
 vessel now is allowed to receive the bounty 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 235 
 
 which cannot make it appear that she has 
 been actually occupied four months in cod 
 fishing, whatever number of quintals of 
 codfish she may have taken per ton ; and 
 if a vessel is found engaged in mackerel 
 fishing, under a cod fishing license, she for 
 feits all claim to bounty. Vessels now take 
 a cod fishing license in the spring, and pur 
 sue this kind of fishing two, three or four 
 months, as they find it convenient, before 
 engaging in the mackerel fishery. If they 
 have not completed the four months when 
 the mackerel season commences, they go to 
 the custom-house of the district in which 
 the vessel belongs, and deposit their license 
 with the collector, and take out what is 
 called a mackerel license, and after follow 
 ing the mackerel fishing as long as they 
 choose, receive their cod fishing license 
 again, and complete their four months, that 
 they may be entitled to the bounty. 
 
 This is a source of much trouble and an 
 noyance to the fishermen, and there is no 
 good reason why this distinction should be 
 made between cod fishing and mackerel 
 
236 PETEE GOTT, 
 
 fishing by the government. The latter is 
 as profitable to the country. It involves 
 more capital and risk, and contributes quite 
 as much to the training of good seamen as 
 the former. Peter and his associates were 
 not subjected to so much petty annoyance. 
 If they caught the number of quintals per 
 ton required by law, they received their 
 bounty, without being required to make 
 out four months in actual cod fishing. 
 This left them at liberty to devote the re 
 mainder of the season wholly to the mack 
 erel fishery, if they chose, and to lay out 
 their voyages as might best suit their con 
 venience. For many years past the Amer 
 ican government, instead of fostering the 
 great American interest of the fisheries, 
 which was the obvious purpose of those 
 who first framed the laws relating to the 
 subject, has apparently thrown all the ob 
 stacles in their power in its way, and done 
 what they could to harrass and cripple 
 those engaged in it. Treaty regulations 
 have been made with relation to it, by men 
 who understood little or nothing about it ; 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 237 
 
 and treasury orders have been issued by 
 men who, if they knew any thing concern 
 ing it, were evidently willing to sacrifice 
 it to other and less important interests. It 
 is to be hoped that the American govern 
 ment will one day be in the hands of men 
 who will consider American interests para 
 mount to all other interests, and will con 
 sider the laboring classes as entitled to re 
 gard and protection. The thousands of 
 seamen and fishermen, who are annually 
 adding largely to the wealth of the coun 
 try by hard labor, and at the risk of their 
 lives, are surely as well entitled to protec 
 tion in their persons and property, as those 
 who are producing cotton and sugar and 
 iron, at infinitely less risk and hardship. 
 
 Captain Gott embarked, on the first of 
 August, in the Dennis, and directed his 
 course to Mount Desert, and looked for 
 mackerel among the islands along the coast 
 of Maine. Finding but few mackerel, he 
 ran down to the Bay of Fundy, and having 
 coasted around the bay, put into Yarmouth, 
 on the south-west coast of Nova Scotia. 
 
238 PETER GOTT, 
 
 Learning here all he could respecting the 
 course which the mackerel schools were 
 pursuing, he ran down to Canso, which 
 separates the island of Breton from Nova 
 Scotia, and having passed the Strait, put 
 into Charlotte, the principal town on Prince 
 Edward s Island. Here he landed ninety 
 barrels of mackerel, which he had already 
 taken, and then struck boldly across the 
 Bay of St. Lawrence to the island of Anti- 
 costi, and commenced fishing around its 
 shores. Mackerel fishermen had never be 
 fore visited this region. Cod fishermen 
 had occasionally visited the coast of Labra 
 dor to the northward of this point, towards 
 the Straits of Belle Isle, but mackerel fish 
 ermen had never been to the north of the 
 Magdalen Islands. Early in September he 
 found the mackerel passing in great num 
 bers between the island and the Labrador 
 coast. He met with good success in taking 
 them. In addition to this, he went on 
 shore on the island, and induced several of 
 the French, people to engage in his service, 
 furnishing them with a boat and lines, and 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 239 
 
 taking the mackerel which they caught 
 from day to day, paying for them liberally 
 in goods, which he had on board. 
 
 In the course of two weeks he filled four 
 hundred barrels. The school having now 
 gone by, he left the ground and ran for the 
 Magdalen Islands. The weather was grow 
 ing cold, and the equinox was near by ; 
 but in three days he took another hundred 
 barrels. Indications of a storm now appear 
 ing, he ran for Charlotte, and arrived just 
 as the equinoctial storm broke upon them. 
 
 Here he found but few American fisher 
 men. The great storm of the previous 
 year, and the severe losses which they had 
 sustained, deterred most of them from visit 
 ing the Bay of St. Lawrence this year. A 
 few had gone to Mirimachi and the Bay 
 of Chaleur, but most of them had confined 
 their operations to the westward of Nova 
 Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. Those who 
 had gone to the Bay of St. Lawrence had 
 been quite successful, and on visiting Eich- 
 mond and Souris, the scenes of the disaster 
 of the previous year, were received with 
 
240 PETER GOTT, 
 
 great hospitality by the inhabitants, who 
 were quite disposed to encourage them to 
 repeat their annual visit, for the sake of the 
 supply of goods which they were thus able 
 to obtain in payment for the mackerel 
 which they sold them. 
 
 Peter rode out the storm, which lasted 
 two days, in perfect safety, as did all the 
 others with him, except one. This one 
 dragged her anchor and went on to the 
 beach. As soon as the storm was over, 
 Peter passed through the Gut of Canso and 
 lay along the southern coast of Nova Sco 
 tia, and by the last of September he took 
 fifty barrels more. He now sailed for 
 home, where he arrived on the twelfth of 
 October with six hundred and forty barrels 
 of fish, the largest fare that had ever been 
 brought into Cape Ann. Four hundred 
 barrels of them were No. Is, worth, that 
 year, seven dollars per barrel. One hun 
 dred and fifty of the remainder were No. 2, 
 worth five dollars per barrel. The remain 
 ing ninety barrels of No. 3, were worth 
 three dollars making the fare worth three 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 241 
 
 thousand seven hundred and twenty dol 
 lars. The whole vessel belonged to Mr. 
 Dennis and Peter. The vessel s share was 
 eighteen hundred and sixty dollars, half of 
 which, nine hundred and thirty, belonged 
 to Peter. His share, as one of the crew, 
 was one hundred and seventy-six dollars, 
 and his per centage as skipper ninety-three 
 dollars, making about twelve hundred dol 
 lars. 
 
 This was the most profitable trip he had 
 ever made. His portion of the returns of 
 the trip to the Banks was between five and 
 six hundred dollars. The four other ves 
 sels in which he was interested, spent the 
 fishing season on the coast of Maine and in 
 the Bay of Fundy, and were tolerably suc 
 cessful. These vessels encountered no se 
 vere storm this year and suffered but little 
 damage, and Peter s share of their united 
 profits was about fourteen hundred dollars, 
 making his whole income for the year 
 about three thousand dollars. 
 
 21 
 
242 PETER GOTT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FORMS A PARTNERSHIP WITH MR. DENNIS. HIS FAMI 
 LY. SCHOOLS. A BUSY LIFE. DISSOLVES PART 
 NERSHIP. A NEW STORE AND NEW FIRM. VOYAGE 
 TO THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 HE now found himself in a situation to 
 carry out the plan previously agreed upon 
 between him and Mr. Dennis, viz., that he 
 should quit the sea and form a partnership 
 with Mr. Dennis, and take charge of the 
 business on shore. After selling off the 
 fish and mackerel, and settling with the 
 crews, who had been in their vessels during 
 the year, this arrangement was carried into 
 effect, and a firm constituted, under the 
 name of Dennis & Gott. 
 
 Peter Gott was now forty-six years old. 
 The labors and hardships he had endured 
 gave him the appearance of being more 
 than fifty. He had acquired more expe- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 243 
 
 rience than most men of his calling of sixty. 
 His character as a man of integrity was 
 well established, and his intelligence and 
 well-known enterprize gave him great in 
 fluence among all engaged in the fishing 
 business. He had been foremost in explor 
 ing every new field of labor, and ascertain 
 ing the feasibility of every new branch of 
 the business. His credit was undoubted 
 among all the furnishing houses of Boston, 
 and they were all eager to enrol him 
 among their customers. His family con 
 sisted of six children two sons and four 
 daughters. His eldest son was nineteen 
 years old. During the four previous sum 
 mers, he had been engaged in the mackerel 
 fishery, a part of the time with his father, 
 and a part of the time in one of their other 
 vessels on the coast. During the winters 
 he had diligently improved the advantages 
 afforded by such schools as then existed on 
 the Cape. 
 
 The beautiful and convenient school- 
 houses that may now be seen all over the 
 Cape, had no existence in those days. The 
 
244 PETER GOTT, 
 
 well-arranged system of schools which the 
 people have recently established, so honor 
 ably to themselves and with the promise 
 of so much advantage to their children, ex 
 isted then only in embryo. There were 
 very few school-houses of any kind. One 
 of the first school-houses erected was six 
 teen feet by twelve, and an old record ex 
 ists, which shows that in the contract made 
 with the carpenter, he was required to build 
 it so that the school-room should be not 
 more than six feet high. There were seve 
 ral dame schools, as they were then called, 
 taught chiefly by widows or elderly maid 
 ens, in which children were taught to read 
 and spell, and to say the multiplication ta 
 ble and the catechism. These schools were 
 generally taught in rooms in private houses, 
 and often in the same room in which the 
 work of the family was carried on. There 
 was one school, called a grammar school, 
 for the whole Cape. This was kept six 
 months at the Harbor and three months at 
 Sandy Bay, and three months at Squam, 
 the same master going from place to place 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 245 
 
 with the school, which was taught in the 
 best room that could be found for the pur 
 pose. There were also two or three men 
 who devoted themselves to the office of 
 private instruction, and when the grammar 
 school was not keeping in their neighbor 
 hood, were pretty well patronized. 
 
 In the history of the schools of the Cape, 
 the names of Riggs, Eogers and Saville de 
 serve to be commemorated. They were 
 the educational lights of their day, and the 
 good people of the Cape have expressed 
 their respect for their memories by giving 
 their names to schools which have been 
 established in the vicinity of their several 
 residences. In the grammar school, in ad 
 dition to reading and spelling, penmanship, 
 arithmetic and grammar were taught. 
 
 Peter Gott s family lived within the limits 
 of the parish of Squam. His children at 
 tended the grammar school when it was 
 taught in that parish, so soon as they be 
 came old enough to travel a mile and a 
 half through the snows of winter to reach 
 it. But these advantages, such as they 
 
 21* 
 
246 PETEK GOTT, 
 
 were, were not lost to the men of those 
 times. Peter Gott, Jr. had acquired a good 
 practical knowledge of figures, wrote a good 
 hand, and was able to take the place of a 
 clerk in the establishment of Dennis & Gott. 
 In large fishing establishments, in which 
 twelve or fifteen vessels are fitted out, there 
 is a great deal of work to be done. The 
 vessels average eight hands each, making a 
 hundred or more. Half of these, perhaps, 
 have" families, containing four souls besides 
 themselves. Here, then, are three hundred 
 persons to be supplied with the necessaries 
 of life. An account is to be kept with each 
 person in the employment of the establish 
 ment, and a separate settlement made with 
 each one at the close of the year. The 
 bounty also, which each man receives, gene 
 rally passes through the establishment. 
 This, together with the general accounts of 
 purchases and sales, accounts with freight 
 ers and with coopers and packers and those 
 who make the codfish, makes the book 
 keeping of the establishment a laborious 
 and important work. Three or four out- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 247 
 
 door laborers are usually employed in the 
 spring and fall at least. 
 
 Peter now found himself fully employed. 
 He had to attend to the repairs of the ves 
 sels ; to the purchase of rigging and outfits 
 for the vessels and goods for the store ; to 
 the sales of fish, and the collecting of bills ; 
 to the obtaining of insurance and fishing 
 licenses ; to the securing of skippers for the 
 several vessels, and the multifarious cares 
 of the establishment. He was also chosen 
 one of the directors of the insurance com 
 pany, at which most of his insurance was 
 done. As he was now to live on shore, he 
 was expected to take an interest in the 
 municipal affairs of the town. Fishermen 
 who are absent a large part of the year, 
 even if they are qualified and disposed to 
 act in public affairs, have little time or op 
 portunity to do so. Their owners, as the 
 outfitting merchants are called, are expect 
 ed to represent them and look after their 
 interests. A new man, one who leaves the 
 sea and settles on shore, must take his turn 
 as school committee and surveyor of high- 
 
PETER GOTT, 
 
 ways. In short, he must be willing to serve 
 in all the offices of the town. These offices 
 are not in general sought for by the citi 
 zens, except occasionally, to secure some 
 local or temporary interest, but are consid 
 ered a task, which each man who is com 
 petent must perform in his turn. Peter 
 Gott was chosen school committee man for 
 his neighborhood, and feeling a deep in 
 terest to secure to his own children the 
 best advantages in his power in the way 
 of education, he attended faithfully to the 
 duties of this office, and procured the best 
 teacher within his power for the two months 
 during which the public school continued. 
 Whatever business or office he undertook 
 for the public, he brought to it the same 
 good judgment and diligence which had 
 distinguished him in his private business. 
 This soon secured him the confidence of his 
 fellow citizens to such a degree, that it was 
 difficult for him to keep out of the offices 
 which were urged upon him, and which 
 most men in other places are ambitious to 
 obtain. He was not desirous of that influ- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 249 
 
 ence which results from official position ; he 
 chose rather to devote himself diligently to 
 his own business, and in this he found full 
 occupation for all his energies. 
 
 After one year, Mr. Dennis left the man 
 agement of the affairs of the firm almost 
 exclusively to him. Under his direction, 
 and guided by his good judgment, the vari 
 ous skippers in their employment engaged 
 in those various branches of the business 
 which promised the most advantage, and 
 generally with good success. He did not 
 confine his attention exclusively to any 
 one branch of the fisheries ; some of their 
 vessels pursued the cod fishery on the 
 Banks, and the smaller ones nearer home 
 on the coast. Some went one trip to the 
 Banks, and then fitted out for the mackerel 
 fishery. Some of them, in the proper sea 
 son, pursued the pollock fishing. At the 
 end of three years they had fifteen vessels 
 connected with the establishment. They 
 were part owners of them all, which secur 
 ed for them the business of fitting them 
 out, and the sale of the fish which they 
 
250 PETER GOTT, 
 
 caught, together with the supply of groce 
 ries and staple dry goods to the families of 
 the men. This miscellaneous business re 
 quired them to keep a general assortment 
 of goods in their store, making it what is 
 called a variety store. 
 
 As the general prosperity of the people 
 of the village increased, the demand for a 
 greater variety and better quality of goods 
 increased also. This required that a larger 
 assortment of goods should be kept by the 
 merchant. Peter had shrewdness enough 
 to keep up with the times. In the course 
 of four or five years from the time when 
 he united with Mr. Dennis in business, they 
 not only had the largest fishing establish 
 ment on the eastern part of the Cape, but 
 by far the largest and best assortment of 
 goods in their store. This had the natural 
 effect of drawing to them a considerable 
 trade from the inhabitants who were not 
 engaged in the fishing business, and from 
 those who were not in their employment. 
 At the end of five years they were com 
 pelled to build a new store, and enlarge 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 251 
 
 their wharf and packing accommodations. 
 The old store was used as a store-house for 
 salt and fish. 
 
 The general appearance of the village 
 had much improved. Several new houses 
 had been erected, and instead of the rust- 
 colored moss, which attaches itself to the 
 outer surfaces of buildings near the coast ? 
 the houses newly erected were neatly paint 
 ed. As larger vessels were now employed 
 in the fishing business than formerly, bet 
 ter wharves were required for their accom 
 modation, runing out into deeper water. 
 These, instead of being built of timber, ar 
 ranged cobhouse fashion as formerly, when 
 timber was the cheapest and most abun 
 dant material, were now constructed of 
 substantial stone walls, connected together 
 by cross timbers, and filled in with stones 
 and covered with plank. Evidences of gen 
 eral thrift were apparent. They still had 
 to take their vessels around to Gloucester 
 Harbor to winter, as the artificial harbors, 
 that have since been constructed at great 
 labor and expense, did not then exist. 
 
252 PETER GOTT, 
 
 Peter Gott, Jr. had now become an ex 
 cellent young man, with a character well 
 established for talents and integrity. He 
 was not only an expert book-keeper, but 
 an accommodating clerk, and well skilled 
 in the purchase and sale of goods. Mr- 
 Dennis was now more than seventy years 
 old, and quite disposed to retire from all 
 active participation in the affairs of the 
 firm ; and finding that young Gott had set 
 his affections upon his only grand-daughter, 
 Mary Pool, of Sandy Bay, he proposed to 
 withdraw his name from the firm, remain 
 ing a silent partner to the amount of ten 
 thousand dollars. The old sign of Den 
 nis & Gott was taken down, and a new 
 sign, of more pretension to artistic skill, 
 was established in its place, on the front of 
 the new store, bearing the name of Peter 
 Gott & Son. But with the change in the 
 name of the firm, no change occurred in the 
 principles upon which its business was car 
 ried on. Industry, economy and careful 
 attention to every part of the business, 
 were no less strictly exercised than before. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 253 
 
 The habits of the house, in all these re 
 spects, were well established. They had a 
 hundred and twenty-five men in their em 
 ployment as fishermen ; most of their ves 
 sels were of the larger and better class. 
 They had one or two new vessels built 
 every winter. After running them about 
 two years, and before their sails and rigging 
 needed renewing, they often sold them to 
 go into the coasting business, or to fisher 
 men from other ports. This was one of 
 the advantages resulting from the new and 
 more convenient model which Mr. Gott 
 had introduced. They could be employed 
 in the summer as fishing vessels, and in the 
 winter as coasters. Vessels of this class 
 indeed often made voyages in the winter to 
 the West Indies, freighted with provisions in 
 the hold and lumber on deck, and brought 
 back return cargoes of rum, molasses and 
 sugar. 
 
 Young Gott, finding that several of these 
 
 West India voyages from Salem and New- 
 
 buryport had proved profitable to their 
 
 owners, and being disposed to see more of 
 
 22 
 
254 PETER GOTT, 
 
 the world than he had yet seen, proposed 
 to his father to undertake such a voyage. 
 They had a fine new schooner, which had 
 come from Essex in July, and had been one 
 trip to the Bay for mackerel. This he pro 
 posed to load with dry fish, and take on a 
 deck-load of boards, which he proposed to 
 bring up from Portsmouth for the purpose, 
 and take his uncle Gott for captain, and go 
 himself as mate and supercargo. This plan 
 was soon agreed to, and the half of the 
 schooner which did not belong to the firm, 
 was chartered of its owners, and they im 
 mediately set about fitting her out for the 
 voyage. They sent to Portsmouth, and 
 purchased a sufficient quantity of boards 
 of the quality suitable for that market, and 
 selected four hundred quintals of fish, heav 
 ily salted, such as are in demand for the 
 use of the negroes on the plantations. 
 These fish are called scale fish ; they con 
 sist of hake and haddock. They take a 
 great deal of salt, and dry harder and bear 
 handling better, and keep better in a warm 
 climate than codfish. They are also of less 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 255 
 
 value than codfish, and the planters, who 
 desire to get provisions for their negroes as 
 cheaply as possible, prefer them to codfish. 
 These fish are shipped in large casks, screw 
 ed down firmly and stowed in the hold. 
 They soon had the fish stowed in this way 
 and took on deck the boards, which had 
 arrived from Portsmouth; and about the 
 first of December young Gott set sail for 
 Jamaica. He returned about the last of 
 March, having made a good voyage. They 
 cleared about twelve hundred dollars, after 
 paying all the expenses of the voyage. 
 
256 PETER GOTT, 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MULLET FISHING. CLAM DIGGING. PETER GOTT GRAD 
 UALLY WITHDRAWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF THE FIRM. 
 BECOMES A CULTIVATOR OF THE SOIL. GOES TO 
 THE LEGISLATURE. HIS CHARACTER, AND THE CLOS 
 ING SCENES OF HIS LIFE. 
 
 SOON after this vessel had sailed for 
 Jamaica, Mr. Gott, who had been for some 
 time making inquiries with regard to the 
 subject, fitted out an expedition for a new 
 branch of fishing. There is a fish called 
 mullet, which abounds on the southern 
 coast of the United States, and especially 
 in the Gulf of Mexico, during the winter. 
 This fish, either fresh or pickled, is in de 
 mand in the southern market, and is nearly 
 as valuable as mackerel. During the month 
 of December, Mr. Gott and some of his 
 neighbors fitted out two vessels to engage 
 in this fishery. As mullet fishing could 
 not very well be classed under the head of 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 257 
 
 cod fishing or mackerel fishing, they found 
 some difficulty at the custom-house in get 
 ting a license, but finally settled it by 
 taking a general fishing license, without 
 specifying the kind of fish to be taken. 
 
 They arrived out at Florida in safety, 
 and had every prospect of a successful trip. 
 But after they had been on the coast a few 
 days, a norther came on to blow, and they 
 ran into a port on the coast. Here a cus 
 tom-house officer demanded their license. 
 He had never known northern vessels, or 
 vessels of such a description, to engage in 
 this fishery, and was probably suspicious 
 that they were wreckers in disguise, or that 
 their purpose was to engage in smuggling, 
 or some other illegal pursuit ; and finding 
 that mullet fishing was not specified in 
 their license, he refused to return it to 
 them. As no vessel is allowed to navigate 
 the waters of the United States without a 
 license of some kind, under penalty of be 
 ing taken for a piratical vessel, and forfeit 
 ed to the government, they found them 
 selves in difficulty at once. They could 
 
 22* 
 
258 PETER GOTT, 
 
 not pursue their voyage, nor could they 
 return home with their vessels. 
 
 They immediately wrote to their owners 
 for instructions. Mr. Gott, after having 
 been at so much pains and expense to 
 make an experiment in a new branch of 
 fishery, which he hoped would prove bene 
 ficial to the fishing interest, was highly in 
 dignant that his people should be charged 
 with being engaged in illegal pursuits, and 
 his plans thus interfered with by an igno 
 rant and conceited official. After consult 
 ing counsel, he wrote to the masters of the 
 vessels to abandon them to the government, 
 and return home in the best way they 
 could. Some of the men went to New Or 
 leans, and shipped from thence to Boston ; 
 others shipped on board vessels bound to 
 the West Indies, and thence returned to 
 Boston. In the course qf the winter they 
 all reached home. 
 
 Mr. Gott immediately entered a protest 
 in due form, and commenced an action 
 against the government for the recovery 
 of his vessels, and damages arising from 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 259 
 
 their detention. This involved him in a 
 long and tedious lawsuit, and was a source 
 of much expense and anxiety. But at 
 length a hearing was obtained before the 
 proper court, and a verdict was given in 
 his favor. The representative in Congress 
 from the district to which Cape Ann be 
 longs, rendered essential service in the case, 
 and did all in his power to promote the in 
 terest and security of the fishermen ; and 
 it was owing, in no small degree, to the re 
 presentations which he made to the court, 
 that a favorable verdict was obtained. 
 
 Like most other lawsuits, even when a 
 verdict is obtained in favor of the plaintiff, 
 this lawsuit cost more than it came to. He 
 lost the use of his vessels for more than a 
 year and a half; and the expense of attend 
 ing court, of witnesses fees and board, and 
 lawyers fees, and the whole tissue of ex 
 penses which courts and lawyers know so 
 well how to spin out, amounted to more 
 than the damages obtained. As the expe 
 dition had been undertaken at the sugges 
 tion of Mr. Gott, and he had had the entire 
 
260 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 management of it, so he assumed the man 
 agement of the lawsuit, and paid the whole 
 expense. There were several men engaged 
 in the expedition, who owned shares in the 
 vessels. These shares were nearly all the 
 property they owned in the world; the 
 loss of the use of their vessels during this 
 period, and the loss of their own time, and 
 the expenses of the lawsuit would have 
 ruined them. Mr. Gott took these men 
 into his employment, and paid them the 
 full share of the damage recovered, without 
 charging them any part of the expense. 
 
 This affair cost him all that had been 
 made in the trip to Jamaica by his son. 
 But it settled a question of much impor 
 tance to northern fishermen, and ascertain 
 ed that under a general fishing license, they 
 might fish any where in the waters of the 
 United States, for any description of fish. 
 
 The failure of the expedition to make 
 any pecuniary return to the owners, owing 
 to the above cause, discouraged them 
 from renewing the attempt, and nothing 
 more was done in the mullet fishery. This 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 261 
 
 branch of the fisheries is still open for some 
 enterprizing Yankee to engage in, and 
 there can be no doubt that, with proper 
 management, it may be made profitable. 
 The petty restrictions that are still attach 
 ed to the United States license system, are 
 a constant source of annoyance to the fish 
 ing interest, and it is high time that the 
 whole system were thoroughly revised, and 
 its provisions rendered more liberal. If a 
 man determines, at the beginning of the 
 season, to apply for the cod fishing bounty, 
 let him conform to the rules under which 
 that bounty is distributed ; but if he does 
 not purpose to apply for it, why should he 
 be restricted at all, why should he not be 
 permitted to fish when and where, and for 
 such fish as he pleases ? And with respect 
 to the bounty, if a certain number of quin 
 tals per ton of the vessel employed, is re 
 quired to entitle him to the bounty, and if 
 he obtain the required number in two or 
 three months, why should he be required 
 to fish four months in order to obtain it ? 
 It often happens that the required amount 
 
262 
 
 PETEE GOTT, 
 
 has been made up in three months, and 
 that the mackerel have become plenty on 
 the coast, and it would be much more pro 
 fitable to the fishermen to engage at once 
 in that branch of business. But the law 
 requires them to make out four months. 
 Many of them continue in the cod fishery 
 and make out the four months, before 
 engaging in the mackerel fishery at all; 
 others exchange their papers at the cus 
 tom-house, and exchange their gear, and 
 when the mackerel season is over, receive 
 their cod fishing papers again, and make up 
 the required time. But this occasions trou 
 ble and loss of time to the fishermen, and 
 trouble to the custom-house officers, and 
 some of these officers refuse to accommo 
 date the fishermen in this way. If the laws 
 relating to the fisheries were made by those 
 who understood the subject in all its rela 
 tions, there would be no difficulty in ar 
 ranging them to suit the convenience and 
 interests of all parties ; but when they are 
 under the supervision of men from Missouri 
 and Illinois, who have never seen a fish- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 263 
 
 ing vessel, and know nothing of the nature 
 of the business and the difficulties attend 
 ing it, what better can be expected ? If it 
 is said that the object of the bounty is to 
 make good seamen, and therefore they 
 should be required to be at sea as long as 
 possible, it may be truly replied, that the 
 mackerel fishery, as at present carried on, 
 on the coast of the British Provinces and 
 in the midst of the most difficult and dan 
 gerous navigation, is the best possible 
 school for seamen, altogether better than 
 the Bank fishery, or the cod fishery upon 
 our own coast ; so that this argument en 
 tirely fails. 
 
 After getting through with the mullet 
 business, and paying the losses they had 
 incurred, Mr. Gott and his son engaged, 
 with renewed vigor, in those branches of 
 the fisheries which they had previously 
 pursued. Sometimes their vessels secured 
 the bounty on codfish; sometimes they 
 made no attempt to obtain it, but pursued 
 that branch of fishing that seemed the most 
 promising at the time. They employed 
 
264 PETER GOTT, 
 
 their own freighters to convey their fish to 
 market, and to bring home the goods need 
 ed in fitting out and repairing their ves 
 sels. Occasionally they fitted out a cargo 
 of fish and lumber to the West Indies, and 
 brought back in return rum, molasses and 
 salt. They were always ready to engage 
 in any new enterprize that tended to pro 
 mote the interests of the fishermen, or to 
 furnish them with a more profitable em 
 ployment. They occasionally lost one of 
 their vessels at sea or on the eastern shores, 
 and among the vessels which they fitted 
 out were, every year, some that failed of 
 success. But by honesty, careful manage 
 ment and steady enterprize, they gradually 
 accumulated wealth, and increased their 
 means of extending their business. In a 
 few years they became the most reliable 
 and influential firm connected with the 
 fishing business on the Cape. 
 
 About this time the business of digging 
 clams was engaged in by a large number 
 of persons. They are salted and preserved 
 in barrels, and used by fishermen as bait 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 265 
 
 for codfish. For many years past, the dig 
 ging and salting of clams for Boston market 
 has been an important business. These 
 shell-fish abound in the extensive flats at 
 the mouth of Squam River, Essex River, 
 and Ipswich River. These flats are daily 
 covered by the tide, and afford the feeding 
 ground which the clams require. They 
 multiply with astonishing rapidity. They 
 are dug in the winter and spring. The bu 
 siness furnishes employment for men and 
 boys, that in former years were occupied 
 in winter fishing. The work is done, of 
 course, at low tide. When the tide is out, 
 on pleasant winter days, one will often see 
 gangs of ten, twenty or fifty men and boys 
 busily employed in turning up the mud on 
 the flats and picking up the clams into 
 buckets. The implement which they use 
 is a stout fork with three flat prongs, each 
 about an inch wide and ten or twelve 
 inches long. The men go out on to the 
 flats, in wherries, when the tide is retiring, 
 and push an oar into the mud, and make 
 fast the boat to it, and as soon as the water 
 
 23 
 
266 PETER GOTT, 
 
 has left the boat, commence operations. 
 When a bucket is filled, it is emptied into 
 the boat. They continue their work until 
 the tide comes in again sufficiently to float 
 the boat, when they pull to the wharf. On 
 many places on the shores of these flats, 
 there are groups of small huts, ten or 
 twelve feet square, with stone chimneys 
 running up on the outside, furnished within 
 with a small stove and two or three stools 
 for seats. The clams are deposited in these 
 huts, and in those parts of the day when 
 the tide is in, so that the men cannot work 
 out on the flats, and in stormy weather, 
 they are employed in shocking them, as it 
 is called, that is, in opening the shells and 
 taking out the clam, which is done with a 
 small, stout knife. As the clams are taken 
 from the shell, they are dropped into a 
 bucket ; when the bucket is filled, it is 
 emptied into a barrel. Around these huts 
 it is not uncommon to see heaps of clam 
 shells larger than the huts themselves, the 
 accumulations of the winter s labor. The 
 clam diggers sell the produce of their labor 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 267 
 
 to traders, who send their teams around to 
 the huts, weekly or daily, according to the 
 weather, and carry them to their store 
 houses, and repack and salt them, and head 
 them up in barrels, when they are ready 
 for the market. 
 
 The business is one that exposes the men 
 very much to the weather. As their move 
 ments in going to and coming from the 
 clam flats must necessarily be governed by 
 the tide, they often go out or return in the 
 night. The weather at this season, too, is 
 very changeable, and often, when out upon 
 the flats and their boats aground, a storm 
 of snow or rain is driven in upon them 
 from the ocean with great fury ; sometimes 
 they are thus unexpectedly drenched with 
 cold rain or covered with snow or sleet. 
 The east winds, too, that blow over these 
 flats, sometimes pierce them to their very 
 bones. They have no shelter but such as 
 they can obtain by cowering down in the 
 mud under the lee of their boats. Here 
 they must remain patiently until the tide 
 comes to float them off. Sometimes they 
 
268 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 leave their boats on the flats, and make the 
 best of their way through the pools and 
 creeks to the nearest shore. There have 
 been many instances of severe exposure, 
 not only of health, but even of life, among 
 those engaged in this business. In early 
 times, when the fishermen used clams, they 
 dug them themselves. When purposing to 
 be absent several days, they went to the 
 clam ground, and dug a few buckets of 
 clams, as a preliminary step. They were 
 not in the habit of preserving them with 
 salt. In later times, a division of labor was 
 found more convenient and profitable, and 
 the procuring of clam bait became a busi 
 ness by itself, or rather a separate branch 
 of the fishing business. 
 
 Gott & Son, finding that the supply of 
 bait was not equal to the demand, proposed 
 to those who were in the habit of frequent 
 ing the flats, to take all they would dig 
 during the winter, and pay them one half 
 in cash, and one half in goods. These men, 
 now finding that they had a ready and sure 
 market, set themselves diligently at work ; 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 269 
 
 others also engaged in the business, in pre 
 ference to winter fishing. By the time the 
 opening spring brought a demand for bait 
 to be carried to the Banks, they had accu 
 mulated more than five hundred barrels. 
 The purchasers found the barrels and salt, 
 and paid about four dollars per barrel. In 
 the spring they readily sold for six, thus 
 yielding them a profit of about one dollar. 
 This business they carried on for several 
 years, some years purchasing from one to 
 two thousand barrels, thus furnishing em 
 ployment to quite a number of families? 
 and deriving a fair profit to themselves. 
 In every new enterprize in which Mr. Gott 
 engaged, he had reference to others as well 
 as to himself. He sought to make pro 
 fitable employment for the laboring men 
 around him, for he believed that the best 
 way to help others was to furnish them 
 with the means of helping themselves. If 
 all who are charitably disposed would adopt 
 this principle, and invest their money in 
 the establishment of some business that 
 would furnish steady and useful employ- 
 
 23* 
 
270 PETER GO IT, 
 
 inent to those who need assistance, how 
 much more real good would be done than 
 by bestowing the same amount in charity. 
 Not only would the individuals thus em 
 ployed be benefited in a much greater 
 degree, but the whole community would 
 derive advantage from it also. There are 
 doubtless many cases in which almsgiving, 
 or direct acts of charity, are required by 
 every principle of humanity; but where 
 profitable employment is furnished to the 
 necessitous, they are spared the degrada 
 tion which accompanies the reception of 
 alms. They feel that they render an equiv 
 alent for what they receive. They acquire 
 habits of industry, if they were wanting in 
 them before, and learn to rely upon their 
 own exertions. The moral good thus con 
 ferred upon them is, in most cases, of more 
 value than the physical. 
 
 Mr. Gott, through the whole of his life, 
 felt a deep interest in the class of men from 
 which he sprung, and especially in the 
 young men w r ho were coming forward into 
 ^fe. He was a careful observer of charac- 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 271 
 
 ter. Whenever he saw a young man in 
 dustrious, diligent and faithful, and disposed 
 to avail himself of every opportunity to 
 advance himself, he was always ready to 
 aid him, and to put him into the situation 
 to which he thought him best adapted. 
 He remembered the struggles of his own 
 boyhood, and the kindnesses he had receiv 
 ed from his old friend Dennis. Not all who 
 were assisted by him manifested or felt the 
 gratitude which he felt for his benefactor ; 
 but there were many who felt their obliga 
 tions to him, and acknowledged their in 
 debtedness to his helping hand. Very 
 many of the young men in his neighbor 
 hood owed their success in after life to the 
 encouragement and assistance which they 
 received from him. His kindness to the 
 people whom he employed, and the confi 
 dence with which he treated them, gene 
 rally ensured their fidelity. There is no 
 class of men more sensible to kindness than 
 seamen, or who will longer remember a 
 favor or more faithfully requite it. Until 
 they have been hardened and brutalized 
 
272 
 
 PETER GOTT, 
 
 by severity and harsh treatment, there are 
 no hearts more susceptible of tender emo 
 tions and kind feelings than the hearts of 
 the sons of the ocean. 
 
 Young Gott had now become extensively 
 known as an intelligent, efficient, and up 
 right business man. He had a young fam 
 ily growing up around him. Mr. Gott, 
 having secured a competence, was disposed 
 gradually to retire from business and leave 
 the management of the affairs of the firm 
 to his son. That he might the more read 
 ily carry out this purpose, he purchased a 
 few acres of land about half a mile from 
 the Cove, and erected a house and barn 
 upon it, and removed into it with his 
 family, and his mother, who still survived,- 
 and whom he ever cared for with most 
 affectionate and filial regard, and gave up 
 his house to his son. Most men, as they 
 become advanced in years, acquire a fond 
 ness for cultivating the soil. After having 
 tried other occupations with more or less 
 success, they find in this an occupation 
 congenial with their feelings, thus proving 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 273 
 
 that this is the most natural employment 
 of man. Mr. Gott was no exception to this 
 law. He had for several years found much 
 satisfaction in the cultivation of a little 
 garden, and had gradually come to take 
 much interest in the pursuits and successes 
 of the few farmers in his neighborhood. 
 The land upon the Cape is generally hard 
 and rocky ; but there are patches of fertile 
 soil lying between the hills and ledges. 
 Many of these, by persevering labor, have 
 been brought under cultivation. When 
 cleared of stones and subjected to the 
 plough, they are very productive. The 
 seaweed deposited by the waves on the 
 shore, and the offal of the fish, afford abun 
 dant means of enriching the soil. There 
 are many acres thus cultivated, that yield 
 as large crops as any land in the county of 
 Essex. Mr. Gott selected about four acres 
 of such soil. He took from the surface 
 stones enough to enclose the field with a 
 heavy, substantial wall. In a few years 
 he had a fertile and beautiful field, and a 
 fine garden well stocked with apple, pear 
 
274 
 
 and quince trees. In the cultivation of 
 this garden and field, he took great pleas 
 ure, and spent much time. 
 
 But he did not wholly withdraw from his 
 business ; he daily visited the store and 
 wharf, and kept himself fully acquainted 
 with all their business transactions, and ad 
 vised with his son in respect to every trip 
 that was to be made, and the men who 
 were to be employed. He kept himself 
 acquainted with the state of the books and 
 the result of every voyage. In the insur 
 ance office, of which he had now for many 
 years been a director, his opinion was much 
 relied upon, with regard to the value of 
 vessels and the rates of insurance which 
 each should pay. No man understood bet 
 ter than he the value of all property in the 
 section of the town in which he resided. 
 He was chosen, though much against his 
 will, one of the assessors of taxes, for many 
 years in succession, and was thus compelled 
 to become acquainted with the affairs of 
 every citizen in town. This is an office 
 of much responsibility, requiring a sound 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 275 
 
 judgment and great impartiality. Both 
 these qualifications he possessed in a high 
 degree. Tax-payers occasionally grumbled, 
 as indeed some always will, at the taxes 
 assessed upon them ; but no man ever se 
 cured more fully the confidence of the great 
 majority of his fellow citizens than he. 
 Hence he continued to serve in this capa 
 city as long as he could be persuaded to 
 undergo the labor. When he withdrew 
 from this office, he was selected by his 
 fellow citizens, without distinction of par 
 ties, to represent them in the General Court. 
 With great diffidence he accepted this office. 
 It was a field of duty with which he was 
 wholly unacquainted ; but he brought to 
 it the good sense and honesty of purpose 
 which were essential parts of his character, 
 and that knowledge of human nature by 
 which he was enabled, as by a sort of intu 
 ition, to judge of the characters of those 
 about him. Although unacquainted with 
 the forms of legislation, he readily perceived 
 the bearing of measures proposed and the 
 motives of those who proposed them. He 
 
276 PETER GOTT, 
 
 had been in the legislature but a few weeks, 
 before he had secured the respect of all 
 who had become acquainted with him. 
 His sound judgment, and the modesty with 
 which his opinions were uttered, gave them 
 much weight. 
 
 The mackerel fishery had now become 
 an extensive and important business, and 
 the vessels were fitted out from various 
 establishments on the Cape, at a distance 
 from each other. Up to this time the in 
 spector-general of fish, who lived in Boston, 
 had appointed but two or three deputies 
 for the Cape. It often happened that the 
 interest of the owners required that mack 
 erel should be inspected and packed at 
 nearly all these establishments, at the same 
 time. But the small number of deputy 
 inspectors rendered this impossible. The 
 office was one of considerable emolument, 
 each deputy receiving nine cents for every 
 barrel inspected by him. Hence the depu 
 ties had always opposed the appointment 
 of a larger number. Mr. Gott, always re 
 garding the interest and convenience of his 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 277 
 
 constituents, procured an alteration in the 
 law regulating the inspection of fish, requir 
 ing the inspector to appoint as many dep 
 uties as the convenience of the business 
 required. This change in the law led to 
 the appointment of some ten additional 
 deputies, which proved a great convenience 
 to all concerned in the business. 
 
 Mr. Gott remained in the legislature two 
 years, at the end of which he declined be 
 ing again a candidate for the office, and 
 retired, carrying with him the respect and 
 confidence of all his constituents. This 
 was the last public office which he consent 
 ed to fill. He now purchased a few acres 
 more of land, and confined his attention 
 chiefly to the cultivation of the soil. His 
 children were all married, and settled in 
 the vicinity. They and their numerous 
 families looked up to him with reverence 
 and affection ; they went to him for advice 
 in all their trials, and always found him 
 ready to impart to them not only the coun 
 sels of experience, but such assistance as 
 their circumstances required. He cherish- 
 
 24 
 
278 PETER GOTT, 
 
 ed to the last a deep interest in all their 
 affairs ; and when his children and grand 
 children assembled around him on Thanks 
 giving day, as they continued to do till the 
 close of his days, he sat among them like a 
 patriarch, revered and beloved ; and as he 
 looked upon them his heart swelled with 
 emotions of gratitude to Him who had 
 watched over all his steps, supplied all his 
 wants, and crowned his days with loving 
 kindness and tender mercy. 
 
 His venerable mother had now been 
 dead some years. She lived to be seventy- 
 four years old, and retained her faculties 
 and her activity to the last, and her inter 
 est in her numerous descendants. She 
 was beloved by them all ; and when they 
 followed her to the grave, it was with the 
 feeling that her cheerful voice, her ready 
 assistance, her tender sympathy, and her 
 wise and pious counsels would be greatly 
 missed by them all. All who were ac 
 quainted with her felt that they had lost 
 a true friend, and cherished her memory 
 with affectionate regard. 
 
THE CAPE ANN FISHERMAN. 279 
 
 Mr. Gott s family had been seldom vis 
 ited with sickness. His children were bless 
 ed with good constitutions. They grew up 
 with habits of industry and diligence, which 
 were followed with the natural reward of 
 cheerfulness and health. Winning their 
 bread by cheerful toil, cherishing mutual 
 love and confidence, and contented with 
 their condition, few families enjoyed a 
 greater share of happiness. 
 
 But man is born to die ; and in whatever 
 path he may walk through life, his steps 
 tend to the grave. Mr. Gott now approach 
 ed the close of his well-spent life. His 
 work was done. He had for some time 
 withdrawn from the business of the firm, 
 and given it up entirely to his oldest son, 
 who had become a highly respectable and 
 useful man, and enjoyed the perfect con 
 fidence of the community around him. 
 Early in March he took a cold, which was 
 followed with some inflammation of his 
 lungs, and a slight cough, which gave his 
 friends but little anxiety at first. After a 
 few days, however, his appetite failed, and 
 
280 PETER GOTT. 
 
 his strength yielded to the progress of the 
 disease, and it became apparent that lie 
 must soon cease to be an actor in the 
 scenes of life. He called his children and 
 friends around him, and gave to each a 
 kind parting word, and laid HJrnself down 
 for his final repose. 
 
 In a few days his remains wfere followed 
 to the tomb by a long profession of his 
 weeping kindred and friends, who were 
 joined by hundreds of his f^low citizens 
 from all parts of th<$ Cape, in this last trib 
 ute of affection and respect. His example 
 and his virtues are still held in affectionate 
 remembrance by the fishermen of the Cape, 
 and no name is spoken by ;them with more 
 respect and veneration than the name of 
 PETER GOTT. 
 

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