One schooner, owned by Samuel A. Otis, Esq., of Boston, made her outfits at Plymouth, for her voyages to Liverpool. Outward cargoes, liver oil, lumber, potash, then made at Middleborough. Return cargoes, salt, crates, freight for Boston. There may have been about twenty other vessels in the merchant service, whose outward cargoes were fish to Jamaica, some to the Mediterranean, and to the French Islands, Martinico and Guadaloupe. During the Revolutionary War, this commerce and these few vessels were chiefly annihilated, and at the peace of 1783, a few schooners only remained, but fishing vessels immediately increased in size and aggregate tonnage. Previous to the Revolution there was a considerable trade to Georgetown, South Carolina, and to Charleston. In the winter many vessels which had been employed in fishing during the summer, took cargoes to North Carolina and Virginia, and returned in March with Indian corn, bacon, and live hogs, and this domestic trade still continued. 'Previous to the last war with England, say from about 1808 to 1811, the commerce of the United States had attained to a state of great prosperity, and its government and people reposed in security upon the advantages which had resulted from a neutral position.' Ship-building was constantly increasing, and large ships were in great demand for voyages of neutral freight. But the destructive embargo in 1808, and the war with Great Britain which followed, annihilated commerce, and blasted the fairest prospects and calculations of merchants. Several valuable vessels belonging to this town were captured, others were perishing at the wharves, and our mechanics and seamen reduced to a mortifying state of idleness. * The commerce of Plymouth, including Duxbury and Kingston, may be estimated from the following abstract of duties: Duties. Years. Duties. Years. * It has been stated that we had in foreign trade, in 1811 and 1812, 17 ships, 16 brigs, 40 schooners. Of these were taken before September, 1812, 1 ship, 1 brig, 4 schooners. Duties paid by merchants and others in the town of Plymouth, on importation at the port of Plymouth: m Years. Duties. 1822 1823 $16,887 1824 5,053 1816 1817 16,076 1825 8,151 1826 4,842 1818 13,224 1827 13,119 1819 11,221 Enrolled tonnage belonging to the town of Plymouth, employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, 3,949 tons. Registered tonnage belonging to the town of Plymouth, 5,070 tons, including 1,170 tons occupied in the whale fishery. The following is the statement of the Cod and Mackerel fishery for the summer of 1831. Schooners in the Cod fishery 32, averaging 61 tons, employing eight men each, and landing 19,165 quintals of fish. The number of barrels of Mackerel inspected this season is 2183. To the inhabitants of the town the Cod fishery is an object of primary importance. To some it has been a source of wealth, and to multitudes of a comfortable, cheerful living. The fishermen, in general, are respectable for good morals, correct habits, and civil deportment. The idea prevails with some of them that fishing employment is less honorable than foreign voyages; but let them consider that all honest enterprise and industry is honorable, and that fishing voyages are less liable to sickness, and less exposed to dangers and vicious example; and, moreover, that the employment prepares them for services in the navy, where they may have the honor of fighting the battles of their country. It is much to the credit of our fishermen that when on the banks they carefully abstain from fishing on Sundays. Those vessels that are employed in the straits of Belle-isle fishery carry whale-boats, in which the fish are taken and kept through the summer. To fit a vessel of seventy tons, carrying eight men, for a fishing voyage of four months, it requires about one hundred hogsheads, or eight hundred bushels of salt; that from the Isle of May is preferred; about twenty barrels of clam bait, thirtyfive or forty barrels of water, twenty pounds of candles, two gallons of sperm oil; these articles are in the fisherman's phrase called great generals, and are paid for from the proceeds before any division of the profits is made. The stone ballast, and a suit of clothes for the men who salt the fish, are also included in the great generals. After these articles are paid for, and the fish sold, the profits are divided in the proportion of three eighths to the owners, and five eights to the crew. If the crew furnish their own provisions, each man carries from thirty to fifty pounds of ship bread, from three to six gallons of molasses, from fourteen to twenty-eight pounds of flour, some butter, lard, and vinegar, formerly two to six gallons of rum. At the present time, some vessels go entirely without ardent spirits. Each man carries six codlines, thirty fathoms long, four lead weights of five pounds each, two dozen codhooks, one pair of large boots reaching above the knees, and a piece of leather or oil-cloth to defend his breast from the wet. A few other articles, called small generals, are paid for equally by each man, as two cords of wood, a barrel of beef, one bushel of beans, twenty bushels of potatoes, three bushels of Indian or rye meal. It is customary for the owners to put on board two or more spare anchors and forty fathoms of cable. The fish are brought home in the salt, and after being washed are spread on flakes to dry. Dun-fish are of a superior quality for the table, and are cured in such a manner as to give them a dun or brownish color. Fish for dunning are caught early in spring, and sometimes in February, at the Isle of Shoals. They are taken in deep water, split and slack salted, then laid in a pile for two or three months in a dark store, covered for the greatest part of the time with salt-hay, or eel-grass, and pressed with some weight. In April or May, they are opened and piled again as close as possible in the same dark store till July or August, when they are fit for use. The amount of fish bounty paid to this town by the general government for the year 1831 is $17,501 47. Whale Fishery. There were a number of schooners and sloops employed in the whale fishery in this town previous to and immediately succeeding the war of the revolution; but there are now no vessels of that class so employed. In the year 1821, a number of citizens associated themselves together and built a ship of three hundred and fifty tons for the purpose of fitting her for the Pacific ocean whaling, which they named the Mayflower, in honor of the ship that brought our forefathers here in 1620. The ship sailed in September, 1821, and after making three successful voyages, and landing rising six thousand barrels of oil, a part of the owners sold to some gentlemen of New Bedford, where she was transferred in 1831, and repaired, and sailed from that place in April, 1831; a part is still owned in this place. In 1821 another company was formed, consisting principally of the same persons that built the Mayflower, and built another ship which they called the Fortune, in memory of the second ship that came into these waters. This ship is of two hundred and eighty tons burthen, and has made three voyages, and landed about fifty-seven hundred barrels of oil, and is now on her fourth voyage. In 1830, the ship Arbella, of four hundred and four tons, and navigated by thirty-five men, was sent out, and in 1831 the ship Levant, of three hundred and eighty-five tons, navigated also by thirty-five men, sailed for the Pacific Ocean in pursuit of sperm whales. The two last named ships are of the largest class, and fitted out in a thorough manner; and it is hoped they may meet with success to induce others of our fellow citizens to embark in this enterprise, which has brought wealth and prosperity to other towns, and is believed can be carried on here to as good advantage as from most other places. The three ships now employed in the whale fishery amount in the aggregate to 1060 tons, navigated by ninety-two officers and seamen; the produce of this fishery may be estimated at about two thousand barrels of sperm oil annually. Connected with this establishment are the manufacture of about three thousand oil casks, and about fifteen hundred boxes, or of forty-five hundred pounds of sperm candles annually. A fourth ship has this year (1833) been fitted out. There are six sloops of about sixty tons each constantly employed in coasting between this place and Boston. They average about one trip a week in the summer season, and are usually from eight to sixteen hours in performing a passage. The distance being about fifty-five miles. A large part of their cargoes consists of the raw materials for the cotton, woollen, iron and cordage manufactories, as well as all kinds of goods and groceries for our stores and shops, and they carry back the various kinds of manufactures which are produced here. There are also two schooners, of about ninety tons each, employed in carrying to and from Nantucket, New Bedford, and New York, articles connected with our manufacturing establishments. There are also three vessels employed in bringing lumber from the State of Maine. An attempt was made in the years 1828 and 9, to run a steamboat between this place and Boston, but it proved to be a losing concern, which was much regretted, as it was found to afford a mode of conveyance of great convenience to the inhabitants. Wharves. In 1695, we find the first mention of a wharf on our records. John Richard had liberty from the town to erect a wharf against his own warehouse leaving sufficient room for carts to pass along the shore. In 1698, the town granted to James Warren 30 feet square of land for a wharf, and to Abiel Shurtleff a lot of the same dimensions below Cole's hill for building a wharf, leaving a cart-way between the bank and said land. August 28, 1727, a committee was chosen by the town to hear what those persons have to offer, that purpose to build a wharf at the lower end of the new street, but no further proceedings on the subject are recorded. In 1734, the town sold several wharf lots extending from the top of Cole's hill into the bay reserving a street 30 feet wide to run parallel with the shore. These lots were laid out 30 feet in width, and a piece of land was reserved below the street for a landing place for vessels, to remain open for a common dock for the town's use forever. This dock lies at the bottom of north street, between the long wharf and Mr. Hedge's store. The first lot was sold to Isaac Lothrop, Esq. for 5 pounds and is adjoining the town dock; each purchaser of these lots were required to support the bank at the foot of Cole's hill. Other purchasers were Thomas Foster, Quintin Crymble, James Warren, John Murdock, Samuel Kempton, Josiah Finney, William Harlow. The lot called the shop lot, being the lot on which the shop of Dr. Francis Le Baron, deceased, then stood, was sold to Samuel Bartlett and Dr. Lazarus Le Baron. There are now nine wharves near the centre of the town, one of which extends nine hundred feet into the harbor, and is called Long wharf. This was constructed in 1829, and is honorable to the enterprising proprietors. Having a plank flooring it affords a beautiful promenade, which is much frequented in summer by social parties who wish to enjoy a pleasant view and refreshing sea breeze. Besides these, there are three wharves on the south side of the harbor and one connected with the Cordage Factory at the north part of the town. On Water street, and the wharves which run from it, where most of the business connected with navigation is transacted, there are twenty-one stores, sixteen warehouses, and a sufficient number of mechanics and artists of various descriptions. There is an aqueduct in the town which supplies. most of the families on the north side of the Town brook, at the rate of $5 annually for a single family, or $8 for two families in one house. The water is brought in logs from Billing |