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GLOUCESTER

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 132 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GLOUCESTER , a See also:

city and See also:port of entry of See also:Essex See also:county, See also:Massachusetts, U.S.A., beautifully situated on Cape See also:Ann. Pop. (1890) 24,651; (1900) 26,121, of whom 8768 were See also:foreign-See also:born, including 4388 See also:English Canadians, 800 See also:French Canadians, 665 Irish, 653 Finns and 594 Portuguese;. (1910 See also:census) 24,398. See also:Area, 53.6 sq. m. It is served by the See also:Boston & See also:Maine railway and by a steamboat See also:line to Boston. The See also:surface is sterile, naked and rugged, with bold, rocky ledges, and a most picturesque See also:shore, the beauties of which have made it a favourite summer resort, much frequented by artists. Included within the city See also:borders are. several villages, of which the See also:principal one, also known as Gloucester, has a deep and commodious See also:harbour. Among the other villages, all summer resorts, are Annisquam, See also:Bay View and See also:Magnolia (so called from the Magnolia glauca, which grows See also:wild there, this being probably its most northerly See also:habitat) ; near Magnolia are Rafe's Chasm (6o ft. deep and 6-10 ft. wide) and See also:Norman's Woe,the See also:scene of the See also:wreck of the "See also:Hesperus" (which has only tradition as a basis), celebrated in See also:Longfellow's poem. There is some slight See also:general See also:commerce—in 1909 the imports were valued at $130,098; the exports at $7853—but the principal business is fishing, and has been since See also:early colonial days. The pursuit of See also:cod, See also:mackerel, See also:herring and See also:halibut fills up, with a See also:winter See also:coasting See also:trade, the See also:round of the See also:year. In this See also:industry Gloucester is the most important See also:place in the See also:United States; and is, indeed, one of the greatest fishing ports of the See also:world.

Most of the adult See also:

males are engaged in it. The " catch " was valued in 1895 at $3,212,985 and in 1905 at $3,377,330. The organization of the industry has undergone many transformations, but a notable feature is the general practice—especially since See also:modern methods have necessitated larger vessels and more costly See also:gear, and correspondingly greater See also:capital—of profit-sharing; all the See also:crew entering on that basis and not independently. There are some manufactures, chiefly connected with the See also:fisheries. The See also:total factory product in 1905 was valued at $6,920,984, of which the See also:canning and preserving of See also:fish represented $4,068,571, and See also:glue represented $752,003. An industry of considerable importance is the See also:quarrying of the beautiful, dark Cape Ann See also:granite that underlies the city and all the environs. Gloucester harbour was probably noted by See also:Champlain (as La Beauport), and a temporary See also:settlement was made by English fishermen sent out by the See also:Dorchester See also:Company of " See also:merchant adventurers " in 1623–1625; some of these settlers returned to See also:England in 1625, and others, with See also:Roger See also:Conant, the See also:governor, removed to what is now See also:Salem.' Permanent settlement ante-dated 1639 at least, and in 1642 the township was incorporated. From See also:Gosnold's voyages onward the extraordinary abundance of cod about Cape Ann was well known, and though the first I According to some authorities (e.g. See also:Pringle) a few settlers remained on the site of Gloucester, the permanent settlement thus dating from 1623 to 1625; of this, however, there is no See also:proof, and the contrary See also:opinion is the one generally held.settlers characteristically enough tried to live by farming, they speedily became perforce a See also:sea-faring folk. The active pursuit of fishing as an industry may be dated as beginning about 1700, for then began voyages beyond Cape See also:Sable. Voyages to the See also:Grand See also:Banks began about 1741. Mackerel was a relatively unimportant catch until about 1821, and since then has been an important but unstable return; halibut fishing has been vigorously pursued since about 1836 and herring since about 1856.

At the opening of the See also:

War of See also:Independence Gloucester, whose fisheries then employed about 600 men, was second to See also:Marblehead as a fishing-port. The war destroyed the fisheries, which steadily declined, reaching their lowest ebb from 182o to 1840. Meanwhile foreign commerce had greatly See also:expanded. The cod take had supported in the 18th See also:century an extensive trade with See also:Bilbao, See also:Lisbon and the See also:West Indies, and though changed in nature with the decline of the See also:Bank fisheries after the War of Independence, it continued large through the first See also:quarter of the 19th century. Throughout more than See also:half of the same century also Gloucester carried on a varied and valuable trade with Surinam, See also:hake being the See also:chief See also:article of export and See also:molasses and See also:sugar the principal imports. " See also:India Square " remains, a memento of a bygone See also:day. About 1850 the fisheries revived, especially after 186o, under the See also:influence of better prices, improved methods and the See also:discovery of new grounds, becoming again the chief economic See also:interest; and since that See also:time the See also:village of Gloucester has changed from a picturesque See also:hamlet to a fairly modern, though still See also:quaint and somewhat foreign, settlement. Gasoline boats were introduced in 1900. See also:Ship-See also:building is another industry of the past. The first " See also:schooner " was launched at Gloucester in 1713. From 183o to 1907, 776 vessels and 5242 lives were lost in the fisheries; but the loss of See also:life has been greatly reduced by the use of better vessels and by improved methods of fishing. Gloucester became a city in 1874.

Gloucester life has been celebrated in many books; among others in See also:

Elizabeth See also:Stuart See also:Phelps-See also:Ward's Singular Life and Old Maid's See also:Paradise, in Rudyard See also:Kipling's Captains Courageous, and in See also:James B. Connolly's Out of Gloucester (1902), The Deep. Sea's See also:Toll (1905), and The Crested Seas (1907). See J. J. Babson, See also:History of the See also:Town of Gloucester (Gloucester, 186o; with Notes and Additions, on See also:genealogy, 1876, 1891); and J. R. Pringle, History of the Town and City of Gloucester (Gloucester, 1892).

End of Article: GLOUCESTER

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