THE NEW ENGLAND COD FISHING INDUSTRY AND MARITIME DIMENSIONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION by Christopher Paul Magra B.A., Grove City College, 1999 M.A., The Pennsylvania State University, 2001 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2006 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Christopher Paul Magra It was defended on May 25, 2006 and approved by Jonathan Scott, Professor, Department of History Van Beck Hall, Associate Professor, Department of History Deryck Holdsworth, Professor, Department of Geography Dissertation Advisor: Marcus Rediker, Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by Christopher Paul Magra 2006 iii THE NEW ENGLAND COD FISHING INDUSTRY AND MARITIME DIMENSIONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Christopher Paul Magra, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2006 The American Revolution cannot be fully understood without coming to terms with why workers and merchants within the New England cod fishing industry resisted British authority and how their labor and capital contributed to the war effort. The Revolution began in New England with the shot heard around the world in Concord, Massachusetts. New England provided the most manpower for the American military each and every year of the war. And cod represented the most lucrative trade good in all of colonial New England. Between 1768 and 1772, fish represented 35% of New England’s total export revenue. The second most valuable export commodity, livestock, represented only 20% of this revenue stream. By 1775, an estimated 10,000 New Englanders, or 8% of the adult male working population, labored in the fishing industry. Yet, to date there has not been a systematic effort to investigate the relationship between this vital colonial industry and the Revolutionary War. In order to get at the linkages between the worlds of commerce and the way of war I triangulated data culled from merchant ledgers, ship’s log books, customs records, shipping records, diaries, newspapers, and military service records. Drawing on these sources, the dissertation defends a two-fold argument. First, economic competition between vested interests in the British Empire, principally New England fish merchants, West Country fish merchants, and West Indian sugar planters, resulted in a series of commercial regulations and naval police actions aimed at restricting New England’s economic expansion. These regulations and actions iv culminated in the British state’s fateful decision in 1775 to close the New England cod fishing industry, which ultimately motivated colonists to go to war. Second, fishermen and fish merchants played key roles in winning the war. Merchants converted trade routes into military supply lines and transformed their fishing vessels into warships. Fishermen armed and manned the first American navy, served in the first coast guard units, manned privateers, and fought on land. These multi-faceted efforts helped secure American independence. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................IX 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 2.0 THE NATURE OF WORK IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MASSACHUSETTS COD FISHING INDUSTRY.................................................................. 14 2.1 TRANSITION.................................................................................................... 23 2.2 LABOR RECRUITMENT................................................................................ 24 2.3 LABOR HIERARCHY ..................................................................................... 35 2.4 CAPITAL INVESTMENT ............................................................................... 43 2.5 DEEP SEA COD FISHING .............................................................................. 45 2.6 BACK IN PORT ................................................................................................ 64 2.7 SHIPPING COD ................................................................................................ 76 2.8 EXPLOITATION .............................................................................................. 79 2.9 MULTI-FUNCTIONAL OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY............................. 83 3.0 THE RISE OF THE NEW ENGLAND COD FISHERIES IN THE ATLANTIC ECONOMY ................................................................................................................................. 99 3.1 WESTWARD EXPANSION AND THE RISE OF THE ATLANTIC COMMERCIAL COD FISHING INDUSTRY ............................................................. 102 vi 3.2 NEW ENGLAND’S BIOGEOGRAPHIC COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES ................................................................................................................ 113 3.3 WHY ENGLAND WAS THE FIRST TO ESTABLISH A RESIDENT FISHING STATION ........................................................................................................ 115 3.4 THE BIRTH OF RESIDENT NEW ENGLAND FISHING STATIONS .. 117 3.5 THE MATURATION OF RESIDENT NEW ENGLAND FISHING STATIONS........................................................................................................................ 130 4.0 COD AND ATLANTIC ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION..... 148 4.1 NEW ENGLAND’S ECONOMIC EXPANSION IN THE WEST INDIES157 4.2 THE POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS OF NEW ENGLAND’S WEST INDIAN EXPANSION..................................................................................................... 164 4.3 NEW ENGLAND’S ECONOMIC EXPANSION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC....................................................................................................................... 186 4.4 THE FISHERIES BILL.................................................................................. 196 5.0 THE SINEWS OF WAR: PROFIT AND THE MILITARY MOBILIZATION OF A PEACE TIME INDUSTRY........................................................................................... 205 5.1 CONVERTING TRADE ROUTES INTO SUPPLY LINES....................... 210 5.2 REGULATING FOOD SHIPMENTS........................................................... 224 5.3 PROVISIONING THE ARMED FORCES .................................................. 235 5.4 ARMING FISHING SCHOONERS .............................................................. 241 5.5 FROM FISHERMEN TO FIGHTING MEN ............................................... 261 6.0 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................... 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 293 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: 17th century New England towns. .............................................................................. 15 Figure 2: Northwest Atlantic Fishing Grounds A........................................................................ 48 Figure 3: Northwest Atlantic Fishing Grounds B......................................................................... 50 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A dissertation, like any seaworthy vessel, is the product of much accumulated knowledge. While crafting a work that I hope will float, members of my committee have generously given of their time and expertise. I am very grateful to Marcus Rediker, Jonathan Scott, Van Beck Hall, and Deryck Holdsworth. I especially want to thank Professor Rediker for piloting me through scholarly seas that were not always calm. Daniel Vickers charitably and patiently answered numerous research questions. William M. Fowler, Jr., Ken Morgan, and William A. Pencak reviewed chapters of the dissertation and offered valuable suggestions on improvements. The net worth of this collective knowledge is a debt I can never fully repay. Certain organizations have provided financial support that has enabled me to research and write my dissertation. The University of Pittsburgh awarded me the Samuel P. Hays research grant, which helped cover costs associated with travel expenses and research costs. The University’s Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship further covered these costs and afforded me time away from teaching to write. Research fellowships from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, Massachusetts made it that much easier to complete the dissertation. I am grateful to these fine institutions. I also want to acknowledge the librarians and archivists at the sites I visited for research. Staff at the National Archives, the Maritime History Archives, the Massachusetts State Archives, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the James Duncan Phillips Library, and the Marblehead ix Museum and Historical Society were all knowledgeable and helpful. I am especially grateful to Karen MacInnis for introducing me to Marblehead. My largest debt belongs to my family. My father worked his whole life so that I might live mine. My mother has never wavered in her love and support. My brother has always motivated me. Most especially, my wife sacrificed her own goals to help me achieve my own. No one could have a more loving family, nor could anyone love their family more in return. x 1.0 INTRODUCTION “The history of Sea Power is largely, though by no means solely, a narrative of contests between nations, of mutual rivalries,