The Rise and Fall of America’s Oldest Seaport: Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester, Massachusetts, was once a town of fewer than 25,000 people that sent its schooners to Georges Bank and kept sending them, season after season. Crews of Portuguese from the Azores, Italians, Canadians and Scandinavians anchored in fog and cold and put their dories over the side, one or two men to a boat, each crew rowing away from the only deck that could carry it home. The town reached its three hundredth anniversary in 1923, counting its years from 1623. But the sea that fed Gloucester also took its men at a staggering rate. By the count most often repeated, 1,800 fishermen died between 1860 and 1880, about ninety a year. A northwest gale on February 24, 1862 caught about seventy schooners at anchor and cost thirteen vessels and about 120 men. A hurricane in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in August 1873 killed 128 more, and February 1879 took fourteen vessels and about 157 men in a single month. In 1925 the town put an eight-foot bronze fisherman on the waterfront, with plaques at his feet carrying the names of the men lost since 1716. The town keeps adding names to them. This is the story of how schooners, dories and immigrant crews built America's oldest seaport — and what the water took in return. A full history documentary about Gloucester, Massachusetts — from 1623 to the bronze fisherman of 1925. Copyright & Fair Use Disclaimer • This video is a non-commercial, educational history documentary created for commentary, criticism and research. • Some archival photos and footage are used under the principles of Fair Use (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act) for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.