The Bounty of the Chesapeake Fishing in Colonial Virginia   By: James Wharton

Fishing in Colonial Virginia

by

JAMES WHARTON

JAMESTOWN 350TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORICAL BOOKLETS

Editor E. G. SWEM, Librarian Emeritus, College of William and Mary

COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS: JOHN M. JENNINGS, Director of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, Chairman . FRANCIS L. BERKELEY, JR., Archivist, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. LYMAN H. BUTTERFIELD, Editor in Chief of the Adams Papers, Boston, Mass. EDWARD M. RILEY, Director of Research, Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., Williamsburg, Virginia. E. G. SWEM, Librarian Emeritus, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. WILLIAM J. VAN SCHREEVEN, Chief, Division of Archives, Virginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia.

1. A Selected Bibliography of Virginia, 1607 1699. By E. G. Swem, John M. Jennings and James A. Servies.

2. A Virginia Chronology, 1585 1783. By William W. Abbot.

3. John Smith's Map of Virginia, with a Brief Account of its History. By Ben C. McCary.

4. The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London, with Seven Related Documents; 1606 1621. Introduction by Samuel M. Bemiss.

5. The Virginia Company of London, 1606 1624. By Wesley Frank Craven.

6. The First Seventeen Years, Virginia, 1607 1624. By Charles E. Hatch, Jr.

7. Virginia under Charles I and Cromwell, 1625 1660. By Wilcomb E. Washburn.

8. Bacon's Rebellion, 1676. By Thomas J. Wertenbaker.

9. Struggle Against Tyranny and the Beginning of a New Era, Virginia, 1677 1699. By Richard L. Morton.

10. Religious Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. By George MacLaren Brydon.

11. Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century. By Henry Chandlee Forman.

12. Mother Earth Land Grants in Virginia, 1607 1699. By W. Stitt Robinson, Jr.

13. The Bounty of the Chesapeake; Fishing in Colonial Virginia. By James Wharton.

14. Agriculture in Virginia, 1607 1699. By Lyman Carrier.

15. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic in Virginia, 1607 1699. By Susie M. Ames.

16. The Government of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. By Thomas J. Wertenbaker.

17. Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. By Annie Lash Jester.

18. Indians in Seventeenth Century Virginia. By Ben C. McCary.

19. How Justice Grew. Virginia Counties. By Martha W. Hiden.

20. Tobacco in Colonial Virginia; "The Sovereign Remedy." By Melvin Herndon.

21. Medicine in Virginia, 1607 1699. By Thomas P. Hughes.

22. Some Notes on Shipping and Ship building in Colonial Virginia. By Cerinda W. Evans.

23. A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries. By J. Paul Hudson.

Price 50¢ Each

Printed in the United States of America

THE BOUNTY OF THE CHESAPEAKE

Fishing in Colonial Virginia

by

JAMES WHARTON

The University Press of Virginia Charlottesville

Copyright© 1957 by Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, Williamsburg, Virginia

Second printing 1973

Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 13

FOREWORD

Just as a series of personal letters may constitute an autobiography, so the extracts from Colonial writings that follow tell the unique story of the fisheries of Virginia's great Tidewater. In them it is possible to trace the measured growth of a vital industry. The interspersed comments of the compiler are to be understood as mere annotations. This is the testimony, then, of those who from the beginning participated in one of the foremost natural resources of this country.

I gratefully acknowledge guidance in research to Mr. John C. Pearson of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who masterfully surveyed the field and first brought the early fishery reports to public notice.

JAMES WHARTON Weems, Virginia

THE BOUNTY OF THE CHESAPEAKE

The Bounty of The Chesapeake