Deposition of John Cluett., this 17th day of June, A. D. 1878

Deposition of John Cluett.

The examination of John Cluett, of Belloram, Fortune Bay, taken upon oath, and who saith:

I was in Long Harbor one Sunday in January last.

Question. Did you see anything of the quarrel between the Americans and other fishermen?—Answer. I did.

Q. Tell me what you know of it.—A. They commenced hauling herrings on Sunday, about midday. The first American seine shot was Captain Jacobs’s; there were two more American seines shot. There was an Englishman working for the Americans who had a seine moored there for several days, but it was not shot or attempted to be hauled on the Sunday. The first seine we came to was Captain McDonald’s; they asked him if he was going to take his seine up. He said, “If we are forced to take it up we will,” and we told him if he didn’t take it up we would take it up for him. The next we came to was a man belonging to Fortune Bay, called John Hickey, an Englishman, and we told him to take up the seine, and he said he would take it up, and he did. The next we came to was Peter McCauley, and we told him the same as the others, and he refused to take it up. Then we went on to Captain Jacobs, and when we got to him he was in his skiff, a little off the shore; he had just hauled herring and shot them into Farrel’s seine, who was working for him; they remonstrated about breaking the law and fishing on Sunday; there was an altercation between us; he said he would defend his seine if they touched it in a threatening way. I don’t know what he said; there was a great crowd, and he was in an awful rage, and I heard that he drew a revolver, but I didn’t see it; he then took his seine on board; then all the seines were taken up but Farrel’s and McCauley’s. Farrel’s seine was not touched, because it was not laid on that day, and they therefore let it alone, although Jacobs’s fish were in it; but McCauley’s seine was taken up and destroyed, and that is all I know.

Q. Did the American captain remain in the harbor after?—A. Yes; I think about a fortnight, but perhaps more. They continued to fish and haul herring on week-days but not on Sunday again.

Q. Were they ever molested or interfered with in any way subsequently or not?—A. Not to my knowledge; they remained there as long as they chose, and there was never any more dispute. I don’t know that it is illegal to haul seines that time of the year. I have heard of the law, but I have never seen it carried out; it had nothing to do with this dispute. The only cause of it was on account of its being Sabbath. I never saw herrings hauled on a Sunday before, either by American or Englishman.

The Americans, by hauling herring that day when the Englishmen could not, were robbing them of their lawful and just chance of securing their share in them, and, further, had they secured all they had barred, they could have, I believe, filled every vessel of theirs in the bay. They would have probably frightened the rest away, and it would have been useless for the English to stay, for the little left for them to take they could not have sold.

The Americans would have a better chance than the English any day on account of the size of their nets, but the English would have had their fair chance the next day, and they thought they were justified, in the absence of any proper authority or power to enforce the law, to defend their fights themselves. There is no power or authority to enforce the law on all parts of the coast, and none nearer to Long Harbor than about 30 or 40 miles.

If there was not a good feeling and mutual understanding between all fishermen, whether foreigners or Englishmen, there would be no law carried out or upheld at all, but there was always prior to this a very good feeling and a mutual understanding between the Americans and ourselves, and I don’t know anything to prevent the sam in future. After the destruction of McCauley’s seine some of the American schooners, one of which was Peter Smith’s, drifted about the harbor among the fishermen’s nets when blowing hard, with their anchors hanging to their bows, and destroyed several nets. I don’t know if this was done out of revenge or not. I don’t think it was done purposely.