Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine | Page 3

to understand that he, himself, or
Chaves, had this information from the Report and Survey of Gomez,
who, in his search for a northwest passage to Asia in 1525, "discovered
all these coasts lying between 41° and 41° 30' north". As a matter of
fact, his careful explorations certainly covered all the territory between
40 and 45 degrees.
The Spanish navigators who followed Gomez, in describing these

coasts, when indicating this gulf, usually named it in honor of Gomez,
the first of their nation to make a careful survey of its shores. Thus it
became known as the Arcipelago de Estevan Gomez, and the mainland
behind it as La Tierra de Gomez. It was so named on the map of Ribero
in 1529 who thus acknowledged the source of his information.
The Biscayans followed Gomez but later gave way to the French
fishermen, who followed down the chain of banks extending southward
from the Grand Bank and entered these waters by way of Cape Sable.
These gave to it the name Gulf of Norumbega or Sea of Norumbega.
The name Norumbega was for a time applied to the coast lands and to
the inland country stretching away indefinitely westward and
northwestward from the waters of the gulf.
Later, with the coming of the English and the establishment of their
colony in Massachusetts, the title Massachusetts Bay came into general
use, although this name was afterwards restricted to the smaller section
of the gulf at present so termed.
The charter of Gorges (in April, 1639) designated the territory deeded
to him as the Province or County of Maine,[4] whence, perhaps, the
modern custom of referring to these waters as the Gulf of Maine may
have arisen. This latest name seems especially appropriate, in view of
the fact that the present State of Maine lying directly opposite its
entrance capes, stretches along the inner borders of the gulf and with its
deeply indented shore line occupies by far the greatest section of its
coasts. Thus the title has finally come into general use and acceptance
in modern times. Apparently it was first officially proposed and used
by the Edinburgh Encyclopedia in 1832 [5] and later was adopted by
the United States Coast Survey.
[Footnote 4: "All that parte, purport and porcion of the Mayne Land of
New England, we doe name, ordeyne and appoynt shall forever
hereafter bee called and named The Province and Countie of Mayne."]
[Footnote 5: Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Philadelphia edition, by Thomas
Parker, Vol. XVIII, p. 263.]

DESCRIPTION
A very striking and peculiar body of water is this Gulf of Maine,
markedly different in character from any other of the bays on the coast
line of the eastern United States. Especially does it differ in the depth

of its coastal waters, where in all the others, except the much smaller
New York Bay, the shoal water is found extending far out from the
land.
In the Gulf of Maine, however, with the single exception of the vicinity
of Ammens Rock on the eastern part of Cashes Bank, the entire central
area presents navigable deep water having a mean depth of 100 fathoms,
out of which rise the various underwater plateaus, whose depths
average about 50 fathoms and which constitute the larger of the fishing
grounds. In addition to these, many smaller banks and "fishing spots"
are found nearer the land where they lie a along the 50-fathom curve.
In general this curve lies at a distance of about 16 miles from the coast
line, but in many instances it approaches much neared to the mainland.
From this 50-fathom depth the soundings decrease very gradually to the
20 and 10 fathom marks.
These latter soundings are often held far in toward the coast line, even
carrying the deep water well into the river mouths, so that in deeply
indented hays, in long inlets running far into land, in the river mouths,
the deep water behind the rocky headlands, or in the lee of the
thousands of surf-washed islands that line the coast, are found
innumerable safe anchorages within easy run of the fishing grounds,
where the fleets may take shelter from a sudden blow or await the
arrival of a "fish day," when conditions may permit "making a set"
under the hardships of winter fishing.
If the marine features of this region are radically different from those of
other coastal bodies of the eastern United States, so, too, the shore land,
battered as it has been by sea and storm or worn by glacial action or
Arctic currents, is no less remarkable.
No other section of the eastern United States has a similar coast, so
serrated, indented, and rugged, as has this shore line of the Gulf of
Maine. Here the battering by the forces of nature has resulted in making