1793The first hand tub fire engines were bought.Government and Public Service, City Departments
These early fire engines, called hand tubs, were pulled by hand and the water was dumped into the tub by a bucket brigade. The town voted to provide £30 for acquiring the engines.
Gloucester Town Records, 1753-1800. Vol. 3, 1800, http://archive.org/details/townrecords17531800. Tracy, Cyrus M. Standard History of Essex County, Massachusetts, Embracing a History of the County from Its First Settlement to the Present Time, with a History and Description of Its Towns and Cities. Boston, C. F. Jewett, 1878, http://archive.org/details/standardhistoryo00trac