The Jew Fish

I wonder what fish this was:

"The Jew-fish is a very good Fish, and I judge so called by the English, because it hath Scales and Fins, and therefore a clean Fish, according to the Levitical Law, and the Jews at Jamaica buy them, and eat them very freely.  It is a very large Fish, shaped much like a Cod, but a great deal bigger; one will weigh three, or four, or five Hundred Weight. It hath a large Head, with great Fins and Scales, as big as an Half-Crown, answerable to the bigness of his Body, It is very sweet Meat, and commonly fat. This Fish lives among the Rocks; there are plenty of them in the West-Indies, about Jamaica, and the Coast of Caraccos; but chiefly in these Seas, especially more Westward."

William Dampier. A Collection Of Voyages: In Four Volumes. 1729

Port Royal, Jamaica, 1742

The anecdote below is from the murder trial of John Richardson, a rogue. It gives an insight into Caribbean trade. It also shows a Jew being swindled by a Christian Englishman. The tenor of the statement seems to be that there is nothing morally wrong with cheating a Jew.

From thence I went on board a Vessel which came from Guiney [Guiana?], and was bound for Jamaica; and as soon as I arrived, I took Lodgings at one Mr. William Torkman's at Port-Royal, where I had not been a Month, before I shipp'd myself on board with Capt. Trevisa, bound for Carthagena; but, before I went from Jamaica, I laid out the Money I brought with me in Goods, which I bought of a Jew Merchant, intending to sell them at Carthagena. The Jew seeing me able to buy Goods, asked me what Voyage I was going to make? I told him I was going to Carthagena, with Capt. Trevisa. He hearing that, offered me an hundred Pounds worth of'his own, and 'tis usual for the Merchants in those Places, to entrust Goods with Traders for half Profit. I accepted of his Goods, and we sailed from Jamaica to Carthagena; when we arrived there, I made a good Market of my Goods, but I took Care to return no more to Jamaica to give the Jew any Account of his Merchandize.

Select trials: at the Sessions-House in the Old-Bailey, for murder ... 1742

Jews in Jamaica, 1778

8 or 900 Jews. Jamaica is perhaps the only place in the world where they have a country, since it is the only one where a right has been given them to carry arms for its defence: they have justified the confidence of the legislature in an invasion made by the French, where they behaved with a great deal of courage. The Jews possess several estates, and carry on an extensive trade, especially with the Spaniards. Their sobriety and manner of living make them come to a greater age in Jamaica than the other Whites; but one is sorry to find that they have carried to this island a spirit of division in their tenets which renders them sometimes unhappy, and often ridiculous.

The present state of the West-Indies. 1778. Page 59