1 62 CHAPTER II 



of 1, 1 80 tons. An estimation of the tonnage of British soil exported to Newfound- 

 land from Poole alone during the course of four centuries would give an imposing 

 figure indeed! 



Poole seems on the whole to have played a very important role, underestimated 

 by Prowse (1895) and others, in the Newfoundland trade. According to an act 

 passed in 1778, permitting the export of limited quantities of cereals "for the use 

 of the fisheries at Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Labrador" (Gribble, 1830, p. 

 607), Poole was allowed to send greater quantities than any other British port. 

 The maximum intensity of the Poole trade with Newfoundland (according to 

 Mr. Mathews) lasted from the later decades of the i8th century to about 18 15 

 {vide also Parkinson, 1948, p. 244). Not until about 1800, did Liverpool catch up 

 with Poole in importance to the Newfoundland trade (Parkinson, 1948, pp. 243, 

 248). The direct traffic finished in the i88o's. 



The ports visited in the first place by Poole sailors of this time, according to 

 information from Mr. Mathews, were Brigus, Carbonear and Placentia on the 

 Avalon Peninsula, Burin in the south. Trinity and Catalina on the Bonavista 

 Peninsula, and Fogo and Twillinggate in the northeast (fig. 15). 



There is no reason to believe that the Newfoundland sailing trade of other south- 

 western ports differed essentially from that of Poole, but details such as the ballast 

 procedure have been lost, due to lack of published records. For the concrete pic- 

 ture gathered from the old harbour papers of Poole, we are entirely obliged to the 

 piety and foresight of a man, Mr, Kendall, who saved them from the fate of similar 

 documents of other ports. 



From a biological point of view it is also worth observing that, according to the 

 diagrams i and 2, the export of ballast reached its maximum in March and April, 

 with a second, less pronounced, in the fall. The spring maximum was no doubt 

 still more evident before the permanent settlement of Newfoundland was started. 

 This may have contributed to the selection of the animal and plant species which 

 managed to cross the Atlantic as stowaways (cf. below, p. 210). 



As to the kind of vessels taking part in this kind of transatlantic traffic, Mr. 

 Boyle informed me that they were usually schooners of about 80 to 120 tons 

 (figs. 18-19) ^^^ that 24 days would be a good passage for a ship of this kind from 

 the North Devon coast to Newfoundland. 



FIG. 17. A page from "Lists of Arrivals and Sailings for the Port of Poole", April 

 1 8 14. Of the 9 ships mentioned, all but one are destined to Newfoundland and 7 of 

 these carried ballast besides the cargo. 



The bottom item runs: — "In the John & Mary, [Captain] Collins, for New- 

 foundland. [Cargo] 60 tons. Ballast 10 [tons]." 



Published by kind permission of the owner, Mr. E. E. Kendall, Poole. 



