10 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



that all fishermen returning from Newfoundland should pay 

 a tenth part of their profits at the Custom House. At dif- 

 ferent times, Aveiro alone had 60 vessels sailing to Newfound- 

 land, and in 1550, 150 fishing vessels. Equal numbers sailing 

 from Oporto and other ports, gave a large increase of re- 

 venue. ' ' 



Thus the first and chief result of the discovery of North 

 America was the immediate establishment of a great fishery. 

 In all ages of the world the fishery has been the mother of 

 commerce, the parent of navigation. The cod fishery, pur- 

 sued by Englishmen, first in Iceland, where at one time 1,400 

 English fishermen had fishing rights, and afterwards on a 

 larger scale in Newfoundland, made Englishmen sailors, and 

 Britain a great maritime Power. De Witt says : 



"The navy of England became formidable by the dis- 

 covery of the inexpressibly rich fishing bank of Newfound- 

 land." 



The fishing industry was responsible for the early colon- 

 ization of North America. The first attempted settlement of 

 New England by Gosnold and Brereton in 1602 was to prose- 

 cute the fisheries. Judge Prowse says: "It is amongst the 

 popular fictions of American history that when the Pilgrim 

 Fathers moored their barque on the wild New England shore, 

 their sole object was to worship God in their own way, and 

 to kill Quakers after their own fashion, but sober history 

 tells quite a different tale. In Winslow's 'Brief Narration 

 of the True Grounds or Causes of the First Planting of New 

 England,' it is stated that when the Puritans sent agents 

 from Leyden to the High and Mighty Prince James to gain 

 his consent to their going to America, the king at once asked, 

 'What profit might arise?' They answered in one single 

 word 'Fishing.' 'So God have my soul,' said the royal 

 Solon, 'tis an honest trade; 'twas the Apostles' own call- 

 ing'; and so they obtained leave to go. They sought a place 

 for their settlement convenient for cod fishing and whaling 

 and in 1624 they sent to England a ship laden with salt-cod- 

 fish." 



