84 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



officer and twelve men ta establish a depot"; a project 

 which was heartily approved by Vaudreuil and Begon, on 

 the ground that it would tend to drive away the Esqui- 

 maux from the coast, and would also facilitate the dis- 

 covery of further harbors and fishing grounds. The pro 

 posal did not altogether commend itself to the French 

 court however, which decided that the time was not then 

 favorable enough to execute such a design. It would cer- 

 tainly have involved considerable expense, for M. Begon 's 

 plan was to have an armed cutter of ten or twelve tons 

 with its rigging and fishing utensils brought out from 

 Bayonne on board one of the ships that was to sail thence 

 for Labrador for the fishing season of 1718. In case of 

 difficulty in shipping the boat by a merchant vessel from 

 France it was proposed to have it built at Quebec, though 

 it was expected to be more economical to have it done in 

 France and to send an officer and twenty men to meet it 

 at Labrador, by one of the fishing vessels sailing from Que- 

 bec in the early Spring. These men would be longer on 

 the way and under pay if they sailed on the cutter frcrn 

 Quebec which would have to hug the shore on account of 

 its small size. Including the wages of the men and the cost 

 of the boat, the expense of the project was placed at 

 5,596 10s. 



It was proposed that the cutter should be ready to sail 

 from Labrador through the Straits of Belle Isle to Hamilton 

 Inlet about the end of June, and to fish cod during the 

 entire month of July, thus ascertaining how abundant the 

 fish were in these waters, and at the same time what oppor- 

 tunities there were for establishing seal fisheries on that 

 coast, where the seal would be found in greatest abundance 

 during that particular month. 



Other reasons which were urged in support of the Sieur 

 de Courtemanche 's project were that the islands in Hamil- 

 ton Inlet were reported to be well wooded, and that the 

 only difficulty which had stood in the way of granting con- 



