58 ALL AFLOAT 



hundred thousand. This was insignificant 

 compared with the twelve hundred thousand in 

 the British colonies ; while the disparity was 

 greatly increased by the superior British aptness 

 for the sea. 



French Canada had all the natural ad- 

 vantages which were afterwards turned to such 

 good account by the British. It had timber 

 and population along a magnificently navig- 

 able river system that tapped every available 

 trade route of the land. Had there only been 

 a demand for ships New France might have 

 also enjoyed the advantage of employing the 

 scientific French naval architects. But the 

 seafaring habit did not exist among the people 

 as a whole. A typical illustration is to be 

 found in the different views the French and 

 British colonists took of whaling. The British 

 on Nantucket Island first learned from the 

 Indians, next hired a teacher, in the person of 

 Ichabod Paddock, a famous whaling master 

 from Cape Cod, and then themselves went after 

 whale with wonderful success. The French in 

 Canada, like the British on Nantucket Island, 

 had both whales and whaling experts at their 

 very doors. The Basques kept a station at 

 Tadoussac, and whales were seen at Quebec. 

 But, instead of hiring Basques to teach them, 



