Chapter III. The Shore and Bank Fisheries 



The first form of fishing practiced in Newfoundland was the "shore" 

 fishery. Besides the Normands and Bretons and perhaps the Basques, the 

 Portuguese devoted themselves to it from the beginning of the 16th century. 

 The latter, little by little pushed out from the coast by the French, then by 

 the English immigrants come to settle in Newfoundland, equipped themsel- 

 ves finally only for the "bank 1, fishery. 



The shore fishery was first practiced at Newfoundland and the neighbor- 

 ing islands of St. Pierre, which later became St. Pierre and Miquelon, and 

 without doubt also the island of Cape Breton and on a part of the shore of the 

 peninsula named Acadia, later, under the domination of the English, called 

 Nova Scotia. 



The first boats employed in this fishery were the caravels which were 

 called "crevelles" at the Normand ports of the English Channel. Their ton- 

 nage varied, in general, between 50 and 70 tons. The Basques used the larg- 

 est, sometimes up to 140 tons. They sailed out of Dieppe, where the great 

 outfitter Ango was one of the first to interest himself in this distant fishery, 

 from Rouen, Honfleur, St. Malo, St. Brieve, Binic, then from Capbreton, 

 Bayonne, Saint -Je an- de-Luz, Bordeaux, and from La Rochelle. Besides the 

 cod fishery, the Basques, on arrival at Newfoundland, also pursued the whale. 



The origin of the caravels, which v/ere the best boats of the period, is 

 not known precisely but they appear to derive, in their plan, from a rather 

 lighter boat used in the Mediterranean. It was with the caravels, and thanks 

 to them, that the Portuguese, who without doubt used them first, undertook 

 in the first half of the 15th century their patient progression along the coast 

 of Africa toward the Cape of Good Hope and the route to the East Indies. 



They were endowed with excellent nautical qualities, so that they held 

 from the very first a superiority in every way, from their keel and harmon- 

 iously simplified lines, to the other boats of the period. The sheer, not 

 exaggerated since the shape was fortunately trimmed from bow to stern and 

 with no superfluous curves, adapted itself to the design of the line of the 

 sides. 



The stern house carried generally two storeys, the lower extending to 

 the mainmast and the higher to the aftermast which was called, before hav- 

 ing the name mizzenmast, the trinquet de misaine , the foremast being sim- 

 ply the trinquet. 



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