the harbor of his choice. This declaration carried his signature or that of 

 his representative. 



In the order of their arrival on the coast of Petit-Nord, the other cap- 

 tains signed on the same paper the declaration of the day of their arrival and 

 an indication of the harbor and the portion of the beach of which they made 

 choice among the emplacements remaining. To this end, the paper remained 

 at Croc under the guard of one of the men of the Admiral, until all of the cap- 

 tains of vessels had inscribed their indications. The list of emplacements 

 thus enacted were given to the Admiral, and the latter, who practically always 

 settled at the place of choice which was the harbor of Petit-Maitre, had alone 

 the right to arbitrate without appeal all disputes arising between interested 

 parties. 



Another clause of the regulation stipulated that if, in the interval between 

 two fishing seasons, any dock had been destroyed by natives or by the forces 

 of nature, the debris belonged to him who had become proprietor by choice of 

 the harbor on which it was situated, and that it was forbidden to all others to 

 take possession of these materials for use elsewhere. 



Under penalty of 400 pounds fine, it was, moreover, expressly forbid- 

 den to captains to jetty their ballast in the harbors. 



All other infractions of the regulation were punished by a fine up to 500 

 pounds, according to the value of the cargo and of the boat itself. 



By publication of the Ordinnance of the Marine in the month of August, 

 1681, Colbert codified the law, extending and generalizing the details of the 

 regulation of 1640. However, while maintaining all the prerogatives and an- 

 terior attributes of captains first arriving at the harbor of Petit-Maitre, he 

 suppressed the title of Admiral of the Fishery, which had been used in New- 

 foundland for 60 years. 



One should state that in the following years, this regulation had to be 

 altered to cut short a dangerous practice which became more and more gen- 

 eral during this period. 



The advantages reserved to the first to register at Croc were too evident 

 not to be made object of a battle of speed between the captains. Now the de- 

 parture from the ports of outfitting were made in a group, all the boats put- 

 ting up sail the same day. Once at sea, the different fleets from the ports of 



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