the English Channel sailing for the French Shore gathered, and were in or- 

 der resembling a great flotilla which counted sometimes 250 sail, making 

 the crossing together, each captain finding in this navigation in regular ranks 

 a guarantee of security for his own boat. But, once the making of land was 

 assured, and the worry of isolation on the high seas had disappeared, rival- 

 ry took free rein. If the wind was favorable, all sails were set. In the case 

 of contrary winds, the captains had taken to the habit of putting their long- 

 boats to sea, whatever the weather, sometimes at great distances from the 

 coast, and ordering their better sailors to acquire for them, by this means, 

 priority of arrival. This resulted in more and more numerous wrecks which 

 led to the intervention of the minister (of the Marine). 



A new ordinance rendered March 8, 1702, forbid captains to put their 

 long-boats to sea before their boat had arrived to the anchorage, under pen- 

 alty of 1000 pounds for the first offense and of corporal punishment in case 

 of further infractions. 



At the same period, the state of war with England led the Council of the 

 King to take measures of protection in favor of boats of the great fishery 

 which found themselves, in return, constrained to certain obligations. It was 

 required of all captains of vessels outfitted for Newfoundland to turn into the 

 hands of the Treasurer-General of the Marine, a tax of three pounds per ton, 

 on receipt of which there was delivered a passport from the king. Absence 

 of a proven passport by captains of vessels in the escort at the place of the 

 fishery could lead to confiscation of the delinquent vessel. 



Parallel to these diverse measures, which pertained more particularly 

 to the outfitting for the Newfoundland coast, the navigation to the great fish- 

 ery was the object, in its total aspect, of a certain number of dispositions of 

 a general nature. 



The first of these concerned the organization of command, in which the 

 rules were the same for vessels engaged in the great fishery as for all boats 

 making long trips. 



Richelieu concerned himself with this question, as with all those which 

 applied to the marine. In 1629, Louis XIII promulgated an ordinance decree- 

 ing that a school of hydrography would be established in the principal towns 

 of the maritime region of the kingdom in order that command of vessels nav- 

 igating the high seas would be entrusted only to mariners instructed and ex- 

 pert in the art of navigation. 



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