exercised, in each bay, by the eldest captain of those present. With the title 

 of Captain Prud'homme of the bay, he was invested there with judicial and 

 administrative authority. In the harbors which were, before long, reserved 

 to the fishermen of St. Pierre, the prud'homme was elected by his fellow 

 fishermen, and received a compensatory indemnity for the loss of the time 

 imposed on him in the exercise of his functions. 



Three months after the publication of the ordinance, war began again 

 with England, without its going into effect. The English immediately retook 

 St. Pierre-et-Miquelon, and seized a number of vessels which were at sea 

 with the French Shore or the banks as their objective. 



The crews of vessels not captured and succeeding in returning to France 

 were cruelly tried by hunger. The outfitters counting on the supply of Amer- 

 ican provisions which the captains would find at St. Pierre, as well as on the 

 resources of the State supply house, had shipped on their vessels only the 

 provisions necessary to the crossing. Thus the return, which had to be made 

 without touching land, resulted, almost always, in conditions of veritable 

 famine. This tragic experience gave place, very shortly, to a severe regu- 

 lation providing for food which would be sufficient for nourishment to the crew 

 during all the fishing season. 



It was thirteen years later before the French vessels could return to New- 

 foundland. The disastrous treaties of 1814 and 1815 saved, at least, the an- 

 cient fishery of France in Newfoundland, and gave back her old colony of 

 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. At the same time, the great fishery recuperated 

 its personnel, of which a major part had, from the beginning, been retained 

 on the British convict ships in captivity. 



From the 2 3rd of June, 1815, Count Beugnot, State Secretary of the Mar- 

 ine and of the Colonies, called to the attention of the outfitters that, since 

 protection of their vessels could be assured only for departures in the follow- 

 ing May, he authorized them to sail at their risk and peril as soon as they saw 

 no danger to their interests. 



Meanwhile, came the Hundred Days which suspended again the outfittings, 

 although the minister Decres had granted the concession authorizing them to 

 sail under the Portuguese or Spanish flag, shipping as many foreign sailors 

 as they pleased. 



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