800-900 meshes deep and 30 fathoms long. Like the cod seine, the capelin 

 seine was never allowed to be hauled from shore. Baiting was also done with 

 cockles which one found in great quantities in certain regions of the west coast, 

 and which were considered by many fishermen as the best of bait. 



As soon as unloaded on the landing platform, the cod were dressed and 

 salted, then during the following days the shore crew exposed them on the 

 beach to the first sunnings which opened the long procedure of drying. 



The first vessels to return to the French Shore in the 19th century were 

 the brigs, their tonnage not attaining 100 tons. Later the dimensions of the 

 vessels were augmented considerably, and one soon saw appear a certain 

 number with three masts. The crews increased in consequence; their crews 

 of fishermen and beach workers doubled to exceed about forty men. 



It was in exceeding this minimum of 40 men embarked, not counting cabin- 

 boys, that an ordinance published in 1819 required the shipping of a doctor on 

 the cod vessels. As this size crew was never attained on the bank vessels, 

 which found themselves thus exempted from the old minimum of 20 men ren- 

 dering obligatory the shipping of one surgeon, one found doctors, during the 

 19th century, only on coast fishery vessels, complying, because of the size 

 of their crews, to the regulations of the new ordinance. 



The existence of positions offered them beside the fishermen of the French 

 Shore did not fail, at first, to arouse among the young doctors of the maritime 

 regions a certain attraction. Recruitment was easy, and about 1840 there were 

 around 100 doctors sailing each year to Newfoundland. 



Later, these newcomers to this rude existence became more rare; the 

 number of doctors in Newfoundland diminished by the progressive decline of 

 applications for this function, and the administration was forced to yield to 

 the situation by allowing the shipping of only one doctor for each group of ves- 

 sels fishing in the same region. Thus by 1872, the medical service on the two 

 coasts of the French Shore was entrusted to ten so-called surgeons, only one 

 of whom had a diploma. The others were simply medical students, secured 

 by inscription, who had abandoned their studies, some temporarily, some 

 permanently. 



Administratively, medical service was thus assured to all the coast in 

 a minimum, but theoretically effective, measure. Practically this, existed 



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