Thus, in the following years, the inexorable decline continued. The 

 number of two-masters outfitted in 1912 was only 40. It fell to 33 in 1913 

 and 24 in 1914. 



The war came then to deliver the coup de grace to this outfitting for- 

 merly so flourishing. The personnel was completely lacking, only one 

 two master sailing from 1915 to 1918. In 1919, there were two. The fish- 

 ery being mediocre, these were the last. Since then the old two -masted 

 vessels have terminated their careers, piece by piece, in the chimney 

 corners of the Saint-Pierre houses. A few recalcitrant hulks survive in 

 some of the coves. 



This crisis in local outfitting, the principal industry of the colony, 

 immediately resulted in an exodus of part of the population. From 6, 482 

 in 1902, the count fell to 4,768 in 1907. At the census of 1927, the popu- 

 lation had stabilized at about 4000 inhabitants. 



At the end of the first world war, the number of steam trawlers sent 

 from France for the bank fishery resulted in new activity at Saint-Pierre, 

 for lacking sufficient capacity for storing all their season's catch until the 

 return to France, these vessels came to port many times during the sea- 

 son to unload their catch of green -salted cod to this transit center where 

 the cargo was prepared for export. But this reactivation was ephemeral, 

 for later the trawlers, increased considerably in tonnage and at the same 

 time increasing their range of action, were able to abstain from landing at 

 Saint-Pierre. 



Circumstances came about, during this period, so that the colony 

 found a new and unusual source of activity surpassing its vital industry, 

 the fishery. The era of American prohibition opened and Saint-Pierre be- 

 came a vast depot for alcohol, a strategic center in this situation of the 

 great contraband trade of liquids forbidden in dry America. 



The most ingenious means were employed in this traffic. Superb 

 speedboats capable of making more than 30 Knots, specially constructed 

 in American shipyards, were used to run the blockade of the prohibition 

 coast guard. The finances of the colony legitimately prospered with the 

 success of these blockade runners, thanks to the customs tax they paid on 

 the sale of the liquors. 



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