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Gaspe Nova
by Anne Le Moine
My partner Christopher and I visited New York a few years ago, staying at a small hotel on Orchard Street in our favourite downtown location, the Lower East Side. Breakfast wasn’t included in our hotel deal so after a few mornings of Starbucks’ coffee and almond croissants we came across Essex Street Market, and enjoyed a more authentic dining experience and wholesome alimentary fare at Nordic Preserves. Amongst an array of delicious sandwich fillings we discovered Gaspe Nova salmon. This cold smoked salmon, infused with wood essences, evokes associations with the centuries old fishing traditions of the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec Province, Canada. I was reminded of a connection between the place I was born, and still live, and the fascinating fishing history of the Gaspe. The name derives from the North American Mi’kmaq Indian word, “gespeg” meaning “lands end”. Centuries ago my European forefathers braved the oceans in search of new fishing grounds in the Canadian Provinces and settled in Gaspe, or as they called it, La Cote (The Coast).
My home is Jersey in the Channel Islands. The state of New Jersey was named after this island in the 1640’s by English Royalist, George Carteret. He had been gifted the American colony by the King Charles II as reward for sheltering him on the Island of Jersey during the English Civil War. Jersey is the largest island amongst an archipelago lying off the French coast of Normandy and in the Bay of St Malo. Despite the proximity to France, (much of the population originated from there and spoke French or a 'Jerriais patois'), the Channel Islands have always been British Crown dependancies. While they have their own independant governments, they yet share many of the same privileges enjoyed by the English. Sir Walter Raleigh was Governor of Jersey from 1600 to 1603 and it was thanks to him that seafaring Jerseymen were given the opportunity to establish fisheries in British Colonies in Newfoundland for which he had obtained a "grant of application".
European fishing activity in Newfoundland first opened up after John Cabot’s voyage of 1497. The English Tudor King, Henry VII had commissioned the Italian explorer to find new territory for England’s trading portfolio. Landing somewhere on the southern Labrador coast, (where today is found his namesake, The Cabot Straits), he mistakenly believed he had reached the northeast coast of Asia. Wherever it was, he claimed it for England. Cabot returned with reports of Newfoundland’s temperate climate and seas filled with so many fish that one could catch them simply by lowering a basket into the water. Word spread throughout Europe and soon British, French, Spanish and Portuguese ships were regularly crossing the Atlantic to poach the abundant fish which hitherto had enjoyed the natural demands of an indigenous population.
Cod was the fish of choice to satisfy Roman Catholic Europe’s large appetite for “fish on Fridays”. North Atlantic cod eventually accounted for more than half all fish eaten in Europe. Of superior quality, it could be dried in the sun and the steady north-west winds of the region’s cold, dry climate to achieve a unique taste. France dominated the industry throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. These trans-atlantic voyages also had the benefit of toughening up their sailors and providing a reserve of experienced crew to bolster France’s great maritime power. Despite their naval prowess France eventually lost territory in the shifting sands of numerous European and Colonial wars. Her Newfoundland fishing grounds were diminished by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and again, in 1763, with the Treaty of Paris, when the Gaspe peninsula was given up to Britain. And it was Jersey merchants and fishermen, French speaking, of French heritage, but British, who moved into the void created by France’s departure.
By 1767 Jerseymen had moved south from the Labrador fisheries to the Gaspe coast where they took control for the next one hundred and fifty years. Gaspe was ideal for operations: the quality of the fish and ideal weather conditions made dried Newfoundland cod a feature of Jersey trade until the 20th century. Jerseyman Charles Robin arrived on his brig, Seaflower in 1766 to expand the family firm, Robin, Pipon & Co. He found the best fishing grounds on the Gaspe Coast from Baie des Chaleurs into the St Lawrence and set up headquarters at Paspebiac Bay.
Robin recorded the next twenty years of his life in diaries and letters recently discovered and now archived by the Societe Jersiaise Heritage Society and the British Museum. He endured harsh living conditions when he first arrived but bartered and negotiated with the local Indian tribes to improve his circumstances and establish safe and secure anchorage for his ships.
Life was fraught with danger. England was in an almost permanent state of war with France throughout the period leading to the American War of Independence, the French Revolution to the Napoleonic wars. Settlers were vulnerable to attack from American and French privateers. Robin kept up with developments in Europe to be sure to send his ships to friendly ports. He avoided British ports for fear his crew would be press ganged to supplement Britain’s navy. As British subjects, he also needed to protect his crew from the French. Jersey captains would often conceal their identity by running up the French flag, no doubt considering all to be fair in love and war. Their native tongue was a valuable asset and Robin’s Jersey crew, fluent in French and fitted out with French uniforms could claim to be French if challenged by warships.
Robin weathered the loss of markets and made adjustments accordingly. When the Canadian Legislative Council tried to impose restrictive fishing regulations Robin was seriously annoyed. He walked three hundred miles, over rough territory, in twenty days in order to confront them in Quebec. After three weeks meeting and dining with various government officials he succeeded in winning favourable business terms. Then he walked all the way back to Gaspe.
Charles Robin built up an enterprise which was to survive for over a century and a half, dominating the cod trade on the Gaspe peninsular. John Clarke, American historian of the Gaspe, said that the history of Robin is the history of cod-fishing at Gaspe, for Charles Robin established "the best syndicate business in North America, after the Hudson Bay Company."
We may have travelled a long way from our Gaspe Nova Salmon sandwiches at Nordic Preserves to a potted history of the Labradour coast, spanning over five hundred years. Navigating our way from Starbucks on Delancey to Nordic Preserves at Essex Street Market, we felt we had made a significant voyage of discovery.