Between France and New France Life Aboard the Tall Sailing Ships by Gilles Provdx Published by Dundurn Press Limited in co-operation with Parks Canada and the Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada Dundurn Press Limited Toronto and Charlottetown 1984 Copyright © Minister of Supply and Services Canada - 1984 Catalogue number - RG62-129/1984E All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior written permission of the Minister of Supply and Services Canada. The publication of this book was made possible through the assistance of Parks Canada and the Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada. The publisher also wishes to acknowledge the ongoing support of the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council. J. Kirk Howard, Publisher Copy editor: Elaine R. Beemer Design and Production: Ron and Ron Design Photography Typesetting: Q Composition Incorporated Printing and Binding: Marquis Printing, Canada Dundurn Press Limited P.O. Box 245, Station F, Toronto, Canada M4Y 2L5 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Proulx, Gilles Between France and New France Translation of: Entre France et Nouvelle-France. Published in collaboration with Parks Canada. Includes index. Bibliography: p. ISBN 0-919670-81-4 (bound). - ISBN 0-919670-80-6 (pbk.). 1. Sailing - North Atlantic Ocean - History - 18th century. 2. Ocean travel - North Atlantic Ocean - History - 18th century. 3. Sailing ships — France — History: 18th century. 4. Sailing ships - Canada - History - 18th century. 5. Seafaring life - North Atlantic Ocean - History - 18th century. 6. Canada - History - To 1763 (New France). I. Parks Canada. II. Title. VK18.P7613 1984 910'.091631 C84-099216-5 Between France and New France Life Aboard the Tall Sailing Ships by Gilles Proulx This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements This book is based on research undertaken to develop Battle of the Ris- tigouche National Historic Park and broaden our understanding of the maritime background to the 1760 event. Thanks to the support of Parks Canada and my colleagues, the results of this research are now available to a wider public. In gathering information from various archives in Canada, France and Great Britain, I was greatly aided by the co-operation and advice of staff members of the following institutions: the Archives nationales and the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris, the Archives maritimes de Paris (Vincennes), the Archives maritimes de Rochefort, the Bordeaux and La Rochelle departmental archives, the Musee de la Marine in Paris, the National Maritime museum in Greenwich, the Public Record Office in London, the archives of the Monastere de 1'Hotel-Dieu in Quebec City, the Musee de Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre and the Public Archives of Canada. I am particularly grateful to professors Lucien Campeau of the Uni- versity of Montreal and Jacques Mathieu of Laval University, as well as to my Parks Canada colleagues - Michel P. de Courval, Marc Lafrance and Louis R. Richer - who agreed to read my manuscript and suggested a number of corrections. I would also like to mention the help of Professor James Pritchard of Queen's University and of Real Boissonnault of Parks Canada; these gentlemen graciously provided many references. Sincere thanks also go to Noella Gauthier and Judith Labbe, who had the difficult task of transcribing my manuscript. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my wife, Cecile Bilodeau, for her understanding. G.P. This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations 10 Preface 12 Abbreviations and Monetary Unit 12 Introduction 13 Maritime Traffic and Outfit of Vessels The French navy 17 The merchant marine 21 Maritime traffic 25 Operations of the French royal navy 32 Port activities 42 The Atlantic Course Courses and markers 47 Speed and distances 54 Climate and averages 59 Dangers and safety measures 71 Travelling up the St. Lawrence 76 The People and their Occupations The crew 81 The passengers 87 Crew members' duties 93 Life Aboard Ship Routine and sleeping quarters 100 Diet 106 Illness and medical treatment Ill Religious practice 117 Insubordination and discipline 123 Recreation 125 Conclusion 129 Appendices 132 Notes 153 Bibliography 167 Index of Tables 170 Index of Names 171 9 List of Illustrations 1. King's vessels 19 2. The Alcide 22 3. TheArethuse 23 4. The Chameau 30 5. Rig of merchant vessels 31 6. Careened vessel 34 7. Stem of the Machault 35 8. Pulleys from the Machault 38 9. Deadeye of the Machault 39 10. View of the Prudent and the Bienfaisant 40 11. Courses followed by the King's frigate Diane 48 12. "West-Indische Paskaert", Pieter Goos 50 13. New scaled-down chart of the Spanish Seas, Gerard Van Keulen 55 14. Capture of the Alcide and the Lys in 1755 56 15. Map of the eastern portion of New France, or Canada, Nicolas Bellin 60 16. View of the town of Louisbourg 62 17. Part of the St. Lawrence River with the passage through the traverse and nearby islands, Nicolas Bellin 63 18. Plan of the drydock in the port of Louisbourg 65 19. "A general view of Quebec from Point Levy", Richard Short 66 20. View of the port of Rochefort 68 21. View of the port of La Rochelle 69 22. View of the port of Bordeaux 70 23. Sea astrolabe 74 24. Hadley's octant 75 25. View of the port of Brest 88 26. Men-of-war sailing from the Toulon roadstead 91 27. Planes from the Machault 94 28. Chinese porcelain bowl from the Machault 96 29. Rafts used during the siege of Quebec City 98 10 30. View of cross-section of a three-decker man-of-war 105 31. Model of a 50-gun man-of-war 116 32. Votive offering 119 33. Pewter tableservice from the Machault 120 34. Pump from the Machault 122 35. Pump's piston from the Machault 126 11 Preface Between France and New France is a study of life aboard the sailing vessels that plied the North Atlantic during the heyday of the French colonial effort in North America. It analyses four major aspects of these early trans-Atlantic crossings and examines maritime communications in the age of sail. The volume of traffic and the types of vessels are evidence of the roles of the French state and the private shipowners in defending New France and furnishing it with supplies. At the mercy of fickle winds, these ships followed a course where uncertainty prevailed, both in the duration of the crossings and in the risk of accidents. This challenge demanded a sus- tained effort from both the crews manning the vessels - to carry out their back-breaking work - and the crowded passengers in their care to co-exist despite the diversity of social backgrounds. The physical and psychological living conditions aboard ship afforded few luxuries to either the crews or the passengers in an environment of restrictions. All the traces of these sailors' lives seem to have vanished as quickly as the wakes of the ships that bore them across the seas, and the history of trans-Atlantic communications is no doubt the poorer for this loss. Fortunately, the captains and the passengers had the time to record their impressions of the voyages, and from their diaries and letters I have drawn this portrait of life aboard ship. Abbreviations ADM Admiralty AM Archives maritimes AN Archives nationales CHR Canadian Historical Review HCA High Court of Admiralty MG Manuscript Group NF New France NMC National Map Collection PAC Public Archives of Canada PRO Public Record Office PUF Presses universitaires de France PUL Presses de 1'Universite Laval Monetary unit The monetary unit used in this text is the livre. It contained 20 sols, and there were 12 deniers in a sol. The livre was worth some 20 to 23 times less than the English pound in the first half of the eighteenth century. 12 Introduction From 1534 to 1760, from Jacques Cartier to Frangois Chenard de la Giraudais, thousands of fishing, commercial, and war vessels sailed across the At- lantic Ocean between France and New France. In chronicling the history of New France, many historians have examined the political, economic, social, and cultural relationships that existed between the colony and the mother country. There has been little study, however, of the maritime setting of this relationship, that is, the world of sailing vessels and their crews and passengers. In recent years, historians have turned their at- tention to the study of material civilization. This trend, and the resulting speculations about daily life in past societies, have raised questions re- garding the nature of maritime communications between France and New France. We can learn much about these two societies from their actions - the many decisions, preparations, and endeavours, and the determi- nation required to succeed in crossing the Atlantic. The growth of New France owes much of its dynamism to the ways in which the French planned and carried out the challenge of crossing the ocean. Between France and New France is a study of trans-Atlantic com- munications during the period of France's colonization of America, par- ticularly the eighteenth century. It reconstructs the lives of the men who set out to conquer the Atlantic to earn their daily bread, or who were compelled to cross it to reach the colonies. Few historians of New France have neglected to mention the enormity of the problems a sea voyage could pose during the sailing era. It cannot be denied that the Atlantic Ocean curbed the development of New France; yet, it also represented a link between the mother country and a young colony clamouring for settlers.