Archaeology of the Cod Fishery: Damariscove Island

ALARIC FAULKNER Besides supplying fish for export , these men were to keep the island "farmed out in Sir Ferdinando's name to such as shall there fish. " For their protec Archaeology of the Cod Fishery: tion against the French and Indians , they had built "a strong palisado of spruce trees of some ten feet Damariscove Island high, having besides their small shot, one piece of ordnance and some ten good dogs" (James 1963:15-16). With the hope of learning more of ABSTRACT this occupation and its successors, the author di In the 17th and 18th centuries, seasonal fishermen from rected an intensive survey of Damariscove in the France and England practiced nearly identical methods of summers of 1979 and 1980, sponsored by the dry curing codfish on the coasts of North America. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission. The complex measures taken in cleaning , salting and drying the documentary and archaeological research at this cod were followed with ritual fidelity. The well-preserved and related fishing stations in Maine has led him to product was exported to the warmer climates of the Antilles and Mediterranean where it found a ready market. Structures examine the archaeology of the cod fishery in for this land based operation were rebuilt annually, each general. camp requiring a vast area of drying racks and a specific set As it was the lure of the cod fishery which of wattle walled buildings, roofed with bark and sod or else brought Europeans to the Northeast, the history covered by the ship's sails. These structures should leave and archaeology of this industry should be of diagnostic post mold configurations. A sedentary fishery, leaving more permanent remains, paramount importance in understanding the proc evolved along with colonization in the 1620s, as at Damaris ess of colonization here. Very little archaeological cove Island, off the coast of Maine. In New England , the work has been done on the early English fishery, winter fishery provided employment compatible with agri and even less is known of its French and Acadian culture. Damariscove offers an early example of this mixed counterparts. This is not due to any want of sites, economy and an opportunity to examine its role in promot ing early settlement. Distributions of clay pipes recovered in for in Maine at least 20 17th century fishing the initial Damariscove survey indicate a marked shift in settlements have been located. With growing inter settlement focus from the harborside, prior to the Indian est in the role of the cod fishery in promoting Wars of 1676 to ca. 1725, to upland locations thereafter. settlement, the need for a reliable historical and This most likely reflects abandonment of the cod fishery in archaeological model of the industry has become favor of sheep raising as the dominant economic pursuit. apparent. A prototype, developed here, relies far more heavily on historical information than ar chaeological data, but this is bound to change. Introduction This version should be useful in site identification, and in the recognition of key features and artifacts Damariscove is the last in a series of islands which associated with early cod fishing stations. It also juts into the sea from the Damariscotta River implies specific patterns of refuse disposal which estuary , about one-third of the way " down east" may be tested archaeologically. along the coast of Maine (Figure I). The islands Comtemporary records of the cod fishery in the and peninsulas of this submerged coastline are of 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries are numerous, and particular historic interest, for it was here that the in some instances are remarkably detailed. In de English made their first successful settlements in scribing the layout of a fishing station and the Maine, based principally on the cod fishery. activities which are involved in the processing of Damariscove was the earliest of these settlements, the cod, the author has drawn heavily on the best supporting in 1622 a year-round population of 13 French and English primary sources. These in fishermen employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a clude the writings of Nicolas Denys (Ganong member of the Council for New England who was 1908), Duhamel du Monceau (De la Morandiere eventually to become sole proprietor of Maine. 1962), James Yonge (Poynter 1963), Thomas 58 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 19 , f\1.ner U. VHJeron " iTh,umeap, .. ~ !\SqUlUell :t ..:> o '" U RafmJo n.he..... ;,I' {lOlller if-\HerO' I Qpumptin I CAPE NEWAGEN - PEMAQUID COASfAL REGION C; 0 MIIt"ul Mila FIGURE 1. Islands near the mouth of the Damariscotta River, mid-coastal Maine. Knight (1867), John Josselyn (1865), John Down Early French and English Fishing Strategies ing (Baxter 1889:372-376) and John Winter (Bax ter 1884). Illustrations derived from these and The history of the cod fishery in North America other original sources are reproduced here to com goes back to the early 16th century when the plete the model. waters off Newfoundland were fished by French , ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE COD FISHERY 59 Portuguese, English, and Spanish Basque crews . shore facilities and a minimal investment in equip By mid-century , the English and French were the ment. The fishing was all done from the mother principal contestants for this fishery, a rivalry vessel, and the catch was simply cleaned on deck which continued through the 17th century with the and then salted in the hold (Figure 2). Thus, with a expansion of the fishery into Acadia and New relatively small vessel and crew, it was possible to England (Innis 1940:13-23) . Most fishing sites to make a brief voyage to nearby fishing banks and be encountered arhcaeologically, then, will be return with a product ready for market (De la either French or English. Morandiere 1962:145-160). Fishing captains in the cod fishery were The dry fishery, because it involved establishing equipped to pursue one or the other of two basic base stations on shore, is of particular archaeologi processing methods. The catch could be cured wet cal interest. Appropriate sites required not only by cleaning and salting it on board ship, or it could nearby fishing grounds , but also a protected harbor be dried on racks or flakes on shore. The wet on with room for setting up stages on which the fish green process, as it was also called, was the were unloaded and cleaned, flakes for drying the simpler of the two strategies, for it involved no catch, shelters for the crew, and a storehouse for I• FIGURE2. Method of the green cod fishery. Seen from the back on deck are the fishermen, behind them the dressers, and below decks the salter. In the detail below, working at the splitting table, are at left a header and at right a splitter. At the far right is a fisherman working behind his spray hood. Aprons over the barrels keep the workers on deck relatively clean and dry (after De la Morandlere 1962: Plate VII: courtesy of G. P. Maisonneuve et Larose). 60 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 19 provisions. Fishing was done from a number of consumption (De la Morandiere 1962:345, Louns small boats brought over on the mother vessel and bury 1934:144). was therefore limited to the waters within a few Prior to 1600, the French and English practiced hours sail of the base station. This precluded both techniques in the Newfoundland fishery. The fishing for the largest cod along the offshore French fishermen, however, were based in numer banks, but smaller cod were best suited to this ous scattered ports with substantial local markets, process anyway, as it took many weeks of curing and they preferred the green process. Any attempt to dry the flesh thoroughly (De la Morandiere to dry the cod was conducted after the return, but 1962:35). the results did not compare in quality to the true One advantage to the dry cure was that it re dry cure. The English fishing industry, con quired only about half the salt of the green process centrated in a few West Country ports, had a (Ganong 1908:527). This was of consequence to limited domestic market and salt supply, and so the English, who lacked the port facilities needed favored the dry process . When the Spanish market to manufacture salt in quantity and were forced to opened up after the defeat of the Armada, English purchase it from the continent (Innis 1940:51). West Country fishermen were equipped to meet Also, in the dry fishery, any excess salt was stored this new demand. London merchants soon became at the processing site for future use; it therefore did important middlemen, sending out sack ships to not compete with fish for cargo space on the return buy up the surplus Newfoundland catch and take it voyage (De la Morandiere 1962:67). to the Mediterranean. But by 1600 the French Dry fishing was also more productive in some fishermen of the Biscay ports were also dry pro respects than was the green fishery. According to cessing in earnest and were in competition with the Denys, writing of the Acadian fishery of ca. 1670, English for a foothold in Newfoundland (Innis a 200-ton ship outfitted for green curing required a 1940:51-52). crew of about 25 men and boys, and it might be Two significant developments in the early 17th expected to return in three or four months with century were the expansion of the cod fishery into 45,000 fish. A comparable ship in the dry fishery Acadia and New England, and the beginning of required twice the crew, and the voyage might last sedentary fishing at semi-permanent installations twice as long, but the vessel would generally occupied throughout the year.

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