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In Early August 1727, Along the Short Portage That Ran from The n early August 1727, along the 24-year-old assistant to his father, I short portage that ran from the Jacques LeNormant de Mezy, the com- riviere du nord-est [Hillsborough missaire ordonnateur of lie Royale. River] to the havre a Vanguille ["eel After the governor the commissaire harbour/7 now Savage Harbour], the was the highest-ranking official in the silence that usually held sway in the colonial hierarchy at Louisbourg. As virgin forests of lie Saint-Jean was commissaire Mezy held the govern- broken by the clear sharp sound of ment purse-strings for both lie Royale axes echoing through the trees. Then, and lie Saint-Jean and had overall after a moment of silence, a large pine responsibility for all trade and related tree came crashing to the ground. matters. He thus had a direct interest These sounds, uncommon on Prince in this search for masts, which is prob- Edward Island at the time, came not ably why his son and second-in-com- m from any of the Island's 300 or so mand was in the party. Apart from French settlers felling trees to clear soldiers - who, we may presume, pro- farmland or to get logs for a home- vided most of the physical labour - pliitetf *-•: "i^m^m^^^0m stead. They came instead from a small there were also three "accadiens" des- and rather unusual party made up of ignated in the documents as charpen- soldiers from the Port La-Joie garrison tiers (translatable as either "carpen- as well as at least four civilians. They ters" or "shipwrights77) there to carry were acting in response to an order out the inspection. One of these was from the minister in charge of the 65-year-old Michel Hache Gallant of department of the Marine at far-off Port La-Joie, who seven years before Versailles in France. In doing so they had come over with some of his fam- were carrying out an activity new to ily from Beaubassin to settle as one the Island: they were making a survey of the first Acadian families on the of large pine trees as potential masts Island. for naval ships. If their report on the Both Pensens and the elder Mezy - trees at Savage Harbour was favour- as well as the governor in Louisbourg, able it could lead to lie Saint-Jean Joseph de Saint-Ovide, had a per- becoming a major supplier of masts sonal stake in the matter. Not only for the French navy. were they keen to demonstrate an The leader of this survey party appropriate zeal in carrying out their was the senior military and adminis- official duties, they must also have trative officer for the Island, Jacques known that if the enterprise were d;Espiet de Pensens, commandant of successful, and the French navy did the 30-man garrison that had been decide to draw masts from lie Saint- posted to Port La-Joie in the previous Jean, each could benefit personally, year. Pensens, now probably in his late not only in terms of their careers, 50s, had been transferred with some but also financially, from the various reluctance from the comparative com- spin-offs - both on and under the 35^ fort of Louisbourg to the small fron- table - that might occur. However, tier post - "in a corner of the woods" as what Pensens, Mezy and Saint-Ovide he described it - when the administra- did not know was that all of their efforts would be brought to a sud- atid tion of the colony once more became the direct responsibility of the gov- den end two years later by a single ernment at lie Royale [Cape Breton sentence in a letter from the minister Island] after the short-lived seigneurial of the Marine. venture of the Count of Saint-Pierre;s Despite the fact that it never real- Company of lie Saint-Jean. ly got off the ground, this first offi- Also present was an official who cial effort to exploit and export the had come across from Louisbourg, timber resources of Prince Edward Sebastien LeNormant de Mezy, the Island is worthy of investigation - 10 for in miniature it represents events and circumstances that occurred on a larger scale elsewhere in Canada at various times during the French regime. And as elsewhere, it demon- strates that the local officials, on the Island and at Louisbourg, were in the grip of political and economic forces beyond their control. But before we look in detail at this enterprise of the A 1720s, it is useful to know something of the background against which it t was operating - in particular the ^f5^ nk-flp importance to France of finding a source of masts for its naval ships. **«^IK, #**% j !»,&*. I Masts and the Navies of th th Europe in the 18 Century French ship of the line, 18 century. In battle, vessels sailed bow-to-stern; or in line ahead/' in order to bring as many of their cannon as possible to bear. th In the 18 century masts were of A "ship-ofthe-line" was thus a vessel deemed capable of holding its own in a vital strategic importance to the naval large-scale sea battle. Ratings depended on the number of cannon carried. The powers of western Europe. Every largest - first rates' -had three decks and deployed at least 100 cannon. man-of-war had three masts, and in the largest, each was made up of three separate "sticks" rising one structure (closed forests produced tall the standard against which all other on top of the other. In addition, straight trees); felling, handling and trees were judged. Since the Middle 14 smaller sticks were needed for transport techniques; the time that Ages its main source had been the spars and yards. Collectively all had passed since cutting (with time the east Baltic ports, especially Riga of these sticks were called "mature" the natural resins that gave durabil- and Danzig, and from 1715 also St. in French, the smaller ones being ity evaporated); and storage condi- Petersburg, all of which lay at the termed "matereaux" The largest - tions (protection from the weather mouths of rivers that led far into the lower mainmast - ranged in size was very important - to prevent dry- the hinterland of Russia and Poland. from 40 inches in diameter and 123 ing out, some advocated storage in In the back forests of these coun- feet in length in a first rate ship-of- wet sand). tries, generations of landowners and the-line, to 20 inches in diameter and Because they were vital to the sur- their woodcutters had been carefully 72 feet in a frigate. vival of the ship, both in battle and in selecting trees for sale to the main All of these masts and spars had to stormy seas, European navies were naval powers of Europe, and a com- have particular properties: an exactly very particular about the masts they plex commercial network had devel- tapering straightness, a proper pro- bought. Their purchasing agents and oped to supply the demand. These portion of length to girth - the stan- the inspectors in their own dockyards "northern" masts however did not dard was three feet of length for were very rigorous in their assess- come cheap - a mast tree of the every inch in diameter at the large ments and this rigour was under- largest size could cost more than end or "heel" - suppleness, strength pinned by an innate conservatism 2000 livres or -£100, though the price and durability These in turn depend- that favoured tried and tested sup- dropped considerably as the diam- ed on properties of the tree from pliers and materials - which largely eter decreased by even a few inches. which it was cut: its species and age, meant the east Baltic ports and in However, trees capable of provid- the closeness of its grain, the amount particular Riga. ing the larger mast sizes were scarce of resin in the wood and the absence Many years' experience had even in the Baltic market and they of knots and rot. From experience revealed that only certain tree spe- became more so as each decade went such properties had been found to cies were acceptable for masts. The by. One solution developed in the vary with factors such as the country European pine [Pinus sylvestris; called dockyards was to make up the larger of origin (climate and soil were "Scots pine" in the British Isles] was masts by shaping and joining small- considered to be important); forest considered to be the best and was er pieces, often five or nine, around 1 1 a central spindle; all bound tightly adds that if the minister gives the with iron hoops. However such "mats order "it will be easy to have enough d;assemblage" - "made masts;; to the masts brought down the river of Port English - were not considered as La-Joie to fill one or two vessels.77 good as a single sound stick. Crossing the Atlantic with Saint- Apart from using trees from their Ovide7s letter was another to the own forests - limited in quantity and, $ minister, written three days later, from experience never as good as r7 from the man who would later lead the northern masts - another solu- f* the 1727 survey party at Savage tion open to France and England |\^ Harbour, Jacques de Pensens. was to look to the vast forests While still at Louisbourg %*£* of their north Atlantic colo- planning his move to the nies; where virgin stands of tall Island for the following year, pines grew near the water's he re-enforces Saint-Ovide7s edge in much of New France comments by saying that he and in northern New England.
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