an account of the extraordinary fishing – his men had only to let down baskets and cod swam into them. Throughout most of the sixteenth century English, French, Spanish Basque and Portuguese ships came to the Banks in the summer, and they carried home immense quantities of dried and salted cod; but no one stayed there for the winter. In 1583 Sir Humphry Gilbert sailed for St John’s with five ships and founded the first British colony in North America; but that same year he was lost at sea. James I encouraged settlement, yet progress was very slow, partly because of raids by the French from Canada and partly because of opposition from the shipowners, who wanted to retain a monopoly of the fishing and who therefore induced government to pass restrictive laws. Indeed, successive governments were very hard on the Newfoundlanders: in 1713 the ministry that negotiated the treaty of Utrecht gave the French the right of fishing and drying their cod from Cape Bonavista northwards and so down the western side of the island as far as Rich Point; and even when the French had been beaten again in the Seven Years War and Canada taken from them, they were given back the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon together with these same fishing rights.
However, by the end of the war, in 1763, Newfoundland had some eight thousand permanent inhabitants, and with the French threat gone at least for the time, the authorities, headed by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Commodore Hugh Palliser of the Royal Navy, were filled with energy; and among other things James Cook, then a master in the Royal Navy, carried out a most painstaking and accurate survey of the coasts and harbours between 1763 and 1767, including part of the coast of Labrador, which, right up to Hudson’s Strait in the icy north, had been added to the colony.
This was largely Eskimo country, and the government hoped that relations with them would be more successful than they had been with the Beothuks, the original Red Indian inhabitants of Newfoundland. At this point Europeans and Indians were killing one another on sight, and since the white men had firearms and the red men had none there was no question which side would win in the end. By Banks’s time there were said to be about five hundred Beothuks living in the most retired parts of the island, as far as they could get from the fishermen; by 1829 they were totally extinct.
The official attitude towards the Eskimos was quite different. For some years the Moravian Brethren, so well known to the Bankses, had been in contact with them, and the Moravians’ influence was regarded as entirely good. If they had been Jesuits the official view of their activities might not have been the same, but the Moravians had been legally recognized as “an ancient Protestant Episcopal Church” and their settlements in Labrador were actively helped and encouraged, since apart from anything else the missionaries told the Eskimos in their own language that King George loved the Innuit; he was like a father to them, and when they obeyed the Governor it was the same as if they were being obedient to the King.
In 1765, the year before Banks’s voyage, the Niger had taken four Moravians to Chateau Bay in Labrador, where two were made to stay (much against their will – Adams was an autocratic captain and by no means a scrupulous one) and two went much farther north in the schooner Hope, commanded by Lieutenant Candler, RN, who was to survey and chart the coast. One of Niger’s tasks in 1766 was to take Phipps up to Croque (it is now usually spelt Croc), a small bay and harbour in the north-west part of the island, well within the Frenchmen’s fishing zone, where he was to set up the building that in his jovial way he called Crusoe Hall and where he also planted a garden. The frigate was then to sail north, crossing the Strait of Belle Isle to Chateau Bay in Labrador, where her Marines and some civilian workmen were to make a regular fortification, a blockhouse and stockaded fort “for the Protection and Encouragement of His Majesty’s Subjects to carry on the Fisheries on the Coast, for the Security of their Boats and Fishing craft and Tackle from being Stolen or destroyed by the Savages of the Country or by Lawless Crews resorting thither from the Colonies”.
June 13 this Morn at 7 anchor in Croque harbour5 after a very favourable Passage Walk out gather a species of Bilberry, Vaccinium mucronatum, a species of Orchis, Ophrys, a Beautifull Plant described No: 5, Uvularia Amplexifolia, another of the Hexandria Class No: 6 another No: 7 which is of the Pentandria Class tho both Calyx and Corolla are divided into 6 Laciniae water Ranunculus several sorts of Lichens two sorts of Mosses This morn Experienced a Very Extraordinary Transition from Cold to Heat The air at 5 in the morning while we were at sea being so Cold that with the great Coat buttoned I was forced Every moment to Come down to the Fire at seven we came into harbour in ½ of an hour were set on shore where the weather was as hot or hotter than Ever I knew it in England I lament much not having noted the Difference by Thermometer but hope for future opportunities
14 This day still Extremely Hot spend most of our time working in the garden go out however in the Evening Find (1) a Kind of Bramble, Rubus Arcticus, (2) a Kind of Meadow Rue, Thalictrum alpinum, (3) Dwarf Birch, Betula Nana, (4) 2 Varieties of a Beautifull Plant Possibly our English Birds Eye one of which had flowers of a Clear white the other Blueish (5) in the woods found one tree only of Takamahaka in the Evening went out Fishing had no sport at all at the harbours mouth tho there seemd to be abundance of Small Trout saw no signs of Large ones Killd today a Kind of Mouse, Mus Terrestris, which Differs scarce at all From the English Sort but is Rather Larger & his Ears Extreemly Broad
16 Walkd today from the watering Place to Crusoe hall Mr Phipps’s Habitation of which more when it is finished at Present give him his due he works night & day & Lets the Mosquetos eat more of him than he does of any Kind of food all through Eagerness in the way to him I found Moon wort, Osmunda Lunaria, a Kind of Grass a Plant which seems of the Carex kind dioecious but found only males a Kind of Cuckow flower
18 Walkd out shooting today Killd nothing but found a Plant which I thought had been Peculiar to Lapland, Diapensia Lapponica, it grows however but in one spot & there was only a single Plant of it Wooly Mouse Ear, Cerastium alpinum tomentosum, a small Flower Like a daizy, ?Erigeron ?Philadelphicum, a species of Moss, Bryum, a small nest Nidus, was brought to me by the Master Carpenter who Declard he saw a bee fly out of it When he took it a species of stone which appears white from a great distance Mr Ankille brought me in a species of Owl, Strix ?Ulula, he had shot My servant shot a bird quite Black Neither of which I can find Describd
19 This Morn we had intelligence that a white Bear with two cubbs had been seen on a hill above St Julians a Party was raisd to go in search of her of which I was one but we returnd without success Just as we returnd a shallop with the master of board was Setting Sail to Examine some of the Harbours to the southward I got on board6 in hopes of some opportunity of Gathering Plants or Collecting insects that night we arriv’d at Inglie* in the Mouth of Canada Bay 11 Leagues to the southward of Croque but so late that I had not an opportunity of Collecting any thing the next morn Wind blew to hard for our Vessel to
20 Attempt getting out which gave me an opportunity of Examining a small Island above the Harbour which I found Loaded with Plants I had not seen before in a Wonderful manner …
Banks lists a score of them, including one with “a beautiful Yellow Flower growing on the tops of dry hills a Kind of Anemone in Company with it”: he also observes that there were half a dozen English vessels fishing there and near twice that number of French; “the French indeed have almost the Sole Possession of the Fishery in this Part of the Island Many Harbours (St Julians for instance) not having so much as one Englishman in them they seem to Value & Encourage the trade more than we do sending out infinitely Larger ships and Employing more hands in the Trade.” The next day they looked at two other harbours, Wild Cove and Hilliard’s Arm, where Banks found a most Elegant Plant with red Flowers.
22 here we slept tonight the next morn Early set out for Conche with the wind Directly in our teeth here we found a bad harbour Exposd to both sea and wind only one Englishman & 3 or 4 french were fishing here the Englishman complained grievously of the french hindering him from taking bait by denying him his Proper turn with the Seine while they were fishing and mooring bait boats on the ground where the fish were usualy Caught he told us that if Proper Precautions were not taken mischief would certainly Ensue as the french sent out arms allowing two Musquets to Each Bait boat he had intelligence during this Voyage