L'Arche Musée et Archives de la collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
TWO CENTURIES OF HISTORY IN SAINT-PIERRE-ET-MIQUELON 1816-2016 Bicentenary of the retrocession of the archipelago to France
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Cover: « Panorama de la ville et de la rade de Saint-Pierre », oil on canvas byJoseph Lemoine, 1873. Coll. l'Arche. Edition: L'Arche Musée et Archives de la Collectivité Territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon rue du Onze novembre – BP 4208 97500 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon Phone: 05 08 41 04 35 Mail: arche@cheznoo.net Web site: www.arche-musee-et-archives.net Facebook: L'Arche Musée et Archives
Booklet supervised by: Rosiane Artur de Lizarraga Graphic design: Azimuts SARL BP 1664 97500 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon Phone: 05 08 41 04 54 Fax: 05 08 41 31 65 Mail: contact@azimut975.com Web site: www.azimut975.com Co-authors: Rosiane ARTUR de LIZARRAGA Lauriane DETCHEVERRY Rodrigue GIRARDIN Acknowledgements: Marc CORMIER Romane DÉRIBLE Janick DETCHEVERRY ISBN: 978-2-9526744-1-8 EAN: 9782952674416
Two Centuries of History in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon 1816-2016 Bicentenary of the retrocession of the archipelago to France
L'Arche, Museum and Archives of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon 2016 1
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PREFACE Saint-Pierre and Miquelon: between land and ocean. As General Charles de Gaulle once said: “This is France, at the gates of North America” thus reminding us of Jacques Cartier’s claim of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon for France in 1536. The islands finally became permanently French in 1816. We are on the doorstep of the American continent, but we speak French with the accent of France and the French Tricolour flies in the wind over General de Gaulle Square. While we are proudly North Americans with Basque, Breton, Normand and Acadians roots, this is where you can be part of a Basque Festival or partake in “Oh, So French!” local traditions. In Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, there’s something for everyone. It’s a colourful destination, a refreshing halt, as well as a romantic getaway. Our island, sometimes swept by whimsical winds, offers our visitors a place between land and ocean where one is greeted with warmth and authenticity, and where nature, fauna and flora are protected. This is the ideal place for a good getaway. At this very junction of the American continent, history helps us invent a better future by consolidating our presence and engaging further development with the Burin Peninsula. We must open our islands and better prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s challenges so we can give new generations an opportunity to write the future. Opening our islands to all is the principal focus of our Territorial Government. With to the arrival of high-speed connections using underwater data cables, the deployment of new ferries and the release of our new brand “SPM, exceptional islands”, we are inventing our future all the while looking back at our history for strength and imagination. Weare proudly putting forth our cultural exceptionalism to welcome travellers, let us show you our way of life. Come to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, it’s our home, it’s your home! Stéphane Artano President of the Territorial Government
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“Panoramic view of the Town and the harbour of Saint-Pierre“. Engraving by Taylor, 1870, Coll. R. Girardin.
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SUMMARY 3 Preface 5 Introduction History 9 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon before 1816 10 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon after 1816 Economy 13 1816 - 1900 - The Growth of the Fichery-linked Economy 15 1900 - 1923 - Fishery Collapse 17 1922 - 1933 - Liquor Times 19 1933 - Today - Economic difficulties Fishing 21 Cod 23 Mercantile Fishing 25 The « Gravier » 27 Family Inshore Fishing Architecture 29 Local architecture 31 The architecture of the Fishery 33 Construction materials Locality 35 Saint-Pierre Town 37 Ile-aux-Marins (Île-aux-Chiens) 39 Miquelon (La grande Miquelon) 41 Langlade (La petite Miquelon)
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Certificate of origine of the Douville estate, written by commandant Danseville in December 1790. This document is included in a notary deed of november 3rd 1840 (N° 26). Coll. l’Arche.
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Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon before 1816
View of Saint-Pierre, Cassini, 1778. C.N.S.
The islands were officially discovered on October 21st, 1520 by the Portuguese explorer, JoĂŁo Alvares Fagundes. When Jacques Cartier stopped there on June 5th, 1536, the name Saint-Pierre was in use and the harbour was exoloited by French fishermen. During the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, the French were present on large stretches of the south coast of Newfoundland for fishing stations, Saint-Pierre being one of them. During two and a half centuries, wars between the French and the English determined the fate of the North American fishery. The islands of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon changed hands nine times, becoming succesively English and French; in 1816, finally, the French population came back to the islands for the last time. In April and May 1816, almost 700 colonists, marine workers, and suppliers who had been deported in 1793-1794 arrived at the archipelago. The islands had been deserted except for some summer fishing premises. The priority was to rebuild the destroyed houses. The town of Saint-Pierre and the village of Miquelon were rebuilt on the sites they were before the English occupation. Possession changes and population: 1536 Jacques Cartier stops in Saint-Pierre. 1604
First record of sedentary establishments (about 30 Bretons, Normans and Basques).
1690
Installation of a Governor with a troop, under the authority of the Commandant of Placentia (Newfoundland).
1693
200 inhabitants.
1713
The Treaty of Utrecht (end of Spanish war of Succession) gives Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, south coast of Newfoundland and Acadia to the English. Gives France summer fishing rights on the Treaty/French Shore (Newfoundland) and Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island). The population of Saint-Pierre goes to Louisbourg.
1763
Treaty of Paris (end of Seven Years War): France loses Canada, Iles Royale and Saint-Jean (Prince Edouard Island) and receives Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (repopulated with 350 persons, largely with colonists from Nova Scotia) and receives exclusive fishing rights on the French Shore. Acadian refugees return to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon from New England and Saint-Malo. First settlement in Miquelon, later in Saint-Pierre.
1768
551 colonists are sent back to metropolitan France because of lack of food.
1778
American War for Independence. British attack, population (1250 inhabitants) deported to France, town is razed.
1783
Treaty of Versailles. Population of 1778 returns to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (1200 inhabitants) and the French Shore limits in Newfoundland are altered.
1792
1233 inhabitants. Around 200 inhabitants of Miquelon, led by Father Allain immigrate to Magdelaine Islands, rather than swearing oath to the new government after the French Revolution.
1793
Because of the French Revolution, the British attack Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon; 450 persons among the 1502 colonists are deported. On the summer of 1794, the rest of the population is sent to France and to the United States. The English settle in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
1802
The Treaty of Amiens restores the archipelago to France.
1803
The British retake Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, deport 220 men from the colony. No one is found in Miquelon.
1814
Newfoundland fishermen settle in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon but the Treaty of Paris gives the island back to France.
1815
Before the French have a chance to come back, the British retake the islands because of the return of NapolĂŠon (the Hundred-Days). The second Treaty of Paris gives Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon back to France and restores the French fishery to its 1792 status.
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Saint-Pierre: caulkers (ca. 1890). A. Bréhier. Coll. P. Mahey. Coll l’Arche.
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1816-1900 The Growth of the Fishery-linked Economy
Saint-Pierre: arrival of the “gravier” and fishermen from France (ca. 1890). A. Bréhier. Coll. P. Mahey. Coll l’Arche.
More and more men were coming to work, on sea or land, as the French fishery was growing in prosperity. An unexpected variety of jobs arose from the stopovers of cod-fishing boats in Saint-Pierre’s port. During the nineteenth century, the French government established a system of bounties to assist the cod fishery: one to ship-owners for each crew member (ensuring a reserve supply of experienced seamen for the Navy), and the other one subsidizing exported fish (to promote French trade). Exports of Saint-Pierre dried salted cod went to French Atlantic and Mediterranean ports, to the French colonies of the West Indies, to Central America and to the Indian Ocean.
Saint-Pierre: Ledreney dory factory (1893). A. H. Bannerman. Coll l’Arche.
With financial support from France, with large numbers of men and ships from both Saint-Pierre and ‘‘Métropole’’ involved in the fishery, and with good stock catches, SaintPierre-et-Miquelon’s fishery peaked in the mid-1870s through the 1880s. At the end of the nineteenth century, a series of service industries and small-scale manufacturers helped supply and maintain boats. Sail-makers, block-makers, caulkers and carpenters worked to service both large and small vessels. Several dory and small schooner factories were found throughout the archipelago, as well as forges and cooperages. An oilcloth factory was founded in 1896 and in the following year, a foundry and machine shop opened. In 1898, a hardtack (hard bread) factory started to produce up to 2,5 tons a day; the same year, a copper-paint factory opened. People from the Burin Peninsula supplied local trade with regional products: salmon, trout, chicken, bait (caplin, herring) and firewood, and returned with imported goods (molasses, tobacco, clothing, rum…).
Saint-Pierre: harbour and fishing schooners (date unknown). A. Bréhier. Coll. l’Arche.
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“Island and fishing banks of Newfoundland“, 1780. Coll. l’Arche.
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Chapitre Mercantile Fishing
“Working on the drying grounds of Saint-Pierre“, oil on canvas by Gaston Roullet, late 19th century. Coll. l’Arche.
Much of Saint-Pierre’s prosperity came from the role it played in the offshore fishery, primarily exploiting a number of rich fishing banks in the region. It involved sending large vessels to the fishing banks; many men worked on these boats, filling the holds with salted cod.
Fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland: three-masted ship and dories on the Banquereau (date unknown). Edition M. Guérin. Coll. l’Arche.
This offshore fishery developed in three places: the offshore Banks, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the French Shore. The Grand Bank was the largest and farthest one from Saint-Pierre; going south, the Banquereau was smaller, as well as the Saint-Pierre Bank, which was the closest one, used by smaller vessels (schooners or “long boats”) based in Saint-Pierre. The Gulf fishery took place along the Newfoundland coast in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and did not use shore workers to dry cod. Instead, boats would return to Saint-Pierre, where “graviers” would dry their catches. As for the French shore fishery, it used shore installations on the west coast of Newfoundland where the cod was dried. In the eighteenth century, fishing took place on board large vessels and used hand-lining for catching cod, that is to say single lines with baited hooks. Boats were based in Saint-Pierre or were summers vessels from ‘‘Métropole’’.
“The Salter“ oil on wood byAristide Ollivier, mid-20th century. Coll. l’Arche.
By 1789, long-line fishing was adopted; it consisted of a line strung with periodically spaced baited hooks on smaller lines that
were set along the ocean bottom. Long boats (smaller crafts unloaded from the mother vessel) were used to set and haul the lines. Catches were processed on the mother vessel. Around 1873, a major innovation that revolutionized the fishery occurred, and led to increased catches. The heavy and cumbersome long boats were replaced by dories, each manned by two men. Longlines became shorter but much more numerous, so the catching capacity of each vessel considerably increased. Dories sometimes had to fish quite a distance away from their mother vessel. With frequent fogs, rough seas, fish orverload and transatlantic passenger steamer traffic, tragedies were common. Dories would leave their mother vessel for two hours to set trawl lines just before dusk. At dawn, around five am, they hauled up the trawl lines (set the day before) and returned with their catch. They would go back and forth in more or less five hours. Cod was unloaded onto the mother vessel’s deck under the captain’s watchful eye who counted every cod. The fish was gutted, headed, split, washed and placed on a slide into the vessel’s hold, where they were salted. A doryman would then bait 1500 hooks before lunch and then embark on his next trip. The mercantile fishery was a seasonal fishery, it usually lasted from the beginning of April until the end of September. It was largely carried out by seasonal workers who sailed out from the ports of Normandy and Brittany. Some men came to fish on the boats, some were left on the shores of SaintPierre or on the French Shore to process and dry the fish.
Curing fish, in « Le Monde Illustré », 2 avril 1859. Coll. R. Girardin.
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« Les tambours », oil on canvas, polyptic by Raphaële Goineau, 2000. Coll. l’Arche.
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Local Architecture
Saint-Pierre: Beaussant street (early 20th century). Fonds Y. Andrieux. Coll. l’Arche.
A traditional house in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon would be a one or two storey wooden house, covered with wooden clapboard or shingles. The particularities of those simple shaped houses are expressed through elements such as windows, “tambours” or colours.
Architecture part of the museum. Photo. L. Claireaux. Coll. l’Arche.
In downtown Saint-Pierre, houses are built right next to the street, with entries a little bit higher than the street level, and an external porch (that we call here “tambour”). The “tambour” prevents cold wind and snow from entering the house during winter. Earlier houses often had an unfinished basement (used as a storage and work area) and a small, sheltered backyard. Most houses have simple gable roof and the attic is often used for children bedrooms. The oldest houses in Saint-Pierre-etMiquelon were built during the second half of the 19th century. In the downtown area, some houses were covered with bricks to prevent fire hazards. The town of Miquelon is less densely built than Saint-Pierre and properties are often bigger, with longer and lower houses. Until recently, wood was the only material used. The earliest window-style in Saint-Pierre-etMiquelon was simply known as the French window (casement-style window). Sash windows or American windows are seen
Saint-Pierre: porch and sash window (2001). Coll. G. Pocius.
in late nineteenth photographs, mainly on new houses built on the edges of SaintPierre town. A flush window or skylight called “tabatière” was common on both gable and hipped roofs to bring light to the attic. The external porch, the “tambour”, is a traditional feature of the archipelago. It was mentioned as early as 1839 in a notary act. In 1851, an act was passed stating that “tambours” could not be erected before November 1st of each year, and had to be removed by April 15th. By 1929, “tambours” could be permanent if they had substantial window space. Eighteenth century visitors on the archipelago described colourless houses. Even by 1902, Saint-Pierre town seemed to be “a study in gray and brown”. However, some limited use of yellow and red were reported, likely yellow or red ochre mixed with cod oil (as in nearby Newfoundland). Government buildings were often whitewashed and later painted in white. The use of the bright and contrasting colours that one sees today in Saint-Pierre is a relatively recent practice. It started in the 1950s and 60s, when paint became more affordable. Over the years, colours used on houses became bolder, whereas in the past it was rather dark or neutral. Today, local public authorities encourage and value this trend and the range of colours used now has reached an unprecedented extent.
French window, from a house in Saint-Pierre (2002). B. Herman and J. Klee.
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“Mairie de l’Île-aux-Marins“, oil on canvas by Raphaële Goineau, 2004. Coll. l’Arche.
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Île-aux-Chiens Île-aux-Marins
View of Ile-aux-Chiens in winter (before 1925). Coll. Y. Andrieux. Coll. l’Arche.
By the mid-nineteenth century, Ile-aux-Marins was used primarily as a site for drying fish on the large stone drying grounds built there. A municipality was eventually established as the population of the island kept growing. By the 1850s, most of those working on Ile-aux-Marins had two houses, one on the island for summer, and the other in Saint-Pierre for winter. Some 400 fishermen from mainland France would come to Ileaux-Marins during the fishing season. They would use it as a fishing base, living in small cabins, curing and drying the fish on the grounds they rented.
Ile-aux-Marins: main road of the island, looking towards northeast. Note the graves to dry cod (May 1942). Coll. l’Arche.
By the 1860s, these large “graves” were broken up and sold in smaller sections. The land was sold in long narrows lots (as in Miquelon), with space for the house, the garden, the ‘‘graves’’, the “saline”, and a landing for the dories. The remains of these
lots and their buildings are what is seen today on the island. Migration from mainland France to Ile-auxMarins increased during the last quarter of the nineteenth century because of the lucrative fishery. The boom in the fishery meant prosperity, leading to an increase in public infrastructure and year-round settlement. In 1892, there were 683 yearround inhabitants on the island. The same year in which it became a municipality. Like the entire archipelago, Ile-aux-Marins’ prosperity was coming to an end by the beginning of the twentieth century. While there had been a steady population influx, numbers slowly began to fall as the fishery declined. In 1907, there were 500 inhabitants; in 1911, there were 363. By the 1920s, some attempts were made to revitalize the fishery through technological innovations. A warehouse was converted into a cod dryer; a little ‘‘Frigorifique’’ was built and a cod liver oil plant was completed in 1926. The same year, there were only 50 families on Ile-aux-Marins during the winter. The island had once again become more of a summer fishing station: families went to Saint-Pierre or mainland France in the winter, and came back in the spring. In 1931, the name of Ile-aux-Chiens was changed to Ile-aux-Marins. In 1944 there were only 250 people living there; in 1967 the last year round resident left. In 1945, the municipalities were recreated and Ileaux-Marins reintegrated Saint-Pierre.
Ile-aux-Marins: land holdings (above 1863, below1865). Each is divided to include space for garden, house, grave and saline fronting on the harbour. Coll. l’Arche.
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