With these dangerous campaigns lasting half the year, departures and returns were emotional moments.

Used to sailing together, the ships from the Bay of Saint-Brieuc gathered in the deep channel of the Portrieux harbor before departure.

In the days leading up to it, everything was in a flurry of preparation and loading. Sailors liked to place themselves under the protection of the Virgin Mary. Those from Le Portrieux made their devotions at the Notre Dame de Kertugal chapel, built in 1828. Blessings for ships and crews, pardons – everything was done in the hope of a clement voyage. Listen to the hymn to Notre Dame de la Garde on the Notre Dame de Kertugal panel…

As they left, they saluted ND de la Ronce in front of the large beach (see Parish Church sign).

The return journey was a time of mourning when a ship or sailor went missing. But in every port, the inhabitants came to the quays and foreshores to welcome the ships, and the carts were ready for unloading, as in Boudin’s painting on the panel, it was a whirlwind of activity and jubilation. Then came the time to thank the Virgin Mary….

In the days of deep-sea fishing, the shipowner was, as nowadays, the person who owned the vessel, or the majority of the vessel’s shares. He was responsible for “fitting out” the vessel, i.e. maintaining it (hull, sails, rigging), bunkering it (providing equipment, supplies and everything needed for the campaign: salt, orins, hooks, food, water, wine, cider, gnole, tobacco…), recruiting and paying the crew and selling the cargo. He was also responsible for living conditions on board, safety and medical care, and for complying with all regulations.

In Portrieux, as in the other ports of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, the shipowners were “small” shipowners. They owned a maximum of 4 or 5 vessels, in stark contrast to the shipping companies in Saint-Malo or Granville, which could own as many as 20.

Sometimes former captains, they were more often landowners and merchants. In the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, the families of shipowners and ocean-going captains merged: shipowners gave command of ships to their sons or sons-in-law, while captains at the end of their careers often acquired shares in ships.
The five main shipowning companies in Portrieux were active in this way for three or four generations, some of them managed by a widow, assisted by sons or sons-in-law who sailed.

A deep-sea fishing vessel was commanded by a licensed captain, assisted by a mate. Responsible for running the ship and crew, his appointment was recorded in a notarial deed in which the shipowner specified his duties. He was often responsible for assembling the crew.

Each member of the crew had to be registered as a seaman, and signed a contract of engagement with the shipowner. The “rôle d’équipage” is a document listing all the crew members, their identities and functions, as well as the emoluments and advances paid before departure.

In addition to the captain and mate, a Newfoundland crew (40 to 60 men, depending on the size of the vessel) included a lieutenant, a fishing master, a salter, a cook, a number of fishermen, mousses (generally aged between 12 and 15) at a rate of one for every 10 men, and novices (aged between 16 and 25 but inexperienced), one for every four men.

Some fishermen also fulfilled a special function: carpenter, sailmaker, capelanier (in charge of the “boëtte” or bait for the lines), and the specialties attached to fish processing: dresser, stripper, slicer… For the shoals, it was specified for the sailors whether they were “dory skippers” or “dory foremen”, the wages were not the same. For Iceland’s particularly harsh sea conditions, the smaller crew – often less than 30 men – had to be skilled in fishing from the shore, and could not include more than two men who had never been to Iceland. These sailors most often hailed from the coast between Paimpol and Erquy…

The role of the novices was to go where they were needed. The mousses were mainly responsible for cooking, cleaning and serving the captain and other sailors, and could also help dress the fish. They were frequently subjected to bullying and mistreatment that we can scarcely imagine… And yet, most of them continued to sail in the years that followed.

Food was very mediocre, consisting mainly of sea cookies, cod-head stew, bacon soup, a few fresh vegetables at the beginning of the campaign, potatoes and pulses. Water stagnated quickly, so sailors drank cider cut with water or wine. A daily ration of eau de vie (boujaron) was also provided.

On board, the captain acted as physician and surgeon. All he had at his disposal was an on-board pharmacy, checked before boarding.

Faced with these deplorable sanitary conditions, the Société des Œuvres de Mer, founded in 1894 to “provide material and moral assistance to French sailors and their families”, equipped a number of hospital ships to cruise the banks of Newfoundland and the coasts of Iceland. The Saint-Yves, on which Father Yvon, chaplain to the Terre-Neuvas, sailed and from which you can view film extracts, is one of them. From 1911 onwards, French naval vessels carried out the same mission.
A modest hospital had been operating in Saint-Pierre since the late 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, three small French hospitals, staffed by Breton nurses, were established in Iceland, with a total of around 100 beds.

The most frequent illnesses were typhoid, lung ailments, scurvy, joint ailments… There were also numerous fractures, contusions and abscesses resulting from hook wounds on the fingers… All this pain didn’t stop the men, as their wages depended on their fishing. On board, alcohol was the universal remedy for pain. Alcoholism was a scourge.

Fishermen’s wages

Sailors were remunerated according to a complex system that took into account the quantity of cod caught by each individual. In simpler terms, the value of a cod was calculated by dividing the net income from fishing (sale of cod and oil minus purchases of boëtte and other expenses) by the number of cod caught.

The exact number of cod caught per man was recorded in a booklet, and they were paid accordingly according to a pre-determined percentage. For dory fishermen, the dory skipper and the bowman did not receive the same percentage. For those who didn’t fish, the salter, the mousses and the novices, the percentage of the total catch was also fixed in advance. The captain’s share was discussed with the shipowner.

The advance received before departure was then deducted from this sum, to enable the sailors to equip themselves (personal effects, oiled work clothes, clog boots, straw mattress, tobacco and small provisions) and their families to wait for their return. This advance varied according to the fisherman’s reputation. A good, experienced fisherman naturally received a more comfortable advance than a beginner.

These wages, better than those of day laborers, supported the families. Alone for long months at a time, sailors’ wives could be washerwomen, hat ironers, seamstresses… and very often supported a small farm, a vegetable garden and a small herd of cattle. On their return, during the few winter months, sailors could fish inshore, work in the fields, help with housekeeping or any other activity for which they were needed. Until 1908, the Saint-Quay-Portrieux lime kiln temporarily employed a large number of them.

Human losses