A History of Trepassey
15th Century
1497: John Cabot, sailing under the English flag, reaches Newfoundland and inaugurates the Grand Banks cod fishery by Europeans.
16th Century
1501: Portuguese explorer, Corte Real, visits Newfoundland in 1501, and the Portuguese salt cod fishery starts soon after. It is recorded that the Bretons were fishing Newfoundland waters as early as 1504. The Normandy fishers learned about the fishing grounds from Thomas Aubert, who made a fishing and reconnoitering voyage in 1508.
A Basque map shows that a fisheries supply depot was established at the site of Trepassey as early as 1505. (Seary, 1971:30). In the opening decades of the 16th century the Newfoundland cod fishery was dominated by the Portuguese and French fishermen from the Channel ports and was also known to the Basques. As pointed out by Nemec (NQ 5:18) Trepassey is closer to the Azores than any other Newfoundland port and the Azores were the typical last landfall for Portuguese and Spanish ships crossing the Atlantic.
Historians have identified two origins for the name “Trepassey” which first appeared on a French map in 1555. (Harding 1998:22). The first is from the “Baie des Trepasses” (Bay of Souls), which is located on the very western tip of the coast of Brittany, just south of seaport of Brest. The Bay itself is a typical surfing beach with rolling waves and headlands most unlike the pebble beaches which dominate Trepassey Bay. The second origin, similar to the first, refers to the fact that many people died in the shipwrecks that litter both coasts.
By the 1520s French channel ports in Brittany and Normandy regularly sent out between 60 and 90 vessels to the Newfoundland fishery. By this time the Normans were becoming dominant on the south coast with the Bretons fishing the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Grand Banks. (Davies 1974: 14).
About 1540 the Basques from southern France and northern Spain entered the Newfoundland fishery. Initially lured by the whale fishery in the Labrador straits, by the late 1540s they were also fishing for cod. The French Basques sailed from Bordeaux and the Spanish Basques from numerous ports along the north coast of Spain. Local south-coast place names, such as Portugal Cove South, Biscay Bay and Rio de rosas, (Portuguese for River of Roses, which was their name for Trepassey) point to the strong presence of the Basques and the Portuguese in the Trepassey Bay area in the 16th century.
1535 Jacques Cartier made three explorations of discovery to the northwestern Atlantic. Cartier was a Breton from St. Malo and likely had contacts with Breton fishermen in Newfoundland. He certainly knew about the French seasonal presence in Renews, stopping there in 1535 for provisions before returning to France at the end of his second voyage.
Trepassey and St. Mary’s Bays were the centre of the Basque cod fishery in Newfoundland. The Basque fishery reached its height in the late 1500s and then declined with increasing competition from the French in the channel ports, and from the English. (Michael Barkham).
Up until the middle of the 16th century, it is unlikely that there were any European attempts at over wintering in Trepassey or in Newfoundland. Fishermen arrived in spring and returned to Europe in fall. The Trepassey area is one of the mildest places in all of Newfoundland but generally the nature of the “green” fishery, the preferred method of the French channel port fishermen, did not require settlement. The green fishery involved the heavy salting of fish mostly at sea, which did not require extensive shore operations, so that over-wintering was unlikely.
On the other hand, the French and Spanish Basques and the Portuguese pursued a dry fishery which required extensive shore operations. They cut down trees to build platforms (flakes) to dry catches before shipping. It seems likely that they attached a much greater value than the channel French to the low-lying foreshores of the whole of Trepassey Bay, which encompassed Portugal Cove South, Biscay Bay, Mutton Bay and especially the lower coast and eastern side of the harbour at Trepassey.
With the rise in the importance of the dry fishery it is possible by the middle of the 16th century that a few Basque and Portuguese fishermen were planted onshore (hence the name “planters”) by merchants or captains, to over winter in a major fishing port like Trepassey. As competition for the best sites for setting up flakes was fierce, and on-going operations favoured early spring preparedness, leaving a few people behind to protect and prepare favoured landing and drying sites for the seasonal fishery made sense. Historians doubt that those few individuals who did over winter became permanent settlers but the practice may have been regular by about 1550. Those who did over winter likely stayed for a few years before returning to a more hospitable life in the mother country.
Non-Basque French fishermen from the channel ports did not form any permanent settlements in Newfoundland until the founding of La Scie about 1620. (infonet.stjohns.nf.ca/green/songsfr). They continued to maintain a wide-ranging seasonal presence in Newfoundland from the early 16th century until the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. While the channel French maintained an interest in Trepassey after 1713, and may well have occasionally over wintered there in the 16th and early 17th century, the first French settlement on the Avalon appears to have been at Placentia in 1662.
The early use of Trepassey as a supply depot and seasonal centre for the Newfoundland fishery is not difficult to imagine. Trepassey harbour is large, the water deep, the shoreline flat and there were plenty of trees available to build flakes. The siting of the harbour against prevailing winds results in mostly calm conditions, which would have been ideal for the safe landing of catches. Trepassey harbour today is also less foggy than other neighbouring communities. Assuming that these conditions were consistent in earlier centuries, the harbour foreshore offered a better place for the drying fish than any of the nearby settlements of Portugal Cove South, Biscay Bay, St.Shott’s, Peter’s River and St. Vincent’s.
Trepassey has always benefited because it has a year-around ice-free port. Other key fishing harbours on the south and east Avalon such as St. John’s, Cape Broyle, Ferryland, Aquaforte, Fermeuse and Renews were sometimes difficult to access in spring when winds blew in dense pack ice brought down by the Labrador Current.
The English were late entering the Newfoundland fishery. There were a number of reasons for this. The English cod fishery for much of the 16th century was centred on the northeast coast and fishing was mostly in Iceland. At this time there was only a small domestic market for cod.
The English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 quickly changed all that. Loss of control of the seas led to a decline in the Spanish and Portuguese Newfoundland fisheries in the late 16th century. The continuing demand for salt cod in southern European markets opened up opportunities for West Country fishermen. In 1578 the English fleet in Newfoundland was estimated at only 40 or 50 vessels. By 1604 the fleet had rapidly expanded to about 150 vessels. (Innis 1956: 36).
By the end of the 16th century the French and English emerged as the main competitors for the Newfoundland fishery. It was Trepassey’s fate in the 17th century to evolve as the recognized boundary between the shore-based operations of these two competitors. Trepassey inevitably became a battleground whenever hostilities broke out between England and France.
1583 In the summer of this year Sir Humphrey Gilbert landed in St. John’s and
formally took possession of Newfoundland in the name of Queen Elizabeth I. Gilbert had a strong interest in Newfoundland settlement. After leaving St. John’s he proceeded south to Cape Race and sent shore parties into Trepassey Bay to take soil samples for possible future settlement (Sir Humphrey Gilbert in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography I: 334)
17th Century
1610 Formal colonization took place when the Newfoundland Company was formed by English noblemen and merchants. In 1610 they entrusted the founding of their first colony on the Avalon to John Guy. Guy settled in Cupids in Conception Bay. Numerous other colonies under Royal Charter were founded soon after at Trinity, Harbour Grace, Ferryland, Renews and Trepassey.
1620 Aware of the presence of Norman fishing vessels in Trepassey harbour, Samuel de Champlain stopped there briefly on one of his many trips between France and his new settlement at Quebec, founded in 1608.
1621 The Trepassey colony was founded by the Welshman, Sir William Vaughan. While there is some dispute that Trepassey was the site of the Vaughan’s short-lived colony, the evidence of maps and historical documents supports it. Vaughan brought out Welsh farmers to till the land in Trepassey about 1621. Early attempts at farming were unsuccessful. The reasons were diverse but major problems likely included a very short growing season; relatively poor rock-filled soil; an inhospitable climate for crops; and the ill-preparedness of the farmers for the major lifestyle adaptations required to survive and prosper in an area whose main natural asset was the fishery.
It is understood that there were two additional formal attempts at settlement in Trepassey by 1630 but for numerous reasons including political the colony ultimately failed. The location of the seasonal fishing operations and the Vaughan colony were likely on the harbour side of the lower coast.
As the English fishery developed vessels returned year after year to the Avalon. West Country fishermen were particularly attracted to the Trepassey area because they could obtain scarce salt from Portuguese fisherman who were still fishing there. The English concentrated in key fishing harbours between Trepassey and Conception Bay, which was known as the English Shore. By the mid-1670s English fishing vessels were increasingly displacing French, Portuguese and Spanish Basque fishermen.
1675 By 1675 St. John’s was the largest settlement on the Avalon followed by Bonavista and Carbonear. Nemec, who has studied Trepassey in detail, suggests that its resident population in 1675 was 30, which grew to 41 by 1681. (Nemec NQ 5:19). In 1684 there were both French and English families living there. Nemec suggests that they would have been planters and their servants. Rose has pointed out that the most successful settlements were located where fish were available from more than one cod stock. Trepassey was fortunate to have excellent access to both the south coast and Grand Banks cod stocks. (Rose 2007: 225/6). For a summary of Trepassey’s population statistics please see at the end of this paper..
It is important to understand that the seasonal nature of the Newfoundland cod fishery has always been a retarding influence on the economic development of south coast towns such as Trepassey. It is startlingly obvious when one looks at the history of the New England town of Gloucester that year-around fishing opportunities provided by the winter George's Bank fishery sustained Gloucester as a permanent fishing community as early as 1623. The year-round fishery came with a price. It is sobering to realize that Gloucester's winter fishery resulted in a staggering loss of life little appreciated elsewhere. Kurlanski (Kurlanski:56) notes that, in the period 1830 to 1900, 3,800 Gloucester fishermen and 670 schooners were lost at sea.
Whether any families stayed on to eke out a living in the Trepassey area between 1630 and known settlement in 1675 is uncertain. As already pointed out over-wintering at Trepassey probably started about 1550 and while settlement was not perhaps “permanent” it may have continued unbroken from that time. Rose describes Trepassey as “one of the oldest European settlements in North America. (Rose 2007: 501). Throughout the 17th century Trepassey continued as an international seasonal fishing station shared between French, English, Portuguese and Basque fishermen.
While the French, Portuguese and Spanish had been exploiting the Grand Banks fishery throughout the 17th century, the English did not start to use the larger ships required to exploit it - ships referred to as “bankers” - until the early 18th century. Rose suggests this was the result of the temporary decline in the inshore fishery on the south shore. (Rose 2007: 243).
Beginning in the 1670s George and Richard Periman, merchants from North Devon, operated from four to twelve inshore fishing boats from Trepassey, which employed as many as 60 men aboard and on shore. (Matthews 1971: 323). Historians have noted that the cultural ties between Trepassey and the North Devon ports of Barnstaple and Bideford were strong during this era.
18th Century
1713 Warfare between French and English led to occasional conflicts at Trepassey. The signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 virtually ended this dispute, with power passing to the English, but the French maintained extensive fishing rights. This period also saw the passing of the migratory ship fishery and increased English settlement on the Avalon. By the mid-1700s settlements had grown considerably and, with them a culture based almost entirely on the salt cod fishery.
1720 In June 1720 the notorious pirate Bartholomew Roberts, also known as Black Bart, in his vessel Fortune , entered Trepassey harbour. During his week-long stay he captured 22 vessels and before leaving burnt most of them. In his short career as a pirate, ravaging shipping in the Americas and West Africa between 1719-1722, Roberts captured about 470 vessels. This was considerably more than better-known rivals Blackbeard and Captain Kidd.
By the 1720s Trepassey had become a major centre of the inshore and Grand Banks fishery. The technology of the fishery was also changing with the adoption of smaller “bank” boats that allowed entrepreneurs from South Devon ports of Topsham, Teigmouth and Dartmouth to enter the industry. Many owners started out as captains of vessels who gradually developed into merchants as opportunities for trade expanded. The Suttons were probably the first Irish family to locate in Trepassey. Their arrival about 1720 from Wexford coincided with the developing practice of hiring Irish workers for shore operations in the Newfoundland fishery.
As the 18th century progressed Trepassey became the exclusive preserve of Topsham, the port for the city of Exeter. By the 1770s permanent residents profiting from the growth of the bank fishery outnumbered the seasonal population. (Janson, The History of Newfoundland to 1815, Chapter 8, unpublished). Some of the first merchants in this era were the Follettes and Jacksons who went on to dominate the merchant fishing trade in Trepassey for a century. Remnants of their early settlement have been found on the lower coast just beyond the breakwater, which separates Trepassey Beach from the harbour.
The Pennells followed about 1770, giving Trepassey three resident merchants. Local agents in Trepassey were usually younger family or extended family members sent out to act as permanent agents for the Exeter merchants. This connection reached its peak by the end of the 18th century. While Follette is a name now rare in Trepassey, and Jackson is unknown, the descendants of Daniel Pennell (also Daniel’s Point) remain today one of the most prominent local families.
1767 Exploration and mapping of the coast of Newfoundland was carried out by Lieutenant James Cook who participated in the Louisbourg and Quebec campaigns and was immortalized in a series of world voyages from 1770. Cook visited the south coast and mapped Trepassey Bay in 1767. His “Plan of the harbour of Trepassey with Mutton and Biscay Bays” was published in 1770. His accurate maps guided mariners and fishermen in the south shore area for centuries to follow.
During the American Revolutionary War the British sloop, HMS Trepassey was captured off Cape Canaveral by the famous American naval hero, Captain John Barry. This was the final naval engagement of the American Revolution. The fact that a ship was named after this Newfoundland outport suggests that Trepassey was known and had some importance in Britain.
During the American Revolutionary War period a military battery was built on the Lower Coast on a high point of land overlooking the narrows at the entrance to Trepassey harbour. The battery was staffed by local militia. It was abandoned about 1815 with the end of the War of 1812-14.
1786 William, Prince of Wales, son of George III, in command of a 28-gun frigate, Pegasus , entered Trepassey harbour on June 27th for a short visit. William eventually ascended the throne as William IV.
The rise of the strong connections with South Devon also coincided with the first noticeable influx of settlers from southern Ireland and south Devon by 1750. This era probably started with the Suttons in the 1720. (Nemec NQ 5: 22). However, it appears that a major emigration from these two areas took place between the American Revolution (1775) and the start of the French Revolution (1789). In 1779 the population was listed as 260 and in 1789 it had grown to 386.
The influx of Irish settlers originated from the practice of English fishing vessels, en route to the Newfoundland fishery, calling at southeast Irish ports of Wexford, Waterford and New Ross to buy provisions and hire labourers for a typical fishing “season” which included two summers and a winter. Over time some migratory workers remained to settle permanently and doubtless were sometimes joined by relatives. For the most part these Irish settlers were younger sons of farmers who were looking for better opportunities in the new world. (Mannion 1973: 9-10). This Irish emigration pre-dated the major emigrations, which followed the Irish famines.
Nemec lists families who emigrated during this era including: Curtis, Hewitt, and Waddleton (South Devon protestant) and Devereaux, Molloy, Sutton and Tobin (Irish Catholic). It is certainly possible that earlier ancestors from some of these families were present in Trepassey prior to 1750. This appears to be the case with the Suttons. The Bulger name does not appear to be from Devon but it does appear in registers of County Wexford so Trepassey Bulgers were likely of Irish decent.
Trepassey Catholic parish records indicate a serious decline in the English resident population from the 1790s. This trend continued into the early 1820s. This circumstance is directly attributable to the withdrawal of the south Devon merchants and their families from the Grand Bank fishery. As a result, during this period and after, Trepassey evolved into an almost exclusively Irish Catholic community through inter-faith marriage.
The withdrawal of English merchants opened up business opportunities for the merchants of St. John’s, who gradually occupied the vacuum in the salt fish trade when the English withdrew. However, the control exerted by St. John’s merchants was not as prevalent in Trepassey as in other outport towns on the Avalon. The legacy of this was as the 19th century progressed, the culture of Trepassey might be likened to that of a small Quebec town dominated by the Catholic priest. Other prominent people were the myriad of minor public and quasi-public officials.
19th Century
The difficult economic and trading conditions during French and American Revolutions and the subsequent depression after the Napoleonic War changed the status quo by severing the strong ties that Trepassey had with Exeter.
The withdrawal of the bank fishery in the 1790s left Trepassey in economic dire straits with merely a small seasonal inshore salt cod fishery. The population went through considerable ups and downs over the next 30 years changing from a major Grand Banks fishery town to a mixed farming outport dependent on the inshore fishery (Nemec NQ 5: 23).
During the Napoleonic period almost all immigration was from southern Ireland and dominated by family names such as: Bryan, Butler, Corrigan, Fenelly, Hackett, Halleran, James, Kennedy, McNeil and Ryan. Most of these names are still prominent in Trepassey today. It appears that descendants of the Corcorans arrived about 1850.
1821 The first lighthouse was built at Cape Pine, the southernmost point in Newfoundland
The population of Trepassey expanded from 247 in 1836 to 541 in 1857.
Matthews suggests that most of this increase in population was a natural increase as 95% of the population was born in Newfoundland. It appears that this population expansion was almost entirely sustained by the economics of the salt cod fishery.
1850 A mail route was in service between Ferryland and Trepassey.
1856 Surveyor Michael Allan provided a report on the status of the road between St. John’s and Trepassey.
“I have superintended the line from St. John’s to Trepassey, distance of eight-eight miles. From St. John’s to Chance Cove the road is good, over which a horse and cart may pass with safety – thence to a distance of three miles the road is not good; at the end of these three miles is a Tilt, built by the Company. Between the Tilt and Trepassey, about one-quarter of a mile remains unfinished, the whole distance being five miles.” (5th Session, 6th General Assembly p. 458)
A comparison of the 1857 census data with that of 1836 supports the conclusion that Trepassey “was undergoing the transition from a fishing port whose labour force consisted primarily of unmarried males to a settled community with an underlying familial social structure.” (Nemec NQ 5:17). As a result of economic stagnation Trepassey and other south shore communities received few immigrants. The relative slow growth in population from the 1850s is also evident on most of the island where the fishing-based economy was proving less and less capable of sustaining its increasing population.
About this time a lighthouse was first built on Powell’s Head at the entrance to Trepassey harbour.
During this period local fishermen either independently fished by jigging from small dorys and/or long-lines, which were first adopted in the 1850s, or were employed by owners of larger boats called skiffs which fished further from the coast and used seine nets to encircle fish. Skiffs were also used in the trap fishery, which was introduced in the late 19th and early 20th century. A third class of boat, the “banker” a larger three-masted schooner also sailed out of Trepassey harbour. These larger boats that entered the local fishery after 1850, were usually owned by Gloucester (Massachusetts) or Lunenburg (Nova Scotia) merchants.
Trepassey’s ice-free status made it a communications centre for St. John’s when the latter was iced in. It was connected by telegraph to St. John’s and to New York through the trans-Atlantic telegraph in the 1860s.
1871 Lovell’s Provincial Business Directory lists Trepassey as a large fishing settlement with some agriculture and cattle. It had a post office and was an official port of entry with a population of 514. Trepassey had a road connection to St. John’s and a bi-weekly steamer and mail service.
20th Century
In 1914 Trepassey became the terminus of an ill-conceived 104-mile spur train line from St. John’s, started in 1911. The railroad was also intended to serve communities along the line and link with the coastal boat service. This railroad was rarely profitable carrying only passengers and occasional freight but it did not stimulate either new industries or new settlements. In 1923 the government took over the line and introduced trolley-like “day coaches” that were not operated in the winter.
1919 On May 16th a United States Navy Curtis Flying Boat left Trepassey harbour and flew to Portugal via the Azores. This was the first successful crossing of the Atlantic. The flying boat essentially traced the route of 16th -century Portuguese fishermen.
1928 In late June, after a three-week stay in Trepassey, Amelia Earhart boarded the Friendship as a passenger and become the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.
1931 The unprofitable branch line between St. John’s and Trepassey was closed due the Great Depression and never reopened.
1947 Newfoundland enters Confederation with Canada.
1951 Trepassey’s fine harbour and its geographical proximity to the Grand Banks fishery were probably key factors in Fishery Products opening a major fish processing plant in 1951.
1963 The fish plant burnt down but it was re-built and expanded, providing a huge economic boost to Trepassey and neighbouring communities.
1991 This fish plant was closed when the cod fishery ended, throwing 600 people out of work. High levels of unemployment led to many people boarding up their houses and moving away.
End note:
This short history, and the population statistics set out in Appendix A below, show clearly that in recent centuries Trepassey has been able to support a population of 700 to 800 residents based primarily on the fishery.
With the collapse of the cod fishery in 1991, diversification into light manufacturing, and the rise in crab and shrimp fisheries has helped to sustain the population base. In recent years the increased wealth created by a solid core of local workers commuting to high-paying jobs in the offshore Avalon, Alberta and elsewhere has undoubtedly been an important development.
Since 2000 there has been a small influx of permanent and seasonal residents from the United States and from the Canadian mainland. They have bought vacant local properties, and in the case of older properties, invested heavily in restoring them. These people are attracted by the inexpensive housing, stunning scenery, friendly people, and strong local infrastructure and amenities. It appears that this trend may be waning (family issues, travel costs, Trepassey weather), as least some of the early adopters are not visiting every year.
In recent years older residents from the St. John’s area have been buying vacant properties in Trepassey. New permanent residents are greatly attracted by low housing prices, local amenities and an easier lifestyle. Most have treated their houses as weekenders. As house prices and congestion continue to increase in St. John’s at least some of these people may decide to retire to Trepassey.
It seems essential for the economic survival of a community like Trepassey that local government should put in place policies designed to encourage in-migration from St. John’s and off-island.
This development model is well-established elsewhere especially in northern New England where small coastal towns and villages receive huge economic benefit from seasonal residents, visiting friends and tourists.
This development and the growing significance of the work of Cape Race Heritage and the attraction of the Mistaken Point Fossils as a World Heritage Site, provide hope for brighter economic future, which will provide additional support to the local tax base and some minor improved employment opportunities n the service industries.
It seems likely however that hoped for off-shore oil spin-off, or new private ventures such as a previously proposed wind-farm on the barrens west of Trepassey, will not materialize. More realistic possibilities might be found in services connected to the tourism industry and in appropriate natural resource developments such as cranberry farming and aquaculture.
Finally, in the 2020s a limited re-entry by local residents into a diversified inshore fishery, which with warmer ocean water temperatures may include aquaculture, may also provide solid economic incentives.
The whole Southern Shore area is endowed with many unique natural, cultural and historic assets that could support a successful National Park based on the Avalon Wilderness Area, the south shore barrens and its Caribou herd, the Holyrood Pond fjord complex, the Mistaken Point Fossils, and some of the oldest communities in North America.
Population of Trepassey:
30
41
260
386
275
285
353
1825 158
247
541
514
668
684
792
816
857
737
550
532
577
1966 752
949
1027
1991 1375
2001 889
Bibliography
Barkham, Michael (1986) Maritime activity in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Cabot Strait area circa 1600 to circa 1675 . Newfoundland Marine Archaeological Society, St. John’s
Davies, K. G., (1974) The North Atlantic World in the Seventeenth Century , U of Minnesota Press, Madison
Quinn, D. B. (1966) “Sir Humphrey Gilbert” in The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Volume 1, University of Toronto Press, Toronto
Innis, H. (1956) The Fur Trade in Canada University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1952
Janson unpublished
Kurlanski, Mark, (2008) The Last Fish Tale , Jonathan Cape, London
Mannion, John, (1973) The Irish Migrations to Newfoundland Memorial University, St. John’s
Nemec, Thomas, “Trepassey 1505 – 1840 A.D.: The Emergence of An Anglo-Irish Newfoundland Outport”, The Newfoundland Quarterly , Volume 5, Number 3, March 1973, St. John’s, 1973
Nemec, Thomas, “Trepassey 1840 – 1900: An Ethnohistorical Reconstruction of Anglo-Irish Outport Society”, The Newfoundland Quarterly , Volume 5, Number 4, June 1973, St. John’s, 1973
Rose, George, (2007) Cod, The Ecological History of the North Atlantic Fisheries , Breakwater, St. John’s
Seary, F. R. (1971) Place names of the Avalon Peninsula of the Island of Newfoundland , University of Toronto Press, Toronto