Edward le Quesne: The Newfoundland Trade

Edward Le Quesne (1882-1957) was elected a Deputy for St Helier No 2 district in 1925 and held the seat until he stood successfully for the new office of Senator in 1948. This is an extract from a journal he wrote entitled “50 Years of Memories”, written sometime around 1949. This part of his memoir looks at late Victorian Jersey and the declining years of the Newfoundland Trade.

Chapter 3: The Newfoundland Trade

One of my earliest recollections is that of frequent visits to the harbour to see the ships being made ready for their annual visit to Newfoundland for the cod fisheries.

As a general rule these wooden ships left Jersey at the end of March or the beginning of April and returned during October or November. In the winter months they filled what was termed the Old Harbour, e.g. the harbour in front of what is now named Commercial Buildings. The scene in those days was one of great activity, dozens of carpenters, shipwrights, sail makers and smiths being employed preparing the ships for the next season’s voyage.

Almost every store along Commercial Buildings contained businesses engaged in industry connected with shipbuilding, ship repairs and revictualling. A large wooden dry-dock was moored alongside the Quay and ships were placed in it one after another for repairs to their hulls, and the tapping of the hammers wielded by the Shipwrights caulking the seams with tarred hemp could be heard continuously.

Just before leaving for their voyage the placing of foodstuffs on board took place. Barrels of salt pork and huge tins of ship’s biscuits were the principal items, and large tanks of fresh water were also carried. I well remember a bakery at the bottom of Pier Road that supplied most of the ships’ biscuits and where bakers worked night and day for some weeks previous to the departure of the ships.

These biscuits were about six inches in diameter and about an inch thick, all right if soaked in hot milk as I have often had them for breakfast, but eaten as they had to be on the voyage, only soaked in hot water, and often flavoured by myriads of weevils, they can hardly, by any stretch of the imagination, have been even slightly appetising. ‘

But men were more easily satisfied in those days, and hundreds went year after year, knowing full well before they went of the hard life facing them, including very often a voyage to the fishing grounds of fifty to ninety days, with small pay, poor food, poor accommodation and some months of dangerous and hard work on the Newfoundland Banks, before returning for a few months to their native land.

Again, many failed to return, for almost annually returning ships brought news of accidents whilst fishing, of men who had decided to settle down in the new land, or of shipwrecks with the loss, in some cases, of all on board.

Gradually, fewer and fewer ships were engaged in this industry and eventually none remained, the old harbour became deserted, the stores changed over to potato and tomato stores, the old dry-dock was broken up and part of the harbour filled up to make what is now a parking place for cars, unthought-of of in the days of the wooden ships. To see the ships go out in the early spring was an experience never to be forgotten.

The sailors were paid a month or two’s wages previous to sailing, presumably to provide their families with spare cash during their absence. Many of them spent a good deal of those wages in having a good old drinking bout the day before sailing, and many had to be taken down to their ships on a police truck and placed on board.

The ships were taken by a tug out into the roads behind Elizabeth Castle, and we boys often manned the capstan, that until quite recently was at the end of the Albert Pier, in order to assist the ships proceeding out of the harbour mouth. The apprentices on the ships did their best to assist the skipper whilst the seamen recovered from the effects of their carousal.

The Annual Swimming matches of the Jersey Swimming Club were held in those days in the Harbour. The Quays of the Albert Pier were lined with marquees and seats for the spectators and barges were moored for the use of officials and competitors. I well remember, inasmuch as I was a competitor, when the English champion Tyers came to Jersey and used, for the first time locally, the Trudgeon, two-arm overhand stroke.

Radmilovic, the Welsh and English champion also made an appearance and competed in, and won, the two races inwhich he took part. This was considered one of the annual red-letter days and the event was always well patronised.

Another important annual event was the Cycling Club’s Annual Gala that took place at the Cycling Track that existed where are now the Florence Boot Houses at Greve d’Azette. English champion cyclists always crossed over for this event and on several occasions the whole of the local spectators were thrilled to see our local champion secure the victory from the visiting champions. Apart from the racing cycles similar to those of today there were events for the penny-farthing and tricycle machines.

The track was well banked and was an ideal place for these events, and the pity is that for financial reasons it eventually was demolished and sold.

My Postscript on the text:

The trudgen is a swimming stroke sometimes known as the racing stroke, or the East Indian stroke. It is named after the English swimmer John Trudgen (1852–1902) and evolved out of sidestroke.

One swims mostly upon one side, making an overhand movement, lifting the arms alternately out of the water. When the left arm is above the head, the legs spread apart for a kick; as the left arm comes down the legs extend and are then brought together with a sharp scissor kick. The right arm is now brought forward over the water, and as it comes down the left arm is extended again. The scissor kick comes every second stroke; it involves spreading the legs, then bringing them together with a sudden "snap" movement.

The swimmer's face is underwater most of the time; the only chance to breathe is when the hand is coming back and just as the elbow passes the face. The trudgen developed into the front crawl.