Cod fishing on the Newfoundland Banks (Source: Wikipedia, Public Domain).

In Britain, the veneration for Saint Monday played a significant role in strengthening the rights of people working in the numerous industries which burgeoned with the industrial revolution. Regardless, the fishery was one industry where Saint Monday had little to no effect. Why was that?

By the eighteenth century, when the industrial revolution was gaining ground, Britain had also profited from its migratory fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador¹ for a couple of centuries.

This is a brief discussion focussing on Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the places in the world where the fishery has defined all aspects of life. Yet, it was a place where Saint Monday failed to lay its mark.

At its heart, Saint Monday was essentially a means by which the people could express their dissatisfaction with their waning rights. As we know, it was the Saturday half-holiday and other efforts to improve the lives of the people that witnessed the decline of Saint Monday.

The Newfoundland and Labrador fishery evolved without the contribution of activities such as Saint Monday. Although. as the fishery developed, is it possible there were means by which the fishers were able to improve their rights without the aid of Saint Monday?

Brief Evolution of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fishery

The fishery evolved in Newfoundland and Labrador from 1497, when John Cabot first sailed along its shores, astonished by the vast abundance of cod. Upon his return to Britain, the news of the discovery no doubt passed from port to port.

Afterwards, fishing crews from around Europe, French and Portuguese as well as from the Basque Country descended on the treasure-filled waters of the New World. The English and Spanish soon followed, equally keen to plunder the newly discovered resources.

A Basque rowboat recovered from the Red Bay site, exhibited at the local museum (Source: Magicpiano – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0).

This generally became known as the migratory fishery. In this instance, the fishers arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador, undertook their fishing, returning thereafter to their homes in Europe.

Already at this point in its development in the 16^th century, the fishery had developed differently from the industries most commonly associated with the later industrial revolution. Simply to complete the work efficiently, the approach to fishery was factory-like. Different workers undertook varying tasks, thus dividing the labour, an approach typical of the industrial revolution that would develop in a couple ofcenturies.

With the Treaty of Utrecht, the peace treaty which brought an end to the War of the Spanish Succession rewarded Newfoundland to Britain (Source: Wikipedia By Abraham Allard, Public Domain).

In time, Britain, after hard-fought means and methods largely tied to war, had emerged as the sole holder of the fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. By the seventeenth century, efforts were underway to actually settle. Initially, this was in the form of sponsored settlement.

Although, over time, more and more people from Britain and Ireland arrived simply a seeking better life in Newfoundland and Labrador. The families who settled would increasingly fish for their personal use, but largely for the purposes of selling their catches to merchants based in Britain.

Method of Fishing

By the nineteenth century, the people who had settled in Newfoundland and Labrador undertook the fishery . At this time, a cashless economy undergirded the fishery.

Known as the truck system, fishers would rely on merchants for all their needs—clothes, fishing gear, foodstufffs. The products would be given on credit. Then, at the close of the fishing season, merchants would establish the price of the fish, as well as the goods based on what they expected to receive for the fish on the international market. Often, the merchant could manipulate prices to ensure a profit.

Source: Wikipedia. Painting by Charles Napier Hemy – oil on canvas 46 × 61 cm (18.1 × 24 in), Public Domain.

The system was readily open to manipulation for the benefit of the merchant. In the Amulree Commission Report in 1933, Lord Amulree summed up the challenges of the truck system.

“Money did not change hands; indeed, it could have been said with truth only a few years ago that there were families in Newfoundland who had never seen money in their lives. Under this system, very similar to the old truck system in England, large fortunes were made by the merchants; the fishermen, though saved from the danger of destitution, were little more than serfs with no hope of becoming independent.”

Uncertain Position of Merchants

While this generally reflected the nature of the relationship between fisher and merchant, there were additional details to bear in mind.

David A. MacDonald examined the further intricacies of the relationship in the fishery of the nineteenth century, revealing greater complexity than Lord Amulree’s interpretation suggested.

In “They Cannot Pay us in Money,” MacDonald focussed on Newman and Company, a firm headquartered in London, with three depots in Newfoundland. As any business would readily acknowledge, it’s best to establish a monopoly. As such, it would be a situation where a single merchant monopolises the catches obtained by various fishers. This was the goal. As MacDonald explained, “Through the supplying system Newmans struggled to control producers and to establish monopsonistic² power, but they never fully succeeded.”

Perhaps at a certain time, it was readily possible for a merchant to be assured sole access to the catches. However, this did not take into account the competition resulting from other nations who were all too keen to garner the catches of Newfoundland fishers. These other nations sold the codfish on its own or as bait to catch other fish in the ‘bait fishery.’

Newman and Company tried other methods to alleviate the problems they faced. The company placed stipulations on the fishers, stating all the fish caught by the fishers must be delivered to Newmans. Moreover, fishers were to obtain all their goods from Newmans’ stores. Fishers would also only obtain goods based on the average catch over three years.

Overall, the attempts of Newmans to better control trade with the fishers failed. Bad debts eventually overwhelmed the company. Rival traders tempted the fishers with credit for the supplies they required. Then, to combat this, Newmans’ agents would give out more supplies on credit. But given the uncertainty, the company set itself up for a loss. Balancing of their books in the autumn increasingly left them in the red.

In some of their depots, they could no longer afford to advance winter supplies upon receiving the catch in the autumn. Furthermore, Newman and Company made other changes. With the upcoming winter, goods would no longer be given on the basis of credit, but on barter. So, the trade was now based on an actual product rather than the promise of one as with credit. Nonetheless, by 1898, Newmans simply wanted to be out of the trading business.

Added Leverage

While this example was only based on one particular company, there’s no reason to believe the situation was not a common approach simply due to the competition amongst the merchants. This gave the fishers added leverage.

If the fishers were unable to obtain credit from one merchant, it was more than possible to obtain it from another. Likewise, there was no reason to not seek the best deal for their fish amongst the various merchants. Competition amongst the merchants had increased.

So, in a sense, for fishers, there really was no need for a Saint Monday. Perhaps initially, the use of credit granted to the fisher in exchange for fish to “repay” the merchant bound them together, leaving the fisher at a disadvantage.

Although, as the fishery expanded, it came to include multiple merchants who would be more than accepting of methods that would undermine their fellow merchants. For example, the merchants could offer fishers a better price for the fish. Ultimately, fishers were able to benefit from the competition.

Bearing this in mind, fishers were able to obtain a better deal for their fish, something for which they were fully in their rights to do. Thus, the underlying goal of Saint Monday could be achieved. Perhaps this is why, in the end, for the fishery, there was no need to celebrate Saint Monday.

Sources

Angus, Ian 2024 “Intensive Fishing and the Birth of Capitalism, Part 1” https://climateandcapitalism.com/2021/02/03/intensive-fishing-and-the-birth-of-capitalism/

Angus, Ian 2024 “Intensive Fishing and the Birth of Capitalism, Part 2” https://climateandcapitalism.com/2021/03/08/intensive-fishing-and-the-birth-of-capitalism-part-2/

Angus, Ian 2024 “Intensive Fishing and the Birth of Capitalism, Part 3” https://climateandcapitalism.com/2021/04/05/intensive-fishing-and-the-birth-of-capitalism-part-3/

Angus, Ian 2024 “Intensive Fishing and the Birth of Capitalism, Part 4”

Intensive Fishing and the Birth of Capitalism, Part 4

Heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador 2024 “Settling In” https://www.heritage.nf.ca/nl-studies-2205/chapter-3-topic-1.pdf

Hong, Robert 2024 “Amulree Report Project” https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/pdf/amulee-report-1933.pdf

MacDonald, David A. 1989 “https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/acadiensis/1989-v19-n1-acadiensis_19_1/acad19_1rn01.pdf.”

Acadiensis, 19(1), 142–156.

Endnotes

1This region would’ve been known solely as Newfoundland.

2 A market situation in which the product or service of several sellers is sought by only one buyer (The Free Dictionary).