1-5-24: When Cod was King & Jerseymen Sailed Across the Atlantic
Louise presented us with a fascinating, and somewhat personal journey in tracing her own ancestral roots to Jersey, at a time when Cod fishing was everything to the North Atlantic fishermen, and other traders who sailed from Jersey, some of them founding parts of north eastern Canada.
We stepped back to a time when Raleigh promoted Jersey trade in Newfoundland cod as part of his plans for colonisation, and later when Charles II donated certain North America territories to Jersey, which eventually gave rise to the modern State of New Jersey.
Across New England and the coasts of modern Canada, Jersey merchants sought out opportunities where fortunes were made, and Jersey shipped more Cod than any other British port. It helped that native Jersey folk spoke French and English, and were able to develop trade connections at the very time that the French were losing most of their North American possessions. Subsequently, Jerseymen were to take control for more than 150 years, becoming leading merchant and fish exporters, together with ship builders, gaining financial control, with much manpower imported from their native Jersey!
We stepped back to a time when Raleigh promoted Jersey trade in Newfoundland cod as part of his plans for colonisation, and later when Charles II donated certain North America territories to Jersey, which eventually gave rise to the modern State of New Jersey.
Across New England and the coasts of modern Canada, Jersey merchants sought out opportunities where fortunes were made, and Jersey shipped more Cod than any other British port. It helped that native Jersey folk spoke French and English, and were able to develop trade connections at the very time that the French were losing most of their North American possessions. Subsequently, Jerseymen were to take control for more than 150 years, becoming leading merchant and fish exporters, together with ship builders, gaining financial control, with much manpower imported from their native Jersey!
