Newfoundland (Pitt's Reality)

Territory of Newfoundland (Disputed-1824)
Newfoundland was originally contested between numerous European powers. Although originally fishing was unorganized and carried out by independant captains, in the 1620s the considerable investments of the British Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron of Baltimore, led to the construction of fishing wharves and storage sheds, which would eventually blossom into British fishing communities. This settlement was not matched by the French of Spanish Basques, who also frequently fished in these waters. Frequent French raids cut the profits of British colonization; attention would be redirected to the colony of Maryland by the British Admiralty. Sir David Kirke, a small scale entrepreneur, became the first British governor of the island in 1639.A triangular trade with New England, the West Indies, and Europe gave Newfoundland an important economic role. By the 1670s there were 1700 permanent residents and another 4500 in the summer months.

Newfoundland cod formed one leg of a triangular trade that sent cod to Spain and the Mediterranean, and wine, fruit, olive oil, and cork to England. Dutch ships were especially active 1620-1660 in what was called the "sack trade." A ship of 250 tons could earn 14% profit on the Newfoundland to Spain leg, and about the same on goods it then took from Spain to England. The Atlantic was stormy and risky; the risk was spread mostly by selling shares.

Before 1700 the "admiral" system provided the government. The first captain arriving in a particular bay was in charge of allocating suitable shoreline sites for curing fish. The system faded away after 1700. Fishing-boat captains competed to arrive first from Europe in an attempt to become the admiral; soon merchants left crewmen behind at the prime shoreline locations to lay claim to the sites. This led to "bye-boat" fishing: local, small-boat crews fished certain areas in the summer, claimed a strip of land as their own, and sold their catches to the migratory fishers. Bye-boat fishing thus became dominant, giving the island a semi-permanent population, and proved more profitable than migratory fishing. The fishing admirals system ended in 1729, when the Royal Navy sent in its officers to govern during the fishing season.

In the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), France acknowledged British ownership of the island. However, in the Seven Years War (1756–63), control of Newfoundland became a major source of conflict between Britain, France and Spain who all pressed for a share in the valuable fishery there. Britain's victories around the globe led William Pitt to insist that nobody other than Britain should have access to Newfoundland. The Battle of Signal Hill was fought in Newfoundland in 1762, when a French force landed and tried to occupy the island, only to be repulsed by the British. In 1796 a Franco-Spanish expedition succeeded in raiding the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. James Cook in 1763-4 made a survey of Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula and in 1775 created this map.[15] By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), French fishermen were given the right to land and cure fish on the "French Shore" on the western coast. The Treaty of Hubertsburg relinquished their and the Basques's rights to fish in these waters after the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763.