Set sail for Newfoundland! Set sail for the Grand Bank!

n 1497, Newfoundland became the symbol of inexhaustible marine resources on the edge of a world full of promise.

Each year, European fishermen embarked on a great adventure to the northeastern shores of North America to fish for cod. Over a period of 250 years, more than one hundred thousand ships and ten million English, Basque, Breton, Norman and Portuguese fishermen crossed the Atlantic in search of the delicacy consumed on meatless days. A few thousand fishing proprietors settled on the rocky coasts and hired seasonal workers to harvest the bounty of the sea.

The English and the French gained control of the fishing grounds by forcing others out. Despite all the obstacles, Newfoundland, the first colony in British North America, remained the focal point of the cod fishery until the 1992 moratorium.

Smooth sailing!