Jacques de La Fontaine

“ I ascertained that it was impossible to carry on fishing with success unless you had a large farm, with many tenants upon it, bound to fish only for you. I went to Bear Haven, and there hired a considerable farm from Mr. Boyd at £100 per annum, another from Mr. Davis at £31 10s. and a third at £18.
Behold me now making grand preparations for being both farmer and fisherman. I bought a cargo of salt to be in readiness, and put part in a cellar at Bantry, and part at Bear Haven. ”

“ I sometimes thought of buying a farm with the money I had acquired, and living upon it. While in this unsettled state, I fell in with a merchant from Kinsale, who told me of his having purchased fish at Bantry for shipment to Spain, upon which he had realized a large profit, and that it had also paid a profit to the fishermen from whom he made the purchase. ”

“ Very few fish appeared, but we were obliged to continue a heavy expenditure, for perhaps the fish might come at the very time when we, for economy sake, had given up waiting for them, and a single draught in a large shoal of herring might pay all the expense of one, two, or even three years. Of course the men received the same wages whether they caught fish or not.
The season passing away so unsuccessfully, we thought it unnecessary to keep both our vessels waiting for fish, and we sent the Judith on a trading voyage to Spain. ”

“ Everyday I expected the Goodwill to arrive; I wrote, and wrote to my partners, to make haste and send her that our fish might be the first cargo in the market at Leghorn. While I was in this state of suspense, I sent a small quantity by a vessel loading at Bear Haven for Leghorn, and valuing the whole stock at the price I obtained for those I sent, which were a few of each kind, it would have been worth £1,500, if the Goodwill had only returned according to promise. ”

“ When God vouchsafes his blessing, every thing prospers, but let him withdraw the light of his countenance and the best laid plans and greatest exertions result in nothing but failure. All now seemed to go wrong with us. There was a court at Bear Haven for the Barony competent to decide in all causes under forty shillings. ”

“ The boys told me when they reached home that this man was the most horrid blasphemer they had ever heard, that they had trembled to hear him vomiting forth his imprecations even against heaven itself; and on one occasion when the weather was bad he had paced the deck like a madman calling upon the devil to do his work. ”

“ While the Goodwill was waiting for fish, we added another deck to her for the convenience of keeping Tobacco dry in case she should go to Virginia. This was an expense of £80, and made the vessel look clumsy, but she sailed very well. Finding that I had not fish enough to load her, I proceeded, by the direction of my partners in London, to make up the remainder of her cargo of beef, butter, cheese, candles &c., altogether including the Fish, worth £450. They recommended that she should go to Madeira first, to dispose of this cargo, and invest the proceeds in wine ”

“ Having no immediate use for the Robert, we chartered her to a merchant in Cork to go to Spain, and the Captain, James Joy an Irishman, was to lay out the freight money as soon as he received it in salt, oranges and citrons; this he did, but instead of returning to Cork with the cargo, he ran the vessel ashore on the French coast, scuttled her, and sold the wreck with whatever was saved from it to a French merchant, and he remained in France to enjoy his ill gotten wealth. ”

“ I do not believe that there were more than half a dozen Protestants in the adjacent country besides my own family, and those I had brought with me, so that when I or any of my Protestants demanded what was due to us, the matter was invariably decided against us by a jury of Papists, for Protestants were never by any chance summoned to sit upon a jury, and the consequence was that we not only lost our lawful dues, but were condemned to pay costs also. On the other hand, if the Irish took it into their heads to make any claim upon us, how unfounded so ever it might be, they were sure to recover. ”

“ This grievous affliction made Cork still more unpleasant to us, so we determined to remove to Bear Haven, where I had rented the farms for the fishery. I went into partnership in this new undertaking with my cousin John Arnauld, and Messrs. Renue, Thomas, and Gourbould, all merchants in London. They were to have one half, and I the other. I put down to them at cost price half of the Robert, a vessel of about 40 tons that I had owned some time, and half the price of the tackle, boats, and salt that I had purchased. ”

“ The Irish were accustomed to be rewarded for their treachery by a considerable share of the booty on these occasions, and they were of course much enraged, and as every effort they had hitherto tried to injure me had proved unsuccessful, they made up their minds to call in a force that would be adequate according to all human appearance to accomplish their grand desideratum of getting rid of me. ”

“ My dear wife gained by our manufactory an ample support for the family; and by giving employment to many poor Refugees, we were the means of enabling them to maintain their families respectably. The Church increased daily, Refugees came from various parts when they heard that there was a French Church in Cork ”

“ They bought in London, on joint account with me, two other vessels of about 50 tons each, the Goodwill and the Judith. They sent the Goodwill to me with nets, cordage, and every thing necessary to make two more tackles, and the Judith went to France to bring a cargo of salt. As we intended to salt the fish ourselves, I built a house for the purpose, with stone walls and a slated roof, and floors suitable, and cellars to store the salt in, and presses to press the fish. I also built more boats, and got the tackle all ready ”

“ My wife gave it up as soon as James arrived, and every thing was packed, and the whole family came round with the goods and chattels in the Robert to Bantry, and thence to Bear Haven. The first year and a half we lived in a mere cottage thatched with straw, and we owe it to the good providence of God, that while we were so much exposed we never suffered from the tories, (robbers) of whom there were great numbers in these parts. ”

“ At last they wrote to me to sell the fish at Cork, as they could not send the Goodwill; I went there and finding no purchaser, I wrote again to beg they would send me a ship. Time was flying rapidly; the fish which ought to have been shipped long ago were still on hand. Finally these gentlemen bought an old vessel of 120 tons from Mr. Renue; she wanted repairs, and did not reach Bear Haven till January 1702. ”

“ Arrival at Cork — Enter upon pastoral duties — Manufactory — Great happiness — Dissension in the church — Resignation — Copy of certificate — Remarkable warning by a dream — Visit fishing stations — Death of Aaron — Turn fisherman — Remove to Bear Haven — Loss of the Robert — Bad season — Trading voyage — Success in fishing — Loss by mismanagement of partners — Troublesome Irish neighbours. ”