Great fishing

The “Great Discoveries” of the late 15th and early 16th centuries marked a turning point inGranville’s economic and commercial history. Thanks to their town’s geographical location, many Granville sailors were among the first to explore what was then known as Newfoundland: a land of new conquests, but also of new fishing-related activities. In the 1520s, the first ” terre-neuvas ” set sail from Granville for the Great Cod Fishery. Encouraged by a bourgeoisie of merchants constantly seeking to make a profit through the exchange of new products, some fifteen “terre-neuviers ” made the long voyage to the banks of Newfoundland at the end of the 16th century. The construction of Granville’s first port, between 1532 and 1564, also accelerated the pace. The business continued to develop, reaching its peak in the years leading up to the French Revolution, when just over a hundred ships left the port each year to sail westwards. Granville thus became France’s second largest cod port after Saint Malo. Then, in the 19th century, the business suffered its first setback. The troubles of the Revolution and the conflicts of the 1st Empire had a negative impact on the Grand Pêche. And although activity picked up again in the 1820s, with the creation of the Chamber of Commerce in Granville and a maximum of 90 boats in 1853, the golden age of cod fishing was over. From the 1860s onwards, new activities linked to the Industrial Revolution would profoundly change the way families and sailors in Granville worked. Above all, it was the economic catastrophe caused by the destruction of the First World War that would definitively bury the Grande Pêche trade. Not even an attempt to modernize and mechanize the vessels could save it: the last of the “terre-neuviers” made their final departure in 1936.