Collection search - Newfoundland fisheries defence collection [textual record]

The rivalry over the fisheries between the British and the French in Newfoundland, which dates from the sixteenth century, led to war in the seventeenth century. In 1660, the French decided to fortify their main fishing port at Placentia Bay and completed the defences by 1662. The British built Fort William at St. John's in 1690. The first clash came during King William's War, 1689-1697, when an English privateer commanded by Captain Herman Williamson plundered Placentia in 1690. The French retaliated by attacks on Ferryland and Bay of Bulls. In 1696, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville (1661-1706), captured St. John's and destroyed all the British settlements except Carbonear, which managed to hold out.

Additional Manuscripts 15492, which was added to the holdings of the British Museum (now the British Library) in 1845, contains a small collection of papers relating to Newfoundland. In 1931, the National Archives of Canada transcribed the whole volume (ff. 1-22v).

Originals with the British Library, London, England.