The French Raid upon the Newfoundland Fishery in 1762: A Study in the Nature and Limits of Eighteenth-Century Sea Power

• Main Author: Janzen, Olaf U.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Liverpool University Press 2013
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781927869024.003.0009

This chapter examines the French raid of the Newfoundland Fishery in 1762 in attempt to determine the motivation for targeting that fishery in particular. It explores the effect of the Seven Years’ War on French trade, the dominance of the British Empire at sea; the benefits and risks of the raid; the vulnerability of the fishery; and the decision of the raid’s commander to permanently occupy St John’s, despite knowing France did not have the means to support the occupation. It also explores the British response, negotiation efforts, and the toll the raid took upon the British fish trade. It concludes that the end of war negotiations took place shortly after the French occupation of St John’s, though a clear link between the two events has not been proven and seems unlikely.