| Summary: | When the seventeenth-century fishing fleets left England for Newfoundland in the spring of each year, a - commodore was appointed as commander of the sailing convoy. With the appointment of John Berry in - 1675, the commodores were given various judicial and administrative functions in Newfoundland, - including assisting the fishing admirals in the maintenance of law and order and compiling statistics on the - fishery for the British government. One such commodore was Captain Joseph Taylor. This small - collection of his papers contains his official appointment as commodore for 1709, together with a number - of subsidiary documents, a letter sent to Taylor by Captain John Moody, Lieutenant Governor at - Placentia, concerning Taylor's having appointed one John Collins as governor of Newfoundland when - Taylor returned to England in the fall of 1709, and Taylor's caustic reply to Moody. There are eight naval - appointments assigning Taylor to specific ships and specific ranks, dated between 1692 and 1704. - These documents provide insight into Taylor's naval career and his administrative functions as - commodore of Newfoundland.
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