68 THEISLAND ACADIANS

significance in the Island economy. Meanwhile, it was largely the Americans who were profiting from the abundance of fish in the waters off the Island where, by around 1807, they had 938 fishing boats**. Even during the 1830s the Americans still dominated the scene. Islanders barely had twenty vessels involved in commercial fishing*’.

The Acadians did not totally abandon the sea even after the departure of the English businessmen who had hired them. While devoting more and more energy to farming, they did not give up saltwater fishing. In fact, the Acadians lead a diversified life from an economic point of view because in addition to fishing and farming they practised their skills as lumberjacks, navigators and boat builders. In 1803, Lord Selkirk noted that it was above all the Acadians who were fishing and who owned most of the seventy boats being used for the export trade. He wrote:

.. none of the [English] Settlers follow it—the French on the North Coast do—and own nine tenths of the Schooners, which are the only shipping boats belonging to the Island. They are not however regular fishermen, but follow it at intervals of their agricultural business. . .°°

Lord Selkirk added that the Acadians’ schooners, with a tonnage between thirty and forty, were generally poorly equipped. He stated, however, that the Acadians rarely had mishaps since they were good sailors: they predicted the weather judiciously and could navigate over great distances without a compass. As coastal traders they sailed chiefly to Halifax and Newfoundland".

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the importance of seafaring activities varied from one Acadian community to another. For example, according to John McGregor’s observations, people in Rustico would not prosper because they did not devote themselves entirely to fishing. He stated that “at one time they are employed in building vessels, at another for a few weeks farming, then fishing, and again cutting timber. It follows that they are poor, while the Acadians in other parts of the island [...] acquire what renders their condition independent”®. During the 1830s S.S. Hill made similar remarks with regard to the inhabitants of Rustico”.