The cod fishery and its commercial activities greatly influenced Irish settlement patterns in Newfoundland and Labrador. Before the fishery shifted from migratory to permanent in the early 19th century, Irish residence in the colony was predominantly seasonal or temporary. Most new arrivals lived on the island for one or two fishing seasons before returning home in the fall. However, the growth of a thriving local fishery in the early 1800s changed the nature of Irish migration to Newfoundland and Labrador and increased its scale. Most Irish immigrants settled permanently on the island instead of migrating there seasonally to participate in the fisheries. By 1840, approximately half of the colony’s population was of Irish descent.
The largest concentration of Irish settlements occurred on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the immigrants settled in St. John’s, Placentia, and along the coast connecting the two communities. These areas lay along established shipping routes connecting Newfoundland to Irish ports, were near productive fishing grounds, and close to major centers of trade and commercial activity. Most Irish immigrants worked at least part of the year in fishing, but a smaller number also worked as artisans, shopkeepers, tradesmen, farmers, carpenters, bakers, general laborers, and other occupations.
Seasonal and temporary migrations
The cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador was the strongest factor in attracting Irish immigrants from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries, as it provided an affordable source of work for unskilled laborers. Every spring, English ships would stop at Irish ports before crossing the Atlantic to load up on provisions and hire laborers for fishing. The Irish laborers were mostly young, unmarried, and relatively poor men who wanted to work abroad as indentured servants for planters or traders. Most agreed to work for one or two summers and return home in the fall.
Irish indentured servants arrived in St. John’s and other ports to work in the English migratory fisheries on the Avalon Peninsula. The north and south coasts of the island, which included modern-day Placentia, were part of the French fisheries and thus off limits to most workers from the British Isles. The situation changed after the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713, which granted England sovereignty over the entire island of Newfoundland, but allowed France to retain fishing rights on the north shore, between Pointe Reach and Cape Bonavista.
The English expanded into Placentia and other territories in the southern Avalon Peninsula, but were largely dependent on Irish labor to catch and process fish. This was partly due to a shortage of English fishing laborers during the first three decades of the 18th century. While England was at war with France from 1702 to 1713, military service prevented many young men from working in the fisheries. By the time peace was restored, the migrant fishery had entered a depression that did not end until 1728. Knowledge of the recession was commonplace in the English West Country and deterred potential laborers from working as indentured servants for planters. This was not the case in Ireland, however, where captains and merchant agents could still hire laborers with relative ease.
The Irish quickly became an important part of the transatlantic fishery, and the number migrating to Newfoundland and Labrador grew steadily throughout the 18th century. Most worked in St. John’s, Placentia, and other areas. English laborers dominated the Avalon Peninsula north of St. John’s, while the French were active on the north shore of the island. Placentia became the center of Irish activity on the island, and by 1729, 80 percent of its population was Irish.
The vast majority of migrants were still men, but during the 18th century, more and more women arrived in Newfoundland, often working as domestic servants for planters and traders. Some married wintering male servants and settled permanently on the island. The Avalon Peninsula also saw an increase in the number of Irish planters and traders, who tended to recruit labor from their ports of call in southeastern Ireland, further contributing to Irish immigration to Newfoundland and Labrador. By the late 1770s, approximately 5,000 Irish migrated to the colony each spring, and a growing number settled there permanently.