Agency and Archaeology of the French Maritime Empire

The French maritime empire enabled the continued colonization of territories all over the world from the 17th to the 19th centuries and was built upon the backs of those in lower socioeconomic classes. These classes were heavily impacted by social, political and economic structures. Detailed archaeological case studies using an agency perspective indicate that these lower socioeconomic classes were extremely diverse and dynamic groups that constantly negotiated their identities. These stories are not about the kings, military leaders, and politicians, but rather an exploration of the perspective of those who provided the fuel, both willingly and unwillingly, for the French maritime empire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Release date: Dec 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805394068

Book preview

Agency and Archaeology of the French Maritime Empire

AGENCY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FRENCH MARITIME EMPIRE

Edited by

Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé and Annaliese Dempsey

First published in 2024 by

Berghahn Books

www.berghahnbooks.com

© 2024 Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé and Annaliese Dempsey

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gauthier-Bérubé, Marijo, editor. | Dempsey, Annaliese, editor.

Title: Agency and archaeology of the French maritime empire / edited by Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé and Annaliese Dempsey.

Description: New York : Berghahn Books, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023029618 (print) | LCCN 2023029619 (ebook) | ISBN 9781805392293 (hardback) | ISBN 9781805392309 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: France—Colonies—America—History. | Shipwrights—France—Social conditions—17th century | Piracy—Caribbean Area—History—17th century. | Piracy—Caribbean Area—History—18th century. | Underwater archaeology—France. | Atlantic cod fishing—History—17th century. | Atlantic cod fishing—18th century. | Fish trade—France—History. | Imperialism.

Classification: LCC JV1815 .B45 2021 (print) | LCC JV1815 (ebook) | DDC 325.34004097—dc23/eng/20230825

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023029618

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023029619

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-80539-229-3 hardback

ISBN 978-1-80539-406-8 epub

ISBN 978-1-80539-230-9 web pdf

https://doi.org/10.3167/9781805392293

For Rachel. Thank you for being my sunshine.

Pour Romain et son soutien indéfectible des dernières années.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé and Annaliese Dempsey

1. Assessing Shipbuilding Variation in Late Seventeenth-Century France: A Case for Shipwright Agency

Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé

2. Becoming Jack Tar, Saltwater Slaves, and Hostis Humani Generis: The Vessel as a Center for the Construction of Identity

Annaliese Dempsey

3. Archaeology of French Piracy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries between the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean: Frigates, Prizes, and Material Culture

Jean Soulat and Annaliese Dempsey

4. In the Wake of the Saint-Malo Fishermen: Archaeology of the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Triangular Cod Trade

Appendix: Cod-Fishing Routes, 1604 to 1736

Gaëlle Dieulefet and Brad Loewen

5. Pêcher à Miquelon: Transatlantic Trade, Local Networks, and Martiniquan Cuisine

Mallory Champagne and Catherine Losier

6. Maritime Archaeology of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon (France): From Documentary Sources to Field Practice

Cécile Sauvage, Éric Rieth, and Élise Nectoux

Conclusion

Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé and Annaliese Dempsey

Index

Illustrations

FIGURES

1.1.Contemporary territory of France with the location of the La Hougue wrecks near Tatihou Island, Normandy. © Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé.

1.2.Schematic sheer plan of a ship with the frames organized on both sides of the master frame (A). In the fore section (B), the frames are double-framed, which means they are made of two side-by-side timbers. In the aft section (C), the frames are single-framed, so there is a limited overlap between the timbers. The sheer plan depicted has been simplified in order to highlight certain aspects of the framing pattern and does not demonstrate an accurate technical representation of the hull. © Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé.

1.3.Schematic sectional view of a framing assembly with hull and ceiling planking. © Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé.

1.4.Schematic plan views of framing arrangement on Wrecks A/B and C, including their master frames. Illustration © L’Hour and Veyrat, 2000, adapted and colorized by Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé.

1.5.Schematic plan views of framing arrangement on Wreck E, including their master frame. Illustration © L’Hour and Veyrat, 2000, adapted and colorized by Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé.

1.6.Schematic plan views of framing arrangement on Wreck F, including their master frame. Illustration © L’Hour and Veyrat, 2000, adapted and colorized by Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé.

2.1.A rig reconstruction for La Concorde/Queen Anne’s Revenge. © Annaliese Dempsey.

2.2.The distribution of the rigging elements (icons not to scale) in association with the main ballast mound of cannons and anchors. This ballast pile would most likely have been just forward of the base of the mainmast and would have helped stabilize the ship while sailing by compensating for the loss of the weight of the African captives. © Rachel Matheny.

3.1.Basse Terre and Fort de Blondel on Island of Tortuga in 1667 (after Blondel, BNF Div 5, portefeuille 1). © Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France.

3.2.Ink drawing of the island of Grenada depicting beachfront dwellings near an anchorage, indicated as Amerindian and buccaneer occupations. This illustration from the 1630s was used by Hessel Gerritsz in a Dutch travel diary of the West Indies. Buccaneer settlements are regularly mentioned along the beaches on sparsely occupied islands near fresh water and anchorages. Courtesy of Dutch National Archives in The Hague.

3.3.Speaker’s coins and ceramics: from left to right: dirhem from Cairo, ducats from Venice, reales from Peru, fragment of bellarmine jug, fragment of storage vase from Fijuan, and fragment of Chinese porcelain bowl from Jingdezhen. © J. Soulat from collection from National Museum of Maritime History of Mahébourg, Mauritius.

3.4.Ecu with palms struck between 1693 and 1696 under Louis XIV from Speaker 1702. © Jean Soulat.

4.1.Map of France, with Atlantic ports and inland waterways. © Gaëlle Dieulefet.

4.2.Map of cod distribution in France in the eighteenth century after The Fishery in Atlantic Commerce, Historical Atlas of Canada: From the Beginning to 1800, Cole, Harris; Matthews, Geoffrey (dir.), Toronto, vol. 1 (1987: 70–71, plate 28). © Gaëlle Dieulefet.

4.3.Geometric plan and extract representing the Malouin fishing coast, referred to as the Petit-Nord with the Isle of Newfoundland shaded in blue … and other isles and banks, 1713. The map’s legend states that the smallest cod fished and dried by Malouins comes from the coast of the Petit-Nord, shaded in blue, and this is nonetheless the cod with the highest yield in Spain, Provence, Languedoc and Italy. © Source Gallica.bnf.fr /Bibliothèque Nationale de France (GE SH 18 PF 128).

4.4.Location of archaeological Canadian sites with North Mediterranean ceramics in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the island of Newfoundland. © Gaëlle Dieulefet and Brad Loewen.

4.5.Western Mediterranean ceramics from the Fortress of Louisbourg, 1713–58. 1B1.A17 and 2L.80G14: prezzemolo- and ucelli-type faience from Liguria with the brand of the workshop of Savona. 2L.80E13.2: Andalusian faience with metallic sheen from Seville. 1B.4M1: Catalan faience. 1L.16BB4, 1L.32GG2.7, and IL.31A2: varnished black stain–type ceramics from Albisola in Liguria. 2L.80G3, 1L.30U4, 1L.33DD5, 1L.HE9, 2L.8065, 2L.80M12, and 4L.52N15: varnished pot from Vallauris in Provence. 4.L5A4.1, 3L.11F4, and 4L.55.H2: Andalusian jars from Seville. 3L.11N2 and 4L.52M14.2: fired earth lid associated with the jars from Seville. © Gaëlle Dieulefet.

4.6.Example of the Mediterranean ceramics of Place-Royale in Quebec from the houses of Charest, Estèbe, and Boisseau, last quarter of the seventeenth century. 1QU2149-202: Catalan faience. 1QU2152IA.46.38: Ligurian prezzemolo-type faience from Savona. 132QU-VI.B4-1022: varnished ceramics from Liguria—black stain type from Albisola. © Gaëlle Dieulefet.

4.7.(A) Fragments of a graffita monochroma–type drinking bowl from Savona discovered at the fishing site of Croc in the north of Newfoundland, post-1640 (CEW8. EgAw-04 61E106). (B) Examples of Italian graffita tarda polichroma–type ceramics from Pisa dated between 1630 and 1700 (top) and graffita monochroma–type ceramics from Savona (bottom) dated between the beginning of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries. Harbor dump of Villefranche-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes.

5.1.Location of the Habitation Crève Coeur. Carte géométrique et topographique de l’Isle Martinique by Moreau du Temple, 1770. Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et Plans, GE SH 18 PF 156 DIV 2 P 17, public domain. Adapted by ©Mallory Champagne.

5.2.Imported and exported cargo, by nation, in total tonnage from 1763 to 1815. © Mallory Champagne.

5.3.Nature of cargo by percentage of total value imported from 1763 to 1815. © Mallory Champagne.

5.4.Nature of cargo by percentage of total value exported from 1763 to 1815. © Mallory Champagne.

6.1.The archipelago of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and its main islands. Cartography © Denis Dégez, DRASSM.

6.2a, 6.2b. Sinking of the Paulette, at Île aux Chiens on 24 December 1902. Photography © Michael Charles Emile Dhoste, Université de Bordeaux, Musée d’ethnographie de Bordeaux. Used with permission.

6.3.Location of potential stages and wrecks at the bottom of Saint-Pierre Barachois. Cartography © Elise Nectoux, DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

6.4a, 6.4b. Map of the archaeological sites inventoried by the DRASSM since 2016. Cartography © Denis Dégez, DRASSM.

6.5.Nord Chapeau wreck. Photography © Teddy Seguin, DRASSM.

6.6.Planimetry of Pointe aux Alouettes wreck obtained from the 3D photogrammetric restitution. Photography © Teddy Seguin, 3D restitution Stéphane Cavillon, CAD Cécile Sauvage, DRASSM.

6.7.Sud Barachois 3 wreck, in Saint-Pierre Barachois. Photography © Teddy Seguin, DRASSM.

TABLES

4.1. List of the vessels from Saint-Malo that arrived in Marseille from the Petit-Nord and the Newfoundland coasts between 22 and 24 October 1696. Arch. de la Marine, Série B3, C-10225 letter received from de M. Duclos, Naval commissioner, 26 October 1696.

4.2. Details of the sites and the chronological sequences concerned by the presence of ceramics in Northern Italy and Provence between 1625 and 1761.

4.3. Sectors, dates, and recorded quantities of Ligurian and Provençal ceramics from the site of Pointe-à-Callière.

5.1. Locus and affiliated context at Habitation Crève Coeur (Kelly 2010). © Mallory Champagne.

5.2. Provenance of ceramics found at Crève Coeur by hydrographic basin and production center. © Mallory Champagne.

5.3. Function of vessels found at Crève Coeur, in relation to locus, by vessel count. © Mallory Champagne.

5.4. Provenance in relation to locus by vessel count. © Mallory Champagne.

Acknowledgments

As the editors of this volume, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of the scholars who contributed their time, effort, and expertise to make this publication possible.

More importantly, we would like to commend their diligence and commitment to continuing with this project through the COVID-19 pandemic. This project was first undertaken by the initial group of authors and editors in January 2020, and the subsequent outbreak had a significant impact on the preparation and schedule of this book. We reached out to a large number of scholars and experts in the field to contribute to this publication, but unfortunately, many were unable to participate due to the challenges posed by the pandemic. The pandemic has affected everyone’s life and research in different ways, forcing many projects to slow, pause, or dissolve altogether, and we respect the decisions of those who were unable to contribute to this volume. Nevertheless, we are grateful to the authors, many of whom are young scholars and graduate students, who remained committed to this project and persevered in their contributions despite the difficulties they faced. In fact, had it not been for the dedication of these scholars, we may have thrown in the towel long ago. Their willingness to continue with the project and deliver high-quality work is a testament to their commitment to advancing scholarship and their dedication to their respective fields. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and for the opportunity to work with such exceptional scholars.

It is our sincere wish that this publication will serve as a valuable resource for years to come, and that scholars after us will take up the mantle to build upon the work, ideas, and research of the talented authors with whom we have had the honor of working.

Introduction

Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé and Annaliese Dempsey

Agency and Archaeology of the French Maritime Empire was born following the Society for Historical Archaeology 2020 Conference in Boston, as most of the authors of this book contributed to a session focused on the lower classes of the French maritime empire in the Americas from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. While this panel did not pretend to encompass the entirety of the research involved in this topic, the resulting session framed French sailors, settlers, enslaved populations, and shipwrights as an extremely dynamic group that constantly negotiated their identities with both the center of power and their complex regional realities. This session was not about the story of kings, military leaders, and politicians but rather an exploration of the perspective of those who provided the fuel, both willingly and unwillingly, for the French maritime empire.

The chapters in this volume expand on efforts to archaeologically document and reflect on these populations throughout various regions that were once under the influence of France. This introduction will briefly review some of the core aspects of this work and explore the extent of the French maritime empire to provide a common ground for understanding agency within the archaeological record.

REVIEWING THE FRENCH MARITIME EMPIRE

The use of the term empire for French territories in the context of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries might surprise the reader who is familiar with the political regimes of France. Indeed, the concept of empire in France’s history typically refers to the Napoleonic era of 1804 to 1815, when Napoleon Bonaparte ruled the country, followed forty years later by the Second French Empire under Napoleon III, from 1852 to 1871. For the goals of this volume, we wish to transcend national political definitions to encompass a broader definition of the concept of empire. Such concepts have received much attention in modern scholarship, from formal to informal. Formal definitions often require a certain number of typical features, including military conquest, exploitation, and an elite imperial class (Pomper 2005: 2). A formal definition of empire also implies a sovereign state with a strong hierarchy whose power elites shape the grand strategies of high-stakes social projects such as economic development, military strategies, colonial endeavors, etc. While the populations included in this volume did largely exist within the boundaries of a formal French political structure, focusing solely on a political definition of empire risks centering the agency of elite strategists and overlooking the agency of those removed from these central offices of political power (Pomper 2005: 11). In an alternative definition, Hardt and Negri, in their work Empire, conceptualize a view of empire that focuses on the workings of contemporary capitalism and the distribution of power along a network of connections without emphasizing traditional imperial institutions (Hardt and Negri 2001; Pomper 2005).

We utilize a view of empire that combines aspects of both definitions while centralizing the experience of the lower social, cultural, and economic classes. An essential cornerstone of this foundation is the recognition, put forward by Edward Said, that "the enterprise of empire depends upon the idea of having an empire (Said 1993: 11). This perspective recognizes the vast and complex webs of interconnectedness in which individuals find themselves. These webs comprised political, commercial, and social structures and would have been experienced differently by each individual within them. Different actors would reside within different networks and would not have access to the same set at all times and across all spaces. Shipwrights in mainland France would be experiencing, reacting to, and operating within different socioeconomic structures than, say, French pirates operating in the Caribbean or cod fishermen in North America.

The definition of empire lies, then, in the overlap of their experiences, their shared networks, and the degree to which they can reasonably expect to be connected. When applying this lens, the experience of empire can change depending upon one’s proximity to the center. The further from the center and the closer to the periphery an individual moves may weaken, or perhaps in some cases strengthen, the perception of empire, and may even introduce networks from other sociopolitical entities. Returning to our example, a mainland French shipwright will likely have a more defined view of the French empire than the French pirate operating on the periphery of French influence. An archaeological inquiry that focuses on the agency and experience of lower socioeconomic classes must utilize a nuanced definition of empire; politically and commercially based definitions run the risk of imposing a top-down view, assuming or suggesting a homogenous experience of social and political structures that did not, in fact, exist. Thus, for the following analyses, we have taken our definition of the French socioeconomic empire to refer to the complex network of cultural, political, and economic webs that caused individuals to share experiences.

On the Territory Considered in This Volume

France’s contribution to the European colonial expansion started later than those of its European counterparts like Portugal, Spain, England, or the Dutch Republic, as many historians describe France as a terrestrial society (Bonnichon, Gény, and Nemo 2012; Braudel 2008; Meyer et al. 2016; Taillemite 2003). The scholars in this volume focus primarily on the period starting with the first effort at providing a presence in America and ending with the early nineteenth century as the empire created under the Ancien Régime melted away through the wars and treaties that disposed France of most of its possession (Bonnichon 2012: 60; Meyer et al. 2016: 313).

France’s presence in the Americas was first motivated by access to resources and not by settlers (Meyer et al. 2016: 22). The interest in the North American regions was prompted by the availability of cod, mainly through Breton and Norman fishermen on Newfoundland shores at the end of the fifteenth century. A first failed attempt to install a settlement in 1543 by Jean François de La Rocque de Roberval following Jacques Cartier’s expeditions of 1541 and 1542 discouraged the effort to colonize the region until the foundation of Port Royal in 1605 and Quebec City in 1608. Following the establishment of a presence in the North American Atlantic region and the inquiries in the Saint Lawrence River, endeavors in the Caribbean aimed to acquire local resources such as exotic wood and sugar. Commercial attempts were also made in Brazil during the first half of the sixteenth century to access exotic wood, among other resources (Vidal 2000). A fort was constructed in Guanabara Bay in 1555, only to be destroyed five years later by the Portuguese in 1560. A second failed attempt at colonization with evangelization purposes was made between 1612 and 1615. In addition to efforts in Brazil, others were made to establish a settlement in Florida between 1562 and 1568.

Instead of opting for colonial settlements, French authorities established their presence using mercantile policies. These policies highlight the importance for the métropole of getting raw products from its colonies, transforming them, and selling them back to the colonies through exclusive companies. Everything was done to reinforce the fiscal power of the métropole (Meyer et al. 2016: 32). Companies were created to exploit resources and maintain a monopoly over commerce in exchange for bringing settlers and taking care of their needs. The companies, such as Compagnie de Saint-Christophe in 1626 (later renamed Compagnie des Isles de l’Amérique in 1635) or the Compagnie des Cent Associés de la Nouvelle-France in 1627, prompted a small movement of the population to the Caribbean islands and the Saint Lawrence valley with some success. The model was not lucrative and was quickly abandoned as soon as 1663 for the Compagnie des Cent Associés. Instead, a local governor and an intendant oversaw the colony trade and population in New France and the Caribbean.

In New France, further exploration to the west expanded the territory up to the Great Lakes and down to Louisiana in the second half of the seventeenth century. The territory owned by France was large, disconnected, and underpopulated by settlers (Gainot 2015: 38). The French American territory was made of two distinct regions: the Caribbean, with lucrative commerce based on enslavement, tobacco, and sugar cane, and New France, based on the fur trade, which had difficulties in attracting permanent settlers (Meyer et al. 2016: 33).

By the end of the seventeenth century and extending into the early eighteenth, triangular commerce routes linked Europe to the Caribbean and New France, encompassing the traffic of enslaved populations from Africa, sugar