Channel Islands Maritime History
The Channel Islands consist of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and some smaller islands which were all separated from mainland Europe as a result of the rising sea levels during the Neolithic period. Following this event, maritime activity commenced due to islanders wanting to earn money through trade and investing capital in maritime business. From the 15th to late 18th centuries, trading became more popular due to the technical improvements of ships and navigation, allowing people to sail for days on end. This increase in trade lasted up until the Napoleonic Wars.
Through trading, the Channel Islands were given concessions such as dried cod from Newfoundland and Gaspe coast, cloth, wine, wool, leather and household goods. After the opening of Grand Bank fisheries, one of the World’s richest fishing grounds (located South of Newfoundland), Jersey and Guernsey formed colonies which would catch fish and dry them. Cod was very valuable at this time and they would exchange this fish in the West Indies and later Brazil too for plantation goods such as sugar, molasses, rum, cotton, coffee and tobacco.
Charles Robin, one of Jersey’s premier cod-merchants, founded the Charles Robin Company in 1766. This was a company based in Gaspe where they produced and sold cod. Robin produced 2 different types of salted cod, green and yellow. Green cod was wet salted cod which was not dry-cured and yellow had been dry cured. Robin would often sell his green cod in markets in the Caribbean or North East Brazil as it had a shorter shelf-life than yellow cod. In exchange for the green cod, Robin would receive plantation goods which he then would trade in the Mediterranean, England and Jersey. For yellow cod, Charles Robin would sell it in markets in Europe, mainly Portugal, Spain and Italy as they had Large Roman Catholic populations. At this time, Roman Catholics had a high demand for fish due to them only eating fish for the day each Friday. This cod-fish was traded for products such as wine, fruits, spirits, spices and salt (used in the curing process). They then brought these goods to Jersey and British ports before returning to Canada.
Overall, the Island benefitted from the profits made in the British Empire at this time, which were highly built on the slave trade during the Industrial Revolution. This is due to slaves being the ones who would farm the goods to be traded. Additionally, there is evidence that ships would leave St Helier Harbour with supplies to be taken to slave stations in West Africa. An example is Cape Cod Castle on the Gold Coast of Ghana. This was a fort which was highly involved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
