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    It was not for purely economic reasons that France clung so tenaciously to her rights in Newfoundland. Before the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, part of the importance of the Shore fishery, compared to that carried out on the Grand Banks, lay in the fact that it required considerable manpower, making of it a breeding-ground for future sailors. Charles de la Morandière, historian of the French fishery in North America, explains the value of the French Shore fishery:

    The numerous and diverse operations [of the shore-based fishery] obliged the owners and captains to take a large number of men either for shore work or as mates to the fishermen. In order to be a shore worker there was no need to be a born sailor nor a sailor by profession. A young country lad, provided he was of sound constitution, quickly proved entirely satisfactory ...even if he had never before seen the sea. Similarly, all that was needed to work alongside the experienced sailor in charge of the actual fishing, to help trim the boat and even to use a jigger, was good will and a little dexterity. According to Pléville Le Pelley, a beginner could catch as many cod with a jigger as an experienced fisherman. In two or three seasons, a lad of sixteen to eighteen soon got the hang of fishing, got to know the sea and ships, and even if he did not turn into a first-class seaman, could be drafted into the [French] Royal Navy….The wet fishery was less interesting in this respect because apart from the fact that the vessels had crews of no more than fifteen to twenty men-and not the eighty or hundred or even the 130 to 150 men aboard the cod-fishing boats headed for the shore fishery-they required sailors who were also skilled fishermen.