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    Once at sea, however, reality made itself felt. In so far as they were extra, non-working passengers, the future shore workers were allotted the worst bunks for the four week passage, and they lived in unhealthy and uncomfortable conditions. After reaching St. Pierre they had to go ashore, then board ship once more to head for the 'factories' awaiting them on the French Shore, for a stay of about six months, involving for them little but long hours of exhausting work. Contrary to what happened at Codroy, St. George's and Port-au-Port, the shore workers on Red Island had no possibility of any social life, however ordinary. For in the first three places villages were beginning to grow, whereas at Red Island there was no local population, and presumably this situation contributed to the rather high number of desertions which occurred on the peninsula. One should note moreover that Red Island was the busiest of these shore bases during the nineteenth century.

    Red Island is a rock of conical formation rising to a height of 89 m. (292 ft.), situated some two to three kilometres off the western end of the Port-au-Port Peninsula, opposite the present-day community of Mainland. During the nineteenth century, Red Island was the site of a very active fishing establishment. A quite remarkable document portrays the place as it was in about 1860. It is a chapter from a book by the diplomat-author Count Arthur de Gobineau who, on a mission to Newfoundland, visited the island. Here is his description of the shore workers' lodgings:

    At the foot of the cliff a row of huts made of branches, containing only cots and hammocks, serve as dormitories for the fishermen. They are not merely humble, they are utterly wretched; and it is hard to imagine, in such a wet and foggy climate, in which the damp is often icy-cold, how anyone can without objection tolerate such an improvised type of shelter.