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1. ARTHUR DE GOBINEAU
    The Comte Arthur de Gobineau, diplomat by profession, visited Newfoundland in 1859. France had charged him with making inquiry into the problems between French and English on the coast called the French Shore where France had exclusive fishing rights which it became more and more trouble to exercise in light of the growing number of English that little by little peopled the island of Newfoundland, mainly the coasts. Within the framework of this mission it is not surprising that he visited the settlement at Red Island. This is what he saw:

    In a few hours we came in view of Red Island where we were to visit a perfectly normal, legal settlement, since it was purely French.

    Red Island is a sort of raised cone which faces Mainland. Between its narrow shores and those of the latter, a multitude of small boats, each occupied by two men, were busy fishing cod. One saw them in a ray of sunlight which, in that moment, pierced the clouds and brightened this bustling scene of men standing in their boats to let out one line, whilst another retrieved a line which had slept for a time in the water. The fish caught accumulated in the bottom of each boat. The schooners circulated in the midst of this animation and before our eyes hoisted the French colours. We disembarked on Red Island.