DCHP-3

fishing admiral

Nfld, Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

a title given to the captain of the first fishing vessel to reach a harbor on the Newfoundland coast each year, a title that carried with it authority as magistrate for the fishery in the area of his jurisdiction, a form of justice that endured from the early seventeenth century until the late eighteenth.

Quotations

1718
But what I would more particularly represent to their lordships, is the clandestine and illegal commerce carried on between the New England men, and several of the British masters, especially the fishing admirals; who after they have, according to the act, qualified themselves in England for fishing ships, depart for France, Spain, or Portugal, which they freight with wines and brandies. . . .
1840
The captain who first arrives here is dignified with the title of fishing-admiral, and enjoys a certain jurisdiction over the coast.
1907
The local government of that day and for many years later is known as the rule of the "fishing admiral," one of the most grotesque forms of government ever devised.
1965-66
Their fishing "admirals" ruled the roost in whatever harbour they chose to anchor, and theirs was the only law.