The Surgeon

Fishing vessels with a crew of 20 or more men had to have a surgeon on board.

or the green fishery, shipowners often got around this by limiting the number of men on the crew to 19. Surgeons did not have a good reputation. In the green fishery, they were forced to help with the fishery if no one was ill.

When the ship did not have a surgeon, the captain or one of the sailors had to know how to draw blood and administer what little medication was available. In the eighteenth century, a short manual containing basic medical and pharmaceutical information was available for ships' officers.

See " Excerpt from a report on the inspection of surgeons' kits, 1695 "
and " Excerpt from a report on the inspection of master surgeons' kits, 1695 "

The Chaplain

God's representative on the ship, the chaplain ensured compliance with religious practices and customs. He looked after the souls.

rdinances required that ships with crews of 40 or more men have a chaplain on board, so green-fishery vessels rarely had priests. Only dry-fishery vessels with large crews had to comply with such ordinances, if a chaplain was available.

Chaplains were usually members of mendicant orders. The Franciscans and the Récollets from Brittany also worked in the fishing colonies in Newfoundland, Acadia and, later, Isle Royale and Isle Saint-Jean.