CodBy: Mark Kurlansky

Origins

Originally founded by the Vikings

Due to their successful method of preserving cod, they were able to travel to distant shores

Cod hung in the bitter winter air until it lost 4/5 of body weight and became a durable and edible wood-like plank; they could break off pieces of petrified cod and chew.

The Basque’s then improved upon these techniques by “salting their catch”

This salt not only preserved the cod but enhanced both nutritional value and taste.

Cod meat has virtually no fat, 0.3%, and when salted is nearly 80% concentrated protein.

Why Cod?

“The more durable the product the easier it is to

trade.”

Salting food was a not a new practice. In both pre-

classical Egypt and Rome salting meat was an

extremely common technique.

Before the Basque’s turned to cod they salted whale

meat.

However, over time, discovered that dried and salted

cod was more durable; lasted for an incredibly long

time.

This discovery allowed the Basque’s to trade cod

more effectively and efficiently, and pass on the

method of salting to other cultures.

Demand for Cod

After cod trade spread rapidly and successfully throughout Europe; France, Britain, Portugal, and Spain all wanted to claim the New Lands where cod was most plentiful.

By 1508, 10% of all the fish sold in Portugal were salted cod.

By 1510, the salt cod was a staple in Normandy’s busy marketplace.

By 1550, 60% of all fish consumed throughout Europe was cod. This trend continued for the following two centuries, as well.

Power Struggles

The one difference that set Britain

apart from Spain, Portugal, and

France was that:

Britain had only a moderate

supply of salt.

As a result, the British fisherman

developed a product that grew

very popular in the Mediterranean

and Caribbean markets: a lightly

salted dried cod.

However, Britain quickly regained

its wealth and further began to

fight for the Newfoundland coast

along with Spain, Portugal, and

France.

Taking SidesBritain and Portugal were the first of these four

major countries that made an arrangement.

With Portugal having “the best salt” and Britain

having the cargo and new drying techniques,

these two countries became prominent.

France, however, rejected this agreement when the Portuguese accused the king of France that French ships had taken 300 Portuguese vessels in the past ten years.

Spain similarly did not agree to a treaty. With their new and improved cargo ships, Spain believed that their innovations would allow them to regain the trading power.

War Begins

The agreement between Britain and Portugal lasted until 1581, when Portugal merged with Spain.

And in 1585, the British attacked and successfully destroyed the Spanish fishing fleet. Their military fleet was also destroyed in its disastrous attempt to invade England.Even though, Spain attempted to bring Portugal down with them, the Portuguese continued to fish in the Grand Banks. However, in 1586, the Canadian government expelled them.

Breaking all their alliances not only with Spain but also with Britain, were broken and they were never again the dominate force in Newfoundland.

Britain’s Rise

Because Britain viewed cod as “strategic,” the tightly controlled Newfoundland as if cod was a “weapon at war.”

And although England had the smallest market for cured cod of any of the other fishing nations, the British Crown still inhibited foreign trade in cod.

Plymouth, on the Cornish

Peninsula, became England’s

rising market. And as a result, in

1597 Britain sent in roughly a

50 ship fleet.

In 1598, a Newfoundland fleet sold most of their cod

to the French who then resold it to Spain. However,

with both France and Spain dealing with Catholic

religious wars with the Huguenots, the British began

to understand the commercial value of their

Newfoundland fishery.However, this newly found trade ultimately resulted in

a small group of religious protesters, who had fled

England, noticed a small hook of land that was called

– Cape Cod.

Cape Cod

By the 18th century, cod had raised New England from a distant colony to an international marketable power.

Not only did these newly formed states and legislations have slaves, but they also had a great advantage: the cod market was becoming in fact a low-end market.

For example, badly split fish, poor weather conditions, excessive or not enough salt, and bad handling were few on the long list of unacceptable requirements to the Mediterranean market. However, the West Indies offered a rising market for the reject fish. Or in that matter, anything that was cheap.

In other words, the good cod went to the Mediterranean while the unacceptable cod went to the West Indies. And as a result, no matter how the cod “turned out,” there was always a profit being made.

The Revolutionary War

Roughly around the 17th century, the colonies of the New America’s were becoming more independent in not only their governments but their trading markets, as well.

The idea of the colonies wanting to break off from England was appalling to Britain and as a result, they passed the Sugar Act, the Molasses Act, the Stamp Act, the Restraining Act, rules that fishermen could no longer fish along the Newfoundland coasts, and stationed troops throughout New England.After three years of shooting, in 1778, both sides were ready to negotiate. And by 1781, there were only three main issues:

1. Borderlines

2. Payment of debts to England

3. Fisheries

Although the borderlines and payments became

indefinite, fisheries and fishing rights were the main

and undecided issue.

Improvements in Fishing

Throughout 18th century these were the most prominent innovations:

The chronometer allowed fishermen to fix a latitude and longitude.

Schooners which were large and powerful masted-ships.

Telegraph and the trans-Atlantic cable allowed long distance fleets to get news of market prices and weather warnings.

Engine powered ships were also becoming extremely useful.However these improvements only slightly changed

the jobs and roles of fishermen. For example, they

still fished the same grounds with only differences in

the gear.

These new technologies also originated in Europe

rather than North America because in Europe the

waters had been fished longer and it was harder to

catch fish.

EnginesFrom 1880 to 1897, the British had diligently worked on inventing a successful engine system.

However roughly 1,614 fishermen died in this process from experimenting with engines.

And during the early 1900’s these engines were put to use. Once motor ships replaced sail and oar, fishing no longer had to be done with “passive gear.”

Passive gear meaning equipment that waited for the fish

Furthermore, engines opened up

new opportunities.

The British began to experiment

with wells and how to pump

water, and railroads. These

railroads enable landed fish to

be transported to inland

markets quickly.

BirdseyeClarence Birdseye, born in Brooklyn in 1886, discovered that if he froze “greens,” such as vegetables, that they would last throughout the winter without loosing their flavor.

He is ultimately the man who discovered “frozen foods.”

His first experiment with this idea required three main pieces of equipment:

An electric fan

A pile of ice

A bucket of brine

Birdseye then began to experiment with meats, seafood, and fruits. And in 1925 he founded the General Seafood's Company.

World War IIThe most important development was that during

World War II the three innovations:

1. High-powered ships or schooners

2. Dragging nets

3. Freezing fish

With the previous technology of catching and holding their catches in the water, these dragging nets opened up a lot of space on deck. In addition, with the new technology of larger and faster ships, this additional space started to be used for freezing fish.

This meant that most of the world’s commercial catches were again rapidly increasing.

Three Cod

Wars1st Cod War:

After World War II, there were tremendous catches mainly on the Icelandic Shelf, on the North Sean banks, in the Narents Sea, and along the Irish coast.

However, Britain, again being in control of the Cod industry, wanted to make new fisheries along the Icelandic shelf. But the Icelanders would not contemplate.

Roughly around 1958, British fleets attacked the Icelandic Coast Guard. However, the Icelanders set fire to the British fleet which allowed them to “win” the first official cod war.

2nd Cod War:

By the 2nd war, the Icelandic Coast guard was better prepared with faster and stronger ships. They also had what they called their “cod weapon.”

The weapon was in fact a trawler cutter or a line cutter. For example the Coast guard ship would pass over the enemy fishing lines, and cut them, if the enemy refused to move out of Iceland territory.

This war basically consisted of Britain not respecting Iceland’s 100 mile radius, which further made the Coast guard not only cut their trawlers, but ram and shoot at several of the British ships.

3rd Cod War:

By 1974, Icelandic cod stocks were appearing to

be in trouble again and as a result Iceland

extended its limit to 200 miles.

And similarly to the 2nd cod war, Britain along with

West Germany again violated the limit and

refused to move.

By the “end” of this war, the Icelandic Coast Guard

cut 46 British and 9 German trawls, and had five

severe ramming incidents.

However, not wanting to ultimately risk the security

of their economy, the Britain's and the West

Germans retreated leaving Iceland victorious.

Cod Today

Today the cod market is still one of the largest fishing markets world wide.

Although, this different market was the underlying reason of several major conflicts throughout world history, the effects that this white fish has had on the world is tremendous.

From creating new, faster, and better fishing techniques to catch these migrating fish to the invention of rail roads and engines, cod has has a lasting impact for many

Works Cited

Kurlansky, Mark. Cod. New York: Penguin Books,

1997. 282. Print.