Bradore
Schematic drawing of Ft. Pontchartrain
Bradore has one of the best harbours in the Strait of Belle Isle area. It can support moorings for a considerable fleet of schooners and fishing ships. The place name, Bradore, is thought to be a condensed version of the French, Bras d’or, meaning golden arm, which would suggest its value to early mariners.
Some of the oldest prehistoric human habitation sites have been found at Bradore, belonging to the people who lived in the area as long as 9000 years ago. We might imagine that the Vikings used an excellent harbour like Bradore during their explorations around 1000 AD but, alas, no Norse artefacts have yet been unearthed there. Augustin le Gardeur de Courtemanche, the man designated as Commandant of Labrador by the King of France and holder of a very large trading concession, built the first European fishing station and trading post at Bradore in 1707. Called Fort Pontchartrain, it was a substantial operation for its time, and included multiple rooms with a chapel and surrounding stockade. Near the fort there was an encampment of Innu employed by Courtemanche to assist with trapping and fishing.
Permanent settlers did not arrive until the 1800s. Prior to that time, Bradore was also the location of migratory Basques and French cod fisheries. Once the British took control of the coast after the Seven Years War, mercantile fish companies, such as the Labrador Company, began importing fishermen and shore workers from the Channel Island of Jersey and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some of these workers became the foundation of eventual settlement in the 1800s.
Migrating fishing fleets continued to use the harbour at Bradore throughout the 19th century, coming from all around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the United States. The crush of fishing boats and gear made for some unhappy relations among the fishermen that eventually had to be straightened out by treaty between Newfoundland and the United States.
Bradore Photos : ( Click each for full size )
19th century illustration of international ships in a Labrador harbour along the Strait of Belle Isle.
Innu frequented the coast seasonally and in the early 1700s worked for Courtemanche in Bradore.
Bradore : The Story of Acoustina
Throughout the history of the Strait of Belle Isle, relations between the Inuitand Europeans were often contentious and there are numerous stories of violent confrontations. At that time the Innu and Inuit did not generally get along with each other either.
When Courtemanche built Fort Pontchartrain at Bradore in the early 1700s, and hired as hunters and fort workers the Innu, it seemed there was little hope for peaceful coexistence between the French and Inuit. Courtemanche attempted peace by meeting with the Inuit camped nearby, but the meeting soon disintegrated into a violent misunderstanding, leaving the Inuit running for their boats. In the melee, a young Inuit woman named Acoutsina was captured by the French. She remained in their company at the fort for the next two years. Confined to the fort, she nevertheless was befriended by the Courtemanche family and used her time in captivity to learn French and teach Inuit traditions to the fort’s inhabitants.
Courtemanche died the year of Acoutsina’s capture. Several years later while Acoutsina was still at the fort, Courtemanche’s stepson attempted to meet again with the Inuit. Acoutsina discovered her father in the Inuit group and was eventually allowed to return with him to her family. A happy reunion should have been an omen for future peace but it was not to be. Sporadic bad relations between the Inuit and the Europeans continued for years. As far as we know, Acoutsina never contacted the French again.
Photos : ( Click each for full size )
Romantic 18th century Italian depiction of an Inuit family
A dramatic 19th century rendition of an Inuit hunter crawling on the ice.