From Saturday, February 2, to March 16, the Saint-André made stops in the roadsteads of La Rochelle, Loix, La Flotte and Saint-Martin-de-Ré while its captain attended to various matters on land.

The captain, also called the master, was the commanding officer on the ship. If he owned the vessel, as in the case of Gabriel Bellet, the captain of the Saint-André, he outfitted it himself, leased it to someone else or shared the risks of the fishing expedition with a ship chandler or partners who agreed to participate in the venture in return for a portion of the profits. Captains were usually former pilots with at least five years' experience in navigation who had participated in several fishing expeditions.

The Saint-André's shallop began making trips to shore, much to the delight of the fishermen on the crew. Gabriel Bellet first went to the admiralty registry in La Rochelle to have his clearance stamped and make the customary declarations. Then he began his search for salt at the best possible price, which he hoped to load onto the ship as quickly as possible. He probably also looked for food to complete the ship's provisions, so that the Saint-André would leave for Newfoundland with a fresh supply of food.

Other ships were in La Rochelle for the same reason. Like Bellet, several captains from France's maritime provinces were trying to buy food or salt and have them loaded onto their ships as quickly as possible, before everyone else did. There was strong competition, especially among captains and local ship chandlers. Time was precious and money the best incentive to settle matters quickly. Salt must have cost more at the saltworks near the port than at those that were far inland and more difficult for ships to get to.

For the salt to be loaded and the ballast unloaded - the two were done simultaneously - the ship had to get as close as possible to the salt marshes to minimize transportation costs, and the cost of the loading and unloading operations.

Captain Bellet decided to procure his supply of salt from the Seudre, a river in Saintonge that flows into the Atlantic south of Marennes. Its long, wide estuary provided access to numerous salt marshes that supplied fishing and merchant vessels from as far away as Holland. The crew of the Saint-André would have to deal with bad weather, head winds and breakdowns that impeded the ship's progress. We will follow their day-to-day activities and their trips between the ship and terra firma.