seasonal cod fishery by the French of La Rochelle, Granville, Saint-Malo and the Basque Country. When French explorer Jacques Cartier was in Saint-Pierre in 1536 he made note of the French and Breton fishery, writing: Nous fumes ausdictes yles sainct Pierre, ou trouvasmes plusieurs navires, tant de France que de Bretaigne, depuis le jour sainct Bernabe, XIe de juing, jusques au XVIe jour dudict moys that is, We stayed to the so-called Saint-Pierre islands where we found several French and Breton ships, from St. Barnabe's day, 11 June, until 16th day of said month. By this time, Basque, Breton and Norman fishermen had been fishing in the waters off these islands for over 30 years. The name Miquelon is of Basque origin as this island was used by fishermen from Saint-Jean de Luz. The first written evidence of year-round residents on the islands was in a report in 1670 by the first intendant of New France, Jean Talon, who recorded the presence of thirteen fishermen and four settled residents. By 1687, there were three families living on the islands. Saint-Pierre supplied many of the neighboring French fishing communities, such as those in Fortune Bay and Hermitage Bay. During King William's War, from 1689 to 1697, and Queen Anne's War, from 1702 to 1712, there were at least five English attacks against French colonial settlements on the islands. This led to the abandonment of the islands by many of the French settlers by 1708. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 brought such wars to an end, and France ceded possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as well as Newfoundland, to Great Britain. British possession After they took control of the islands in 1713, the British changed the name of Saint Pierre to Saint Peter. The British government commissioned two surveys of their new possessions between 1714 and 1716. A Newfoundland planter and merchant, William Taverner, surveyed the region west of Placentia Bay for the British Board of Trade. The British Admiralty asked Lieutenant John Gaudy to conduct a cartographic survey of the area in 1716. Some of the French settlers swore allegiance to Britain, and remained, and for a while ships from Saint-Malo continued to visit the islands. However, this trade was illegal and eventually ceased. Slowly British and Anglo-American merchants and settlers started to move to the islands. In 1722, the island of Miquelon was sold to Capt. Diamond Sarjeant,