ARCHIVAL MOMENT
November 22, 1874

A Lonely Grave on an Island far from Home
On this day November 22, 1874 the brigantine ORIENT, owned by the Joyce Brothers of Carbonear, one of their three sealing ships, was wrecked at Anticosti Island.

A simple marker in a field not far from the beach on the south side of the island of Anticosti in the mouth of the St. Lawrence River (Quebec) reads : In memory of Captain John Edgar Joyce of Carbonear, Newfoundland aged 27 years and crew of Brigantine Orient lost 22nd November 1874 who are buried as follows:
Joseph Taylor (25 years)
Stewart Taylor (17)
Thomas Fitzpatrick (13?)
William Clark (21)
Charles Henry (36)
Ambrose Forward (20)
Richard Taylor (19

The Captain’s brother, Gilbert JOYCE, who was mate on the ship and seaman Charles MOORES of English Hill, Carbonear, were the only survivors.

Anticosti is almost 8,000 sq. km of pristine wilderness: 222 km long and 50 km wide in some spots. Its name derives from the French’s literal assertion that it was impossible to land a boat on its coastline, because of a treacherous limestone reef that extends up to a kilometre into the St. Lawrence all around the island. More than 400 ships found this out the hard way, the last one foundering onto the reef in a storm in 1982.

Recommended Archival Collection: The Maritime History Archive collects and preserves documents relating to the history of maritime activities in Newfoundland and Labrador and throughout the North Atlantic world. http://www.mun.ca/mha/index.php.
At the Rooms Provincial Archives see A 24-8.