Author Archives: Larry Dohey

“He would have to take command of the Bellaventure”

Archival Moment

March 9, 1914

S.S. Newfoundland articlesThe St. John’s daily newspaper the Evening Telegram in March month ran a column during the sealing season under the banner “Sealing Notes.”  The column was eagerly read by the hundreds of men who were arriving in St. John’s looking for berths on the sealing vessels that were tied up in St. John’s harbour. These men were reading the newspaper column looking to see when and where they had to go to get their ‘ticket’ or ‘sign the articles’ to go to the ice.

On March 9, 1914, the Evening Telegram reported:

“The S.S.  Newfoundland sailed last midnight (March 8) for Wesleyville. Captain Wes Kean went in charge, though it was expected he would have to take command of the Bellaventure owing to the illness of Captain Robert Randell, but the latter is now sufficiently recovered to go to the icefields.”

The next day the S.S. Newfoundland pushed through the loose ice towards Wesleyville where the young Captain picked up the remainder of his crew.  On March 12th, the S.S. Newfoundland left for the ice-field.

Wes Kean was headed to the ice fields where he was keeping a look out for the S.S. Stephano under his father, Captain Abram Kean, a veteran sealer. Although the two ships worked for competing firms, the father and son had agreed to alert the other of any seals they spotted by a prearranged signal.

On March 30 the S.S.  Newfoundland found that it was jammed in the ice and could not proceed. Wes Kean ordered his men off the ship the following morning (March 31) He instructed them to walk to the Stephano, believing the sealers would spend the night onboard his father’s steamer after a day of hunting.

The men did not stay on the Stephano, they were ordered to get back on the ice to start scullin.  What resulted was that for two days, 132 sealers were stranded on the ice in blizzard conditions and without adequate shelter. 77 men died on the ice, rescuers found only 69 bodies; the remaining eight had fallen into the water. Most of the survivors lost one or more limbs to frostbite.

Wes Kean went to his bunk thinking that his men were on the Stephano, his father made the assumption that the men had returned to the S.S. Newfoundland.  The two men could not communicate with each other the owner of the S.S. Newfoundland,  A.J. Harvey and Company, had removed the ship’s wireless, the firm was interested in the radio only as a means of improving the hunt’s profitability  and did not view it as a safety device.

Sealing Notice, HarveyIf Captain Robert Randell had remained ill, Wes Kean would not have been on the S.S. Newfoundland, he would have been on the sealing vessel the Bellaventure that was equipped with a Marconi wireless operated by George Serrick of Bay Roberts.

On April 4, hundreds of anxious spectators lined the St. John’s waterfront as the Bellaventure steamed through the Narrows carrying the 69 corpses stacked on its deck. The Evening Telegram reported:

“The vision sent a shudder through the crowd,  the bodies had been laid there just as they were brought in from the ice, many of them with limbs contracted and drawn up in postures wh

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives see GN 121 this collection consists of the evidence taken before the Commission of Enquiry regarding the S.S. Newfoundland. The collection includes the Sealers Crew Agreement and the evidence given by the surviving members of the crew. Evidence entered concerning the loss of the SS Southern Cross is also included on this collection.

Recommended Exhibit:  Death on the Front:  The Sealing Disaster 1914.  March 26 – November 16 – Level 3 Museum Alcove. This small display features artifacts from the Rooms Provincial Museum and archival imagery from The Rooms Provincial Archives connected to these tragedies. One of the artifacts featured is a flag that was once flown on the Southern Cross. The National Film Board’s documentary 54 Hours written by Michael Crummey, using animation, survivor testimony and archival footage will be running as part of the Death at the Front exhibition. You can also view the short film from your own home at https://www.nfb.ca/film/54_hours

Crew List: In the days and months following the loss of the S.S. Southern Cross and the tragedy of the loss of the men of the S.S. Newfoundland there was much confusion about the names and the number of men that did die. You will find the definitive list of all those that did die as well as the survivors at http://www.homefromthesea.ca/

Recommended Reading:  PERISHED by Jenny Higgins (2014) offers unique, illustrative look at the 1914 sealing disaster through pull-out facsimile archival documents.  A first for the Newfoundland and Labrador publishing industry, as readers turn the pages of Perished they’ll find maps, log book entries, telegrams, a sealer’s ticket for the SS Newfoundland, and more that can be pulled out and examined.  These are the primary source materials that ignite the imagination of history buffs and students alike and are among more than 200 rarely seen archival photos and documents that illustrate this amazing book. (NEW PUBLICATION)

ich the cold had brought about.”

 

Orphan Asylum School

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

January 30, 1876.

The Orphan Asylum School, Queens Road, St. John’s

On January 30, 1876 the Irish Christian Brothers opened their first school in Newfoundland known locally as the Orphan Asylum School.  The school had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Benevolent Irish Society. (BIS).

The arrival of the three Christian Brothers implied far more than the arrival of a few more teachers.  It meant the introduction of a group of teachers who taught as a unit, were all trained in the same teaching methods, used the same graded text books and employed the same code of discipline.

Attendance shot up from 66 at the former Orphan Asylum School in November to 300, the full limit of the space available.

The Orphan Asylum was built on Queen’s Road on the side of the hill overlooking St. John’s, across the street from the Basilica. The building featured a prominent tower observatory that was one of the most prominent architectural features of the city in its day.

After a year of teaching at the school, the BIS and Christian Brothers decided that the fifty-year-old wooden structure was no longer suitable and plans were made for a new stone building on the same lot. The Orphan Asylum School was sold for thirty-five pounds and was torn down.

Recommended Archival Collection:  Archives of the Congregation of the Christian Brothers, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Recommended Web Site:  The History of Catholic Education in Newfoundland. http://fromslatetochalk.ca/

Recommended Reading: Nobel to the View, The Saga of St. Bonaventure’s College  by Brother J.B. Darcy, Creative Publishers, St. John’s. 2007

The French fishermen in Labrador and Grenfell

Archival Moment

January 13, 1938

Newfoundland Postage stamp, 1941 issue, showing Wilfred Grenfell (1865-1940), a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland Postage stamp, 1941 issue, showing Wilfred Grenfell (1865-1940), a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador

The Reverend Umberto Mozzoni, (later Cardinal Mozzoni) secretary of the apostolic delegation to Canada  wrote to Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche  of St. John’s on 13 January 1938  with concerns about the “The necessity of providing to the spiritual assistance of the fishermen who come every year from France to the coast of Labrador”

Rome was seeking information “about the number of these fishermen and what is done to protect them in their faith.”

Archbishop Roche responded to the Apostolic Nuncio’s secretary that “With regard to the French fishermen, he does not know their number, as Labrador is in the jurisdiction of Harbour Grace Diocese.”  (Now known as the diocese of Grand Falls)

Archbishop Roche also suggested in his letter that it may be the priests of St. Pierre and Miquelon who are providing to the spiritual assistance of the fishermen who come every year from France to the coast of Labrador and suggests he contact the Prefect Apostolic of St. Pierre and Miquelon, for more information.

Officials in Rome, Mozzoni noted were aware of the existence and the work of the Grenfell Institute in Labrador and the fact that the French fishermen are assisted “From the social point of view” by the Grenfell Institute. (later the International Grenfell Association. IGA)

He laments however that “the Greenfield [sic: Grenfell] Institute, is, unhappily, of Protestant inspiration.”

The International Grenfell Association (IGA) was incorporated in Canada on January 10, 1914, under the Companies Act of 1899. Sir Wilfred Grenfell, the founder of IGA, came to Newfoundland to attend to the needs of fishermen in northern Newfoundland and on the coast of Labrador. The IGA maintained hospitals, nursing stations, medical steamers, boarding schools, and an orphanage.

Recommended Archival Collection: The records of the International Grenfell Association (IGA) were donated to the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) by IGA representatives in June 1985. The IGA magic lantern slides form the most colourful pieces of the IGA fonds. These records are now available at the Rooms Provincial Archives. http://www.tcr.gov.nl.ca/panl/exhibits/

Recommended  Reading: Grenfell, Wilfred T. FORTY YEARS FOR LABRADOR. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1932, Boston:

The ‘Carpet Question’ and the Colonial Building

January 9, 1888

Archival Moment

The Carpet Question? Carpet missing from the Colonial Building.

The Carpet Question?
Carpet missing from the Colonial Building.

The Colonial Building, Military Road, St. John’s is arguably the most significant historic building in the province.

At the official opening of the Colonial Building on January 28th, 1850, Governor Sir John Gaspard  LeMarchant  stated it was, “dedicated to the future advancement and well-being of the country, a building which from its magnificence and extent will henceforth invest our legislature with and additional degree of interest and veneration.”

The Colonial Building has had a storied history, if the walls could speak, they would tell us of events such as Newfoundland gaining Responsible Government in 1855, the Riots of 1932 that saw Prime Minister Sir Richard Squires hiding from the mob. It was the building that was a witness to the  national Convention debates that saw the Dominion of Newfoundland  dragged into Confederation.

After Confederation in 1949, the Colonial Building was the seat of the Provincial Legislature until the Confederation Building opened in 1959.

The Colonial Building was also in the eye of the storm because of less significant incidents.

In early January 1888 the talk in the town of St. John’s and throughout the province was all about a carpet, not you’re run of the mill carpet, the talk was about a very expensive carpet allegedly stolen from the ‘Colonial Building.’

The government of the day (Premier Robert Thorburn) had purchased the carpet at the great expense of $300.00 (three hundred dollars) a carpet that was put down on the Assembly Chamber in the Colonial Building the year previous. In today’s currency the carpet would cost approximately $7,000.00 dollars. It would have been a large carpet, the Assembly Chamber is a substantial room measuring  29’6” X 49’.

The editor of the local newspaper the Evening Telegram was furious. Where was the carpet? Why was there no one in the government concerned about the missing carpet? The Editor boldly suggested that the government of the Colony of Newfoundland was holding a double standard.  He wrote:

“Why should the poor fisherman be sentenced to 30 days imprisonment with hard labour for stealing a tam o’ shanter cup worth only 25 cents while a sleek and well paid government official is allowed to steal valuable property from the people’s house with the utmost impunity!”

The newspaper refused to let go of the issue and soon discovered that not only was one of the carpets stolen but also “it will be necessary to talk about the valuable windows hangings stolen from the Clerk’s Office and the chairs and the desk spirited away from the Assembly Chamber ..”

The ‘Carpet Question’ was never resolved. Mr. Richard Holden the Assistant Clerk for the House of Assembly was the only person who offered any comment on the missing carpet suggesting that the government  “says they are not going to have any carpet on the Assembly Room next season, but are going to have the floor painted in squares as a chess board.”

Currently the Colonial Building is closed for interior and exterior renovations and is slated to re-open in  late 2015 with a restored interior, exterior and new exhibits to bring to life the people and political events of our past.  It will be the home of our political history.

Alas, the interior will not feature the ornate carpet, the valuable windows hangings stolen from the Clerk’s Office and the chairs and the desk.

Have you seen this carpet? Will the floors be painted in squares as a chess board?

Lost phrase:  “tam o’ shanter cup” associated with the Scottish tradition, a cup that was stolen that may have been a trophy cup.  (Love to hear from you on this!)

Recommended Website:  http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/colonial/default.html

Recommended Museum Visit:  At The Rooms Provincial Museum visit the exhibit ‘Here, We Made a Home’ in The Elinor Gill Ratcliffe Gallery – Level 4. This exhibit highlights some of the events associated with the political history of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Howard Brown: “He was always there, constant as the tides.”

Howard Brown 1945 - 2014

Howard Brown
1945 – 2014

The archival community of Newfoundland and Labrador was saddened to learn last evening of the passing our friend and colleague Howard Brown. His colleagues at The Rooms Provincial Archives extend their condolences to Howard’s family.

Greg Walsh, the Director of The Rooms Provincial Archives in a memo to staff said: “Howard as the long-time Manuscript Archivist worked with many of our current staff and researchers and was responsible for the initial acquisition and preliminary work with many of the most important collections we now hold.  He will be remembered for his service to Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives (ANLA) as long-time treasurer and for his passion for discovering and uncovering gems of Newfoundland and Labrador history within our holdings.”

Howard retired in February 1999 but maintained his ties to the ‘archival community’ with regular visits to the Rooms Provincial Archives as a researcher. His passion for all that he loved about Newfoundland and Labrador he expressed in his contributions to such publications as the Ancestor ( a publication  of the Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador) and The Shoreline News, his community newspaper.

Melanie Tucker, Reference and Access Archivists at the Rooms Provincial Archives said  Howard’s “dropping by to research the next article, to pay into his lotto fund or just to catch up with ‘the crowd’, always wanting to hear that everyone was doing well. I don’t think any of us realized until now how much his presence meant and how his visits kept us anchored to our archival roots.”

Brown, Howard Cecil (Obituary)

October 25, 1945 – January 8, 2014  

With a strong sense of loss and gratitude we announce the passing of Howard Brown. Loss because he was so loved by so many, gratitude because of the life he lived.

Leaving to mourn and to celebrate are his wife Valerie, his daughters, Michelle (Dean Barnes) and Heather (Matt Appleby), his grandsons Matthew and John, brother Rex (Elaine), sisters Barbara and Brenda (Bob Helleur); nieces Jill and Janine, nephews Ben and Jim, mother-in-law, Theresa Hibbs, Valerie’s brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, Aunts Bea, Gladys and Molly (nee Brown) and June (nee Butler), many cousins and a wide circle of family and friends.

Howard’s life had two distinct phases: Tack’s Beach until he was resettled at age twenty-one and Topsail where he settled and resided since 1966. Howard fully embraced both communities and nurtured both to the full extent of his resources, mind and body. His love for inner Placentia Bay was a life long one and he came to love Topsail where his roots ran deep. His writings reflect some of his passion for his place in his Newfoundland.

Howard’s love for his two daughters and two grandsons was unqualified, a love he shared with Valerie. Howard’s loyalty to his parents, Cecil and Maude and siblings all could count upon. He was always there, constant as the tides. Howard’s approach to life was moulded by the knowledge that doctors had told his mother he couldn’t live to six months. He was glad to prove their assessment flawed. He glorified in everything life offered and when Valerie and Shelley, Heather, Matthew and John came along his cup ran fuller than even he in his optimism could ever have imagined. He was a happy man.

An inspiration to all who knew him, left now to mourn and celebrate. Resting at Carnell’s Funeral home, 1045 Topsail Road. Family and friends may visit on Friday January 10th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday January 11th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Funeral Service will take place from St. John The Evangelist Church in Topsail on Saturday January 11th at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow at St. John the Evangelist cemetery in Topsail.

No flowers by Howard’s request. Donations may be made to the Old Church, St. John the Evangelist, Topsail or the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre.

 

Old Christmas day – first mass at the Basilica

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

January 6, 1850

R.C. Cathedral, St. John’s, 1841

Though unfinished, the Roman Catholic Cathedral (now Basilica) was opened for worship on 6 January 1850. (The Feast of the Epiphany – Old Christmas Day). Ill and exhausted by his labours, Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming who had conceived of the idea of building the massive Cathedral celebrated mass.

 “It was the last time the dying Bishop was to assume the vestments, and the first and last time he would offer mass in his new Cathedral. He was so weak a chair had to be placed at the Altar, and several times he had to stop and rest.”

His death later that year was widely attributed to his exertions on seeing that the Cathedral (now Basilica) was built.  The Patriot & Terra Nova Herald the local newspaper stated, “The Cathedral . . . has been that building upon which he seems to have staked all.”   The mass was Bishop Fleming’s last public appearance.

In the spring of 1850 an ailing Fleming, in semi-retirement, moved from the Episcopal Residence on Henry Street  to Belvedere, the Franciscan house. (near what was to become known as Belvedere Orphanage building, now the MCP  building 57 Margaret’s Place (off Newtown Road) in St. John’s.)There he died a few months later on July 14, 1850.  Thousands turned out to pay their last respects as his body was interred in the cathedral he had struggled so hard to build.

Rome had appointed a coadjutor bishop, John Thomas Mullock, who had been a friend and adviser to Bishop Fleming as his successor. Bishop Mullock completed the cathedral and it was officially consecrated in September 1855.

Recommended Archival Collection:  Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming Collection, Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese ofSt. John’s.

Recommended Reading: Fire Upon the Earth: The Life and Times of Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming , O.S.F.  by Brother J.B. Darcy, C.F.C.  Creative Publishers,St. John ’s, 2003.

Recommended Website: From Cornerstone to Cathedral: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Basilica/en/index.html

New Year’s Levee

JANUARY 1, 1859

“The Finest Room in the Colony”

The Basilica Museum Library. The “Finest Room in the Colony.”

There was a tradition in St. John’s that encouraged the leading citizens of the town to host a New Years Day Levee.  This levee was a reception that was held early in the afternoon of New Years Day, typically at the residence of the host.  Attending these levee’s was an annual ritual in the town.

The first recorded levée in Canada was held on January 1st, 1646 in the Château St. Louis by Charles Huault de Montmagny, Governor of New France (later Québec).  In addition to shaking hands and wishing a Happy New Year to citizens presenting themselves at the Château, the Governor informed guests of significant events in the Mother Country, as well as the state of affairs within the colony.  This tradition is carried on today within The Commonwealth in the form of The Queen’s New Year’s Message.

The Levée tradition was continued by British Colonial Governors in Canada, and subsequently by Governors General and Lieutenant Governors, and continues to the present day.

One of the leading citizens that was expected to host a levee was the Roman Catholic bishop. Typically citizens would call upon the bishop on New Years Day at the Episcopal Library (now the home of the Basilica Museum) to wish him a Happy New Year. Persons attending, dressed in their finest, would upon arrival stand in cue, sign a guest book and would then be introduced to the bishop.  The introduction would be followed by refreshments.

In 1859 Bishop John Thomas Mullock of St. John’s hosted his New Years Day Levee in the newly established Episcopal Library. Among the guests invited on this day was Lt-Col. R. B. McCrea, a Battery Commander and later Garrison Commander at Fort Townsend (now the site of The Rooms.)

McCrea was most impressed by the levee and the newly established library.   Ten years later in 1869 McCrea wrote a book about his experiences in Newfoundlandentitled “Lost Amid The Fogs: Sketches of Life in Newfoundland, England’s Ancient Colony.”  He wrote about the New Years Day levee

“Then to His Lordship (Bishop John Thomas  Mullock) we paid our respects and congratulations as was right and proper. A hearty reciprocation and a glass of champagne were his return for the compliments, to say nothing of taking us around his noble library, the finest room in the Colony.”

McCrea was impressed by the library but he was not so impressed by the living quarters of the bishop and priests. He wrote:

“This reception room was handsome, adorned with statuary from Italy, but for himself and the priests that lived with him, the little room below with its deal chairs and common delf would have been probably scorned by a layman. So strange is the contrast which presents in the attributes of his daily life and the profession he upholds.”

On Thursday, 01 January 2015 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., His Honour the Honourable Frank F. Fagan, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador and Her Honour Patricia Fagan will welcome members of the public to the traditional New Year’s Levee at Government House.

Recommended Reading: “Lost Amid The Fogs: Sketches of Life in Newfoundland, England’s Ancient Colony.” 

Recommended Website: The History of the Basilica: http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/basilique-basilica/en/index.htm

Toward the Sunset’s 30th anniversary

imagesWho would have thought 30 years ago when three young Placentia Bay men walked into Echo Recording Studios on the top of Long’s Hill, St. John’s that the album (Toward The Sunset) they were about to record would stand as a seminal work in the Newfoundland canon, influencing a generation of folk and traditional performers.

This weekend, hear a very special recording on The Performance Hour. You can hear the show on CBC Radio 2 on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. NT, and then on CBC Radio 1 at 5:35 p.m. Read for more information:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/pat-and-joe-byrne-reunite-with-baxter-wareham-1.2453323

 

 

Internationally Celebrated Artist has work in St. John’s

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

December 8, 1854

THE STATUES OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION  AT THE BASILICA

Immaculate Conception Statue by John Edward Carew.

In the centre of the piazza (the square) of the Basilica Cathedral stands a marble statue of the Immaculate Conception, ten feet high, on a granite pedestal of about the same height. The statue was erected in 1858 by Bishop John Thomas Mullock. It is the work of the Irish sculptor, John Edward Carew.

The statue is reputed to be the first  in the world  to be commissioned to celebrate the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception that was proclaimed as infallible by Pope Pius IX in the bull (formal proclamation) Ineffabilis Deus in 1854, and thus is an important article of faith for Roman Catholics.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated by Catholics on December 8th each year.

NEWFOUNDLAND CONNECTION TO THE PROCLAMATION OF THE DOCTRINE

Before proclaiming the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception  the Pope took steps to see whether the Church as a whole agreed by asking 603 bishops whether he should proclaim the  doctrine of Immaculate Conception; 546 (90%) said that he should.

Bishop John Thomas Mullock of St. John’s was intending to be in Rome for the Proclamation but stayed in St. John’s to oversee the completion of the R.C. Cathedral (now Basilica) that was under construction.

The young priest John Thomas Power, the future bishop of Newfoundland was present at the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

There is in addition to the statue of the Immaculate Conception in the courtyard of the Basilica Cathedral also the life-size statue of the Immaculate Conception which stands to the left of the main altar in the Basilica Cathedral by Filippio Ghersi. It was installed on September 1, 1864.

Recommended Archives: For more information on this contact the Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese.  www.stjohnsarchdiocese.nf.ca

On Line Article: Marian Devotion in Newfoundland:  http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1954/Kennedy.htm

Geology of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. John’s:  http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/gc/article/view/2739/3186

A Lonely Grave on an Island far from Home

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.