Category Archives: Archival Moments

A skating rink in Bannerman Park ?

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

July 31, 1882

In July 1882 the talk in St. John’s was all about the erection of a skating rink in Bannerman Park. The rink under the management of the ‘Victoria Rink Company Limited‘ would replace the first rink that was established in the park (in the late 1860’s) that was destroyed by a fire in the early morning of July 16, 1878.

Some of the leading citizens in St. John’s were determined that the skating rink be built. On July 31, 1882 the St. John’s newspaper, The Telegram ran an advertisement that declared:

“ Victoria Rink Company Limited: Tenders will be received up to noon on 5 August for the erection of a skating rink in Bannerman Park. Plans and specifications to be seen at the Bowring Brothers Office. W. Parnell, Secretary”

Residents of St. John’s, in the day, had some fond memories of the Victoria Skating Rink in Bannerman Park located next to the Colonial Building on Military Road. The Victoria, and its neighbor, the Avalon, built in 1870, were designed for winter sports such as skating and curling but most people associated the two buildings with the eccentric Professor Charles Henry Danielle. Under his guidance, the Victoria Rink became the home of elaborate fancy-dress balls and ice carnivals. These balls were huge affairs. For one ball the local papers reported that

“near three thousand dollars’ worth of Costumes have been brought to the country (Newfoundland) to give the Ball. It has cost weeks of labour in classifying and fitting these costumes… “

The Professor (as he liked to be called) also created a large array of fancy-dress costumes which he rented and sold. These were stored in an adjacent building (The Avalon) to the Victoria Rink.

The idea of a new skating rink in Bannerman Park did not catch the imagination of the population another proposal for a ‘Curling and Skating Rink’ on the “Parade Grounds” (now the site of the Rooms and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) Headquarters) won the day. The Parade grounds Curling and Ice Rink opened in December 1882.

Skating in Bannerman Park was forgotten

In July 2013 (131 years after the first proposal) funding to establish a skating facility became a reality.

Today in the heart of the park, is a new ice skating trail, The Bannerman Loop aka “The Loop”. Named through a social media callout for suggested names at the request of its sponsor, Patron Donor Elinor Gill Ratcliffe and the Gill Ratcliffe Foundation, this ice trail is unique in both its presence in the city and its design. From October to April, many a day is now being spent skating with friends and family on this one-of-a-kind ice skating surface. In the warmer months, in-line skating and children cycling is the order of the day.

Professor Danielle is certain to be smiling on the Bannerman Foundation.

Recommended Reading: Stories About Bannerman Park: http://www.bannermanpark.ca/stories/

Recommended Action: Support the Garden of Memories in Bannerman Park: People who enjoy the park can contribute to the park‘s revitalization through by sponsoring various fixtures, flower gardens, and commemorative granite stones, which will be used for the pathways in the Garden. For more information: http://www.bannermanpark.ca/the-garden-of-memories-open-to-the-public/

Recommended to Listen: Lines On The Death Of Professor Danielle (Johnny Burke) http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/29/lines.htm

Do you have a story to tell about Bannerman Park?

Has Newfoundland Folk Music influenced Bob Dylan?

Archival Moment

July 25, 1965

Dylan sings Newfoundland Folk

Music critics have written that Bob Dylan’s career path was established on the night of July 25, 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival, Rhode Island where he performed a rock-and-roll set to a chorus of shouts and boos from a dismayed audience. The folk purist in the audience did not like the fact that Dylan was moving away from his ‘folk roots’ and embracing ‘rock and roll’.

Sitting in the wings as witnesses to this musical shift were two Newfoundlanders who had on the same weekend performed on the same stage, Arthur Nicolle and Annie Walters of Rocky Harbour.

Arthur Nicolle and Annie Walters were two well established traditional Newfoundland folk singers who were invited to prestigious Newport Festival by Robert Jones and Ralph Rinzler, they travelled Atlantic Canada and the USA in 1964 cultivating the use of traditional talent at the festival and unearthing these artists from various locations. In 1965, Jones joined the operation of the Newport Folk Festival and in 1965, he accepted a position at Festival Productions.

The two Rocky Harbour residents were originally brought to the attention of the world through the work of Kenneth Peacock. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Canadian folk revival movement; between 1951 and 1961 he visited Newfoundland six times to do folksong research. A number of the songs in his collection were taken from Nicolle and Walters.

The Friday evening concert at the Newport Festival (July 23, 1965) that featured Newfoundlanders, Arthur Nicolle and Annie Walters also featured the internationally celebrated artists Peter, Paul & Mary and Pete Seeger. The audience was estimated to be as large as 17,000 persons.

The connection between the Newfoundlanders and Bob Dylan especially Mrs. Annie Walters connection is of particular interest.

It is a part of the folk festival tradition for singers to listen to their peers in ballad swapping sessions. It has been speculated that Dylan may have been at a swap session where he heard Mrs. Annie Walters sing a few of her songs. One of the songs in her repertoire was ‘The Blooming Bright Star of Belle Isle’ the Newfoundland adaptation of an old Irish love song, ‘Loch Erin’s Sweet Riverside’, the song tells the familiar story of a lover who returns after a long absence and tests his sweetheart’s fidelity before revealing himself.

Dylan released the song, five years after the Newport Festival under the title “Belle Isle.” The song is performed by Bob Dylan and appears on the album Self Portrait (1970) and on the box set The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait 1969-1971 (2013).

The song has made the seemingly unlikely journey from outport anthem to the mainstream of North American popular culture.

The program, for the 1965 Newport Festival that Mrs. Annie Walters brought back as a souvenir to show her family and friends was acquired during the past month by the Canadian Museum of History.

The Fender Stratocaster electric guitar that Dylan played at the festival sold for nearly $1 million, the highest price ever paid for a guitar at auction. A new book by Elijah Wald, Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties, takes a look at the event that two Newfoundlanders sat in the wings and witnessed.

Recommended Archival Collection: Memorial University of Newfoundland Kenneth Peacock fonds Accession Number SC 1.6. The collection is 144 audio cassette copies of field recordings done in Newfoundland and Labrador by Peacock in the summer months of 1951 and 1952 and at various times during the years 1958-1961, along with copies of Peacock’s tape indexes. Much of this material was published in 1965 as Songs of the Newfoundland Outports.

Recommended Reading: Folksongs and Folk Revival: The Cultural Politics of Kenneth Peacock’s Songs of the Newfoundland Outports by Anna Kearney Guigne, 2008.

Recommended Recording: Annie Walters & Arthur Nicole can be heard singing on the LP “Songs of the Newfoundland Outports” released in 1984 by Pigeon Inlet Productions. (Unfortunately it is now out of print). Original recordings by Kenneth Peacock.

Kenneth Peacock’s Songs of the Newfoundland Ouports is available CD ROM since 2005 from SingSong Inc. It includes the full lyrics and music for the 517 songs in the original printed edition, all of Mr. Peacock’s notes and photographs, 244 original recordings, including those of Arthur Nicolle and Annie Walters. It also includes an audio file for each song to enable people who don’t read music to hear the song melodies. www.singsonginc.ca/index.php/catalog/full-catalogue/6-songs-of-the-newfoundland-outport

Listen to Dylan sing traditional Newfoundland: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/belle-isle

The 39th Annual Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival is poised to be another incredible weekend of entertainment for the whole family. The Festival is the coming together of community, province and culture – our province is renowned for its contributions to the musical fabric of Canada and we do all we can to wave that flag high and proud. For more information: http://www.nlfolk.com/festival.php

A note in the toe of a sock

Archival Moment

July 9, 1918

During the First World War women in kitchens and parlors in homes throughout Newfoundland and Labrador were feverishly knitting goods, especially socks for the men who had signed up to fight for King and Country. Many of these women were members of the Woman’s Patriotic Association (W.P.A.) an organization of more than 15,000 women from throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

The W.P.A. raised enormous sums of money; made and shipped clothing, medical supplies and other goods to troops overseas; they visited families who had sons, brothers, fathers, or husbands on the front lines; and they volunteered in local hospitals.

In Twillingate, Newfoundland, the tradition gradually evolved that saw women write short notes that they stuffed into the toes of the socks. Typically the sentiment of the note was “Into this sock I weave a prayer, That God keep you in His love and care.”

The socks were delivered in by the barrell full to the trenches in Turkey, France and Belgium or wherever the young men of Newfoundland stood in the trenches, fighting for King and Country.

Soldier Writing Home

Mrs. Peter Jenkins of Twillingate on finishing a pair of socks, like many of the other knitters, stuffed a note into the toe and signed her name and address. Months later she received a note of thanks from a young soldier from Greenspond, Bonavista Bay, a young man looking forward to getting home to his beloved Newfoundland.

He wrote:

Somewhere in France

May 17th, 1918

Mrs. Peter JENKINS (Twillingate)

Dear Friend: –

Just a word to let you know I received your socks and was very glad to get them. I got them when I was in the front line and it was very muddy at the time, up over my boots, so your socks came in great.

You will have to excuse me for not writing before. I received your socks in March and I was wounded on the 12th of April, but glad to say it was slightly in the head and shoulder. I am well again now and back with my Battalion again.

I haven’t much strange news to tell you. We are getting some fine weather over here almost too warm for us Nflders.

Well, Mrs. JENKINS, I hope the war will soon be over and we will be able to get back to old Newfoundland again. We will have something to be proud of our island home and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. We have a good reputation and we are going to keep it up.

No doubt some of our brave boys have fell but fought and fell for a good cause, and I believe you, as a W.P.A. are doing your bit at home.

Now you will have to excuse my bad scribbling and writing, as I am not much of a scholar, my home is at Greenspond, Bonavista Bay. I think I have said all at present.

I remain your sincere friend,

J.W. HARDING.

My address: 3720 Pte. J.W. HARDING, A. Co. Royal Nfld. Rgt., B.E.F., France.

Please write and let me know if you got my letter or not and thanks for the socks.

Joseph William Harding of Greenspond returned to his beloved Newfoundland on February 7, 1919. It is not known if he ever did meet Mrs. Jenkins but his letter survives (it was printed in the Twillingate Sun, July 9, 1918) as a testimonial to how grateful the young soldiers were for the support of the women at home.

Recommended Reading: “A Pair of Grey Socks. Facts and Fancies. Lovingly dedicated to the boys of the Newfoundland Regiment. And to every woman who has knitted a pair of grey socks. By Tryphena Duley. Verses by Margaret Duley.”

Recommended Archival Collection: Distinguished Service: the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War, this on line exhibition documents the lives and experiences of the province’s soldiers and aims to encourage interest in research on the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. This on line exhibit focuses on the World War I service records of the Regiment, available at the ARCHIVES on microfilm. Some of the service records are on line at: http://www.therooms.ca/regiment/part1_entering_the_great_war.asp

Recommended Exhibit: Pleasantville: From Recreation to Military Installation. Level 2 Atrium Pleasantville before the First World War was the site of the St. John’s cricket grounds. With the declaration of war, Pleasantville quickly emerged as a tent city, the home of the storied “First 500”. It was here that the First Newfoundland Regiment recruits began preliminary military training during the months of September and October of 1914. This exhibition highlights some of the activities and training of the Blue Puttees up to their embarkation on the SS Florizel for overseas service.

“A light sulkey, suitable for an outport clergyman”

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

July 6, 1879

Sulkey for sale

On July 6, 2013, Pope Francis told the Catholic bishops and priests from around the world that it pained him to see clergy driving ‘flashy cars’, and told them to pick something more “humble”.

This observation by the Pope that clergy like “flashy” transportation is nothing new, on July 6, 1879 the local St. John’s newspapers were advertising “the sale of a light sulkey, suitable for an outport Clergyman.”

The sulkey is a lightweight two-wheeled, single-seat cart that was used as a form of rural transport in many parts of the world. The sulkey was the top of the line in transportation. It was not some old slow dray, not some old wagon, not some old cart, the sulkey was sleek and fast and as the advertisers put it in the day “suitable for outport clergymen and doctors.”

They are called “sulkies” because the driver prefers to be alone.

The clergyman’s penchant for the flashy is in short not a new phenomenon. Certainly the advertisers 134 years ago saw the potential for vanity in the clergymen.

The reality in Newfoundland was however that the sulkey might not have been the most practical for the ‘outport clergymen.’ With the poor state of the roads in much of outport Newfoundland the more robust option was the horse and cart.

The advertisement for the ‘light sulkey” appeared in the daily papers in St. John’s for most of the summer. It is not known if it sold!!

Note: There are two variations on the spelling of the word. Newfoundland papers refer to sulkey. American publications use sulky.

Looking for a Good Tea Fight?

Archival Moment

June 26, 1897

Evening Telegram, St. John’s, NL Advertisement: February 3, 1894

A great number of expressions and terms that were part of everyday conversation have been lost over the years. In Newfoundland there was a time that one would be very excited to be invited to a “tea fight” it was an event that people looked forward to with great enthusiasm.

On June 26, 1897 the St. John’s newspaper the Evening Telegram reported on a big “tea fight” held in the community of Channel, Port aux Basques. The newspaper reported:

“There was a great display of bunting at Channel (Port aux Basques) on the 22nd. In the evening people of the place enjoyed a big “tea fight” and a dancing event on an extensive scale.”

In the 1890’s a great number of societies and organizations throughout the country (Newfoundland) were encouraging “tea fights.” Firemen, policemen, educators, Christian teachers, leaders in the temperance community, all were encouraging or sponsoring ‘big tea fights.”

In St. John’s a “tea fight” at the West End Fire Hall for firemen, policemen, and lady friends, kept up till midnight.

“Tea fights” were annual events at the Temperance Hall on Victoria St. The Telegram reported

“There was a superb tea fight participated in with good appetite. Every person present fared well—freely partook of a good serving by young ladies in charge of the tables, and made no further complaint than “the water is not hot enough.”

A “tea fight” is an English term that referred to a “little social gathering” or “an evening party.” The Oxford English Dictionary explains “tea-fight” as a slang or humorous name for a tea-party or tea-meeting.

In 1869 William Conant Church argued in the entertainment magazine The Galaxy that the “ignominious phrase, a tea fight…” can be traced back to the expression “a sociable dish of tea.” He wrote:

“Our mother and grandmothers gathered on special summons or went without warning on general invitation; and even our fathers and grandfathers despised neither the tea nor the sociability that sweetened it. But the thing (a sociable dish of tea) and its name have passed away … it lives only in the memory of some morose old bachelors under the ignominious phrase, a tea fight…”

The phrase “tea fight” may have been dying away in other parts of the world in the early 1870’s but in Newfoundland “tea fights” were very popular in the 1890’s and continued until the 1920’s.

It is now another phrase lost from our everyday conversation.

Time for a tea, perhaps I will have you over for a “tea fight” some evening.

What are other phrases, terms or expressions particular to Newfoundland and Labrador have been lost?

Recommended Reading: The Dictionary of Newfoundland English, first published in 1982 is a historical dictionary that gives the pronunciations and definitions for words that the editors have called “Newfoundland English”. The varieties of English spoken in Newfoundland date back four centuries, Culled from a vast reading of books, newspapers and magazines, this book is the most sustained reading ever undertaken of the written words of this province. http://www.heritage.nf.ca/dictionary/

Monument to Portuguese fishermen to be erected

An Invitation to a Portuguese Dinner

Portuguese Fishery designed by the Portuguese artist Antonio Neves.

In 2012 at the request of a Commanding Officer in the Portuguese Navy a search was initiated in St. John’ s to find the unmarked grave of Dionisio Esteves, a 26 year old fisherman who lost his life of the coast of Newfoundland in 1966.

Using photographs and film, the unmarked grave was found by the archivist Larry Dohey in Mount Carmel Cemetery in St. John’s. Since the discovery of the grave, Portuguese Naval officials annually host a wreath laying ceremony at the site to remember Esteves who has come to symbolize all Portuguese fishermen who have died prosecuting the fishery. Esteves was one of the thousands of Portuguese who plied Newfoundland waters as part of the crew of the Portuguese White Fleet. Estves sailed on the celebrated Santa Maria Manuela.

Through the efforts of individuals in Newfoundland lead by Jean Pierre Andrieux and his wife Elizabeth and friends in Portugal a monument has been designed that will be placed at the gravesite as a permanent memorial. The memorial was designed by the Portuguese artist Antonio Neves.

The memorial is being assembled in Portugal and will arrive in St John’s in mid-August by a Portuguese Navy vessel.

To help cover some of the costs for the design and installation of the memorial a Portuguese dinner will be held at THE FLUVARIUM on Tuesday June 2^nd at 6 PM for 7PM dinner. This will be a Portuguese themed meal and will include:

Appetizer: Caldo Verde Soup

Main: Bacahhau Compinentos or Ptri Piri Chicken

Desert: Custard Éclair

Refreshment: A glass of the celebrated Newman’s Port

The cost is $100.00 per person with a $50.00 Tax Receipt.

A Portuguese gift basket will be available on tickets at the dinner.

We hope that you will be able to join us for the occasion

Reservations with your choice of the main course should be made with us at 753-7277 or by email at larrydohey@therooms.ca

Please reserve your place as soon as posible.

Historic Entrance to St. John’s

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

May 17, 1857

Basilica Cathedral Archway, Welcome to St. John’s

Basilica Archway St. John’s

On May 17, 1857 a single-span entrance arch constructed of Leinster granite, with a statue of John the Baptist carved in Carrara marble was erected on the grounds in frount of R.C. Cathedral, St. John’s (now Basilica).

The Arch is constructed of enormous blocks of granite and is surmounted by a marble statue of St. John the Baptist, patron of the city and one of the patrons of the Basilica. The statue is ten feet hight and was sculpted at Carrara, Italy, of pure white marble, by Fillipio Ghersi, of Italy. It represents the saint preaching penance, and holding in his right hand a baptismal shell.

The height of the arch and statue is 42 feet.

Basilica Archway, 1907

In 1907 the archway was repositioned to allow for the widening of the adjacent Military Roadand rebuilt with a triple arch span.

The arch is a traditional symbol of welcome, in Newfoundland spruce bough arches were often constructed to welcome visiting dignitaries. The idea of the John the Baptist arch was to weclome ships as they entered into ‘the narrows’ of St. John’s (at one time the only highway into the city). From the harbour entrace ship crews and passengers would look toward the town and there on the hill side to welcome them would be John the Baptist, the patron of the city.

On July 24, 2006 Heritage Designation for the Basilica Archway was recommended by the Heritage Advisory Committee for the City of St. John’s and accepted at a meeting of the City Council.

Recommended Website: Tour of the Historic Basilica Cathedral, St. John’s. http://www.thebasilica.ca/

Recommended Reading: Geology of the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. John the Baptist, St. John’s, Newfoundland: Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695. http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/gc/article/view/2739/3186

His beard for a fire truck

He will shave his beard for a fire truck

On Wednesday May 13^th, 2015, Mark Manning will be celebrating his 22nd Birthday at Erin’s Pub on Water Street.

A regular on the stage at Erin’s, Mark would not only like to celebrate his birthday he would like to give back to his home town. His birthday will also be a fundraiser.

He is inviting all old, new and yet to be friends come celebrate with him! The night will be filled with music from musician friends.

The fundraiser side of things comes into what he is asking from you for his Birthday.

His hometown of St. Bride’s on the beautiful Cape Shore is in need of a new fire truck to service the area. He is asking for those coming out to celebrate with him to donate to the fire truck fund. Whatever you can afford will be greatly appreciated

As an incentive to raise the funds if he reaches $2000.00 on his birthday night, he will shave off his beard.

Let’s get him clean shaven!!

Please share with your friends.

Take a listen: Newfoundland Musician performs at the Basilica Museum a classic Newfoundland song “Let me fish off Cape St. Mary’s”. Video shot and edited by Gage Miranda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZHVgg0_7bM

Moose are not native to Newfoundland?

Archival Moment

April 28, 1886

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives. VA 15D-8.2; Hunter straddling a moose carcass, with guide Jim John looking on.

There was much excitement in St. John’s during the last week of April 1886; residents had an opportunity to see a “fair specimen of a bull moose’s head, with antlers” at the ‘Athenaeum’ the local theatre.

Today, a moose would not garner much attention, but in 1886, moose were still unknown in Newfoundland. Moose are not native to the province, moose were imported.

The person who is given credit for the idea of introducing moose into Newfoundland was Captain Richard Lewis Dashwood, a British Military officer and avid fisherman and hunter. Captain Dashwood while on military tour of Canada (1862-1872) visited Newfoundland in 1860. Upon returning to England he published his book Chiploquorgan, or, Life by the Camp Fire in the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland. He wrote about Newfoundland:

“How I wished that there were moose in Newfoundland! What a place it would be to call on the lakes by our camp. As the moose are now becoming so scarce on the mainland, it would be an excellent plan and one worthy of the consideration of the Newfoundland Government, to turn up moose in the island. They would not migrate like the caribou, but remain in the depths of the forest, far out of the reach of the settlers living on the coast. In a few years they would become numerous, and there is plenty of good feeding ground in the woody parts of the interior of Newfoundland.”

In 1878 just six years after the publication of his book, the government determined to attract ‘big game hunters’ introduced the first bull and cow moose, imported from Nova Scotia. But there was no romance!! The two did not breed!

R. Langrische Mare of St. John’s writing to the Editor of the Evening Telegram in April 1886 reported that he would make another attempt at introducing moose to Newfoundland. He wrote that he had:

“secured, healthy, young animals, bull and cow. They will come down from Nova Scotia as soon as a suitable chance offers, and will, I trust, if protected by the Government, will multiply in the Island.”

These two healthy young moose strolled into Newfoundland history, but there was no romance between them, no breeding.

The 150,000 moose (estimated) that are strutting about Newfoundland today are all descendants of four other moose that were introduced from New Brunswick in 1904.

The bull moose head and antlers that were on display in 1886 at the Athenaeum, that caused such a sensation, were following the exhibit, intended to be placed in the Museum.

Captain Dashwood, who in 1872 argued that the moose would “remain in the depths of the (Newfoundland ) forest, far out of the reach of the settlers living on the coast was so wrong!!

Recommended Archival Collection: Newfoundland Tourist Development Board fonds. Description number GN 51. This Fonds consists of textual records created or contracted by the Newfoundland Tourist Development Board (1936-1949) and by its predecessor organization, the Newfoundland Tourist and Publicity Commission (1927-1936). In particular read GN 51. 11 this report by Lee Wulff submitted to the Newfoundland Tourist Development Board details opportunities for sport fishing and hunting in Western Newfoundland and the Northern Peninsula.

Recommended Reading: Moose Country by Darrin McGrath: Darrin McGrath examines the history of moose on the island from the initial introduction to the economic and social importance of the mooee hunt to the current problems of poaching and coyote predation.

Recommended Song: Got to get my moose: Recorded by Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers: http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/02/moose.htm

Labrador Schooner with her crew, caught in the great storm.

Archival Moment

Down on the Labrador, David Blackwood

In November 1915 many of the Newfoundland newspapers were reporting that communities throughout the Island were in mourning or experiencing “great anxiety” over rumors of the loss of friends and family in a storm that battered the northeast coast of Newfoundland.

Communities in Conception Bay were grieving for the rumored loss of sixteen men and women, lost on the schooner, ‘Swallow’ owned by Albert Fradsham, sailing out of Bay Robert’s.

The schooner had been last seen on November 15, 1915 on the northeast coast of Newfoundland in the town of Seldom Come By, Fogo Island. The schooner, it was confirmed had put into Seldom, where three of the crew from the area left her.

The crew had spent the summer and fall prosecuting the fishery on the Labrador.

With the departure of the ‘Swallow’ from Seldom Come By on November 16, 1915, there was silence, no one had seen or heard from the schooner. The general speculation was that the ‘Swallow’ with her crew had been caught in the great storm and driven out to sea.

It was not only the ‘Swallow’ out of Bay Robert’s that was missing, officials in Carbonear reported that the Schooners, ‘Silver Cord’, ‘Morella’, and the ‘L. and S’. were missing. Officials in St. John’s were reporting that the Schooner the ‘Blanche M’. and ‘H. W. Wentzell’ were missing. The Schooner ‘Annie’ out of Fermeuse was also reported missing in the storm.

The Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Mr. Archibald Piccott immediately dispatched the whaler ‘Cabot’, the tugboat ‘D.P. Ingraham’ and other steamers, to begin a search. Piccott had a vested interest in the search he had been educated and operated a shop in Bay Roberts. He would have known many of the 16 men and women on the ’Swallow’.

Their search was to no avail, it was concluded that the ‘Swallow’ “must have been driven out into the ocean.” Many concluded that the ‘Swallow’ was lost with all aboard. The Bay Roberts newspaper The Guardian, on November 29, 1915 identified the crew aboard the Swallow:

“Beatrice Batten, Chas Batten and Henry Batten of Bareneed; Abram Smith and Rebecca Menchions of Bishop’s Cove; John Jones of Upper Island Cove; William Dawe, Frost (girl) and a boy named Snow of Clarke’s Beach, a boy of South River; Ambrose Fagen of Kelligrews, Samuel Kinsella, William Russell, Arthur Greenland and William Russell Jr of Coley’s Point and Clara King of Country Road.”

John Bowering, was identified as the Master of the Schooner.

On November 30, 1915, there was a glimmer of hope, a report circulated that the schooner ‘Swallow’, now fifteen (15) days overdue from the Labrador coast, had been sighted in Lockers Bay, Flat Island, Bonavista Bay. The Minister of Marine and Fisheries immediately dispatched a motor boat from Greenspond to investigate.

The news was devastating. The battered schooner ‘Swallow’ had been towed into Flat Island, but the crew was missing.

The following day, December 1, 1915, the immense grief of the families and friends of those presumed dead was lifted. The Governor of Newfoundland, Sir Gordon Davidson had received a telegram at his home in Goverment House, St. John’s from Mr. Bonar Law, Secretary of the Colonies (later Prime Minister of Britain) that read:

“The crew and passengers of The Swallow were saved and landed at Stornoway (Scotland) by the Norwegian Steamer Hercules. Please circulate information, John Bowering.”

The local newspapers reported upon hearing about the telegram that:

“All will be thankful at the good news of their safety.”

Family and friends were later told that the ‘Swallow’ had been battered by the storm of the night of November 16. They were adrift for a number of days before they were spotted by a Norweigian Steamer. The crew abandoned, the ‘Swallow’ and transferred to the Norwegian Steamer Hercules. The Norwegian vessel landed at Stornoway, a port on Lewis, the North Island of the Hebrides in North West, Scotland.

It is said that the Batten’s and other families had a particularly good Christmas in 1915. On Christmas Eve, the crew of the ‘Swallow’ who had all been presumed dead, landed at Bay Robert’s, they all walked home, back into the lives of their family and friends.

Recommended Exhibit: At the Rooms: Here, We Made a Home: At the eastern edge of the continent, bounded by the sea, the culture of Newfoundland and Labrador’s livyers was tied to the fisheries and the North Atlantic. A rich mix of dialects, ways of life, food traditions, story and song developed here. The Elinor Gill Ratcliffe Gallery – Level 4.

Recommended Archival Collection: The Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, holds 70% of the Crew Agreements from 1863-1938, and 80% of the Agreements from 1951-1976. The crew agreements include particulars of each member of the crew, including name (signature), age, place of birth, previous ship, place and date of signing, capacity and particulars of discharge (end of voyage, desertion, sickness, death, never joined etc). http://www.mun.ca/mha/

Recommended Website: Costal Women in Newfoundland and Labrador prior to Confederation. This virtual exhibit portrays the women who lived and worked in the coastal communities of Newfoundland and Labrador prior to Confederation http://www.mun.ca/mha/cw/index.html