The ‘passing bell’ has tolled for Loretta Dohey

Obituary

Loretta Dohey

1933 – 2014

Loretta (Nash) Dohey, a woman of faith, an exceptional cook and avid gardener left this place on July 14th surrounded by the love of her family, to be with those who have gone before her.

Her faith, which she held with a quiet dignity, told her that she would be with her son Billy who died in 2009. Our hearts are at peace knowing they are united once again.

She remembered in heart, thought and prayer, during her life, those that had predeceased her including her parents Patrick and Mary (Barry) Nash, her sisters: Sadie Squires, Agnes Careen, Nora Corcoran, Carrie White, Mary Ryan and Clara Lundrigan and her brothers Mike, Jimmy and Benny. She was with them all at their end and she looked forward to them welcoming her into the place they have prepared for her. She said “they promised a big time on her arrival.” She leaves Delores Wade, her niece and friend to hold the memories of the family.

She leaves to mourn in sadness, but with great thanks for all that she has done, her children’s father, Clem Dohey and her children Eta (Anthony Nash), George (Patricia), Eric, Frances (Fred Mills), Pat, Larry (Ian Martin), Doreen (Dominic Traverse), Father Wayne, Jean, Sandra (Fabian Manning), Orinda (Jerry Careen), Marie (Lloyd MacKenzie), and daughter-in-law Amanda Ferguson.

Her great love and joy were her 23 grandchildren Janice, Ian, Kim, Tracey, Elizabeth, Freddie, Sandra, Carrie, Justin, Pat Jr., Ashley, Peter, Christopher, Jordan, Fabian Jr., Mark, Heather, Amy, Marcus, Kindra, Evhan, Joshua and Grayson; and her seven great-grandchildren. She will be remembered with love and affection by all of them as a mother and grandmother of remarkable strength and grace, whose love will transcend the generations.

Funeral arrangements entrusted to Manning’s Funeral Service. Resting at Sacred Heart Church, St. Bride’s. Mass of Christian Burial on Thursday, July 17, at 2:00 p.m.

Flowers gratefully accepted or donations to the Sacred Heart Parish Cemetery Fund, St. Bride’s.

She passed in silence with a smile. We all begin a new day, holding her memory.

What is the ‘passing bell’? Read more: http://archivalmoments.ca/2013/11/kneeling-and-prayers-in-the-streets/

More than a pair of socks

Archival Moment

July 9, 1918

More than a pair of socks, knitting for their soldier boys.

On July 9, 1918 the local paper, The Twillingate Sun, published a letter under the caption “Thanks for the Socks”. The letter was one of hundreds that would have been printed in local Newfoundland newspapers, it was a thank you letter from a young soldier (Edward G. Noftall) “Somewhere in France” thanking a young woman (Miss Clarke of Twillingate) for a pair of socks that she knit for him.

The letter gives considerable insight into a ‘home front’ war time activity.

In the early days of the First World War, the Patriotic Association of the Women of Newfoundland (W.P.A.) was formed with a mandate “to assist in aiding the British Empire in the present crisis by providing the necessities needed by our soldiers at the front.” The necessities that were identified were knitted socks, helmet liners, scarves, mittens and waistcoats for the men overseas. In every corner of Newfoundland and Labrador women were knitting for their ‘soldier boys.’

Many of these women decided to add a personal touch to the product that they had knitted inserting into the sock or mitten a note wishing the soldier well with their name and home address. Typically the sentiment of the note was “Into this sock I weave a prayer, That God keep you in His love and care.”

In May 1918, Edward Noftall, age 19, originally from Rocky Lane, St. John’s, Regimental #83 (one of the First 500) received a pair of socks from a Miss Clarke of Twillingate. Upon receiving the socks he felt compelled to write a note of thanks. He wrote:

Dear Miss CLARKE: – Just a note thanking you for the socks which were very nice indeed and in such a place as France. I know the people in Twillingate must work hard working for the soldiers of Nfld. I don’t know if I know any of your friends out here, but I can tell you that all the boys that are here at present are feeling well. My address is 83 E.G. NOFTALL, 1st Royal Nfld. Regt. B.E.F., France.

Your friend, Ted.

Some young soldiers upon receiving their knitted socks with notes inserted while they were in the trenches in France were not content with sending a note of thanks, some resolved when they returned to Newfoundland that they would visit the young woman who had knit their socks. Several cases have been documented anecdotally of young soldier boys returning, seeking out their knitter and in some cases, they developed romantic relationships and they married. (If you are aware of such a case please let me know. I would like to document as many cases as possible.)

Edward (Ted) Noftall was never to meet his Miss Clarke in person. This young man who had marched with the First 500 from Pleasantville to The Florizel, had seen action at Gallipoli in 1915 had been hospitalized several times for injuries in the trenches died of appendicitis at the 3^rd Casualty Hospital, Belgium a few short months after he wrote his letter of thanks.

Miss Clarke and the thousands of other women knit many socks and wrote many comforting notes that they inserted in the heels. It is estimated that between 1914 and 1916, the women produced 62,685 pairs of socks, 8,984 pairs of cuffs (mittens with a trigger finger), and 22,422 mufflers.

For some they were simply a pair of grey socks, for the young soldiers in the cold trenches, the socks were a connection with home, the socks reminded the soldiers that at home in Newfoundland they were loved and remembered.

A Pair of Grey Socks

A woman is knitting most all the day

A sock that shapes from a ball of grey,

Her fingers fly, and the needles click,

Fast grows the sock so soft and thick.

“Why do you knit at such a pace,

Dear woman, with patient face?

Is it for tireless little feet,

Or covering warm for the huntsman fleet?

“Or maybe for fisherman strong and bold,

Who fights the sea when the winds blow cold.

Or perhaps for the strong brave pioneer,

Who faces new worlds with dauntless air?”

“No, no, my child, ’tis for none of those

That I patiently knit in endless rows;

’Tis for nearer and dearer” — then a broken pause,

“For those who are fighting their country’s cause.

“For those who sailed on the ocean wide,

To do their bit ’gainst a lawless tribe.

Thus, I do for my country a woman’s part,

Who give the pride of their mother’s heart.”

“But what means the white row I see right here,

Is it a sign to make the pair?”

“No, that marks the socks for the slender youth,

Who does his part for the cause of truth.

“The red is the sign for the hardy man,

At the height of his strength in life’s short span;

But young and old alike do the same,

For life or death, for honour or fame.

“Blue in the sock is the medium size,

The colour dear to the sailors’ wives,

So in the grey socks, red, white and blue

Form our colours so bright and true.

“And that is why all the livelong day,

I sit and knit in the same old way;

And into each sock I weave a prayer

That God keep our boys in His love and care.”

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.

Knitting Socks: Demonstration: Sock Knitting: In just two years, the women of Newfoundland and Labrador knit 62,685 pairs of socks for the troops in the First World War. Come to the Collecting the Great War: Enlisting Your Help exhibition to watch a pair of grey socks being made, using the original pattern, and try your hand at knitting. Demonstrations are ongoing every Thursday from 2 – 4pm on Level 2 at The Rooms.

“White feathers for the slackers… “

Archival Moment

July 1916

For King and Country, I Offered.

In the early days of the First World War a new word began to slip into the everyday language of Newfoundlanders especially in our poetry and song. The word was “slackers” commonly used to describe someone who was not participating in the war effort, especially someone who avoided military service.

Corporal Vincent S. Walsh of St. Mary’s, St. Mary’s Bay, Newfoundland, Regimental # 1958 in a poem that he penned while on furlough in Weybridge, Surrey, England in 1916 was among those to use the term. He wrote: “Now I pity the poor slackers. When they are forced to go … “

Walsh’s poem was typical of the day, full of patriotic fervor, written with the intention of encouraging (some would say) shaming the young men who had not signed up, to sign up to fight for ‘King and Country.’

The pressure to sign up would have been considerable. One author went so far as to write “There are three things in this world that Tommy hates: a slacker, a German; and a trench-rat; it’s hard to tell which he hates worst.”

In Newfoundland, the determination to identify “slackers’ took the form of shaming the young men. Women would hand out or mail “white feathers” the symbol of cowardice, to men not in uniform. The purpose of this gesture was to shame “every young ‘slacker.’

The practice became so so common that the Editor of the St. John’s newspaper, The Evening Telegram, on 29 November 1916 pleded with the “young women and others” to carefully consider what they were doing.

The young ladies or others who are sending through the mails, white feathers to the young men who they believe are “slackers” should be very careful that the young men in question are justly entitled to receive them , as we know of a number of cases where quite an injustice has been done,. The victims in some cases are so deformed that it is apparent to the average person that they would not be permitted an examination let alone the privilege of wearing a “rejected” badge.

In Newfoundland and other countries in order not to be “called out as a slacker”special lapel pin were created that read “For King and Country, I Have Offered” or “I Have Volunteered” or “Rejected” Upon seeing the lapel pin on the young men the general public knew that this man was not a slacker but had been refused service because of some medical condition.

The enthusiasm for war was so great that even the women in Newfoundland were determined that they would do their bit for fear of being called ‘slackers’. Women in every corner of the province joined knitting and sewing circles or volunteered with various groups involved in patriotic endeavors.

Sybil Johnson of St. John’s wrote in her diary “that she could not bear to be a slacker” so in December 1916 left St. John’s for England where she joined the Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD’s). She was one of the many young Newfoundland women who received a few weeks of nurse’s training and were then assigned to the casualty and battlefield hospitals in England and on the continent.

The enthusiasm of the war and determination to sign up was the theme of much of our poetry and songs of the First World War such as the poem written by Vincent S. Walsh were typical of the day. He wrote:

A Soldier’s Song

Once I was a policeman

With a billy in my hand,

And little were my thoughts then

of leaving Newfoundland.

Then my King and Country called me,

So I said that I should go

And learn how to use a rifle

To fight the German foe.

Ten thousand have responded,

Their country for to save,

They are the kind of men we want

For there are none so brave.

Now I pity the poor slackers

When they are forced to go,

To cross the foaming ocean,

To fight the German foe.

Now I hope they will take warning

By what I am going to say,

Don’t put of enlisting for another day,

Go over to your J.P. and have

You name put down,

The get aboard the Portia bound

for St. John’s town.

They will be there to meet you

If you have pluck enough to go,

They will bring you up and train you

How to fight the German foe.

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. The World War I service records of the Regiment are available at the archives on microfilm. Many of the service records are available on line: http://www.therooms.ca/regiment/part1_entering_the_great_war.asp

COLLECTING THE GREAT WAR ENLISTING YOUR HELP: The Rooms needs your help to tell the stories of the men and women who served overseas and at home during the First World War and the impact that the war had here. The Rooms staff will be available to collect stories and document photographs and artifacts. Help us preserve stories of the First World War before they are lost. The information gathered will be used to develop a new permanent exhibition on The Great War to open in 2016. More Information: http://www.therooms.ca/firstworldwar/default.asp

Females engaged as servants in the fishery

Archival Moment

May 5, 1884

An “apartment” for the females engaged as servants in the fishery

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives A 44 1; “Labrador home-built ‘floaters’ beating North…”

The women of Newfoundland have long had a place on the fishing boats that have gone to the sea. These fishing boats were often small vessels, with limited space, that allowed for little privacy for the crew, especially for the women.

On May 5, 1884; A. J. Pearce, Sub collector at the Custom House in Twillingate responsible for recording the arrival and departure of all vessels, inspecting the cargo of the vessels and insuring that all paid the required duties and taxes made it known that he wanted the privacy of women aboard vessels protected.

Under the headline “Notice to Schooner Holders” he posted in the local newspaper an announcement that read:

“Sailing Vessels carrying females engaged as servants in the fishery or as passengers, between Newfoundland and Labrador shall be provide with such separate cabin or apartments as will afford at least, fifty cubic feet for each of such females and the owners of such vessels shall provide for such females sufficient accommodation for sanitary purposes.” (Section I and V of the said act)

Captain’s of the vessels were warned if they did not conform to this new regulation they could face “a one hundred dollar fine.”

The regulations were largely put in place for the women involved in the Labrador fishery, especially those involved in the ‘floater fishery.’ The Labrador fishery consisted of ‘floaters’ those who lived on their boats and fished along the Labrador coast. Floaters brought their catch back to Newfoundland for processing. Women involved in the floater fishery were typically young and single, and their primary responsibility was cooking for the fishermen.

The regulations that were introduced describing the space to be provided as “a separate cabin or apartment’ was somewhat exaggerated. The reality was that the small space (50 cubic feet), below deck, tended to be just large enough to curl up into and sleep. The wall of this so called ‘apartment’ would be an old wool blanket.

In 1900, approximately 1200 women –one-third of the fishing crews- travelled in small schooners from the communities of Bay Roberts, Brigus, Carbonear, Harbour Grace and Western Bay to work as hired “girls” in the Labrador fisheries.

Captain Alexander Ploughman, of Ship Cove, Trinity Bay in describing the space allotted for women wrote:

“In most cases the accommodation is very meager being merely a screen dividing the female compartment from that of the men…in many cases they [women] are lying around like so many cattle.”

No matter what the cost of making the space for the women, Captain James Burden of Carbonear was determined to provide separate accommodation because he wrote:

“I cannot think of prohibiting females as we have to make our fish on the Labrador. Two females are better than two men in many cases, and not half the expense.”

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives explore GN 1/3A Office of the Governor 1899-1901. Many of the despatchers make reference to the role of women in the fishery,. including GN 1/3/A Despatch 265 , Employment of girls in Labrador aboard green fish schooners. GN 1/3/A Despatch 94, Girls employed in green fish catches, Labrador and GN 1/3/A Despatch 112 the Employment of female labour in the Labrador fisheries.

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

College built from prison stone

Archival Moment

April 27, 1857

The original St. Bonaventure’s College was built from prison stone.

St. Bonaventure’s College, St. John’s, was designed by James Purcell and built by Patrick Keough,. It is considered one of the most recognized educational facilities in the province.

In 1855 there was a public auction to sell more than 30,000 building stones from Waterford, Ireland, which had been imported to build the local penitentiary. The Catholic Bishop of the day, Right Rev. John Thomas Mullock, took advantage of plans to build a smaller penal institution and purchased sufficient surplus stones to construct a monastery.

On April 27, 1857 the bishop laid the cornerstone of the building and named it after the Franciscan Order’s most scholarly and famous theologian, St. Bonaventure.

A year later, in March 1858, the new facilities opened. Dormitories were installed upstairs as the institution operated as a seminary.

Seven years later in 1865 the college began to admit secular students and, in 1889, the Irish Christian Brothers assumed administrative responsibilities for the school.

The building attached to the present day St. Bonaventure’s College is now known as the Old College or the Skinner Building.

Recommended Reading: Noble to the View by Bother J.B. Darcy, C.F.C. Creative Publishers, St. John’s, NL. 2007

School Web Site: http://www.stbonaventurescollege.ca/history

From Fish Hatchery to Fluvarium

Archival Moment

April 23, 1889

From Fish Hatchery to Fluvarium.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: VA 21-28; St. John’s: Long Pond a view from Mount Scio.

William Hopkins was not amused, as a youngster, like the other boys, he liked to fish for trout in Long Pond, St. John’s but in April 1889 he and a few friends were charged with trespass for fishing in the pond.

Long Pond is located in the northern part of St. Johns and is now bordered by the Fluvarium, the Health Sciences Centre and Memorial University. While the banks of the pond are heavily developed today, there was a time when the area was on the very fringe of the city.

As early as 1864 Mr. John Martin and other gentlemen of the St. John’s saw some potential in Long Pond and in 1887 incorporated as The St. John’s Game Fish Protection Society, “subscribed a sum of money for the erection of a hatchery for fresh water fish at Long Pond.” Their application to the Crown was well received and a “lease for 15 years of Long Pond and the adjoining rivers, to the extent of one mile in any direction” was granted.

The pond was off limits to the local trouters.

The local newspapers of the day reported:

“The hatchery on the Long Pond proved to be a great success and began to furnish sport not only in Long Pond but in the Ponds connected thereto by rivers outside the one mile limitation.”

The success can be credited to the St. John’s Game Fish Protection Society arranging in 1888 to deliver a shipment of 118,000 Loch Leven brown trout eggs from Scotland to the Long Pond hatchery. As part of the lease arrangement, 10,000 fry from the hatchery were given over to the Newfoundland government each year for distribution throughout the island.

In the 1890’s, Robert Almon Brehm, of Nova Scoita, one of the founders of the Game Fish Protection Association (President, 1892-99) initiated the introduction of German brown trout in Long Pond. English browns were brought over as well.

There are two ponds (Clements and Lees) just north-east of St. John’s, that hold pure strains of English browns from this era.

While William Hopkins was furious that he could not trout in the pond, that he knew so well, Mr. John Martin and his gentleman friends, the local pisciculturists, were quite pleased as they saw the stock in the pond grow.

Jude G. Conroy a stipendiary magistrate and judge of the Central District Court who heard the case of trespass against William Hopkins was most sympathetic. Hopkins admitted the trespass, but alleged ignorance of the exclusive rights of the St. John’s Game Fish Protection Society to the pond. The judge fined Hopkins with nominal damages and costs.

They (the local pisciculturists) would be today very pleased to see the development of their beloved pond.

In 1990, The Fluvarium in St. John’s (meaning ‘windows on a stream’) opened to the public. With a focus on environmental education, especially teaching children about water ecology, conservation and preservation, this facility features many unique attractions. The Fluvarium also offers a speculator panoramic view through nine large viewing windows.

In April 1889 the St. John’s newspaper The Evening Telegram reported:

“The season is now among us when the young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of an occasional hour’s sport with rod, and Long Pond has always been a favorite and convenient haunt for many who enjoy this pastime.”

Long Pond was for many years not available to the young men with their fishing rods but it is now available to trouters with their rods and The Fluvarium offers a series of natural water aquariums that showcase fish species usually found in Newfoundland and Labrador.

John Martin and his gentleman friends (the pisciculturists) should be thanked, from fish hatchery to Fluvarium.

The Long Pond experiment in St. John’s was among the early ‘fish hatchery’ experiments in North America.

When the Dildo Island fish hatchery opened in Newfoundland in 1889, it was the largest and most advanced in the world.

New Word: Pisciculturists: The breeding, hatching, and rearing of fish under controlled conditions.

Recommended Web Site: The Fluvarium: http://fluvarium.ca/

Exiles in Boston join in the sorrow of thousands of Newfoundlanders

Archival Moment

April 12, 1914

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives, LS 50 . Bodies of sealers on the deck of the S.S. Bellaventure.

The news of the death of the 78 sealers who died during the sealing campaign March 31 – April 2, 1914 made international headlines. Messages of sympathy were being sent to the local government and local newspapers from throughout the world.

The people of the Boston area responded not only with letters of condolence but also with offers of financial assistance to help the families who had lost a loved one.

P.A. Buckey, a Newfoundlander who had emmigrated to Lynn, Massachusetts wrote:

“It is with the deepest regret that the Newfoundlanders who reside in Boston have heard of the terrible calamity that has befallen our Island home. The first news received in itself was terrifying but when later messages announced the possible loss of the Southern Cross with 173 souls on board, the Newfoundlanders of Boston assembled decided to take immediate action in making necessary arrangements to help the bereaved so a public meeting of all Newfoundlanders was called for shall now business transacted.”

Buckey reported that on April 12, 1914:

“a masss meeting of Newfoundlanders in Boston, ladies included assembled in the Paine Memorial Hall, Appleton Street to devise any means of providing a relief fund to help the families of our stricken countrymen at home. Fully 500 Newfoundlanders were present which showed the sympathy expressed for our loved ones. Upon entering the hall each one was eagerly scanning at each other, either to form an acquaintance or to meet a friend that they have not seen but known since childhood days. A reunion of Newfoundlanders such as it was never seen in Boston before, and the one topic of discussion was the dreadful tragedy that left so many homeless, destitute and fatherless.”

The meeting was chaired by another Newfoundlander who had emigrated to the Boston area James P. McCormack of East Cambridge. The aim of the gathering he explained was for the Committee to raise at least $20,000 that would be given over to the Newfoundland Marine Disaster Fund.

$20,000.00 in 1914 had the same buying power as $466,098.00 in 2014.

Among the ex-patriot Newfoundlanders attending the meeting were FitzGerald’s, Mansfield’s, Curley’s, Power’s, Cantwell’s, Somerville’s, Hogan’s, Mulcathy’s, Molloy’s Kelly’s, O’Rourke’s, Halleran’s, Puddister’s, Williams, and O’Connell’s. Also among the crowd were Bemister’s of Carbonear; Moulton’s of the West Coast; Farrell’s of Ferryland and Vinnicombe’s of St. John’s.

Newfoundland has had a long relationship with the Boston States. Although Newfoundland and Labrador people moved to other countries for a wide range of reasons emigration occurred on the largest scale during the last two decades of the century when the cod fishery fell into severe decline and caused widespread economic hardship.

The largest concentrations of emigrants were going to Boston and other Massachusetts cities. Between 1885 and 1905, the number of Newfoundland and Labrador people living in Massachusetts jumped from 2,851 to 10,583. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts census for 1915 reports that there were 13, 269 Newfoundlanders in the Boston area.

Many of the men and women who attended the meeting on April 12, 1914 were new emigrants to the Boston States. Newfoundlanders who were living in the Boston area but their hearts were in Newfoundland. Before the meeting adjourned $560.00 was raised ($560.00 in 1914 has the same buying power as $13,050.74 in 2014) for the disaster fund.

Mr Buckely wrote:

“We exiles in Boston join in the sorrow of thousands of Newfoundlander both at home and abroad.”

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 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)

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/

Archie character to die, enjoyed holiday in Newfoundland.

Archival Moment

April 9, 2014

Archie Andrews and his friends visited Newfoundland in 1990.

Archie Comics, the acclaimed and bestselling comic book publisher that is home to some of the best-known pop culture creations in the world, including Archie, Jughead, Betty & Veronica, announced on April 8, 2014 that the Legendary comic book character Archie Andrews will die to conclude the hit LIFE WITH ARCHIE comic series.

The iconic comic book character, beloved by millions around the globe for over 70 years, will sacrifice himself heroically while saving the life of a friend in the pages of July’s LIFE WITH ARCHIE #36, the final issue in the flash-forward series, which spotlights Archie’s adventures after high school and college.

The announcement will come as a shock to Archie fans in Newfoundland and Labrador. Archie Andrews and his friends visited in Newfoundland in the summer of 1990 visiting among other places L’ance aux Meadows and the Viking Trail and The Cabot Tower in St. John’s. They also took in a camping and fishing trip. The trip to Newfoundland was explored by the writers of the ‘Life with Archie’ on No. 280, September 1990.

Archie, Jughead and Dilton came to Newfoundland as guests of the wealthy Mr. Lodge, who decided to move his important “international conference” to the province because Newfoundland has no rag weed to aggravate his allergies.

Archie will die in the July edition of “Life with Archie,” which is a spinoff series that explores the character’s life after high school and college.

“We’ve been building up to this moment since we launched ‘Life With Archie’ five years ago, and knew that any book that was telling the story of Archie’s life as an adult had to also show his final moment,” Goldwater said in a statement.

Recommended Archives: The Rooms Provincial Archives has a copy of The Viking Trail,” Archie All-Canadian Digest #1 (Archie, 08/96) Archie, Jughead and Dilton head to Newfoundland as guests of Mr. Lodge. The boys explore the history, culture and recreational opportunities of Newfoundland and Labrador. Accession # 20140036

Recommended Reading: “The Viking Trail, Archie All Canadian Digest #1 (Archie, o8/96)

“Tears stood on the cheeks of men …”

Archival Moments

April 2, 2014

Photo Credit: the rooms Provincial Archives, LS 50. Bodies of the frozen sealers on the deck of the S.S. Bellaventure.

On April 2, 1914 news about the disaster on the icefields that would claim the lives of 78 men of the sealing vessel the S.S. Newfoundland began t reach St. John’s. The St. John’s newspaper the Evening Telegram reported:

“The waiting rooms of the Postal Telegram Offices were thronged with anxious mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, who made heart rendering entreaties of the clerks for the lists of the dead.

At 9:30 p.m. the clerk of the Postal Telegraphs amid a breathless silence posted up another message that was forwarded on from the Fogo Station. After a short silence, the following was read:

On Board the Bellaventure are fifty eight dead and thirty five survivors, on board the Florizel, five dead. On board the Stephano, one dead and two survivors.

Tears stood on the cheeks of men who had often trod the frozen pans and knew well the nature of the experience of a night on the ice, particularly during such as blizzard as we had on Tuesday. Woman gave expression to their grief by weeping and could only with great difficulty be consoled at all.

Shortly after the forgoing message was read it was reported that the steamers Bellaventure, Stephano and Florizel were passing Cape St. Francis and would arrive here (St. John’s) about midnight. Hundreds wended their way to the waterfront, regardless of the weather conditions and for several hours patiently waited for the coming of the ships.”

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/

“Man frozen fast in a floating ice cake”

Archival Moment

March 31, 1914

Some of the men who signed up never came home .

This is the weekend that we remember those that died in the sealing disasters of 1914. It was on this weekend (March 31 – April 2, 1914) that 77 men froze to death on the ice, crew members of the S.S. Newfoundland, another was to succumb to his injuries in St. John’s. In another tragedy on this same weekend 100 years ago, 176 men on the S.S. Southern Cross never came home. The theory is that in the height of the storm, somewhere in St. Mary’s Bay the ship’s heavy cargo of seal pelts may have shifted capsizing the steamer.

There was no trace of the 176 men of the Southern Cross, families mourned without the comfort of a proper funeral.

Eight of the men of the S.S. Newfoundland never came home. It is believed that they froze to death on small pans of ice or ice cakes forever separated from their companions.

A month following the disaster, the eight families without the comfort of a body for a proper burial read that a body had been spotted;.The daily newspaper, the Halifax Chronicle, Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 11, 1914 reported:

“On Sunday morning, a lobster fishermen employed by S.C. Clarke’s factory at Bloomingdale Point (Prince Edward Island) on the North side of the island, found the body of a man frozen fast in a floating ice cake about a half mile from land. Having nothing with which to cut the body loose from the ice, the fisherman had to abandon it; a heavy gale coming up, the boat had to make for land, and could not return to the body, which was carried out to sea.

The dead man was evidently a sailor or fisherman judging from his clothing and it is thought to be one of the Newfoundland sealers…”

The man frozen fast in a floating ice cake would have been one of the eight of the S.S. Newfoundland that went missing. The missing men are:

Henry Jordan, D

David Locke

Michael Murray

Art Mouland,

"Uncle Ezra" Melendy

Henry Dowden

James Howell

Philip Holloway

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)