Tag Archives: Carbonear

Women plea for justice

Archival Moment

August 1891

Harbour Grace Court House

Harbour Grace Court House

We do not often hear the voices of women speak to us from the pages of history especially the wives and sisters of poor fishermen but an incident in Carbonear in 1891 forced some women to take action.

In early June 1891, George Peckam and David Clarke of Victoria Village near Carbonear, Stephen Howell, Mark Dean, James Reid, and John Powell all of Carbonear were convicted “on a charge of disobedience of orders and refusal of duty.”  They were all crew members on the banking Schooner Argonaut.

When these six  men signed up  to prosecute the fishery on the banking Schooner Argonaut it is likely that he would have signed a standard agreement known to many as the ‘Masters and Servants Agreement.’  This agreement covered the contractual obligations of the fishermen and the consequences of disobeying the Captain or deserting the vessel.

These Carbonear fishermen would likely have also been aware of the Statutes of Newfoundland passed in 1888 that detail laws concerning dissertation of a Banking Schooner. The law read:

  “When any person, fishermen, shoreman or shareman, shall fail or refuse to perform such contract or agreement without showing cause therefor, such as unseawothiness of the vessel, insufficiency of food, absence of suitable accommodation, or a medical certificate or some other good excuse, any justice may, upon complaint by some employer or his agent, issue his warrant and cause such person to be apprehended and brought before him. “

Disobeying orders and or refusal of duty automatically meant 30 – 60 days in jail.

The Stipendiary Magistrate in Carbonear, James Hippisley who heard the case  was not sympathetic to the men. He gave the maximum sentence.

The mothers and children of the six men were devastated. These men were the bread winners in their families; if they did not work their families would face starvation.

On June 15, 1891 the five women made an emotional plea in the form of a petition to the Colonial Governor of Newfoundland, Sir John Terence Nicholls O’Brien begging  for some form of relief  and that that their men be released from the prison in Harbour Grace.

In the petition Susannah Peckam explained that her son George Peckham had “six children the eldest is only ten years old.”

Martha (Clarke) Howell the mother of Stephen Howell explained that he had five children, the eldest is seventeen and that her husband is a cripple and unable to work. She was determined to get her son releases. This was the second petition presented on his behalf.

Martha Clarke the sister of David Clarke explained that she is “deprived of the ways and means of assisting an aged father of 76 years according of the duty of a child to a parent.”

Margaret (Butt) Dean the wife of Mark Dean explained that she had no support and that they were responsible for “an aged father (84) and mother (60) and two young children.”

Sophia (Mulley) Reid the mother James Reid explained that she would be “deprived of all help.”

Cecily (Gillespie) Powell pleaded for the release of her son John Powell “who has four in family the oldest 17 and labors under heart disease and very often bad with it and often falls down.”

Cecil Frane, the Secretary for Governor O’Brien, responded to the petition. He wrote:  “the case of the prisoners has already been reported upon,  Magistrate Hippisley and the Governor refused to release Howell who first petitioned and the other cases are exactly similar.”

From June till early August 1891 the six men languished in the Harbour Grace prison.

It would be a difficult fall and winter because they had no income, no share in the summer catch of fish.  Their families faced starvation and destitution.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives see GN 2.22, Box 12, v. 2, no. 27. , p. 104-111 (15 June 1891) Petition requesting  for relief due to losses incurred by imprisonment at Harbour Grace of sons and husbands, crew of banking schooner Argonaut.  Letter to Robert Bond, colonial secretary from Cecil Fane, private secretary, governor, enclosed. p. 104-11

Recommended Reading:  Bannister, Jerry: The Rule of the Admirals: Law, Custom, and Naval Government in Newfoundland, 1699-1832. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.

Recommended Reading:  The Newfoundland Bank Fishery: Government Policies and the Struggle to Improve Bank Fishing Crews’ Working, Health and Safety Conditions. Fred Winsor, B.A., M.A.  Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1996.

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.

A treacherous limestone reef

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

November 22, 1874

A marker in a field on Anticosti Island remembers a crew from Carbonear that died.

On 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.

Anticostiis 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 CollectionThe 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.

CAPTAIN JAMES COOK IN NEWFOUNDLAND WATERS

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

September 1762

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: MG 85.10; The harbour of Trepassey with Mutton and BiscayBays; The road and harbour of Placentia; St. Mary’s Harbour

In August and September of 1762 if you were sailing about Newfoundland and happened into the harbours of Placentia, Harbour Grace, Carbonear or St. John’s it is likely that you would have met James Cook.

Captain James Cook, (1728-1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy.  He may be best known internationally for his work in the Pacific Ocean, Australia, the Hawaiian Islands, and New Zealand, but it was in Newfoundland where he cut his surveying teeth!! 

James Cook first came to Newfoundland in the summer of 1762 giving six years of his life over to the survey of Newfoundland waters.

When he arrived on our shores, most of the island was known only in shadowy outline. When he left he had scientifically surveyed almost all the unknown coasts. His charts with detailed sailing directions and remarks on suitable anchoring, watering and wooding places would serve well into the 20th century.

Governor Graves of Newfoundland was so impressed by the work of Cook that he reported in 1763 that Cook’s attention to detail was “beyond my description.”  He continued:

“I have no doubt in a year or two more of seeing a perfect good chart of Newfoundland and an exact survey of most of the good harbors, in which there is not perhaps a part of the world that more abounds”.

Two hundred and fifty years after Cook’s arrival in Newfoundland waters it is time to celebrate his accomplishments.

You are invited to view the charts created by Cook on exhibit at the Rooms Provincial Archives and to join the Newfoundland Historical Society for the Cook Symposium.  The opening lecture of the Symposium and reception will be held at The Rooms on Friday September 28 from 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.  Please note that that the reception will begin at 7:00 PM with a lecture from Dr. Olaf Jenzen to follow at 8:00 p.m

The Symposium will continue at 10:00 a.m.  Saturday morning  September 29th at Memorial University’s Engineering Building. Parking is free and located in parking AREA 16, adjacent to the building.

The symposium is free and registration is not required. Come for any or all of the sessions.

For more information on the Cook Symposium:  www.nlhistory.ca.

Recommended Website: To view some of Cook’s Charts go to:  http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/cooks_charts.html

Recommended Exhibit: Visit the Rooms Provincial Archives Reference Room where five reproductions of the Cook charts are on exhibit.