Reprinted from The Navigator, October 2013
by Jim Wyse
Navigator journals the industrial, economical, and political issues arising in Atlantic Canada’s marine sector. Its coverage reflects the critical role that our marine resources play in the establishment, development, and in far too many cases, the decline of our coastal communities. The ocean’s resources have profoundly influenced our past, surely complicate our present, and will fundamentally impact our future. While the industry, its economic impacts, and its politics will continue as main concerns for Navigator into the future, we are also aware that the complex relationship between our coastal communities and the sea enriches our lives and stirs our emotions in other important ways: recreational, historical, even spiritual.
In this issue we’re introducing the first of a series of reports by Jim Wyse in our Ports of Call column. In recent years, Jim has taken his sailboat Staragan to dozen of communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. His voyages aboard Staragan are indeed recreational but his articles include historical information about Staragan’s destinations and report an often surprisingly level of present day social and cultural activity. Many so-called abandoned communities have recently constructed community centres and churches, instituted historical societies, and established social networks the unite and re-connect former residents and their descendants throughout the world. Jim’s Ports of Call reports are primarily directed to recreational boaters and their navigational concerns but he hopes the reports will interest a much wider audience and perhaps inspire a port-of-call visit or maybe even motivate interest in joining an historical society, participating in a community re-development project, or reconnecting with former residents and childhood friends.
The Ports of Call series will be supplemented by related materials and relevant links on Navigator’s website and you can connect with Navigator and Jim using his Twitter account @StaragansPorts. We hope you will find the series interesting and we look forward to hearing from you with any comments you would like to share with us and Jim.
Little Heart’s Ease (Little Harbour)
48 degrees 01.24’ N X 053 degrees 41.16’W
Charts # 4851, 4852
Nestled in the rolling hills on the south side of Random Sound’s Southwest Arm, Little Harbour and Little Heart’s Ease Harbour provide good shelter with several options for docking and anchoring. The entrance to both harbours is located approximately 2nm east of the Hodge’s Cove Marine Service Centre.
Approach: The entrance bifurcates into Little Heart’s Ease Harbour to the south and Little Harbour to the east. The easterly passage into Little Harbour is marked by two sets of red and green plastic containers ‘recycled’ as lateral buoys. There’s a minimum depth of 7 feet in the channel between the markers and depths increase as one proceeds into the harbour.
Dockage/Anchorage: Little Harbour’s southeast corner has a private marina whose owner welcomes visiting boaters. Anchoring is also an option within the confines of the harbour. The road adjacent to the marina leads southward into the community of Little Heart’s Ease (population 215) and continues westward to connect with the Province’s highway system.
Alternative Docking: As an alternative to Little Harbour, vessels requiring less than 10 feet may proceed southward to the public wharf on the eastern side of Little Heart’s Ease Harbour. The public wharf has both fixed and floating docks, and although it finds use by commercial fishing vessels, the Harbour Authority also welcomes recreational craft.
History: As with all the ‘hearts’ in Trinity Bay (Heart’s Delight, Heart’s Content, and Heart’s Desire), the community is thought to be named for a fishing ship. “Heart’s Ease Inlet” is mentioned in records dating from the early 1600’s and continuous occupation may be traced to the 1790’s. Throughout its history it has been firmly tied to the fishery, although lumbering became an important economic activity for several decades in the mid-1900s. The fishery is still an important economic pursuit; however, employment outside the community in industrial activities such as the Come-by-Chance oil refinery has become more significant in recent years.
Notes: Fuel is available by truck from Clarenville and Come-by-Chance. There are grocery stores in Gooseberry Cove (4km east) and Hodge’s Cove (6km west). Cell phone connectivity was non-existence at the Little Harbour dock and sporadic elsewhere. Good VHF ham radio contact was made with the province-wide system of linked repeaters through station VO1SHR (146.660 MHz; -0.600 MHz offset). The marine service center in Hodge’s Cove has a 70-tonne marine travel lift.
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Clipping provided by Lester Green
Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, October 2015
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.