by Gord Robbins
Reprinted from the Informer, March 1993
Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, January 2015
As I mentioned in the last issue, I am going to be looking at the Labrador Fishery and its connections to the Southwest Arm. It may take two or three issues and I’ll probably miss a lot, but with your help and input, we should cover most of the important points. Also, if anyone has any good stories about the Labrador Fishery, please contact the office.
The schooners, which were anchored and usually frozen in the ice all winter had to be repaired, painted, etc. before beginning fishery. The cod traps had to be mended, new ropes and new sections sewn in the traps. The traps then had to be “barked” – a sort of dying or preserving of the twine to prevent it from rotting, also to colour the twine, making it dull in the water. The sails were also barked or in some cased white washed with lime.
Anchors, mooring, ropes, etc., had to be overhauled for the new season. It was a common sight to see cod traps spread all over the gardens, being mended and taken to the beaches to be “barked”. Wood had to be sawed in stove length junks (nugs) to provide fuel for cooking. The men who did all this work (the crew) were termed as being “in collar”.
Much attention had to be given to the bottom of the schooner, so in the spring they were either taken to Dry Dock or “keeled out” in the harbour. This was a process whereby blocks and tackles were rigged to the mast heads and the schooner tilted until one side of her bottom was out of water. The essential repairs and painting were done and the same procedure was carried out on the opposite side.
After all these preparations were made the schooner loaded lumber for St. John’s from the saw mills in the area (most of the mills were water powered, two in Hatchet Cove were I lived and a dozen or more around the Arm; but that’s another story). Once in St. John’s, salt and other supplies were taken on board for the summer fishery. The schooner then returned to its home port, loaded fishing gear, wood, etc. and left for the Labrador usually in June month.
An average size schooner would carry a crew of 7 to 10, 100 to 250 hogsheads of salt, 3 cod traps, and 2 traps boats. Some other items taken were food, wood, a punt or Rodney, medicine and sometimes a “swish barrel” (an empty run barrel which would be “steeped out” for a drop of grog.)
Bill King from St. Jone’s Within, who sailed to the Labrador as a crewman and eventually skipper, tells the story of a cook on this father’s boat (Capt. Guy King) who had trouble reading labels on bottles. This particular time he wanted to make a cake. The skipper kept medicine and other sundry items in his locker. The cook took out a bottle of vanilla, so he thought. The engineer said, “Yes, that’s the right bottle.” That night for supper the skipper took a mouthful of cake and a sip of hot tea. The result almost tore strips of skin off the inside of his mouth. The vanilla was Friars Balsam.
There are many varied and strange stories of happenings on the Labrador; also unique ways of handling the unexpected. If a person died, more than likely, he wanted to be buried at home. It was impossible for the fishing schooner to return home. The body was placed in a casket, filled with salt and returned home by the first available boat going south. There were several instances of this happening in the Arm.
Many schooners sailed out of the Southwest Arm to the Labrador. If I say Captain or Skipper it means the same thing and these men were real Captains even though they may not have had schooling and written tickets. A compass and log and some questionable charts were the chief means of navigation – no radar, Loran sets, radios, sounders, etc.
In the next few issues I will list as many captains and their schooner as I can. Please let me know the names of any you have that I may not. I’ll start with the following:
Captain Silas Tucker – Ruby L.M. Smith
Captain Allan Tucker – Norma & Gladys
Captain Dave Stoyles – W.J. Ellison
Captain Caleb Meadus – Raleigh
Captain Eli Drodge – Ivy & Frances
Captain Stephen Barfitt – J.C. Davis
Captain William Henry Dodge – Ivy B. Melvin
I would like to acknowledge and thank the following for information I have gathered and I will be talking to other people later on this subject: William Henry Dodge, Little Heart’s Ease; Elisha Gregory, Queen’s Cove; and, Bill King, St. Jone’s Within.
Transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.