WRECKED AT LANCE COVE
Our agent at Hant’s Harbor apprises us of the loss, at Lance Cove, Trinity Bay, in yesterday’s gale, of a schooner called the Minnie Pearce, of Heart’s Ease. We are not yet furnished with particulars of the disaster, beyond the fact that no loss of life resulted therefrom. Capt. Spurrell and his crew managed to reach the shore uninjured.
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Reprinted from The Evening Telegram, October 16, 1895
Under Bare Poles
A Schooner Sea-Tossed and Doomed to Destruction—Excitement Among the Spectators-Running for the Scene of the Wreck—The Rudder Broken—Caught in the Shifting Sands- Rescue of the Crew.
Never did the inhabitants of this place and those in close proximity to us ever witness such a distressing and pitiful sight as on yesterday morning when they looked off upon the phosphorescent deep and beheld a schooner scudding under bare poles and “sea-tossed”— soon to be ashore, where? No person knew just then. Much anxiety was felt alike by all for the lives of the men on board. Many stood looking sad and awe-stricken, for there seemed little hope of saving them from an ocean grave. After the elapse of a few minutes the might of the terrible wind and sea had brought her nearer to land, and it was obvious to all that at Lance Cove, two miles from here, and midway between Old Perlican and Hant’s Harbor, she would find a lodging place.
Soon all the men were seen running for the scene of the wreck, the gusts of wind almost lifting them from oft their feet. Will she go to leeward of Western Point? was the question asked one of another. A few more dreaded moments passed and it was seen that she would. Then, signals were given to the men on board, a flag was hoisted on laud for their guidance; but quickly she’s aground, the rudder is broken in pieces, a few more seas and she is lifted over the rocks and sticks in the shifting sand. In a little while ropes were ready, a boat that did service as a life-boat was launched, into which the men, numbering eight, were brought with some difficulty to land.
The schooner was the Winnie Pierce [Minnie Pearce], 42 tons, three years old, owned by Mr. Joseph Morris of Trinity. The names of the crew are Edward Spurrell, master, Moses Spurrell, Uriah Spurrell, David Spurrell, John Jacobs, William Balsam, Heman Bryant, and Charles Bryant, all inhabitant of Heart’s Ease and vicinity of Trinity Bay. They left St. John’s on Thursday morning at 2 o’clock, and reached Bay de Verde at 2 p.m. the same day, with double-reefed sails. Owing to the wind blowiug strong from N.E., and it being dark, with rain, they anchored there. The master says that at 2 o’clock on Friday morning he was called on deck and, as a wise mariner should, took a searching look at the sky, ordered his crew on deck, and left again with the wind in their favor, blowing lightly from the south.
All went well for some time, until when about 12 miles in the bay, they were met by this hurricane from the north, which completely carried away the staysail and mainsail and slit and tattered to pieces the foresail. The wind was still rising, and the white surf, churning and boiling over her, both combined to send forth that uncanny and gruesome sound that betokens a tempest and foretells sorrow on the sea. He then took the wheel and gave the mandate for each man to look out for himself. He confessed that there was but little hope, and told them so. The schooner became unmanageable at times; once she pitched over so far as to be on her “beam-end,” and there was fear that she would not be righted.
The wonder to many is how she escaped the rocks and shoals of Salvage Point (of which there are many), the terror of navigators. Often the wrathful-looking billows threatened to swallow her up in their gaping jaws, and the crew expected the worst every moment. But one brave man, in the person of Mr. Chas. Bryant, like Paul, did his best to stimulate them with courage and bade them to “be of good cheer,” saying he was prepared for whatever awaited them. No doubt, he often repeated the sailor’s beautiful litany: “O Christ, whose voice the waters heard, and hushed their raging at Thy word; who walkedst on the foaming deep, and calm amidst its rage didst sleep: Oh hear us when we cry to Thee, for we’re in peril on the sea.” Horace said that the man who first ventured on the sea must have had a heart bound with oak aud triple-brass. The heart of this good man is not bound with either; yet it never failed him.
Much sympathy is felt for him, as he has lost considerably, and for William Balsam, a poor man, with a family of nine children, who had a winter’s supply of food, with other necessaries on board, a little of it being saved, but it is next to good for nothing. Also much sympathy is felt for the master and his brothers, whose loss has been great. They are now hospitably entertained by Messrs. John Brownson, Jas. Strong and others, until the sea becomes smooth, when they will be carried to their respective homes, and I feel sure they will never forget this experience, and their hearts will ever give thanks and praise to ” Him who walked the waves of Galilee.”
- J. B. Russell’s Cove, Oct. 12, 1895.
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These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.
Transcribed by Lester Green and Lisa Garrett. Page created March 2016. Updated October 2021