by Lorraine Hynes
Reprinted from The Packet, February 7, 1980
Seventy-five years ago on Jan. 24, Eleazor (Lees) Raymond Hiscock was born at Hodge’s Cove, Trinity Bay. His father, George was a fisherman and a sawmill operator and his mother was the former Mary Lynch from Upper Island Cove. He had five sisters, however, they are all deceased.
He attended school until he was 12 years of age and was successful in completing Book Six of the primary education.
That July he sailed to the Labrador fishing grounds with a crew of six men and returned home in October. When he was asked what his work was, he replied, “I was a ‘flunky’ for the crew, and my earnings $80.00 for the time I was gone.”
During the winter he helped his father operate his sawmill and come summer he was off to the Labrador again. He sailed there for five consecutive years and he finally earned an equal share as a crew member.
His father took part in the seal hunt every year and he said, “I always longed for the time to go to the seal hunt,” but when he was 18 years old his father died of natural causes aboard the Viking while out to the icefields in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This changed his mind about the hunt and he didn’t bother to go afterwards.
The next five years he went to the Labrador, but this time he “fished from the land.” He worked here and there after that, wherever he could get a job, because the depression years were poor years.
On Nov. 6, 1929 he married the former Ursula Durdle from New Melbourne whom he had met while fishing at Grates Cove. They were married at the old St. Mary’s Anglican Church in St. John’s by the Rev. Canon Sterling. They have three daughters: Mary (Mrs. Douglas Hynes), St. John’s; Phelena (Mrs. Harold Bailey), Mount Pearl; Irene (Mrs. Charles Christiensien), Middlesex, New Jersey and seven grandchildren.
They moved to Hodge’s Cove to live and the first winter they were married he built his first boat which was a 24-foot fishing boat. He used a “pit saw” to cut the wood for his boat and sold it for $40.00. Sometime later he worked in St. John’s as a carpenter for two years for 25 cents an hour for a ten-hour day.
He and his friend, Jacob Smith built five small boats which they sold and he built several 26-foot boats after that which he sold for $60.00 each.
In 1942 he came to Clarenville to work as a ship’s carpenter at the Newfoundland Shipyards Ltd., which was owned by Commission of Government of which the chief share holders were Spencer Lake of Lake and Lake, Bazil Fern and Bowring Brothers.
There were 16 camps on the site where Eastern Wholesalers now have their building today. It was at these camps he lived for the next six years, going home to Hodge’s Cove when he could, usually by way of boat.
When the dockyard was in full operation there were 120-160 men employed there at one time. He recalls helping with the building of the Splinter Fleet – the Bonne Bay, Burin, Clarenville, Exploits, Ferryland, Glenwood, Placentia, Trepassey, Twillingate and one more which he couldn’t recall at the time of his interview with the Packet.
He moved his family to Clarenville to live in 1948 and rented a house for $30.00 a month, but later moved to an apartment where rent was $12.00 a month. A couple of years later he bought a house and this is where he still resides.
In 1963 he went to work with the provincial government as an Inspector of Wooden Boats, travelling around the province. When he reached the age of retirement, he was given a two-year extension so he remained with the government until 1972.
The thought of retiring left his mind completely – he started looking for a place to build a boat. Before he knew it he had become partners with businessman, Ralph Mercer and was reopening the shipyards (which was now named Clarenville Enterprises) and had been closed down for about a year and a half. They started with three men and before the end of the year had 15 men employed. At their peak time there they employed 58 men at the shipyards and renamed it, Clarenville Dockyard and Shipbuilders Ltd.
Sometime ago a fisherman from Trout River, Bonne Bay, by the name of Roger Hann came to him to see if it was possible to construct a boat with a larger beam. Government regulations were 12 feet, but he wanted it wider. Mr. Hiscock was successful in making the beam 15 feet wide and for this he was honored at the May convocation at Memorial University last year and bestowed the Doctor of Laws.
The dockyard closed temporarily on Jan. 10 and 22 men were laid off due to lack of business, but Mr. Hiscock doesn’t seem very interested in retiring, so hopefully it won’t be much longer before they will reopen for business again. He still does his own driving, is very active and would much rather be working than sitting around idle doing nothing.
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Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, January 2026
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.