by Calvin Evans
The fourth woman who held two separate mortgages was Harriet Inkpen, formerly of Burin. Edward M. Hollett, merchant of Burin, bought the Lottie M. Dunford in 1932. In February 1935, Harriet Inkpen, spinster and then living at 46 St. Clair Gardens in Toronto, held a mortgage for $600 with interest at 6% per annum. At a later undetermined date she transferred the mortgage to the new owners, Joseph Green and Robert Gregory of Winterton, Trinity Bay, merchant and mariner. Perhaps Hollett had died. Also in February 1935, Harriet Inkpen provided a mortgage for $1,000 for the same Edward M. Hollett who had bought the Betty Zane in 1926. This vessel was lost at the entrance to St. Lawrence on December 6, 1938. What happened to the mortgage cannot be determined from the records.
Almost 50 women took mortgages when they bought their own ships. As early as January 1835 Simon Levi and Ann Toque of Carbonear took a mortgage on their ship Alpha with St. John’s merchants George Richard Robinson, Thomas H. Brooking, John Bingley Garland and William Jeffrey Harvey. The mortgage was canceled in December of that same year, and Levi and Toque transferred all shares to the mortgagees “for a debt or debts.” However they did not have a mortgage on their ship Elizabeth in 1831. Richard and Catherine Brown of Burin owned the ship Catherine in 1844, and in October 1847 Richard transferred his 48 shares “as a security for debt or debts” to Archibald Currie, merchant of St. John’s, so obviously Currie held a mortgage for Richard. No mention is made of Catherine’s 16 shares so she must have held on to them and possibly also a mortgage which she had with Currie. Margaret Blake, spinster of St. John’s, had bought the ship Triton in February 1845, and when she sold it to John Connors, victualler of St. John’s, in November 1847, it was by way of a “Deed of Mortgage,” which means that he must have been her mortgagee. When Mary Foley Morris, spinster of St. John’s, bought the ships John & Mary, Nancy, and Relief in 1842, she took mortgages on all three ships with James Niner Wood and James Douglas, merchants of St. John’s.
Laura Simmons, married woman of Harry’s Harbour, took a mortgage for $693.42 at 6% interest with George Knowling, merchant of St. John’s, in 1895, one year after she registered the ship Bonny Lass. In June 1898 Knowling transferred this mortgage to James Norris, planter of Three Arms, Notre Dame Bay. In November of the same year, Norris sold the ship, which probably means that it was a repossession for unpaid debts. When Margaret Catherine Fitzgerald, matron of St. John’s, bought the ship Ada in 1896, Robert J. Rendell, merchant, was her mortgagee for $500.
Martha Benson, married woman of Little Bay Islands, was one of four partners in the ship St. Elmo in 1898. Martha, Reuben, Arthur and Jonathan J. Benson took a mortgage in September 1898 “to secure sum due on account current with interest at 5%.” James Strong and Richard Mursell of Little Bay Islands were the joint mortgagees. They took a second mortgage in June 1899 for $541.29 with Charles W. H. Tessier, merchant of St. John’s. On June 12, 1914, Strong and Mursell discharged this mortgage; on May 29, 1913, Tessier discharged Mortgage B. They then took Mortgage C on June 5, 1903, though the amount was not given. The Bensons sold the vessel in June 1914.
Mary Murphy of St. John’s owned the ship Kersage in 1899 and took a mortgage of $100 with interest at 7% from Charles W. J. Emerson, payable by November 1900. When Annie Murphy, married woman of St. John’s, acquired full title to the Bertha May after Mary Murphy’s death in 1909, she took a mortgage on the ship but not until May 1916 with Walter Baine Grieve, merchant, and this mortgage was discharged in January 1919. Other mortgages which women took up to the year 1983 were quite straightforward.
It may be of some interest to note that several women who owned ships without a mortgage sold their ships to men who had to take a mortgage. Mary Ann Hussey, married woman of Port de Grave, sold her 35-ton ship Brothers in 1907 to Abraham Richards of St. John’s. She did not have a mortgage. Abraham took a mortgage. Amelia Jane Winsor, married woman of St. John’s, bought the Centenary in 1924 and sold it in 1926 to Percy and Cecil Winsor, fishermen of Wesleyville. The men took a mortgage with A. E. Hickman Co. Ltd. Amelia Jane probably had connections to Wesleyville and may have been selling her ship to her sons.
When Harriet Chislett of Rose Blanche sold her shares in the ship H. B. Chislett, the buyer took a mortgage; Harriet did not have a mortgage. After using their ship Minnie & Joan for ten years in the fishery, Henry and Myrtle Hatcher of Rose Blanche sold the ship to their son Roy Gordon Hatcher, fisherman of Rencontre West, in 1956, and he took a mortgage with the Nickerson Outfitting Co. Ltd. of North Sydney.
Lillian Martha Hynes, married woman of Harbour Breton, sold the Elizabeth & Helen in 1961 to Walter Norman Penney, mariner of Little Bay Islands, and he took a mortgage with I. A. C. Ltd. for $5,446.54 including interest. When Jessie Bragg of Port Union sold the Marie Yvonne in 1964 to Walter Edmund Collins and Benjamin Garfield Collins, they took a mortgage; Jessie did not have a mortgage.
When Zena Leonard of Southern Harbour, Placentia Bay, inherited her husband’s ship Terry Maurice on his death in 1977, she sold the ship immediately. They did not have a mortgage. John Carl Pelham of Pool’s Cove, who bought the ship, took a mortgage. The same year, Florentine Hynes of Fox Island River, managing owner of the ship Mary Evon, inherited the ship when her husband died without a will. She sold it the same year to Augustus Joseph Hynes, fisherman, and he took a mortgage for $2,550 with interest at 3.5%, and Florentine held the mortgage.
Owning Ships and the Value of Shares
It is not possible to be very precise about the value of a ship or the value of one of the 64 shares in a ship because there are so many variables involved: the time period, age of the ship, condition of the ship, size of the ship, and so forth. Curiously, very little information on prices can be found in the ship registers. Some information may be gleaned from the amount of the mortgage the new owner took, but this could be equally imprecise because it may have been only a part of the total value, or other assets could have been included in the total mortgage.
Perhaps a few instances in giving the sale price of ships will help, using examples from Atlantic Canada and Quebec. In 1860 in Quebec a 970-ton ship was offered for sale for not less than 8000 pounds sterling, and a ship of 336 tons for not less than 2000 pounds sterling, and a third ship of 395 tons for not less than $14,000, so there was considerable variation, and the price undoubtedly depended on some of the factors mentioned previously. Capt. Allan MacPherson sold his 52-ton schooner in 1867 in Cape Breton for better than $10 per ton; the ship was 10 years old. Dame Henriette Paquet of Quebec sold her 32 shares in a one-year-old, 106-ton ship for $425 in 1875; that would make the shares worth just over $13 each.
In 1894 Elizabeth Munn of Harbour Grace sold her 114-ton schooner for $15 per ton; it was 19 years old. The 71-ton schooner Minot Light was sold by Thomas Hickman of Souris, Prince Edward Island, in 1889 for 560 pounds sterling and it was 10 years old. It had been built of white oak in Essex, Massachusetts, and it was advertised as “good for 30 years to come.” Henry Evans of Northern Arm, in 1899, sold his two-year-old schooner of 38 tons, the Cabot, for $1,150, which is better than $30 per ton. The Horwood Lumber Co. built the 372-ton Attainment in 1917 for $60,000 and sold it almost immediately to Campbell & McKay for $69,420, collecting a bounty of $5,952. In 1920 they built the 149-ton Nancy Lee for $41,392. The cost of building the 347-ton tern schooner E. P. Theriault in Belliveau Cove, Nova Scotia, in 1919 was reckoned to be about $62,000; that would be about $179 per ton. These instances provide a rough context in which we can look at the kind of money women were dealing with in owning ships. To help us understand the context a little better, it should be noted that 50 British pounds in 1938 would be equivalent to $3,500 U. S. in 2006, and 50,000 pounds sterling in 1846 was equal to 2.5 million pounds sterling in 1890; that means, in the latter case, that in a mere 44 years there was an increase of 50 fold.
Margaret Yarn, widow of Mose Ambrose, made a very astute purchase in 1929 when she bought the 17-ton schooner Bessie M. from John Robert Petite for “$1.00 and other valu
able considerations paid to me by Margaret Yarn, widow and managing owner, mercantile business of James Yarn.” I saw the actual bill of sale in possession of Mary Yarn in 1995. What the “other valuable considerations” were is unknown. Annie Hickey, married woman of Harbour Breton, in 1936 purchased the 12-ton Eleanor & Barbara for $383 which was about $32 per ton.
From the amount of the mortgages on ships, some further information may be gleaned. When Sarah Jane Johnson, married woman of Little Catalina, bought the 15-ton Lego in 1900 she took a mortgage of $250. Susannah and Minnie Yetman took a mortgage of $600 when they bought the 56-ton Pandora in 1910. Kate Osmond, widow of Moreton’s Harbour, held a mortgage of $5,000 on 14 shares in the 124-ton Laberge in 1922. And Elsie May Blackwood and her husband Job took a mortgage for $8,000 in 1947 when they purchased the Mary H. Hirtle. Whether these mortgages covered the total or partial value of the ship cannot be determined.
Occupations of Newfoundland Women
Apart from the self-designated status of widow, spinster and married woman, there are some interesting occupations given in the ship registers. As a variation on the status of married woman, in only three cases was the term “wife of” used, which is quite different, for example, from the ship registers of New Brunswick where the full names of husbands are given routinely.
Ann Jane Tuck, Anne Farrel and Ellen Roach were designated as traders, which meant that they were involved in coastal trading along the south coast in the 1880s. Gertrude Newman of Boyd’s Cove is designated a spinster but she was almost certainly a trader as well. Abigail Horwood was designated a fisherman, but this was an error and she was, in fact, a merchant; her partner was a fisherman. Nina Osmond of Exploits, Burnt Islands, is called a spinster but she also was a merchant. Mary A. Rose of Harbour Breton was designated a merchant, and this was crossed out by a later hand and “married woman” was written in. Martha E. Bell of St. John’s was called hotel proprietor and then this also was crossed out and “married woman” written in. Frances Miles was designated a planter; and lest we think this was exceptional, so was Mary Normor of Bay Roberts in 1814, according to Folio FO3, p.103 of Wills at the Public Archives; Mary Fowlow, widow of Trinity, in 1885, was also listed as a planter. This would also have been the status of Mary Ludevig of Ferryland and many of the independent women in the early Plantation Books.
At least four women were appointed as managing owner of a ship by their husbands: Mary Yarn of Mose Ambrose in 1956, Laura Garland of Gaultois in 1957, Bessie Goodyear of Carmanville in 1958 and Annie Northover Berkshire of Spencer’s Cove, Placentia Bay, in 1959. As demonstrated earlier in “Women as Managing Owners,” many women were in effect managing owners from the very early years, and from the 1960s onwards, it became quite common for women to appoint themselves as managing owners of ships.
Margaret Catherine Fitzgerald of St. John’s in 1896 was called a matron, so she must have been a woman of status. Agnes H. Fitzgerald in 1919 was designated a stenographer. Una May Youden in 1956 was designated an accountant, as was also Mary Rosella Bradley the same year. At least five women were called “housewife”: Clara Teresa Hardy, Elsie Read, Marion Emerson White, Lillian Martha Hynes, and Mabel Roberts. In two of these cases – Clara Hardy and Marion White – this designation was later “corrected” to “married woman.” Bessie Wilhelmina Savory of Lewisporte was designated in 1975 as “Homemaker.”
Marie S. Penny was called business manager in 1954; Rose Ting of St. Lawrence in 1986 was called Company Director of Eldorado Seafoods Ltd.; Vivian Wright of St. John’s in 1990 was designated as both managing owner and businessperson. And Hazel Marie Stuckless of Gander in 1973 was also given the double designation of managing owner and housewife. Ruth Story of Story Bros. Ltd., Portugal Cove, was in 1975 a “clerk” who was appointed manager of the firm.
Emily Caines of Bartlett’s Harbour inherited the ship Freddie C when her husband Sidney Joseph Caines died in 1970, and she sold it in 1972; she is clearly designated in the records as a widow. Amie Caines of the same place in 1968 was designated a fisherman and managing owner of the ship Wedgeport Lad ; the ship was sold in 1972 also, the same year Emily sold her ship. It is impossible to determine if this was the same person.
Women Naming Ships After Themselves
It was common practice to name ships after women, usually a daughter or wife of the builder or the owner, so the small amount of vanity involved in a woman naming a ship after herself may be easily forgiven. It may in fact be viewed as understandable assertiveness and a public statement that women were fully involved in the business of owning and operating ships. Though there was an old belief that re-naming a ship was unlucky, it seems that women ignored the superstition.
There were at least 21 instances in Newfoundland in which women named ships after themselves in the period 1837 to 1953. Elizabeth Henderson, widow of Harbour Grace, owned the ship Elizabeth jointly with her son-in-law, Charles Simms of St. John’s, in 1837. The ship had been built in Devon, England, in that same year and sold to Henderson and Simms at St. John’s. The name was very likely assigned at the time of registration. Catherine Brown, widow of Burin, was joint owner with Richard Brown, builder and master of the ship Catherine when it was registered in 1844. The next case of this kind was not until 1862, when Catherine Cummins, widow of St. John’s and joint owner with Peter Cummins, master mariner, registered the ship Kate Cummins at St. John’s. In 1870, Mary and Ann Taylor, spinsters of Carbonear, registered the ship Mary and Ann.
When the Commercial Bank of Newfoundland crashed in 1894, bankrupting the Duder firm, Margaret Eliza Duder, wife of Edwin John Duder, bought the brigantine Maggie, obviously named after her, under the Liquidation Act of 1895. Mary Walsh’s ship, the Mary Sheehan, may have been named in 1905 for her birth name. Theresa Stone of Catalina had William Johnson build a 20-ton ship for her in 1906 and she named it the Theresa S. When Mark Guy, blacksmith of Catalina, died in 1924, Letters of Administration were granted to Elizabeth Jane House (nee Guy), married woman, and very likely Mark’s sister. The ship was named the Lizzie Guy, and Elizabeth House did not sell the ship until 12 years later.
We have already encountered Margaret Stone of Rocky Brook, wife of Emmanuel Stone. When their jointly owned ship was rebuilt and re-registered in 1925, it was named the Maggie Stone. Ellie Ann Hartigan, widow of Rencontre, in 1922 named her ship Annie F. Hartigan, and this name may have been a reference to her middle name and possibly her birth name. When William Mayo of Marystown died in 1918, Letters of Administration were granted to Martha E. Banfield, married woman of Garnish, and probably William’s sister, but the Letters were not granted until 1927 when she sold the ship. Obviously Martha, and probably her husband, used the ship for the intervening nine years, and the ship was named Martha E. The name of Mary Frances Bishop’s ship in 1927 was Mary & Bride Bishop so perhaps the ship at Salmonier was named after her and a sister.
Rosella Emberley’s ship, the Rose and Blanche, in 1928 may have been carrying her name and the name of another family member. In 1933, Wilson Riggs, clerk, and Alice Maria Nash, married woman of McCallum, purchased and renamed their two-year old ship, the Alice M. Nash. Margaret Brenton, married woman of Burin, in 1934 named her ship the Margaret Brenton. Eva King, married woman of Lamaline, in the same year named her ship Eva King.
Mary Vallis of Coombe’s, Fortune Bay, bought the R. J. Devereux in 1941 and registered the ship under the name Mary King, undoubtedly her birth name. Alice Hatcher of Rose Blanche in 1946 named her ship A. M. Hatcher, possibly after herself. Also in 1946, Harriett Chislett of Rose Blanche named her ship H. B. Chislett, which may have been a reference to her own name. The ship in which Annie Marie Cheeseman of Rushoon held shares in 1950 was named Annie Cheeseman. When Nicholas Joseph Walsh, mariner of Fermeuse, died in 1953, Letters were granted to Margaret Walsh, widow. She then sold the ship Maggie Walsh, which bore her name. And finally, the ship that Elizabeth Joanne Hatcher of Rose Blanche inherited when her husband Roy died in 1984 was named Elizabeth
Joanne. She was the managing owner of the ship and she may well have named it.
Ships, Irregularities, and Even Hints of Scandal
We have already encountered the feisty, proactive Newfoundland women who were unafraid to use the courts to redress wrongs done to them in that early society. There was a special fierceness in them when it came to protecting the family’s assets and assuring its survival.
Mrs. Catherine Clements, widow of Ferryland in 1785, was an example of the feisty woman. When she was prevented by James Rouse, her neighbour, from using the landwash to wash her fish and the beach to dry it, she and three of her male servants pulled down the flake which Rouse had built on disputed land between the two. Catherine acknowledged that the land was not hers, that it had been part of the original Potsbury Plantation, but that she had used it undisturbed for many years and felt she had the right to continue to do so. She was still operating two boats and a skiff in the fishery. (A skiff was larger than a fishing boat, usually 35 to 40 ft. long, and was operated with sails, but required four men to row it, each with a paddle). Mr. Justice Carter informed the governor in court at Ferryland that the Clements family had purchased at least part of the original plantation. The court record breaks off in the middle of a sentence, saying that “it is their opinion the said Beach is neither of said Clements right but as the said Clements had dried her fish there before they had given it her she being last in possession…” The court obviously found in favour of Catherine.
In Trinity in 1753 there were 72 heads of families, 62 mistresses of families, 21 women servants and an unstated number of male servants. Servants were also called “dieters,” i.e., those who stayed over from the Old Country for the winter and served “for their keep,” i.e., their diet. During the working season, May to October, these servants were paid 20 pounds sterling each. Elizabeth Tite was one of these “mistresses of families,” though there is no mention of children; she may in fact have been a spinster, though it is more likely that she was a widow. She had three English male servants and six Irish servants; she kept seven of these all winter. She had one boat, one train vat and one stage. She had a neighbor, Mrs. Mary Waterman, who was not faring as well. In that same year, Mary was ordered to pay her four creditors a total of 33 pounds sterling annually “until the debt was discharged.” We are not told of the extent of her indebtedness. While her payments were kept up “she was not to be subject to distraint and could go on with the fishery.” The full extent of her fishing operation is not known, but an inventory of her effects shows that she was in possession of “casting nets, caplin seine, cod seine, lance seine,” so she probably had more than one boat and a similar number of servants to Elizabeth Tite, since the court must have determined that she was able to repay her debts and still make a living.