by Gary Collins
Job Barbour had found in one of his lockers a chart showing part of the south coast of England. He correctly counted and timed the flashes from the winking light far ahead of the Neptune II’s plunging bows. He was convinced that they were coming in under the land of the Scilly Isles. But he was wrong.
The Scilly Isles, which lie twenty-eight miles to the southwest of Land’s End, or the tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain at the westernmost reach of the English Channel, consist of more than one hundred small islands. This broken archipelago of islands that rise out of the Celtic Sea like the misshapen tail of the Lizard, the name given to the southern end of England itself, has been a silent witness to ships of sail without number. But it would never see the schooner Neptune II, as Captain Job Barbour had predicted. In fact, the Neptune II was far to the north of the Scillies—230 miles north of them!
* * *
The Skerryvore Rock, just twelve miles from the Isle of Tiree, part of the chain of islands of the Inner Hebrides, was the most feared rock on the west coast of Scotland. It had impaled countless ships upon its mostly hidden reef, and on the bottom, far below its spine, lay the bones of sailors since before the Vikings had come.
In 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Scotland’s most famous and beloved novelist, playwright, and poet, upon seeing Skerryvore Rock for the first time, wrote, “At length, by dint of exertion, come in sight of the long ridge of rocks (chiefly underwater), on which the tide breaks in a most tremendous style.” By 1814, after years of trying to convince the government of the need and after finally obtaining the necessary funds for it, the chief engineer of the northern lighthouses, Alan Stevenson, started the work of constructing a lighthouse on that infamous rock. Alan, who was uncle to one of the greatest tellers of sea adventures—Robert Louis Stevenson—was about to begin a great sea adventure of his own.
Due to the severity of the seas that constantly smashed upon and sometimes flew over the rock, construction could not be attempted during inclement weather. Work commenced only during ebb tides and in the summer months. Stevenson organized gruelling shifts for his workmen of seventeen hours duration, with only two-hour breaks during the short construction seasons. The work took no less than eight years to complete, but when finished they had achieved the greatest feat of ocean engineering of that century. Standing 156 feet above the deadly reef and with its foundation awash in stormy seas, the Skerryvore lighthouse, complete with two fog-bells sounding one stroke every half-minute, warned sailors of its perilous rock for the first time in history.
There is a place east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland where the greatest saltwater current on our planet suddenly divides. The stream of water from the Gulf of Mexico now separates as if not knowing which way to go. Part of it heads south and becomes the Canary Current as it reaches the Canary Islands off the huge bulge of North Africa. The other river of water continues its odyssey north to warm the climate of the British Isles, and even as far as the coast of Norway. It is called the North Atlantic Drift. It was this mighty, hidden stream of water flowing beneath the algae-covered keel of the Neptune II that had deceived Job Barbour.
Without any knowledge of positioning navigation necessary to determine just where he was on the vast ocean, he only knew that his schooner was sailing in a generally easterly direction. The prevailing winds from the coast of North America far to the west, as well as the silent, eastbound currents coursing unseen beneath the Neptune II’s bilge, had carried the vessel inexorably eastward. The looming light the crew of the Neptune II were sailing toward was nowhere near the Scilly Isles. It was the Skerryvore light off the west coast of Scotland. And when the day came again, they could see the precious land.
When Peter told Esther they were coming under a huge land, the woman cried with joy. It was as if her brain, knowing it would soon be away from the surging sea, had commanded her body to heal itself for the occasion. She wanted to go on deck and see the land. She was still very weak and unable to walk, so the men, eager to help this woman who had persevered against a terrible illness, fashioned a bed and carried her, wrapped in damp blankets, up on the deck of the Neptune II. It was the first time in nearly forty-eight days Esther had seen the light of day. And there it was, standing firm and solid all around, the blessed land that she had so longed for—solid and earthy, secure, and, most of all, unmoving. She turned her face toward it, taking in the wonderful smell of it. It was like a tonic to the land-loving woman.
The steamer Hesperus came puffing along by the land and hove to within shouting distance of the Neptune II. The battered schooner with tattered sails and rejoicing crew was taken in hand and eventually towed to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. The crew of the Neptune II were safe on a foreign shore. It had taken them forty-eight days to get there. Esther Humphries was given care by the doctor aboard the Hesperus. When she finally stepped shakily onto the Tobermory harbour dock, she was surprised to learn she had developed a sailors’ gait. Though she had spent the entire voyage bunk-ridden, it would be months before this rolling sensation of walking would leave her.
Job Barbour immediately sent a message to his mother in Newtown. It read simply and without emotion: “Arrived safely Tobermory, Scotland. All well.”
His mother wired him back: “Thank God for your deliverance. Never gave you up. Kind regards to Mrs. Humphries and crew. Take care of yourself. Love. Mother.”
Job Barbour arranged passage for himself and his crew to Liverpool, England, where on January 30, 1930, he arranged for his passengers—Esther Humphries, William Norris, Edward Gill, Ephraim Blackmore, and crew members Pearce Barbour, Peter Humphries, and John Norman—passage to St. John’s, Newfoundland. They crossed back over the winter Atlantic in relative comfort aboard the SS Nova Scotia. For Esther Humphries there was no other way to get home. She would have walked, if possible, rather than make another voyage across that ocean of her misery. She was given a comfortable berth, which was always warm and dry. Even then she seldom came out on deck during the crossing and was sick for most of the time. But it was only a shadow of the ordeal the woman had endured aboard the Neptune II. They arrived in St. John’s without incident, and transportation was arranged by train for all of them to Gambo. From there they travelled north to Newtown and home over blustery trails and paths by sleds drawn by horse and dog.
The atmosphere in Newtown on that long-ago day, when the message was received and, more especially, when the Neptune II’s crew came home, is best described by one who was there, the servant girl Mary Sturge.
* * *
Mary Blackmore (née Sturge) passed away on May 27, 2010.
Her memories were recorded by her daughter, Sophie Gill.
“I was a sixteen-year-old servant girl with teacher Joseph Yetman and his wife, Pearl. They had two children, George and Lloyd. Pearl was the daughter of George and Susie Davis. Susie was Peter Humphries’s sister. Peter and his wife, Esther, were both on board the Neptune II, Esther being the only female.
“Sadness prevailed in the community of Newtown for forty-eight days. People watched for the schooner’s lights at night bringing loved ones home. One such person was Susie Davis, who never failed in her faith for their return.
“Along with the turmoil at sea, the families were suffering at home. Food supplies hadn’t arrived. Loved ones were lost at sea, presumed dead. It was a very sad time with Christmas in the midst and breadwinners absent from families and sweethearts. Fifty-seven-year-old Susie knew her brother Peter Humphries was a capable person and could help when things got rough. He and Esther were always on her mind—on everybody’s mind. She chose her own way of dealing with the situation. George Davis, her husband, would go to the post office every morning to read the public news received by wireless by Mr. Bannister, the postmaster, who would have posted it for the public to read. Morning after morning they were disappointed—no news of the Neptune II.
“Every day Susie vis
ited her sister Pearl at the Yetman house and every evening George would walk her back home. After supper he prepared bavins and crunnicks and lit the fire in the bedroom stove. With the fire crackling and snopping, the kerosene lamp turned down low and with reverence, dignity, and many tears, Susie prayed for the safe return of her brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Esther, and the whole Neptune II crew. There was hymn singing often. This ritual continued throughout Christmas and into the longest, darkest nights of the year 1929 and into the new year of 1930. Then on the morning of January 16, 1930, Susie looked out of Mr. Yetman’s bay window to see Mr. Bannister crippling along the road waving a piece of paper. Susie said to me, ‘Mary, go see what Mr. Bannister got there!’
“The excitement of Mr. Bannister lisping, ‘They’re in Tobermory, Scotland, all well and safe!’ was overwhelming. This news was passed from house to house (at Mrs. Barbour’s former request) as the postmaster stumbled along the long bridge up to Captain Job’s mother’s house. The long bridge reached from where Keith Bungay now lives to Jessie Blackmore’s, where the longliners tie up. Flags were flying and there was unimaginable excitement at Newtown and Pinchard’s Island. That night a square dance was held at the SUF Lodge. However, it closed early because an elderly member of the community died. Celebration for the passengers and crew continued in the form of ‘times’—a cup of tea and dance, etc., in the Anglican Hall. A celebration was held for Captain Job at the United Church Hall.
“The Newtown schoolchildren were permitted to leave school on the arrival of the passengers and crew (Job Barbour was still in Liverpool, England) of the Neptune II. They paraded with flags up to the farm—the woodslide road—up past Len Howell’s and toward the United Church cemetery.
“Dogsled teams had brought the crew and passengers from Gambo. Great rejoicing that day! Flags were all over Newtown. However, I didn’t get to the night’s celebrations. I had to stay home. I was the servant girl.”
Afterword
And now I have ended my tales of that argosy of schooners set adrift in that terrible Gale of 1929. My research for this project has been all-consuming and I found the work very challenging. It has involved the reading of hundreds of pages of written accounts of the event. I have interviewed by telephone many family members of the schooner crews who have been passed down knowledge of the happenings. My wife, Rose, and I have sat in many kitchens and listened and recorded as the yarns were passed down yet again.
Some of them have given me private written accounts, as is the case of Sophie Gill of Newtown, who willingly gave me Mary Sturge’s first-hand account of the ordeal suffered by those who waited upon the land.
Frank and Honor Dominie gave me a wonderful CD upon which I heard the lyrical voice of Skipper Charlie Rogers, his tale beautifully told by one who was there: “We was five hun’red and one miles from Newfoundland, be the log, when a Jap ’ospital ship passed us wit’out stoppin’.”
During my time on the decks of all of the storm-ravished schooners, I have come to one conclusion regarding the men who sailed them. They were the best of seamen afloat on any ocean.
On a piece of ancient pottery dated 4,000 years ago is etched the drawing of a boat with billowed sail. It is the earliest known record of man using wind as a means to carry him over water. Sail-driven boats of Greece, Crete, and Phoenicia dared away from the waters of the Middle Sea and set out into the unknown reaches of the endless Atlantic Ocean. They have earned a place on the salty pages of discovery. No less brave are the seamen of Newfoundland and Labrador, who have earned a reputation, worldwide, as being the greatest of sailors afloat on any ocean.
And always behind the seamen were the unsung women, who silently waited and often wept.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my friend Alec Oram, who answered most of my questions concerning the cod fishery. Thanks also go to the following for their assistance: Guy Oram; Craig Parsons; Evelyn Parsons; Sophie Gill; Leigh Anne Power, CBC Radio, Gander; Frank and Honor (née Rogers) Dominie; Ralph Rogers; Eliza Jane Pickett; Henry Vokey; Roy Stoyles; Reg Tulk; Anita Stratton.
Appendix
Schooners Caught in the Gale of 1929
George K. — Frank Green (Master), Greenspond
Water Sprite — John Bishop (Master), Wesleyville
Merry Widow — Martin Blackwood (Master), Brookfield
Gander Deal — Manuel Barbour (Master), Newtown
Effie May Petite — Charles Kean (Master), Brookfield
Northern Light — Thomas Parsons (Master), Bloomfield
Janie E. Blackwood — Charles Rogers (Master), Fair Island
Lloyd Jack — Eldon Bishop (Master), Wesleyville
Neptune II — Job Barbour (Master), Newtown
All of the above vessels were from Bonavista North. The following were from Trinity Bay.
Catherine B. — Ellis Janes (Master), Hant’s Harbour
Jennie Florence — James Stoyles (Owner, Master), Hillview
Sources
Barbour, C. Lind. Coming Home. Nokomis: Last Mountain Times Ltd., 2002.
Barbour, Captain Job. Forty-Eight Days Adrift. St. John’s: Breakwater Books Ltd., 1981.
Butler, Paul and Maura Hanrahan. Rogues and Heroes. St. John’s: Flanker Press, 2005.
Cranford, Garry. Norma & Gladys. St. John’s: Flanker Press, 1994.
Dear, Ian and Peter Kemp, eds. An A-Z of Sailing Terms. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Feltham, John. Setting Sail for Bonavista Bay. St. John’s: H. Cuff Publications, 1988.
Kipling, Rudyard. The Best of Kipling. New York: Nelson Doubleday Inc., 1968.
Monsarrat, Nicholas. The Master Mariner, Book 2. Great Britain: Chaucer Press Ltd., 1980.
O’Flaherty, Patrick. The Rock Observed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979.
Ryan, D.W.S. and T.P. Rossiter, eds. The Newfoundland Character. St. John’s: Jesperson Press, 1984.
Smallwood, Joseph R. Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Vol. 2. St. John’s: Newfoundland Books Publishers, 1967.
About the Author
Gary Collins was born in a small, two-storey house by the sea in the town of Hare Bay, Bonavista North. He finished school at Brown Memorial High in the same town. He spent forty years in the logging and sawmilling business with his father, Theophilus, and son Clint. Gary was once Newfoundland’s youngest fisheries guardian. He managed log drives down spring rivers for years, spent seven seasons driving tractor-trailers over ice roads and the Beaufort Sea of Canada’s Western Arctic, and has been involved in the crab, lobster, and cod commercial fisheries.
His writing career began when he was asked to write eulogies for deceased friends and family. He spent a full summer employed as a prospector before he wrote Soulis Joe’s Lost Mine; he liked the work so much, he went back to school to earn his prospecting certificate. A critically acclaimed author, he has written a total of eight books, including Cabot Island, The Last Farewell, Soulis Joe’s Lost Mine, Where Eagles Lie Fallen, Mattie Mitchell: Newfoundland’s Greatest Frontiersman, A Day on the Ridge, and the children’s illustrated book What Colour is the Ocean?, which he co-wrote with his granddaughter, Maggie Rose Parsons. The latter won an Atlantic Book Award: The Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration.
Gary Collins is Newfoundland and Labrador’s favourite storyteller, and today he is known all over the province as the “Story Man.” His favourite pastimes are reading and writing, and playing guitar at his log cabin. He lives in Hare Bay, Newfoundland, with his wife, the former Rose Gill. They have three children and three grandchildren. Gary Collins can be reached by email at [email protected]. The official Gary Collins website is www.garycollins.ca.
Index
Advalik Mountains 210
Aegean Sea 149
Africa xii, 40, 108, 187, 251
Alberta 220
Alexandria, Egypt 150
Allendale, Nova Scotia 172
Anglo-Newfoundland Development (A.N.D.) Company 54
Anthrim 141
Asia 73, 149
Atlantic Ocean xiii, xiv, 7, 11, 24, 32, 33, 39, 65, 73, 76, 90, 98, 107-109, 111, 112, 115, 121, 125, 126, 130, 135-138, 141, 149-151, 160, 165, 166, 185, 188, 191, 205, 212, 224, 227, 228, 237, 239, 243-245, 251, 252, 256
Austria 149
Avalon Peninsula 136
Avon River 185
Baccalieu Island 9, 12, 28, 29, 42, 43, 57, 58, 75, 98, 100, 118
Baccalieu Tickle 98, 207
Balchen, Bernt 221
Baltic 32, 33, 38, 44-49, 89
Barbour, Job 56, 57, 153, 228-230, 232, 235-238, 243, 247, 248, 250-252, 254
Barbour, Manuel 55-61, 65
Barbour, Pearce 243, 252
Barbour’s Tickle 56, 229
Barclay, Culle and Company 173
Barents Sea 187
Battery, The 56
Battle of the Somme 135
Bay de Verde 29, 98
Bay of Biscay 185
Beaumont Hamel, France 150
Belfast, Ireland 32, 64
Bell Island 107, 108, 214
Bell Island (Great Northern Peninsula) 224
Beothic 80-85, 87-90, 140
Beothuk 22
Bessie S. 195
Best, Abram 78, 83
Best, Noah 197-200
Best, Peter 166
Best, Phillip 166
Best, Stanley 12, 15
Birkenhead, England 32
Bishop, Churnside 189, 190
Bishop, Edward Churnside 183
Bishop, Eldon 183-187, 189-191, 194-196