Misfortune Bay: The Loss of the Albatross

By Alex Hickey

In 1916, as a costly war raged in Europe, the Newfoundland Government sought to curb spending on social support programs in order to finance the war effort. This decision led to deadly consequences for a group of people in Fortune Bay. A lightkeeper on St. Jacques Island, after witnessing the capsizing of a motorized yacht during a July storm, led a heroic effort to rescue the local welfare officer and the owner of the vessel. At the same time, a small schooner used as a floating medical clinic approached the stricken vessel to aid its passengers, when catastrophe struck—she was rammed and sunk by a former whaling ship plying the waters nearby.

Outcomes from that historic night rippled through the lives of St. Jacques residents for generations. Recalled by John Guille Millais, a British naturalist and explorer who had lived among these people, we get to meet each of them in the lives they lived.

"The bravery of my great-grandfather, Conrad T. Fitz-Gerald, and his deep love of Fortune Bay was known to me through a tattered copy of his biography, The Albatross. Misfortune Bay recounts the sinking of his schooner, the Albatross, and brings to life what happened that night. This retelling of the events surrounding that tragedy, combined with my own experiences as a sailor, has enriched the magnitude of my appreciation for who he was. This book brings out the depth and heroism of my ancestor. I have never been more proud to be a Fitz-Gerald.” — Tom Fitz-Gerald

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flanker Press
• Release date: Jun 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9781774571880

Alex Hickey

Alex Hickey has made it a lifelong passion to know the history, people, events and places of Fortune Bay. His Blog, All Things St. Jacques, chronicles and tells the stories of his home community. As an arts educator Alex has previously published in professional education journals, magazines and edited collections. He is an avid community supporter and is currently engaged in a volunteer initiative to restore and preserve the light tower on St. Jacques Island.

Book preview

Misfortune Bay:

The Loss of the Albatross

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Alex Hickey

foreword by Bud Davidge

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Flanker Press Limited

St. John’s

Copyright

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Misfortune Bay : the loss of the Albatross / Alex Hickey.

Names: Hickey, Alex (Alexander), author.

Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20240304330 | Canadiana (ebook) 20240304446 | ISBN 9781774571873 (softcover) | ISBN 9781774571880 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781774571897 (PDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Fortune Bay Region (N.L.)—History. | LCSH: Marine accidents—Newfoundland and Labrador—Fortune Bay Region—History.

Classification: LCC FC2195.F67 H53 2024 | DDC 971.8—dc23

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© 2024 by Alex Hickey

all rights reserved. No part of the work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed to Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 1 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON M5E 1E5. This applies to classroom use as well. For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll-free to 1-800-893-5777.

Printed in Canada

Cover Design by Graham Blair

Flanker Press Ltd.

1243 Kenmount Road

Paradise, NL

A1L 0V8

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We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada. Nous reconnaissons l’appui [financier] du gouvernement du Canada. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation for our publishing activities. Also, we acknowledge the support of Celebrate NL, a Crown corporation within the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation for its support of arts organizations in the year 2024, Year of the Arts.

Dedication

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To Hazel, whose example inspires me every day, and my daughter, Angie, whose belief in me is legendary and beyond deserving . . . to the brave and courageous people between these pages who lived this story.

Foreword

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by Bud Davidge

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I want to thank Alex for asking me to write a few words by way of an introduction to his first foray into publishing a book. I am honoured. I’ve known this author, Alex Hickey, for many years. He was a teacher. So was I. We continued into the field of education together during the tenure of the Bay D’Espoir Integrated School Board days and, with our many colleagues, found deep satisfaction in knowing we were carrying on from those who came before us—to make our contributions and further the cause of small school education in outport Newfoundland and Labrador.

Alex did this first as a teacher in the one-room school in St. Jacques and then, after graduating from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, brought his creative arts knowledge and fervent desire to impart that to his students at Fitzgerald Academy in English Harbour West.

Far deeper than that goes his roots as a Fortune Bay man, born and bred and tenacious, as the French might say pure laine, dyed in the wool. Anyone who has read Alex’s blog, All Things St. Jacques, knows how deep these roots go. Of course, I share Alex’s deep interest in the history and culture of this beautiful bay, born and bred here myself. Many histories of Newfoundland and Labrador spend little of their endeavours to record much about this jewel of a coast, thus we rely on chroniclers like Alex to fill us in on who we are and our amazing past.

It’s no accident that this place is called Fortune Bay. I would hazard a guess that the original people who first sailed into its reaches must have marvelled at the beauty of its rugged shores, placid inlets, and scattered islands, and could not wait to explore its many spectacular rivers. I’m certain, too, that they realized very early in their sojourn the bounty that awaited them. Its deep pristine waters, teeming with cod, mackerel, herring, salmon, and capelin, most certainly reassured them that they were perfectly right to exclaim this is truly a Fortune Bay.

Alex knows this so very well. He also knows enough about the history of this place to have discovered that always with fortune come tales of hardships and misfortunes. He has chosen to tell the story of one such set of unfortunate events that have their locus in St. Jacques and the surrounding area. Misfortune Bay relates the events in 1916 that saw a confluence of happenings and unfortunate mistakes that ended in death and wreck in the normally peaceful waters between St. Jacques Island and Belleoram. Alex has chosen this historic Fortune Bay happening not solely for its literary narrative.

This story is not only a story of tragedy, which it most certainly is. Surely what happens is a confluence of unfortunate occurrences. But it is much more than that. It’s a confluence of personalities, as you will soon discover. You’ll meet Dr. Conrad Fitz-Gerald, the English Doctor who dedicated a large portion of his life to the health and well-being of the people of all of Fortune Bay in his little smack, the Albatross. There is Dr. Hugh MacDermott, a missionary living in Pool’s Cove with a selfsame mission, and Isaac Burke, the lightkeeper casting the beacon from St. Jacques Island to guide the many schooners to safety as they sailed into the fog-shrouded bay at night. In no way is Philip Ryan a lesser character in this story, either. He manned the early introduction of telegraph to Fortune Bay and was a valuable link in the chain that connected Newfoundland to North America.

And so Alex cleverly weaves the facts and players in this momentous event. Not to mention the courage and community goodwill embedded and ever-present in times of need. To tell this story as Alex has done here, and to do it largely through the eyes and with the local experience of one John Millais, whose signature work, Newfoundland and Its Untrodden Ways, is a literary technique adapted by Alex to great effect. Misfortune Bay is Alex’s first publication, but be assured, it’s not his last.

Preface

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Storytelling is the lifeblood of a community. Listening is the oxygen that keeps the community alive. I have been fortunate to have known generations of storytellers in St. Jacques. This story is one of theirs. It intrigued me since first hearing it as a child. Like stories from many of Newfoundland’s coastal communities, this one has never been told in its entirety. My attempt to do so likely falls short of that goal—however, it will provide you with a close, engaging experience among the characters, the events, their circumstances, and the time in which they lived. In the years I have spent researching these people, I have come to know them. They live in my community history, where I have walked the paths they walked, where I have listened to their ocean and breathed after them. They live in the stories from men and women around kitchen tables whose voices have since gone silent.

All the major events herein are historically accurate, as are the main characters. Based upon their writings, writings by their peers, and my research, I have reimagined conversations and interactions to bring them alive to the reader. In that sense, this is a work of creative non-fiction steeped in true events.

I am indebted to several publications by or about these characters. They are: Wanderings and Memories (1899), Newfoundland and Its Untrodden Ways (1907), A Sportsman’s Wanderings (1907), Sport in Vancouver and Newfoundland (1912), The Albatross: Biography of Conrad Fitz-Gerald, 1847-1933 (1935), and MacDermott of Fortune Bay told by Himself (1938). Gratitude is also extended to the Digital Archives at Memorial University and The Rooms Provincial Archives and all those people who have exhibited great patience with my many questions.

Join our narrator and immerse yourself in Fortune Bay—imagine along with me that you are a witness, a time traveller, a listener who will remember this story and breathe life into your version for others down the road.

1

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The Caribou in Little Reach

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As daylight crept from the side of Iron Skull and darkness descended along the coast, a few flickering lights appeared across the water in Belleoram. Harry Clinton stood on deck and held fast to the rigging as he reflected on how one could be so close to home yet powerless to get there. St. Jacques was just beyond Belleoram, in fact, on the other side of Bungay’s Hill. Harry had walked the distance between the communities many times. Yet here he was, bobbing on the ocean, watching the light fade from the sky, while four miles away his wife and daughters were anxiously awaiting his return.

The two-week journey throughout Fortune Bay had taken its toll. He knew when he accepted the position as customs and relieving officer there would be challenges. He had grown up with his father doing the same job—however, the war changed everything. Now he was even involved in fundraising for the war effort and recruiting young men to leave their families regardless of how badly they were needed at home. He felt as though his job had hit rock bottom. Then came the directive from the Newfoundland Government to reduce the expenditures for social supports—in other words, take money out of the pockets of the hungry. Behind the calm exterior he was always able to maintain, tensions gnawed at him as he wondered how much longer this war could last. Harry would not say it publicly, but he was disillusioned by the war. It was supposed to be over by Christmas, and two years later, there was no end in sight.

Sleep did not come easily that night as he replayed events of the past two weeks. Whenever he had been able to provide financial support to the needy, he was welcomed into people’s homes. Even though the amounts allocated by the government were paltry to the needs, every cent was celebrated. More than once he had witnessed relief wash across the faces of mothers, widows, and their children. Tears sometimes streamed down worn, tense faces to create unimagined smiles. It was not like that this trip. Guilt, embarrassment, and reluctance all crept beneath his skin whenever he knocked on a closed door. People who once offered him cups of steaming tea and boiled fish did not answer their doors. Instead, they hid out of sight behind tattered, drawn curtains, as if avoiding the relieving officer would somehow nullify his message. Word spread quickly throughout the bay, starting with Point Rosie, skipping across headlands and harbours, forests and granite outcrops, to every nook and cranny sheltering a family or two. The message was the same—the relieving officer is coming to take away your money.

Harry was well aware of the increased cost of living brought on by the war. He witnessed it in nearly every community. Since the outbreak, he had issued more flour and molasses to half-starving people than any year before. Now there was the added cost of injured soldiers returning home. Many were unable to provide for themselves or their families. There was also the growing number of widows and children of the soldiers who would never come home. Harry frequently observed that there also seemed to be an increase in the number of men going to watery graves, resulting in even more destitute widows and children. Any time a schooner was lost, it affected the entire population, for they were crewed with men from many different communities throughout the bay. The Marion, whose nineteen-man crew was never heard from last year after a trip to the Banks, carried men from Coomb’s Cove to Lally Cove. Harry knew them all, and when it came time to provide relief, he felt sick to his stomach, for he knew it would not be enough, yet there was little more within his power.

This trip had been a challenging one for Harry. Constantly asking if there had been an increase in earnings since his last visit was challenging, given what he knew of people’s circumstances. Most of the time he hoped the answer was no, for then he could at least leave things as they were. Aged fishermen, beyond any capacity to work, still alive in their seventies and eighties, were provided sixteen cents a day, widows anywhere from three to twelve dollars a quarter, depending on the number of children. He was bound to inquire of residents when he arrived in a community if relief recipients had been able to acquire any work. The responses were predictable and repeated wherever he went. They ranged from, Mrs. So-and-So gets lots of help from everyone here, everyone gives her food, and she has her own house so she doesn’t need much, to, Those able-bodied fellows getting paid to do nothing should be made to repair the roads, fix up the cemeteries, to do something useful for the government money they get.

Widows constituted a big part of Harry’s client list. Most of them had nowhere to turn in small communities where there was no recourse but to fish. In most families when the husband died, his wife was left without any level of financial support. Each time Harry reviewed the circumstances of a widow to reduce support, it tore him apart. The amounts they were already receiving were meagre, nowhere near enough to meet their basic needs, yet his directive was firm. It placed him in a position of judgment over the quality of someone’s life over and over again. In some cases, he knew an old woman would go hungry—in others, children would not have adequate winter clothing. Each decision was agonizing. He thought of his friends and their parents should they ever have to face such dire circumstances. It disturbed him most to think of Fannie and what she would do should anything happen to him. Al though he was able to provide reasonably well for his family, it was difficult to put away any amount of money for the future. A dollar here, a few dollars there—that was all they had been able to save since the war broke out. There were few options for him to pursue. He was already doing as many government jobs as were available. Fishing was not in his blood any more than it was in his father’s. Their family history was in business and bureaucracy, first in Saint Pierre, then Newfoundland.

2

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SS HUMP

afternoon, july 30, 1916

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Captain Cyril Horwood stood on the cramped bridge of the SS Hump¹ staring beyond the bow of his ship at the whitecaps blowing into Belleoram Barachoix. Like an army whose only command is to move