Untitled - Memorial University's Digital Archives - Memorial ...

Mr. C. ofSpaniard's Bay was born April 23, 1893 and made his first trip to the
Labrador June I ofthe same year on his fathers schooner. Captain Gosse of the schooner
Rose meed Mr. Co's father down to the Labrador to secure a choice berth and had made a
cradle out ofa nour barrel for the baby Mr. C. before they am\·ed. The construction of
the cradle shows that the competition for prime berths docs not preclude neighbourly
acts. The following year. 1894. Captain Gosse lost his schooner when she struck a skirt of
ice in \\hat Mr. C. refers to as -The Rose Disaster". adding:
the fishermen ofNewfoundland arc definitely the salt ofthc earth. 11lose were
hard. hard. anxious times. It was a ease ofmen must work and women must weep.
though storms be sudden and waters deep. lOG
In 1895. Mr. C:s father lost his schooner when a gale came on in the harbour and
the ship went ashore. They went home in another schooner and in 1896 went down to the
Labrador on a brig. a ship with yards on both the foremast and the mainmast. lol
Voyages lend to be remembered by evcnts rathcr than by years, and the hardships
faccd on the passnges nrc commcmorated in song as well as in personal experience
narrative. The following song tells not only ofbeingjammcd in ice in Icc Tickles (q.v.
Figure 3, 22), but also records the names of those aboard on this particular trip. I
collected the song initially from Bill Folcy of Colliers, though at lirsl he was reluctant to
sing it because he could not remember all the words, but he agreed to sing what he could
remember. lie then sent me to his neighbour, I)ad Cole, who also used to sing the song. I
recorded and transcribed both songs onto a single sheet and returned 10 both men with the
100 M FLA. InS.. 74-189. p. 21.
101 Ibid.. pp. 21-22.
75