Tsunami

Maura Hanrahan

TSUNAMI

The Newfoundland Tidal Wave Disaster

For Paul

GLOSSARY

(The) boot:the lower part of the Burin Peninsula

Capstan:a revolving cylinder used to wind an anchor cable

Dory:small, flat-bottomed open fishing boat with pointed bow and stern

Fish and brewis:a traditional Newfoundland meal of boiled fish and hard tack

Flake:a platform built on poles and spread with boughs for drying fish

Hogshead:a large cask

Lassie bread:bread with molasses on it; a traditional Newfoundland treat

Livyer:permanent settler; people who live in a particular area

Member of the House of Assembly (MHA):elected representative of the Newfoundland legislature

Old hag:a particularly harrowing form of nightmare; nocturnal terrors associated with a range of cultural beliefs in Newfoundland

Quintal:a hundredweight (112 lbs.), used as a measure for dried salt cod

(Fishing) room:the waterfront property of a fisherman or merchant, including the stages, stores, flakes, etc.

Shore fishery:later called the inshore or small boat fishery

Stage:an onshore platform holding working tables and sheds where women and men processed fish

Store:place where supplies, gear, and dried or salted fish are kept

Token:a vision of an absent friend or relative indicating they will die within a year

Western boat:a fishing vessel of between fifteen and thirty tons

FOREWORD

In 1929, Newfoundland was a self-governing Dominion, as were Canada, Australia, and other “white” countries within the British Empire. Newfoundland’s territory consisted of the seventh largest island in the world, positioned where the Labrador Sea meets the Gulf Stream in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, and the vast continental land mass of Aboriginal Labrador. The island had been settled by Europeans from the British Isles, the Cha

The settlers and the nations of Europe who sent their fishing fleets were initially attracted by the richest cod fishery in the world. Those who snuck onto the island and dared to over-winter established hundreds of coastal villages where they fished every summer. During the harsh months of November through March they repaired to inland quarters which gave them access to wood and fur-bearing animals.

The island never industrialized in the ma

In 1929, almost thirteen thousand people lived in the seventy-eight communities of the Burin Peninsula, a boot-shaped piece of land that hangs off Newfoundland’s South Coast. The peninsula juts out into the North Atlantic as if it is trying to reach the once cod-rich Grand Banks, which have been its life force. Fortune Bay is on one side of the peninsula; Placentia Bay, Newfoundland’s largest bay, on the other. For generations the people of the peninsula were engaged in the shore fishery, made up of small boats out of which they fished seasonally, or the Banks fishery, which consisted of schooners that went to the Grand Banks and other offshore locales. They traded their fish to merchants who supplied them with food staples and other goods and a frequently pere

At first, the 1929 October Bank Crash, which signalled the begi

Even now, though, the people of the Burin Peninsula remember 1929 for the tidal wave, the great tsunamicaused by an underwater earthquake that struck their shores. The ruptures from the deep that night measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and caused the sea floor to move several yards. The subterranean quake forced waves across the ocean at speeds of more than eight hundred kilometres an hour. Most tsunamisdevelop in the Ring of Fire, the region that encircles the Pacific Ocean. Although tidal waves (as they are commonly but mistakenly called in this part of the world) are not unknown in Newfoundland, the island is obviously far away from the Ring of Fire. Thus, the tsunamithat hit the Burin Peninsula came as a complete shock to the people who lived there. This book tells their story.

PART ONE: WAVES

1

It would be carved into the children’s store of memories forever. In Lawn, on the boot of the Burin Peninsula, as the evening of Monday, November 18 drew in, six-year-old A

Suddenly the odd sound of dishes rattling caught A

A

“Mommy, where’s the cat?” A

“Here, A

Out from Mrs. Tarrant’s skirts came the family pet—straight from the root cellar.

On the day bed A

Twelve-year-old Mary Kehoe of Red Head Cove in Conception Bay North was aboard the SS Nerissawith her father, Martin, bound for New York. Once the ship left St. John’s, she was in rough seas. The decks were cleared and below, passengers bit their nails in fear. Others clutched their hands to their hearts and emptied the contents of their bellies. Mary’s father lay next to her in her bunk, holding his daughter tight so she wouldn’t be thrown onto the cabin deck. To make matters worse, Mary’s stomach churned with seasickness.