New-York tribune., 1906-07-15
LABRADOR FISHERF0Lk
Perils Which Are BraUely Endured
IN Gaining Living from the Sea.

an Gaming @ LaUlng FROM the Sea.
ST. Johns. N f. July (speciaD-Of the several
branches into which the cod fishery Of the New
foundlanders is divided that prosecuted along the
rugged coast OF Labrador each summer is the most
perilous and tosome and its annual record OF
disaster and DEATH hardship and tragedy is de-
pressing the extreme. This fishery is the chief
pursuit Of the settlers along the east and north
shores Of the island, and its success or failure
means comfort destitution for them It's Inn
portance be best judged by the fact that the
entire families proceed to the desolate seaooard the
men and boys to catch and handle the fish and
the women girls and young children TO engage In
the different processes incident to drying and cur
ing visit the little hamlets of the Newfound-
land coast in shows nearly every house
unoccupIed, the owners having gone to Labrador
for the cod fishery, In which annual migration some
twenty thousand people, with their goats and
poultry household goods and portable possessions
engage every season. The rest OF their belongings
remain safe from disturbance, as the island laws
visit with exemplary severity the thefts OF any
property from such houses the stealing OF fsh on
the drying platforms where it is left at night and
the deserting by any men of the fishery service in
which they engaged
The magnitude of the periIs which beset the
hsherfolk they sail there in spring return in
the fall can be best realized by the occurrences of
the present season. On June 10 Il furious gaze
swept the Newfoundland coast and spread ruin
amid the scores of smacks then bound to the north
ern trawling grounds. Some were lost with all
hands: others were driven ashore, with more or
less loss of life; more were dismasted, and their
endangered crews rescued from the sinking hulls
great risk to the rescUers, while the great ma
jority, though they got into harbors, had tempo
rariy to abandon their crafts and take refuge on
shore till the storm abated lest some schooners
break loose and work havoc with the whole fotila
and their crews
In numerous cases these vessels carry passengers
fsherfolk who own no craft themselves, and from
fifty to hundred and fifty persons are often on
board single smack, disposed in their holds on
sails spread the salt used for curing their fish,
these unpleasant conditions often prevailing for
weeks when the ice foes block the coast and. the
fleets. times three hundred strong are forced to
harbor in convenient inlet till the ice drives TO
sea- Two years ago diphthera ravaged the 147 per-
sons on a single schooner in Griquel Harbor. Last
smallpox infected several vessels, and they
had to be sunk at sea- the $50 persons they carried
being quarantned on OF the numerous islets
that dot the coast. This very season smack with
forty persons aboard struck icepan and speed
lily sank. with all their outfits, clothing and effects
the people having barely time to scramble onto the
foe when the vessel sank. Their distress in
creased by the ice parting beneath them soon
after with loud report. the two fragments drift
ing apart each with its terrified human freight
But, luckily another vessel sighted and res
cued them Last year two icepans nipped smack
and crushed her sides, she sinking they
parted again. Her were adrift two days and
nights half frozen and starving, before rescue
came them, and in some cases vessels and crews
both perish.
The binding fogs and robust gales cause many
losses and last year the Schooner Puritan ran OF
Cabot Island at midnight. with ffty-three persons
aboard. ten Of whom perished, while the others
were narooned there for two weeks, sheltered under
"A tent contrived from sail washed ashore. and
subsisting birds eggs and shellfish until
sighted by a belated trawer. which took them. Off.
The schooner Czar met like fate Groars ISL
and and lost thirteen persons, her survivors suffer-
ing terribly from exposure and hunger for five
days. until their distress signals were sighted and
-elef came. The present season the Ocean Queen
went to pieces Cam Island, and her twenty
Eve people were rescued by the lighthouse keeper
from the nearest station. alone in his boat, just
| before the submerged the rock to which they
| clung Some years ago another Queen was lost
Gull Island and every soul perished OF starva-
| tion there the bodies not being found till months
later. when diary, written. by of the unfort
unates. revealed the pitifuI details of their tragic
! fate Three years ago the VigiIant, a large
! schooner, with 100 persons her, collapsed on d
! reef near Makovick and twenty-three perished
the remainder being rescued by other crews. which
lowered ropes from the hilltop and drew them UP
| one by one, the castaways having then to 1850
miles in open boats to reach the mail boat that
would convey them to their homes Five years
previously the Water Witch stranded near Hol-
ton and her thirtyfour people were rescued by one
! gallant mariner, the last lie brought ashOre-a
woman previously forgotten by her friends-dying
| III his arms the way.
| The Labrador coast stretches full five hundred
miles north from Belle Isle Strait to Hudson Bay.
and contains only $500 permanent white residents,
who inhabit its southern stretch, many more
Christianized Esquimaus on its northern coast and
similar number OF Indians in the interior Save
| for the annual migration of the Newfoundland fish
erfolk there, the region would attract little no
attention, but this peculiar movement to and fro
Of thousands of people every year makes it of
siderable interest, which Dr. Grentell's self sacri-
ficing laboTs in behalf OF the betterlnent of the
people who frequent that deSoate SeabOard tend
| TO increase Ihe coast is broken up INTO countless
harbors and inlets, every of which is the objec-
lish themselves and their families there. III huts
built from the wreckage of fishing craft and
main from June till October engaged in a most
| exhaustng occupation and subjected to dscom-
forts and miserIes which could hope to con
tend against except those whose whole existence
When m t5 sberfo rea me Sradn they
! with snow and ice from the previous winter and
have to dig these out and make great fires Of wreck
! wood before they can enter them. This done, the
! household gear is bestowed there and the fishing
equipment In the sheds used for this purpose. Then
| they wait for the cod to strike in or approach
labors may be said TO have begun in earnest. Stir
ring the scenes Witnessed daily along Labrador
abundant and the voyagers busy with their catch,
There are two main classes of Observation-Disclosures
! ers, who operate from special harbors and occupy
establishments ashore, and "hoaters" who cruise
| them and following the fish in their migrations.
Both classes use traps, or square pockets of net
closed and hauled to the surface, the catch being
! then empted into the boats and the traps reset.
open and eviscerate them then wash and pickle
them and later expose them to the and air daily
until dried hard leather in which condition they
shipped to market and will remain good for
months even in tropical climes The fioaters in
stead Of drying their fish, pack them in the vessels
holds thickly sprinkung with salt till they return
they dry and cure them there. About $4,000 to
100000 hundredweght Of dry FISH, weighing fully
twice as much when taken from the water, repre-
|