Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-30
FISHING ON LABRADoR's COAST
Twenty Thousand Brave Dangers of
the Business-Anaual Record
of Disaster.

or the several branches into which the
codfshery of Newfoundland is divided, that
pursued along the rugged coast OF Labrador
each summer is the most perilous and toll
some, and its annual record of disaster and
death. hardship and tragedy. is depressing
in the extreme.
Codnshery Is the chief industry of the
settlers along the east and north shores
OF the island, and its success or failure
means destitution or comfort for theni
Its Importance can be best judged by the
fact that the entire families proceed TO the
desolate seaboard, the men and boys to
catch and handle the fsh and the women.
girls. and young children to engage In the
different processes incidental to drying and
curing. A visit to the little hamlets OF
the Newfoundland coast in the summer
shows nearly every house unoccupied, the
owners having gone to Labrador for the
codhshing, In which annual migration some
5000 persons, with their goats and poultry.
household goods, and portable possessions.
engage every season. The rest OF their be-
iongines remain safe from disturbance, as
the island laws visit with exemplary sew
Gritty the thefts of any property from such
houses, the stealing OF fish of the drying
platforms. and the desertion by any men
of the fishery service by which they are
engaged.
The magnitude OF the perils which beset
the fishing folk as they. sail there IN the
spring or return in the autumn can bcst
be realized by the occurrences Of the pres
ent season. On June Is a furious gale
swept the coast of Newfoundland and
spread ruin amid the scores of smacks then
bound to the northern 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 al
great peril to the rescuers, while the great
majority, though they got into harbors, had
temporarily to abandon their crafts and
take refuge on the shore until the storm
had abated.
In numerous cases these vessels carry
passengers, fish folk who own no Graf
then selves. and from 30 to 100 persons
are often aboard one smack.
Two years ago diphtheria ravaged the
i47 persons on a single schooner in Gri-
quel harbor. Last season smallpox in
fected several vessels, and they had to be
sunk at sea, the $50 persons they carried
being quarantined at one of the numerous
islands which dot the coast. This season
a smack with forty persons aboard struck
an Ice foe and speedily sank, with all
their clothing. outfits and effects. those
aboard barely having time to scramble
on TO the foe before the vessel went down.
Their distress was increased by the noe
parting beneath them soon after with a
loud report, the two fragments drifting
apart, each with it's terrified human
freight. Luckily another vessel soon res
cued them. Last year two ice foes nipped
a smack and crushed its sides, the ves-
sci sinking as soon as they parted again.
Its new crew was adrift two days and two
nights, half frozen and starving, before
rescue came to them.
The binding fogs and gales cause many
losses. and last year the schooner Puritan
ran on Cabot island at midnight with
llfty-three persons on board. ten of whom
perished. while the others were marooned
there for two weeks sheltered under a
tent contrived from sail washed ashore
and subssting on sea birds eggs and shell
fish. until sighted by trawler, which
took them on. The schooner Czar met a
similar fate on Grosrs' island and lost
| thirteen persons. Its survivors suffering
terribly from exposure and hunger for
fVe days until their distress signals were
sighted and relief came
During the present summer the Ocean
Queen went to pieces on Cam island It's
twenty-five people were rescued by the
lighthouse keeper from the nearest station
alone in his boat. just before the seas
submerged the rock to which they clung
Some years ago another Queen was lost
| on Gull island and every soul perished of
| starvation there, the bodies not being found
until months later, when diary written
by one OF the survivors was found. ana
revealed all of the details of their tragic
! fate.
Three years ago the vigilant, a large
schooner, with 1870 persons on board, col
! lapsed on reef near Makovick and
twenty-three perished, the remainder
being rescued by other crews. which
lowered ropes from the cliffs and drew
them up one by one, the csstaways then
having to row sixteen miles in open boats
TO reach the mail boat that would convey
them to their homes. Five years pre-
viously the Water Witch stranded near
| Hoiton and its thlrty-four people were
rescued by one gallant mariner, the last
| ne brought ashore-a woman previously
forgotten by her friends-dying in his arms
on the way.
The Labrador coast stretches fully 800
miles north OF the Belle Isle strait to Hud
son bay, and contains only $500 white resi-
dents, who inhabit its southern shores as
many more Chrlstianized Eskimos on its
northern coast, and a similar number OF
Indians in the interior Save for the an
nnal migration Of Newfoundland fisher folk
there the region would attract but little OF
no attention but this peculiar movement
to and fro OF thousands of people every
year makes IL of considerable interest
which DR.. C;renfelrs seif-sacrihcing Ia.
bors In behalf of the betternent OF the
people who frequent the desolate seaboard
tend to increase.
The coast Is broken up into countless
hsrbors and inlets. every one of which is
tne objective OF daring Nswfoundlanders,
VINO establish themselves and their fam
iiies there in huts built from the wreck
age of fishing crafts and banked high
with turf. and here those people remain
from June until November engaged in A
most exhaustive occupation and subjected
10 diseomforts and miseries which none