Текст книги "Tsunami"
Автор книги: Maura Hanrahan
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История
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
Photographs
A house floats alongside a schooner near Burin after the tsunami. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
Waterfront debris. Sticks, staves, posts, cribbing and a wharf platform, left behind in the wave of the tsunami.(Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
A house moved off its foundation and deposited at the water's edge, Burin North.This one could be salvaged. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
Lord’s Cove. From an “H.M.M.” postcard found in the Trinity Museum, Trinity Bay. (Photo: Gladys Bonnell)
Dozens of houses were washed out to sea. Miraculously, some survived intact, but most, like this one, were totally destroyed. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
West side of Taylor’s Bay. From an “H.M.M.” postcard found in the Trinity Museum,Trinity Bay.(Photo: Gladys Bonnell)
The graveyard at Lord's Cove. Crosses mark the graves of Sarah Rennie and her three children, trapped and drowned in their sea-level house. (Photo: Garry Cranford)
Burin. The site where Bartlett's Shop once stood. The tsunamilifted it off the foundation and transported it to another location. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
The devastated shore properties in Port au Bras. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
At sea, the energy in the waves of the tsunamipassed unnoticed under ships. In shallow water, however, the energy intensified and vessels were at the mercy of troughs and crests of harbour waves. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
Burin Relief collection vehicle.When news of the South Coast Disaster reached the outside world, a committee based in St. John's coordinated the campaign to collect cash and materials to rebuild the fifty communities affected. (Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives)
Lucy and Malcolm Hollett, 1962. A magistrate at Burin in 1929, Malcolm Hollett coordinated and administered the relief efforts, inventorying the damage, and distributing the relief to those in need. (Photo: Grace Hollett.)
Left: Nurse Dorothy Cherry on the steps of Markland Cottage Hospital. Nurse Cherry received commendations for risking life and limb in travelling from town to town on the Burin Peninsula, giving medical aid to victims of the tsunami. With her is a nursing colleague, Bessie Sellars.
APPENDIX ONE
St. John’s, November 22, 1929
Daily NewsEditorial
WHEN OUR HEADS ARE BOWED
Recovered from the somewhat unique and rather alarming earth shock of Monday the matter had become with most people, one to joke about, since the occurrence seemed to have passed off without any untoward incident; when suddenly the country was plunged from light levity into a realization that gaunt tragedy of unusual proportions had been enacted close at home. The very genuine expression of sympathy on every lip yesterday, when shortly after noon the first reports of the disastrous effects of the tidal wave on the Burin Peninsula came in, gave a very practical evidence of the way in which that tragedy and distress had touched every heart.
Recovered from the first alarm of the five o’clock earth shock we can picture the inhabitants of these houses gathered around the fire. Supper things had been cleared away. Mother is busy with her knitting or household mending. Children are studying their household lessons. Suddenly, without warning, there is a roar of waters. Louder than that of the ordinary waves on the shore, it breaks on their ears, and then, with a shuddering crash, a fifteen foot wall of water beats on their frail dwelling , pouring in through door and window and carrying back in its undertow, home and mother and children!
The catastrophes of seafaring life we can understand. As a seafaring people we have matched our lives and wits against an old ocean. In the pursuit of their calling as sailors and fishermen, our men dare the ocean’s moods; but that in well-found craft where the odds are evenly matched. But in this case women and children and aged people housed in dwellings that had sheltered generations, and proof against winter’s blasts and ocean’s sprays, were suddenly engulfed and defenceless life obliterated. Never, perhaps, has such a tragedy been enacted in Newfoundland. Certainly never before has an earthquake laid its seafaring finger across our peaceful community.
The loss of property has been very heavy. Stocks of provisions, and fuel accumulated for the winter have been washed away and homes rendered uninhabitable for the present at least. That can be replaced in time; but the lives lost cannot be recalled. We can only mourn and give our deep sympathy to friends and relatives who have been bereaved.
The Government has been ready in action and the rapid dispatch of the relief ship was well engineered and carried out. The Daily Newshas nothing but approval for the prompt response made to the urgent necessities of the unfortunate sufferers in the dispatch of the Meiglelast night.
APPENDIX TWO
Sympathy Message from Abroad
as it appeared in the Evening Telegram, Dec. 16, 1929
Sympathy from the Bishop of London
Bishop’s Court, St. John’s
13 December, 1929
The Editor Evening Telegram
Dear Sir,—The note of sympathy from the Right Hon. And Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of London, a copy of which I enclose, will be read not only with great interest but with deep appreciation by residents in the stricken parts of the Burin District and by our citizens generally.
Yours very truly,WILLIAM NEWFOUNDLAND
* * *
Fulham Palace,
St. Andrew’s Day, 1929
Dear Bishop,—I want to send you my deep sympathy and that of my Diocese with you all in the great misfortune which has occurred in Newfoundland in consequence of the great tidal wave.
I fear that it has worked great havoc among some of the finest of your people and I would like them to know how deeply we sympathize with them in London.
If any Fund is being raised to help them I am sure we shall support it to the best of our power.
Yours very sincerely,A.F. LONDON
APPENDIX THREE
Letter to Local Committee from Relief Expedition
On Board Relief Ship “Meigle”,
November 23, 1929.
Mr. C.C. Pittman, J.P.,
Chairman Relief Committee,
For Earthquake Sufferers.
Dear Sir:
Having been given full powers by His Majesty’s Government to deal with such relief measures as are required in connection with the recent disaster to various settlements through earthquake shock and tidal wave destruction, we hereby delegate to you the authority to deal with conditions in your district as circumstances may show to be necessary.
You are to act as chairman of the committee which will arrange and supervise the necessary relief measures in the section from Lord’s Cove to High Beach, inclusive. Your committee consists of: C.C. Pittman, J.P., Chairman, John Foote, J.P., Rev. Fr. Sullivan, Rev. Mr. Spurrell, Messrs Lewis Crews, John W. Hillier, Edward Cake and John Haley.
Relief supplies for your section are at your disposal to be distributed as you and your committee see fit. You are, further, to take care of clothing supplies, of housing conditions, of fuel and other conditions and to handle these matters as you see fit under all the circumstances, being hereby invested with whatever powers are necessary to enforce your decisions in connection with the various undertakings concerned.
It is not possible to give your duties or to state your powers in detail, but you are generally to undertake and do such things as may from time to time appear to be necessary from the standpoint of relief or to facilitate such relief measures, until you are further advised by the Government of Newfoundland.
The Government are particularly concerned to ascertain the full extent of the damage in your section. You will, therefore, arrange to have a thorough survey made as expeditiously as possible, employing whatever means or agencies are necessary for this purpose and using forms supplied you by us.
We have the honour to be,Sir,Your obedient servants(SGD.)H.B.C. LakeH.M. MosdellAlex CampbellP.T. Fudge
APPENDIX FOUR
Letter from Magistrate Hollett to Captain Davis, Ianthe
(note: Davis was one of the schooner captains commissioned to assist with the relief operations)
Earthquake Relief Committee
Of the Government of Newfoundland
Hon. President: Hon. Sir R.A. Squires, K.C.M.G., M.H.A., Prime Minister
Hon. Chairman: H.B.C. Lake, Esq., M.H.A., Minister of Marine and Fisheries
Hon. Corresponding Secretary: Hon. H.M. Mosdell, M.B., M.H.A., Chairman Nfld. Board of Health
Hon. Members: Hon. A. Barnes, Paed. D., B.Sc., Colonial Secretary
Hon. Alex Campbell, M.D., F.R.C.S. (E), M.H.A.
Malcolm Hollett, Esq.,, B.A. (Oxon), S.M.
Sudbury Building
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Burin North
June 14, 1930
Captain Davis
Schooner Ianthe
Burin.
Dear Capt. Davis:
I am in receipt of a telegram from Mr. Horwood, Chairman of the South Coast Disaster Fund Committee, asking me to instruct you to return to St. John’s on completion on this trip. You will therefore act accordingly.
I must take this opportunity of thanking you for the very able manner in which you have discharged your duties in taking around to the various harbours and coves the large amounts of materials which the Committee has placed in your charge. You have brought us one load of lumber from St. John’s and seven trips of round timber and various quantities of lumber and dories on these eight trips and I consider that you have done wonderful work. For example: On this last trip of the IantheI have asked you to unload material at eight different places, to wit; High Beach, Lamaline, Point au Gaul, Taylor’s Bay, Lord’s Cove, Lawn, Corbin and Burin and I have received word from Mr. Foote to state that you have called at each place and discharged the requisite amount of lumber and timber and it has been done very expeditiously.
We all quite realize the difficulty and danger to your ship in discharging at places up the Coast which are situated on a wild shore.
Please accept my thanks and the thanks of the Committee for the energy which you have put into this work.
With kindest regards,
Yours faithfully,M. Hollett
APPENDIX FIVE
Letter from Magistrate Hollett to South Coast Disaster Committee
Earthquake Relief Committee
Of the Government of Newfoundland
Hon. President: Hon. Sir R.A. Squires, K.C.M.G.,
M.H.A., Prime Minister
Hon. Chairman: H.B.C. Lake, Esq., M.H.A., Minister of Marine and Fisheries
Hon. Corresponding Secretary: Hon. H.M. Mosdell, M.B., M.H.A., Chairman Nfld. Board of Health
Hon. Members: Hon. A. Barnes, Paed. D., B.Sc.,
Colonial Secretary
Hon. Alex Campbell, M.D., F.R.C.S. (E), M.H.A.
Malcolm Hollett, Esq.,, B.A. (Oxon), S.M.
Sudbury Building
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Burin North
August 15, 1930
R.F. Horwood, Esq.
Chairman, S.C.D.F. Committee
St. John’s
Dear Mr. Horwood:
On my last trip up the coast I have come across one or two other claims which I would like to have put in the same class as those others concerning which I have written you and where a cash payment seems to be the correct method.
(1) David Collins of Lamaline Meadow. This man is 83 and crippled and naturally unable to build again his stage which he lost and which he assures me has turned him in $20.00 per year for the last few years. The Stage was 18 x 14 x 8, and he hired it out for several years. He also lost $30.00 worth of clothing and considerable fencing. So far he has taken nothing and I should like to recommend a cash payment of $150.00 in full settlement of his claim which I know would perfectly satisfy the old man.
(2) Edwin King, of Lamaline East, was assessed $170.00 and I understand has so far taken material to amount of $22.50. This man has been sick for five years and has not earned anything, and I know he can never again earn or even get out around, much less build. We should make a satisfied claimant by a cash payment of $150.00 to him also, and I should like to recommend it as a fair and just settlement in this case.
(3) Claim #44. David Strang, Lawn, was assessed $742.00 and I find this claim not only includes David Strang’s loss but also that of his adopted son, Peter Quirk. Quirk has taken his share of the assessment, leaving some $300.00 worth still due the claimant David Strang, who has been bedridden these seven years, and who owned the dwelling house, stage and one of the stores. He assures me and I quite believe him, that he can do nothing with material and I would recommend a cash payment of $200.00 be made to settle his claim.
(4) I have already mentioned the case of Mrs. Thos. G. Hillier [author’s note: this is Lydia Hillier] of Point aux Gauls [sic] whose husband was drowned. In this connection I would say that her stepson, Harold William, who gave in the losses of fishing gear and premises etc has been fixed up O.K, but so far no arrangement has been made in a compensation to Mrs. Hillier.
Mrs. Hillier was left with a step-daughter aged 20, a daughter aged 11, and two sons, one 2 years of age and the other an infant born shortly after the husband’s death [author’s note: this baby was born partially blind]. I am not in a position to know the personal circumstances of Mrs. Hillier but suspect they are not very good as I know Mr. Hillier carried no insurance on account of some heart trouble. There is too I think some little friction between the son Harold William and his step-mother. I would suggest therefore that an arrangement be made whereby the property and fishing gear be left with Harold William and his sister Georgina, and Mrs. Thos. Hillier be made a separate allowance for herself and her children.
As Thomas Hillier was the only bread-winner who lost his life in the Tidal Wave, and as he has left rather a helpless family I beg to suggest that the sum of $3000.00 be set aside in Trust for Mrs. Hillier and her children and that she be paid $25.00 per month out of this sum until the whole be expended. I feel sure this arrangement will meet the needs of the case fairly well, having regard to it’s [sic] nature, and the aim of the Funds.
I should be glad to have settlements of these and the other cases which I wrote you about previously, fixed at your earliest convenience either along the lines I have suggested or otherwise as the Committee deem fit.
Yours faithfully, M. Hollett
APPENDIX SIX
Newfoundland Board of Health
St. John’s, Nfld.
South Coast Disaster Summary
1. Extent of coastline affected – 60 miles.
2. Population affected – 10,000.
3. Lives lost – 27, at the following places and to the following extent: Port au Bras, 7; Kelly’s Cove, 2; Lord’s Cove, 4; Taylor’s Bay, 5; Point au Gaul, 8; Allan’s Island, 1.
4. Property losses, approximately one million dollars.
5. Industrial effects – boats, fishing gear, supplies and other equipment of fifty per cent of the wage-earners destroyed.
6. Commercial effects – supplying merchants at half a dozen of the larger fishing communities stripped of property and goods rendering it impossible for them to continue in the trade.
In addition to the above, a thorough inspection was made of all settlements visited in the stricken area and many cases of a chronic nature were treated or prescribed for.
Staff—
Dr. L. Paterson,
Dr. C.F. Blackler
Dr. J.B. Murphy
District Nurse D. Cherry
Nurses Jackman, Hampton, Fitzgerald, Rendell
APPENDIX SEVEN
Value of Donations to South Coast Disaster Committee
In-kind gifts: $25,000 value
St. John’s: $102,306.23
Rest of Newfoundland: $87,201.38
United States: $8691.57
England: $7440.37
Canada: $36,768.31
Special (amount from Newfoundland, representing funds
from Britain, the U.S., and Canada): $7684.28
Interest earned: $4939.60
Sundry refunds: $1896.81, $6836.41
TOTAL: $256,928.55
Note that this sum does not include the goods that were sent with the Meigleand the Daisyon their early relief voyages or the lumber, clothing, etc. that was sent directly from private firms and communities around the country.
Note also that the Committee did not reimburse people for foodstuffs lost to the tsunami.
Sources consulted for Tsunami
CORRESPONDENCE AT THE TIME OF THE TIDAL WAVE
Bartlett, George A., Letter to R.A. Squires, Prime Minister, Nov. 20, 1929.
Earthquake Relief Committee of the Government of Newfoundland. Correspondence, 1930.
Ernest Cheeseman, Port au Bras, Letter to John Cheeseman, Nov. 20, 1929.
Hollett, Magistrate M., Correspondence to Prime Minister Squires—various letters and telegraphs, 1929.
Macpherson, Dr. Cluny, Letters to Dr. H.M. Mosdell, Nov. 27 and Dec. 9, 1929.
Mosdell, Dr. H.M., Letters and telegraphs to Hon. Dr. Barnes, Nov. 22, Nov. 27, and Nov. 29, 1929.
Mosdell, Dr. H.M., Letter to Nurse D. Cherry, Jan. 14, 1930.
Mosdell, Dr. H.M., Letter to Dr. Cluny Macpherson, Dec. 6, 1929.
REPORTS FROM THE ERA
Board of Health for the Colony, St. John’s, Newfoundland (n.d.) List of Lives Lost in Earthquake Disaster.
Dee, J.H. (1929) Report by Inspector J.H. Dee on Disaster of Night of 18th November on the Coast from Lamaline, Inclusive. Submitted to M. Hollett.
Author Unknown (1929) Voyage of relief Ship Meigle—To Scene of Tidal Wave Disaster, Lamaline to Rock Harbour, Districts Burin East and West.
Hollett, M. (1929) Report on Damages, Rock Harbour.
Hollett, M. (1929) Report on Damages by Tidal Wave between Lamaline and Rock Harbour.
Newfoundland Board of Health, (1929) Southwest Coast Disaster Summary. St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Newfoundland Outport Nursing Industrial Association (Nonia) (Sept. 30, 1932) Eighth Annual Report, delivered at Nonia Headquarters in St. John’s.
Paterson, L., M.D. (1929) List of injured attended by medical staff of Meigle.
South Coast Disaster Committee, (July, 1931) Report of the South Coast Disaster Committee. St. John’s, Newfoundland.
INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED FOR THIS BOOK
Isabel Gibbons Bragg, St. John’s.
Margaret Rennie Saint, Fox Cove.
Elizabeth (Bessie) Hennebury Walsh, Lord’s Cove.
Mary Harris, Whitbourne.
CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED BY FLANKER PRESS
•Sam Adams of London, Ontario, originally of Great Burin.
•Nellie Andrews, Winterland, Newfoundland, originally of Springdale, Newfoundland.
•Anna Tarrant Contois of Barefoot Bay, Florida, originally of Lawn.
•Mary Kehoe Dasting of Cape Coral, Florida, originally of Red Head Cove, Conception Bay, Newfoundland.
•Frederick Davies, Carbonear, Conception Bay, Newfoundland.
•Cyril Fleming of Mississauga, Ontario.
•Marie Herlidan, originally from Lord’s Cove.
•Austin Murphy of Toronto, originally from Lawn.
•Aiden O’Brien of Brooklyn, New York, originally of Cape Broyle, Newfoundland.
•Captain Ernest Pike of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, originally from Burin Bay Arm.
•Caroline Hillier Skinner-Hickman of Mississauga, Ontario, originally from Point au Gaul.
•Albert Taylor of Guelph, Ontario, originally from Jamestown, Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland.
OTHER ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
Newfoundland Outport Nursing Industrial Association (Nonia) Collection—various materials, Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives, Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
PUBLISHED SOURCES
Author Unknown. (2004) “Devotion to Duty of the Highest Order.” Newfoundland Historical Society Newsletter. Spring 2004: 3.
Brown, Cassie. (1962?) “Earthquake and Tidal Wave: The Hillier Story.” The St. John’s Woman Magazine.
Cranford, Garry. (2000) Tidal Wave: A List of Victims and Survivors– Newfoundland, 1929. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Flanker Press.
Cranford, Garry. (1999) “Tidal Wave: Adrift in A House– Pearl Hatfield.” In Not Too Long Ago, 45-46. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Seniors Resource Centre.
Cranford, Garry. (1999) “Tidal Wave: On Great Burin Island—Louise Hollett.” In Not Too Long Ago, 47-49. St.
John’s, Newfoundland: Seniors Resource Centre.
Cranford, Garry. (1999) “Tidal Wave: At Lord’s Cove– Mary McKenna.” In Not Too Long Ago, 50-51. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Seniors Resource Centre.
Cranford, Garry. (1999) “Tidal Wave: My Experience– Eloise Morris.” In Not Too Long Ago, 52-53. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Seniors Resource Centre.
Cranford, Garry. (1999) “Tidal Wave: Kelly’s Cove– Marion Moulton.” In Not Too Long Ago, 54-55. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Seniors Resource Centre.
Daily News.(1929-1930) Various articles and editorials.
Decks Awash.(1980-82) Various articles.
Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador.(1981-1994) Various editions and entries.
Evening Telegram.(1929-1930) Various articles and editorials.
Western Star.(1929-1930) Various articles and editorials.
