National Network for Equitable Library Service

The dramatic incredible story of the South Coast Disaster of 1929.

The story of Bay Roberts is one of an ordinary people who lived through a turbulent and extraordinary past. Adventure, murder, religious strife, inventions, successful local newspapers, and enterprise make up the collective history of a community thriving in Newfoundland today. The town has hosted tragedies, unprecedented commercial prosperity (and failure), famous sea captains, buried treasure, ancient tombstones, and intriguing grave markers. Stories of eccentric characters, war heroes, and horrible shipwrecks fill these pages.

Riots and Religion in Newfoundland delves into the history of conflict between our English and Irish ancestors, a controversial topic that has been overlooked, diminished, or completely ignored in many history books. David Dawe retraces the foundation of Newfoundland's religious history and explains how the battle between the English Protestants and the Irish Roman Catholics continued from the old country to the New World.

The picturesque Port of St. John’s is an enduring symbol of Newfoundlanders’ inextricable link to the sea. Indeed, it was the geographic features of St. John’s harbour that encouraged initial settlement here, the starting point from which the city expanded. But the legacy of the growth of the port is a unique history unto itself. Playing a major role in the international salt fish trade, the port has been a safe haven for fishermen in the North Atlantic since at least the 1500s, and it later proved a strategic position in WWII during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Courage at Sea: Newfoundland Sailors in the Great War is a collection of more than forty World War I stories involving the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve and the Newfoundland merchant seamen who delivered goods to Europe in aid of the Allied war effort. Many foreign-going vessels carrying Newfoundlanders were apprehended en route by German U-boats and shelled, torpedoed, or boarded and bombed. Some of the crews were let go, but others were less fortunate. Some of the stories included are . . .

The residents of Harbour Breton, a small fishing village in Newfoundland, claimed that it rained for forty days and nights. For forty days and nights, a prevailing southwest wind off the Grand Banks brought persistent rain, drizzle, fog, and sometimes torrential downpours. Root crops rotted in the ground, paint peeled off houses and fences, brooks and rivers overflowed their banks, and ponds and lakes swelled to bursting. In the early morning of August 1, 1973, the earth could take no more.

Where Eagles Lie Fallen is celebrated master storyteller Gary Collinss solemn tribute to the American servicemen and servicewomen who lost their lives aboard Arrow Air Flight 1285 when it crashed in Gander Newfoundland on December 12 1985.

"Beggars cannot be choosers. We wanted just companies, we gave a damn who they were, we had no prejudice against them. We went to Germany because Europe was scared of Soviet Russia and saw a communist revolution coming. The German industrialists were particularly scared. In 1950 I was the first public visitor who came to Germany from any country. The leaders of the German companies all spoke excellent English. I was impressed.

During World War II St. John’s, Newfoundland played a critical role in the fight against Nazi Germany. Seamen from all over the world sailed to and from the old seaport, chosen for duty because it was closest to Europe and because its people knew both the peril and glory of the North Atlantic. In his introduction to this absorbing collection of stories, Bill Rompkey examines the city’s service to one of the most famous battles in military history and the effect it had on the people of St. John’s.

Barr’d Islands: From English Roots is a history of early English settlement in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, with a focus on Barr’d Islands, a small fishing community on Fogo Island. Explore the day-to-day lives of a charitable, community-minded people whose hardships were many in a time when survival from year to year was uncertain: living under the iron fist of merchant firms, subsistence farming, poverty. Also, learn of these early settlers’ faith, richness of virtue, hard-work ethic, and games and amusements shared by all in the community.