National Network for Equitable Library Service

The Last of the Ice Hunters is a history of the seal hunt, an industry now in decline, but one which provided the few opportunities for employment to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians during the 1930s. Written in the words of the sealers themselves, the book is a compilation of interviews conducted by students who trained under Professor Shannon Ryan of Memorial University of Newfoundland. This study of the seal hunt begins with a chapter on the introduction, background, and overall development of the seal hunt up to 1950.

For many years all kinds of travellers and adventurers have been going to Labrador. Some of those who went to live and work there have written good accounts of their life experiences. Others who went as adventurers, tourists, or workers have also recorded their experiences, but many of the accounts are rare or difficult to find. This guidebook is intended to help anyone who is visiting or living and working in the Big Land.

“Hope dies hard with a sailor.” — W. B. Cullen, mate of the Roanoke, 1909 Globe and Mail bestselling author Robert C. Parsons presents more than fifty exciting stories of high-seas adventure! Set mainly along the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1800s and 1900s, these are true stories of men and women who faced the deadly Atlantic Ocean—and won.

“They didn’t die like flies, you know, like I’ve heard some reporters say over the years. Oh no, it wasn’t like that a’tall. The men who died didn’t just drop like flies. There was nothing quick or easy about it. They had frozen feet, and fingers too numb and cramped with the cold to wipe the tears from their eyes.” Cecil Mouland, the last living survivor of the SS Newfoundland sealing disaster, told his story to Gary Collins in the fall of 1971 while travelling to St. John’s, where the old ice hunter would live out his final days.

At the heart of Gros Morne National Park is Bonne Bay with its magnificent landscape, sheltered arms and coves, and abundant marine life. Bonne Bay occupies an important place in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador. Long known to Aboriginal peoples, in the mid-1800s it grew rapidly as settlers swarmed in to take advantage of the herring and lobster fishery. Tensions between the competing claims by the French and British were often played out here. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Bonne Bay grew to become the administrative centre for the northwest coast.

On the night of November 29, 1929, eleven schooners set sail for home from the comfort and safety of St. John’s harbour. They all headed north: directly into the teeth of a deadly hurricane. Here for the first time are the stories of the eleven schooners that were caught in the gale of 1929. Newfoundland’s favourite storyteller, Gary Collins, takes us aboard each one in turn to witness the terrifying ferocity of a storm at sea through the eyes of the schoonermen who battled it.

The waters off the east coast of Canada have seen their share of accidents and disasters during the twentieth century. In Newfoundland alone, countless lives have been swallowed up by the angry seas of the North Atlantic or have fallen victim to the devastating effects of fire, explosions, collisions, and ill fortune. In Beneath the Waves, Clarence Vautier navigates the twentieth century, demonstrating the evolution of the fishery throughout these years and detailing the human will to survive through trials of skill, courage, and most of all, luck. Stories found within include . . .

Sydney Frost, a young Nova Scotian, was working in St. John’s at The Bank of Nova Scotia when the First World War began in August 1914. He joined the newly revived Newfoundland Regiment on 21 August 1914, the first night that volunteers were accepted. Assigned Regimental Number 58, he became one of the First Five Hundred, often known as the Blue Puttees. He served with the Regiment throughout the entire War, rising from the rank of Private to that of Captain.

On the evening of February 6, 2000, thirteen-year-old Samantha Walsh left her grandmother's house for her home not far away. It was the last time she was ever seen alive. In the next eighteen days, residents of Fleur de Lys and visitors from all over Newfoundland joined together in a desperate search for the missing girl. Across the province and the rest of Canada, people held their breath as they waited for any sign of the girl with the little round hair clips.

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