National Network for Equitable Library Service

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

On December 10, 1942, at the height of the Second World War, a crew of seven men boarded the bomber plane Time’s A Wastin’ and departed the American air base at Narsarsuaq, Greenland, on their way back to the United States via Goose Bay, Labrador. After crossing the Davis Strait between Greenland and Labrador, the B-26 Marauder ran into rough weather and crashed at Saglek, Labrador. All of the crew survived. As per their training, they initially stayed with the wreck to wait for rescuers—but rescue never came.

On January 4, 1914, the Karluk was stuck in ice when the ominous sound of the ship’s stern being ripped open by pack ice was heard by all on board. It sounded like the firing of a cannon. Bartlett immediately ordered supplies be unloaded on the ice. The Karluk began to break up on January 10, and all on board were ordered to abandon ship. When everyone was safely on the ice, the captain himself went back to his cabin and, all alone, put Chopin’s Funeral March on his Victrola.

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 . . .

“This is going to be a good day out in boat,” said Rex Saunders, a sixty-six-year-old sealer from St. Lunaire-Griquet, NL, before heading out to the icefields on May 4, 2009. Later that day, the cold and unforgiving waters of the Atlantic Ocean nearly claimed another victim after his boat capsized. He had phoned his wife mere moments before the mishap and told her to expect him home in an hour, but now the sealer found himself stranded and alone on an ice floe. There he spent the next two nights, miles from shore and armed only with a flotation suit, a five-gallon gas can, and his faith.

The Ryan's Commander capsized off Spillars Cove, near Bonavista, on September 19, 2004. In the tragic wreck, two brothers were lost: Dave and Joe “June” Ryan. A federal report concluded that vessel design was one of the factors causing the capsizing. The family of the Ryan brothers recently filed suit against the federal government and the makers of the vessel, arguing its design was unsafe and untrustworthy. This book is Johanna Ryan Guy's tribute, both to her brothers and to the family that still mourns their loss.

Along the eastern shores of North America, savage storms have thrust sturdy ships and small boats upon the cliffs and shores of the continent. From these events have come true stories of bravery by skippers and their sea dogs—the crews. Here are sixteen tales of salty heroism and tragedy by fourteen writers whose lives have been shaped by their experiences and knowledge of the North Atlantic Ocean.

When the crew of the fishing schooner Annie Healy left their home port of Fox Harbour, Placentia Bay, on Wednesday, August 17, 1927, no one could have imagined what fate held in store for them. Times were hard in Newfoundland that year. On shore, wives of the crew were often worked to exhaustion, even more so while their men were at sea. Most had lost parents, siblings, or children to tuberculosis. Each family had at least one tragic story.

This is a collection of true Newfoundland and Labrador stories about crime and punishment on land and sea. Included here are tales of murder, mutiny, and smuggling on the high seas, as well as riots, assaults, and frauds perpetrated in some of the strangest criminal cases this province has ever seen.

From bestselling author Clarence Vautier comes more stories of unsung heroes: the fishermen who made a living off the sea in Atlantic Canada. These stories are the biographies, family histories, and photograph collections of twenty-two highliners. During the twentieth century, these were the elite fishermen who consistently sailed home with the largest catches taken from the waters off Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.