Page 11

Browse more items from German Canadians

Title: Page 11

Full text: 40 INTRODUCTION The diary of Gaetz discloses glimpses of the importance of the fisheries to the town of Lunenburg. For example, in August 1855 he records the arrival of eight schooners from Labrador with fish. These were the Corn- elia and the Moyle, both owned by Edward Young, the Union and the Water Witch, both belonging to E. & W. Zwicker, the Volant, owned by Jacob Smith of Cross Island, the Napier, owned by James D. Selig, a schooner chartered by William Ross, and a schooner belonging to Lewis Hirtle. In April 1856 the schooner H. M. Moyle arrived from Newfoundland with a cargo of fish. Two days later she sailed for Portland with fish and oil, but no sale was made this time on account of the bad state of the herring in bulk which had been obtained in Newfoundland. On August 23, 1856, Gaetz listed 13 fishing vessels belonging to the town of Lunenburg which had returned from successful voyages. Moreover, in August 1857 he noted the ,return of six schooners from Labrador with fish. These were the Ocean Wave, owned by Lewis Anderson, the Baronet, owned by James Young, the Leading Star, owned by Lewis Oxner, the Villette, owned by Edward Young, the Dart, owned by Joseph Rudolf, and the Hiram. Fur- thermore, Gaetz also noted that a number of Lunenburg fishing vessels sailed for Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, in the autumn of 1865. But heavy frost set in early and all but one of those schooners were ice-bound for the winter. Sad to relate, moreover, the schooner Sirocco, which did get away before the ice set in, suffered a worse fate. Buffeted by a heavy gale, she was shipwrecked and her crew was lost. In those days, as Judge S. A. Chesley reported in The Halifax Herald of November 21, 1896, no deep-sea fishing was carried on by Lunenburg fishermen. Boats fished off-shore, and a few vessels went to the coast of Labrador, occasionally making a shore-fishery trip in the spring on the La Have Bank, before going on the summer trip to Labrador. New develop- ments took place about 1873 or 1874, when Captain Benjamin Anderson adopted the practice of dory crews rebaiting each hook as they removed the fish from the hooks. Some indication of the volume and the importance of the trade of Lunenburg may also be gleaned from the diary. Gaetz occasionally notes the sailing of vessels to Halifax or to the West Indies and their return. He also occasionally records the arrival or departure of the packet which ran between Lunenburg and Halifax. Moreover, cargoes from the United States, such as stoves and other goods in the brigantine Boston Lady from Boston on September 11, 1855, and freight in the schooner Meridian from Boston on September 12,1855, are also mentioned. Shipbuilding also has a place in this diary. Gaetz records the launch- ing of at least 13 vessels—12 at Lunenburg and one at Mahone Bay. These range in tonnage from a schooner of 38 tons to a brigantine of 170 tons. Eight of them were built in the shipyard of John Young—the schooners Lunenburg Packet, Hiram, Ocean Belle, Louisa and Emma Anderson, the brig (or perhaps brigantine) Italia and the brigantines Odd Fellow and