Halifax and Yarmouth of the Western Union Telegraph Company was working. The lines at Maritime Telephone Company were down even longer.
By then the gale had crossed to Cape Breton. Barometers on the island showed that atmospheric pressure was falling rapidly. In addition, easterly winds had developed as the storm began to reach its full force.
It flattened buildings in Cape Breton and tore down telephone and telegraph lines. This meant that islanders could not communicate with the outside world, including Newfoundland, where the storm was headed. Ditches and pathways in Sidney, Glace Bay, and other Cape Breton towns were flooded. So were highways and railways, making transportation almost impossible.
Even worse, this August Gale had already shown its murderousness. She had sunk the Joyce M. Smith off Nova Scotia. The Joyce M. Smith was a two-masted schooner built in Salmon River, Nova Scotia in 1920. Her tonnage was 122.57, and she was 122 feet long and twenty-five feet wide, a big vessel. Her captain was Edward Maxner of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, and his son William travelled with him.
Almost the entire crew of the Joyce M. Smith were Newfoundlanders. Fred and Andrew Barnes came from Fortune Bay. Charles and George Burbridge came from Epworth on the Burin Peninsula. Robert Cheeseman and his stepson Philip Cheeseman were Burin Peninsula men, too, from Burin Bay Arm. Samuel Crocker was from Creston South, near Marystown. Arthur Dominick was a native of Belloram; so was Thomas Poole. It is unknown what communities James and Thomas Samuel Farewell came from. James and Murdock Hancock came from Pool Cove in Fortune Bay. Benjamin Hannaram (probably Hanrahan) came from an unknown community, undoubtedly on the Burin Peninsula. Cousins James and Thomas Hodder were from Rock Harbour. Archibald Keating and James and Samuel Warren were from Salt Pond, Burin. John Whalen, married with six children, came from Fox Cove. John Pike, a father of seven, was a Newfoundlander from an unknown South Coast community.
Richard knew a number of these men; heâd met them at the Hollett and Brinton premises in Burin, and heâd fished with a few of them. Angela knew John Whalenâs wife, now widow, and sheâd heard tell of many of the rest. Most of the men were in their twenties and thirties. The storm showed all of them no mercy as they fished and then struggled for their lives off Sable Island.
Not for nothing did the Nova Scotia newspapers call the August Gale of 1927 one of the worst in their history.
*
The storm turned its attention to Newfoundland, as if the island had been its target all along. It was in the wee hours of August 25 that the gale reached over to the island. With Cape Breton, Nova Scotia cut off, there was no warning. It started licking the Southwest Coast first, then swooping small boats out of the sea and pitching them on land or into the sky. They came crashing down in a hundred broken pieces, a manâs livelihood lost. The storm aimed at wharves, and they crumbled as if on cue, falling into the water, where the next day fishermen could only stand onshore and stare helplessly at the sticks covering the waves. Then larger vessels were pulled from their moorings and masts torn from schooners. People looked out their windows and saw these things happen. Then they drew back in fear. They thought worriedly of the Banks fishermen out there somewhere. They said silent prayers or crossed themselves.
By now, the stormâs force was full and its breadth was immense. It blew houses off their foundations all over the island. It blew down a church at Ship Cove. It tore up fences, pulled out trees, and shattered windows. It wrecked fishing premises, sent drying fish flying from beaches, and shredded crops that had been tended all summer. Its effects were felt in St. Johnâs in the east, Port aux Basques in the west, and Fortune in the south. It seemed impossible to overestimate its maliciousness.
Chapter
By then the gale had crossed to Cape Breton. Barometers on the island showed that atmospheric pressure was falling rapidly. In addition, easterly winds had developed as the storm began to reach its full force.
It flattened buildings in Cape Breton and tore down telephone and telegraph lines. This meant that islanders could not communicate with the outside world, including Newfoundland, where the storm was headed. Ditches and pathways in Sidney, Glace Bay, and other Cape Breton towns were flooded. So were highways and railways, making transportation almost impossible.
Even worse, this August Gale had already shown its murderousness. She had sunk the Joyce M. Smith off Nova Scotia. The Joyce M. Smith was a two-masted schooner built in Salmon River, Nova Scotia in 1920. Her tonnage was 122.57, and she was 122 feet long and twenty-five feet wide, a big vessel. Her captain was Edward Maxner of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, and his son William travelled with him.
Almost the entire crew of the Joyce M. Smith were Newfoundlanders. Fred and Andrew Barnes came from Fortune Bay. Charles and George Burbridge came from Epworth on the Burin Peninsula. Robert Cheeseman and his stepson Philip Cheeseman were Burin Peninsula men, too, from Burin Bay Arm. Samuel Crocker was from Creston South, near Marystown. Arthur Dominick was a native of Belloram; so was Thomas Poole. It is unknown what communities James and Thomas Samuel Farewell came from. James and Murdock Hancock came from Pool Cove in Fortune Bay. Benjamin Hannaram (probably Hanrahan) came from an unknown community, undoubtedly on the Burin Peninsula. Cousins James and Thomas Hodder were from Rock Harbour. Archibald Keating and James and Samuel Warren were from Salt Pond, Burin. John Whalen, married with six children, came from Fox Cove. John Pike, a father of seven, was a Newfoundlander from an unknown South Coast community.
Richard knew a number of these men; heâd met them at the Hollett and Brinton premises in Burin, and heâd fished with a few of them. Angela knew John Whalenâs wife, now widow, and sheâd heard tell of many of the rest. Most of the men were in their twenties and thirties. The storm showed all of them no mercy as they fished and then struggled for their lives off Sable Island.
Not for nothing did the Nova Scotia newspapers call the August Gale of 1927 one of the worst in their history.
*
The storm turned its attention to Newfoundland, as if the island had been its target all along. It was in the wee hours of August 25 that the gale reached over to the island. With Cape Breton, Nova Scotia cut off, there was no warning. It started licking the Southwest Coast first, then swooping small boats out of the sea and pitching them on land or into the sky. They came crashing down in a hundred broken pieces, a manâs livelihood lost. The storm aimed at wharves, and they crumbled as if on cue, falling into the water, where the next day fishermen could only stand onshore and stare helplessly at the sticks covering the waves. Then larger vessels were pulled from their moorings and masts torn from schooners. People looked out their windows and saw these things happen. Then they drew back in fear. They thought worriedly of the Banks fishermen out there somewhere. They said silent prayers or crossed themselves.
By now, the stormâs force was full and its breadth was immense. It blew houses off their foundations all over the island. It blew down a church at Ship Cove. It tore up fences, pulled out trees, and shattered windows. It wrecked fishing premises, sent drying fish flying from beaches, and shredded crops that had been tended all summer. Its effects were felt in St. Johnâs in the east, Port aux Basques in the west, and Fortune in the south. It seemed impossible to overestimate its maliciousness.
Chapter
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