Silk Sails (12 page)

As a footnote to the preceding examples, it should be noted that in Vol. 22, Folio 80, at the Crown Lands Office, there is a transaction concerning the Morris family of Burin: “Eliza Morris of Burin widow in trust for the purposes declared in the last will of Mary Morris of Burin Spinster deceased and administratrix of the estate of the late Patrick Morris of Burin merchant deceased, her heirs and assigns…(land) known as Morris' Point, between Bull Cove and Ship Cove…7 acres and 8 perchas…$350…June 7, 1877.” These were the incomplete notes I made in 2001, and I am not sure how they should be interpreted. Mary Morris was undoubtedly Patrick's sister. Were Eliza and Eloise the same person?

Mary Ann March of Old Perlican inherited two ships when her husband, Elias March, merchant, died without a will on January 18, 1908. The ships were the
Emily Bell
and the
New Daisy
. Letters of Administration were granted to Mary Ann on May 1, 1908, and she sold both ships to William C. Job, merchant at St. John's, on November 18, 1908, having held them for little more than six months. Elias and his brother Eleazor jointly owned the business, but Eleazor, as captain of the ship
Dove
, was lost with all hands in 1871. The house flag was composed of two vertical red bars separated by a white bar. The business was bought and operated by one of March's clerks, George Howell. A nephew, Alfred March, son of Ebenezar, founded the March Shipping Line of Montreal. After World War II, this house flag was flown regularly by the Montreal firm.

The first spinster sole owner in the ship registers was Mary Foley Morris of St. John's. She may have been a sister of Patrick Morris whose widow Catherine was a shipowner in Burin and St. John's in the 1830s. Mary Foley Morris started her shipowning with a bang. She registered three ships in 1842:
John & Mary, Nancy
, and
Relief
. These had all been previously owned by Thomas Foley of Harbour Grace, undoubtedly a relative. She took mortgages on
all three from merchants James Niner Wood and James Douglas. Margaret Blake, spinster of St. John's, was sole owner of the brigantine
Triton
when it was registered in 1845. She sold the ship in 1847. She appears to have inherited the ship
United Brothers
from her brother (?), Thomas Blake, and she had it rebuilt and re-registered in 1847. Patrick Sexton was the master.

Elizabeth Freake, spinster of Joe Batt's Arm, was the sister of Charles Freake of Birchy Bay, the builder and master of the 88-ton
Homeward
when it was registered in 1889. She owned all 64 shares so it is likely that she “staked” her brother to build the ship. Elizabeth Pennock, spinster of St. John's, in 1902 purchased the ship
Tasman
which had been built in Holland in 1893; it must have been a small luxury ship for the specifications mention crew space, captain's cabin, mate's berth, bosun's locker, storeroom, pantry and sail locker, and a house on deck. However, by the end of 1903 she had authorized Daniel Connally, master mariner, to sell the ship on her behalf. Gertrude Newman, spinster of Boyd's Cove, owned the 33-ton schooner
Margaret Newman
and registered it in 1910, the year that it was built by Joseph Newman, her brother (?). Joseph Butt, a fisherman at Joe Batt's Arm, held a mortgage of $800 for her at 5% per annum and it was payable by October 1, 1916.

Other spinster owners included: Evangeline Booth, who owned the Salvation Army ship
Bonavista
in 1899, originally named the
Salvationist
; Nina Osmond of Exploits, Burnt Islands, who bought the schooner
Phoebe M.
in 1936 and the
Lom
in 1938 and who carried on a business with her brother Otto for several years; Mary A. T. Roberts of Twillingate, who bought the schooner
Hattie A. Heckman
from Lucy Roberts, widow, in 1927; Mary Frances Bishop of Salmonier, who bought the
Mary and Bride Bishop
in 1927 (this vessel was condemned at Renews in 1952 as being unfit for further service); and Rosella A. Emberley of Creston, who owned the small schooner
Rose and Blanche
, which was built by her brother (?) William Emberley in 1928.

Sole ownership by married women started in 1885, nine years after the Married Women's Property Act was passed in Newfoundland.
The first married woman to own all 64 shares in a ship was Martha Mitchell of Grand Bank, wife of Charles Mitchell. Martha was a Hickman from Grand Bank. She registered the
Hattie E. Collins
that year. This ship had been built in 1866 at Booth Bay, Maine, U.S. The ship was active until 1888, and there is no information on her beyond that date. Mary Ann Quirk, married woman of Fortune Harbour, in 1893 owned the schooner
Notre Dame,
which had been built at Fortune Harbour by John Manuel of Kite Cove, almost surely for her specific use. Elizabeth Dean, married woman of St. John's, registered the
Switcher
in 1894; she sold it to Edward Maher in 1899. She also owned the
Isabella
for a time and sold it in 1901 to a master mariner in Nova Scotia. In 1895 Ellen Deen, married woman of Bonne Bay, registered the ship
Mary Ellen
, which had been built by Thomas Deen that same year. The small 12-ton ship was lost the next year “north-west of Fish Island Straits at Bellisle.”

Margaret Stone of Rocky Brook, Smith Sound, Trinity Bay, registered the 37-ton
Cumberland
in 1901; the ship had been built by her husband, Emmanuel Stone, in 1898. On November 19, 1906, Margaret sold the vessel to Walter Baine Grieve, a St. John's merchant. Margaret is listed again later as a joint owner. Mrs. Mary Walsh of Harbour Breton bought the
Mary Sheehan
from French interests at St. Pierre-Miquelon in 1905, and it was lost in Fortune Bay just 20 days after she had purchased the ship. Bridget Mahoney, married woman of Bay Roberts, registered the vessel
Birch Hill
in 1911; it was “totally lost” or “cast away” on October 14, 1916, on the way back from Labrador. For more information on this case see the later section on “Ships, Irregularities and Even Hints of Scandal.” Grace Petipas of Summerside, Bay of Islands, in 1911 bought the
Henry M. Stanley
, which had been built in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1899 and rebuilt in Bay of Islands in 1911. It was a Labrador-going ship, and she sold it on July 4, 1913, to merchants in Halifax.

As the twentieth century approached, shipowning by women seemed to have become a more natural activity. Bride (or Bridget) Goff, married woman of St. Joseph's, bought two small ships in
1898, the
Hero
and the
Florence Silver
. Rachel Johnson, married woman of Little Catalina, became owner of the
Rego,
which her husband William built in 1899. She sold it the next year to a trio of merchants in Catalina but bought it back from them in 1905. Mary Keech, married woman of Epworth, bought the 55-ton
Jessie M
in 1904, held onto it for six years and sold it to a merchant in 1910. The Keech family later moved to western Canada.

In 1902 Anastassia McDonald of Salmonier owned two ships: the
Bonny Lass
and the
Senator
. John McDonald had bought the first vessel in 1898 and transferred title by bill of sale to Anastassia in 1902. He did the same thing with the second vessel, which he bought in November 1902 and sold to Anastassia one month later. This may well have been a husband-to-wife transfer, but there seems to be some modeling going on here, which is evident in 1909 when Anastassia sold the
Bonny Lass
to Ellen McDonald, married woman of Salmonier. Ellen then bought the
Anita C
from Michael F. McDonald in 1922. Anastassia McDonald died in September 1917 at Newbridge, Salmonier, leaving a husband, three daughters and two sons.

Theresa Stone, married woman of Catalina, bought the 20-ton
Theresa S.
from its builder William Johnson in 1906, naming the ship after herself and holding on to it for eight years. John House of Gooseberry Island built the
Lizzie H.
in 1902, sold it to St. John's merchant William C. Job in 1903, bought it back from Job in 1905, sold it to Emma House (very probably his wife) by bill of sale in 1906, and she sold it to George Knowling, St. John's merchant, in 1910.

Jane Lawrence, widow of Alexander Lawrence of St. John's, was the owner of four ships. Alexander died in 1906 and James Lawrence was appointed executor of the will. In 1908 he sold the 43-ton
Glencoe
to Jane, which she used for nine years, the
JimL.,
on which she took a $2,000 mortgage in 1911 and which she sold in 1913, and the
Emily
. In 1918 James Lawrence sold the 63-ton
Lewisport
to Jane, and she sold it the same day to Joshua Winsor of Wesleyville. A quick sale indeed!

Ellen M. Shea, married woman of St. John's, bought the 142-ton
Artist
from Patrick J. Shea two days after he bought it in August 1916. The vessel was in a collision with the S.S.
Espanolets
of Malaga in the Spanish Mediterranean on February 20, 1917 or 1927; the date is indistinct in the records.

Catherine Greene, widow of Cape Broyle, bought the 44-ton ship
Effie M.
in 1921 under Mortgage B (the second mortgage), which had been taken out by the previous owner, Jesse Winsor of Wesleyville. Catherine Fewer was born at Chapel's Cove, Harbour Main, in 1855. In 1880 she became the second wife of Constable Thomas Greene (his first wife had died in childbirth). Catherine and Thomas had thirteen children; her eldest son Walter was killed in 1917 during World War I. Thomas died in 1914 while stationed on Bell Island, and Catherine returned to Cape Broyle. She may have bought the ship for her son Greg, who ran a general store in Cape Broyle. According to family testimony, although she had little education, she carried herself like a queen and acted the part of a refined lady. She went blind in her late years and died in October 1946 at age 90.

Eliza Reid was born at North Harbour in 1885 and in 1900 married Josiah Pafford, a planter/trader in that place. They had twelve children. Eliza had a Grade 8 education and was a co-partner in the business with her husband and was the bookkeeper. Josiah died in 1924 with typhoid fever, as did five of their children, and in 1928 Eliza married George H. Eddy, who operated a general store, packed herring for export, and was in the salt-cod business. They continued to use the small schooner
L. G. P.
, which Josiah had left to Eliza and which was named for their two daughters, Lillian and Gertrude Pafford. Not until 1931, seven years after Josiah's death, did Eliza seek Letters of Administration to regularize ownership of the schooner. She obviously did this in order to sell the ship. Letters were granted to her on May 19, 1931, and she sold the ship nine days later to William Farrell, master mariner of St. John's.

The length of time that women held on to ships is of special interest. Here is a sampling from the records. Ellen Hann of Petit Forte bought the
Christie M.
from the Marystown Trading Co. Ltd. in 1924 and held on to the ship for almost 11 years. Ellen Whelan was born in 1879 at St. Brendan's, Bonavista Bay, graduated with teacher training from St. Bride's College, Littledale, and went to Petit Forte as a teacher, later marrying Michael Hann. They had nine children. Ellen owned the ship
Christie M.
from 1924 to 1930. She was involved in the family business as secretary and bookkeeper. She died in 1955. Irene Jane Blackmore, married woman of Port Union, bought the
W. J. Phillips
in July 1926 and sold it in July 1937, exactly 11 years. Elsie T. Roberts, married woman of Wesleyville, bought the
Lillian and Jackie
in March 1928 and sold it in June 1939, that is, after 11 years and 3 months. Elizabeth Jane House, married woman of Catalina, inherited the
Lizzie Guy
from Mark Guy (probably her brother) and held on to it for almost 12 years.

Eliza Matilda Pardy, whose husband was Capt. Thomas W. Pardy of Harbour Breton, bought the 23-ton
Maraville
in January 1930 and sold it in October 1943, having used it for 13 years and 9 months. Eliza Sibley was born in 1881 at Harbour Breton. She and Capt. Tom were married in 1904 and they had two children. Eliza died in 1967 at age 86. Annie (Newman) Hannam, whose husband was Johnnie of Rose Blanche, bought the
J. A. Hannam
in October 1931 and sold it in September 1946, that is, 15 years less 1 month.

Sarah Blaikie Ayre inherited the 32-ton
Cactus
when her husband John Bray Ayre died in April 1915, and she sold it in December 1930, that is, 15 years and 8 months. Lydia Hollett of Burin, bought the
James Young
from Hollett's Fisheries Ltd. of St. John's in 1931, had mortgages on the ship for 13 years, and sold the ship after more than 17 years of use. Lydia Foote was born at Step-a-Side, Burin, in 1872 and married William Henry Hollett in 1897; they bought a business at Burin North in 1914, had three children, and Lydia died in 1957. Jessie Bragg, widow of Port Union, held on to the ship
Marie Yvonne
for 21 years (1943 to 1964), and
Maud Billard, with her husband Simeon, held on to the two ships
Dolores Kaye
and
Austin & Dianne
for a total of 36 years.

There are other cases which are of interest. Harriet (Edwards) Billard of Rose Blanche, whose husband was Samuel, a fisherman, owned the 25-ton
Ethel & Albert
from 1932 to 1939. She was an aunt of Maud Billard of Harbour Le Cou, also a shipowner, so again we see an example of modeling shipowning from one generation to another. Annie Hickey of Harbour Breton, whose husband was Augustus Hickey, bought the 12-ton ship
Eleanor & Barbara
from the Stone Brothers of West Point, La Poile, on August 16, 1951. Augustus was a trader in the Bay de Loo, Rencontre East area. Annie ran the store and was in charge of the business in Harbour Breton. Annie's birth name was Sarah Ann Bullen and she was born in 1912 at Lamaline. She and Augustus had eight children; they later moved to Wood's Island, and she died about 1992.