Silk Sails (13 page)

Jane Bartlett, married woman of Rattling Brook, owned four ships over a period of nine years in the 1930s and 1940s: the
Arizona
from 1932-34, the
Radio City
from 1935-36, the
Audrey Bartlett
from 1936-37, and the
Tempest
from 1940-42. Jane's husband, William Francis Bartlett, was a merchant and promoter of shipbuilding in the Green Bay area; all four ships were built under his auspices. Julia Gilbert, married woman of Haystack, Placentia Bay, bought the 33-ton
Bride and Annie Dunphy
in August 1937, installed an engine in it in 1939, and sold it in April 1946. Gertrude (Yarn) Evans, whose husband Tom managed the H. E. Petite business firm in Mose Ambrose for several years, bought the 34-ton
Jessie Beatrice
from Ada Annie Petite in 1937, installed an auxiliary motor screw in the ship in 1938 and sold it in 1942 to Jerry Petite & Sons Ltd. of English Harbour West. Mary Vallis, married woman of Coombe's Cove, Fortune Bay, bought the
R. J. Devereux
in 1941 and changed the name to
Mary King
(her birth name?). The vessel was broken up at Harbour Breton in 1952, so it can be assumed that it was in use until that time.

There were two women on the south coast of Newfoundland who are deserving of special mention. The first is Ada Annie Petite
of Mose Ambrose. Ada Annie Hill was born at Sandy Point, St. George's Bay, Port au Port Peninsula, in 1887 and was teaching at Spaniard's Bay when Harry Edwin Petite, a young widower from Mose Ambrose, came to town on business and just happened to meet the local school teacher. They were married in 1912, and their son Gordon was born in 1920. At the point where the family business, H. E. Petite Ltd., had reached a level of prosperity where Harry could spend most of his time at home, he was drowned in 1925 when an open freighter taking supplies from English Harbour West to Mose Ambrose swamped in heavy seas and high winds with all hands lost. Ada Annie was described as “a well-read woman of strong character.” Using all her personal resources she kept the family business going, including the bank fishery, with the help of many hired servants and ships' crews. She supervised every aspect of the operation and set an example of hard work and unique resourcefulness. In 1928 she bought the Gloucester-built ship
Charlie and Eric
; it was lost off Cape Harrigan, Labrador, in 1933. In 1934 she bought the 129-ton
Rex Perry
, one of the first power vessels on the coast; it was lost in 1952 off Miquelon Head. And in 1937 she bought the 34-ton locally built ship, the
Jessie Beatrice
; she sold this vessel to Gertrude Evans of Mose Ambrose in 1938. She also owned the schooner
Uncle Bob
. Ada Annie built up a very prosperous business and kept it going until her son Gordon was old enough to take it over, and in 1953 he bought out Jerry Petite & Sons Ltd. of English Harbour West and operated both firms. In that same year, 1953, Ada Annie went to England for the Queen's Coronation. The Mose Ambrose directory of 1936 described Ada Annie Petite as “general merchant, vessel owner, importer of British, American and Canadian goods, exporter of codfish, cod oil, lobster, salmon: Dealer in dry goods, groceries, provisions, hardware and fishery supplies.” In addition to the store at Mose Ambrose, she also operated branch stores at Red Cove, Boxey and Coomb's Cove. In 1954 Ada Annie moved to Toronto to live with her daughter Ada and died there in 1964. The firm at English Harbour West is operated today by Debbie Petite, Ada Annie's granddaughter.

Deserving a category of her own is shipowner Marie Smart Penny. Marie Smart was born at Little Bay, Notre Dame Bay, and graduated from the Channel Anglican Academy, later taking private tutoring at Carbonear; she subsequently graduated from St. Bride's College, Littledale. She married George J. Penny, manager of John Penny & Sons Ltd. of Ramea, in 1927. When her husband, by then Senator Penny, died in 1949, Marie became the president of the Penny Company. She was at one time the owner of ten vessels and was familiarly known as “Queen of the Fishing Fleet.” She had more than 200 workers in her employ and knew every one of them by name. In 1970 her company shipped four million pounds of processed fish to the United States. Marie Penny's daughter Margaret, a graduate of Mount Saint Vincent School of Commerce, and her son-in-law Spencer Lake served with Marie and four other members of the Board of Directors to continue a most successful business along the south coast for many years. In 1959 she was one of only 35 Canadians selected to dine with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Ottawa. At her home in Ramea, known as Four Winds, she once entertained Governor General Vincent Massey, as well as many other dignitaries and ordinary visitors. In 1967, in recognition of her abilities and business acumen, she was elected the first woman president of the Fisheries Council of Canada, a 400-member organization. Most of the Penny ships were registered under the company name, and Marie Penny is mentioned only once in the ship registers when in 1954 she and Spencer Lake bought the
Blue Surf
, a 178-ton ship from Job Bros. and sold it later that year to Burgeo Fish Industries Ltd. In the records both Marie and Spencer Lake are titled as “Business Managers.” Marie Penny died in 1970.

Ownership by married women prevailed over ownership by widows and spinsters, particularly after about 1900, and it soon became the dominant form of sole ownership by women.

For more women Sole Owners see Appendix A.

The second most favoured method of owning ships was joint ownership in which a woman was one owner of two or one owner among several: a widow owning with her deceased husband's partners (usually his brothers); a woman owning with her husband; a single woman owning with family members; a woman owning with several other males; a woman owning with one or more women; and women purchasing one or more of the 64 shares in a ship.

Margaret McCarthy, widow of Carbonear, was a joint owner with John McCarthy, master of the ship
George
when the vessel was “raised on and enlarged” in 1823. Eric Gosse of Spaniard's Bay stated in a 1995 letter to me that Margaret and John were joint owners of this vessel as early as 1804, which would have been before ship registration was regularized in Newfoundland. There are other references to registrations of the
George
in 1812 and in 1826. Interestingly, at the top of the original registration is written: “D. Buchan, Capt. of Ship
Grasshopper
& senior naval officer.” This was David Buchan of Beothuk fame, but it seems from the records that he did not come into possession of the
Grasshopper
until 1819, so another registration may have occurred that year. The role of the woman in the act of registration may be ascertained from the wording of the original agreement. Of John McCarthy it says: “…and having sworn that he together with Margaret McCarthy also of Carbonear aforesaid widow who is not within 20 miles of this place and who has not absented herself to avoid taking the Oath required…” Presumably the registration took place at St. John's, or possibly at Harbour Grace. Compare the previous wording for Ann McCarthy, the first of the widow sole owners, which is even more specific.

Mary Parsons, widow of Clown's Cove, was listed earlier as a sole owner of the
Margaret & Sally
in 1834. But 16 years before that, in 1818, she was a joint owner of the 35-ton schooner
Venus
with Edward and John Parsons, planters and builders of the vessel. It is just possible that this may have been another Mary Parsons; the 16-year gap seems curious. Edward Parsons was the master of this vessel. He and John were probably her brothers-in-law.

Another Mary Parsons of Clown's Cove made an appearance in 1848, but this one was the wife of Alfred Parsons. Alfred was a master mariner and probably was away when the two merchants who held his mortgage on the 38-ton schooner
Zephyr
, Charles F. Bennett and Thomas Bennett, transferred that mortgage to two other merchants, William H. Taylor and John Bemister. The two new merchants are noted to be “Trustees to Mary Parsons Clown's Cove wife of Alf.d Parsons of Newfoundland, Master Mariner.” The note was not added to the record until May 20, 1854. Alfred must have been away on a prolonged sea voyage. On his return Alfred lengthened and enlarged the ship at New Perlican in May 1855 and registered it
de novo
in 1856. It is possible that Mary may have been continuing a local fishing venture in her husband's absence, under the watchful eyes of the merchants, or she may have fallen behind in her obligations to them.

Olive Hederson, widow of James of Brigus, was a joint owner with Thomas Hederson of the ship
Twin Brothers
when it was registered in 1823. The same note about Capt. David Buchan appears at the top of this registration form. Elizabeth Pitts, widow, was a one-third owner with James and William Pitts of Belle Isle, Conception Bay, in 1825 when they registered the
Belinda
. That means each of them owned 21
¹
/3. Elizabeth was probably the widow of John Pitts. The vessel was lost in 1836.

Mary Taylor, widow of Carbonear, owned 32 shares of the schooner
Industry
when it was registered in 1826. Thomas Chancey, merchant of Carbonear, was the master and owned the other 32 shares. In that same year Elizabeth Taylor, widow of Carbonear, was a joint owner of the ship
Active
along with William Powell, the master, merchant Robert Pack of Carbonear, and John Gosse of Poole, and William Fryer of Wimbourne, England. Taylor and Powell owned 21 shares each, and Pack, Gosse and Fryer owned 22 shares among them. Elizabeth Taylor was the “Administratrix to the Estate and Effects” of the late Nicholas Powell, so she probably was his sister. The vessel was broken up in 1829.

The merchant Simon Levi and Ann Toque, widow of Philip Toque of Carbonear, were joint owners of the ship
Elizabeth
when it was registered in 1831 (they held 32 shares each and were designated “co-partners in trade”). Levi and Philip Toque had been partners when they registered the 105-ton schooner
Alpha
in 1828. Philip must have died before 1831 since Levi and Ann Toque were co-partners in December 1835 when they sold the ship to St. John's merchants. Levi was a Jew and in the election year riots of 1836 his house was attacked twice under the accusation that he was an informer. When Levi died in 1837, the trustees of his insolvent estate transferred all his shares to John Rorke, merchant of Adams Cove, and Ann Toque continued as Rorke's “co-partner in trade” when they re-registered the ship in 1839. Ann was the daughter of Robert Howell of Carbonear and is listed with her three brothers in the
Conception Bay Plantation Book
of 1805 as inheritors of their father's property there in 1800. Of additional interest is the fact that Ann and Philip Tocque's son, also named Philip, became a literary figure of some note. While still a young man in Carbonear, he and John Elson and others founded a literary circle. In 1849 he moved to Boston and became involved in several liberal causes, including the rights of women. Obviously, his mother's proactive approach had made a strong impression on him. By 1852 young Philip had moved to Nova Scotia, and in the 1870s he was living in Toronto.

Catherine Morris, widow of St. John's and Burin, was joint owner with Joseph Ryan, merchant of St. John's, of three ships,
Shamrock, Saint Patrick,
and
Calypso
, when these were registered in 1831, 1832 and 1833. They are designated as “co-partners in trade.” The first vessel was lost in 1834; in 1835 Catherine sold her shares in the second vessel; the third vessel was still operating in 1837. Catherine was the widow of Geoffrey Morris, and the firm of Morris & Ryan of Poole and Liverpool had been operating in Burin from at least 1812.

Charles Simms of St. John's, barrister, and Elizabeth Henderson, widow of Harbour Grace, registered the British-built brig-rigged ship
Elizabeth
in 1837. Each of them held 32 shares, and they reregistered the ship in 1844, obviously as the result of modifications and some rebuilding. Ann Elizabeth Henderson died in 1858 at the age of 68; she had been the wife of Jordan Henderson, merchant at Harbour Grace. Charles Simms was her son-in-law. Richard Brown, planter, and Catherine Brown, widow of Burin, jointly owned the ship
Catherine
when it was registered in 1844. Richard had been the builder. He had to take a mortgage on his 48 shares from a St. John's merchant, but Catherine did not take a mortgage on her 16 shares.

Twenty-three years before the Married Women's Property Act was proclaimed in 1876, Julia Kelligrew was a married woman shipowner in partnership with her husband, William Kelligrew, and John Goodridge, both merchants at St. John's. In 1853 they registered their ship
Ann
, with William and John holding 48 shares together as “co-partners in trade,” and Julia holding 11 shares each for her under-age children John William and William George. This was obviously Julia's way of providing for her children's future. Unfortunately, the vessel was stranded and declared lost near North Sydney in 1854 and was sold by public auction. The Kelligrews were in business at St. John's until at least 1875.

Ann Giles, widow of Carbonear, was a partner with William Giles, John Giles and Richard Giles when they registered the ship
Nelson
in 1853. Each owned 16 shares. The ship was broken up at Carbonear in 1870. In 1855 Robert Pack of Carbonear registered the ship
Christina
and his partners were “…John Gosse of the Town of Poole in the County of Dorset, merchant, and Mary Rogers Fryer, widow, and representative of the late John Fryer of Wimborne in the County of Dorset, merchant…” This vessel was lost in 1862.

Catherine Stoneman, widow of St. John's, was a partner with George Stoneman of Trinity when they registered the ship
Henry Thomas
in 1858. Catherine's husband William had died at Trinity in 1856, so Catherine had obviously moved to St. John's in the interim. Their son, William R. Stoneman, became a writer and was the author of a book,
The Penitent's Tale: Or, The Backslider's
Experience
, published by the
Morning Post
in St. John's in 1848. The Stonemans had been living at Trinity since at least 1828, and William had owned six ships during that period, including one named
Catherine
. The
Henry Thomas
was lost in 1866 on a voyage from North Sydney to Newfoundland.