Silk Sails (15 page)

There is a long hiatus between the Stones and other married couples becoming joint owners on the south and south-west coasts. There it became commonplace for husband and wife to be joint owners. Joint ownership by husband and wife is particularly focused in the Rose Blanche and Harbour Le Cou areas. In 1944 Gordon Lewis Skinner and Pearl Melita Skinner of Rose Blanche were joint owners of the
Doris A. Neal
, a fishing schooner. Gabriel Billard and Bessie Billard of Rose Blanche bought the
Calvin Anne
in 1943 and re-sold it in 1948 to George Robert Durnford and May Durnford of Francois. Though her husband died in 1949, May held on to the ship until 1960 when she sold it. Edwin H. Hardy and Clara Theresa Hardy of Rose Blanche bought the
Emma H.
in 1945. Clara had been designated as “housewife” in the original registry, but this was crossed out by a later hand and “married woman” was written in. Martin Collier and Mary Elizabeth Collier of Rose Blanche bought the
Chesley Russell
in 1943 and sold it in 1956, having held it for a total of 13 years. John William Wells and Alice Wells of Rose Blanche bought the
Melita Wells
in 1944 and sold it in 1955. Already noted in
Chapter 1
is the case of Henry and Myrtle Hatcher of Rose Blanche, and there were at least six other married couples in this small town who owned fishing ships jointly and used them in the fishery for periods up to 12 years. For these cases see Appendix A.

In nearby Harbour Le Cou the situation was similar though the numbers were not as great. There were only five women ship-owners in the small fishing village between 1926 and 1983, but the pattern of married couples owning a ship jointly is evident here also. Augustus Buckland and Phoebe Buckland bought the
Dolores Kaye
in 1943 and sold it to another married couple in 1947, Simeon Matthew Billard and Maud Billard, also of Harbour Le Cou. In 1946 the Bucklands bought the
Carolyn Marie
and sold it in 1959. Phoebe was a Herridge, and she and Gus had seven children. She arranged for the sharemen who worked with Gus to live in the
house with the family during the fishing season, fed them, did their washing, and worked on the flakes making fish. In 1963 Simeon Billard registered the
Austin & Dianne
, a longliner of which he had been sole owner since 1960, jointly in his and Maud's names, and they used the vessel until 1983 when it was lost at sea. Simeon handled “the business end of things,” i.e., the ship and dealing with the merchants, but he passed all the money over to Maud who handled it wisely. There were no mortgages taken on any of these ships. I expect that they had similar success in the fishery to that of Henry and Myrtle Hatcher and Simeon and Violet Blanche Butt.

Along the south and south-west coasts the same ownership pattern emerged. At Port aux Basques Michael and Hannah Maud McDonald jointly bought the
Allan Graham
in 1943. They obviously moved to North Sydney in 1950 since they transferred the registry of the ship to that port. Albert and Elsie Read of La Poile bought the
Coombes
in 1945 from Robert Allan Newman, merchant at Petites; the fate of that vessel cannot be determined from the records. We have already noted the Durnfords of Francois.

Before leaving the south-west coast, we should note that there was some modeling going on here. What was started by one couple became a model for many others. Joint ownership by couples made it easier to transfer full ownership to a surviving spouse; exclusive ownership may have created more difficulties. The advantage to the family of leaving everything to the wife is that no taxes were assessed in the event of the husband's death. There also existed in many Newfoundland communities a deeply ingrained superstition about making a will; it was either postponed until death from natural causes was imminent or it was regarded in superstitious lore as a prelude to death, i.e., bad luck. Simeon Butt, for example, registered all his property in his wife's name (ship, house, and so forth.) but did not make a will until after his wife died. The pattern of joint ownership by husband and wife became a common practice on the south-west coast, and I surmise that women's influence both initiated and spread the pattern throughout the region.

There are several cases of women owning ships jointly with other women, and they fall into two categories: two women own a ship with one or more men; two or more women jointly own a ship. There were only two instances of the first. Mary Howell and Jane Gould, widows and administratrixes to the estate of the late William Howell of Carbonear, were partners with William Willis Bemister when their 84-ton ship
Benjamin
was registered in 1839. The ship had been rebuilt before it was re-registered in 1839; it was totally lost in 1870 and it appears that both women retained ownership of their joint 32 shares during this period. As was seen earlier, Caroline Winsor, married woman, and Jane Winsor, spinster, were joint owners with four Winsor males at Aquaforte when the
Pelter
was registered in 1844.

The first instance of the second category is joint ownership between Mary and Ann Taylor, spinsters of Carbonear, when they registered their schooner
Mary & Ann
(note the name) in 1870. Each held 32 shares. The ship was lost near Copper Island, Fogo, on November 16, 1870, undoubtedly on the way back from the Labrador. Emmie Wilcox and Henrietta Roberts, married women of Brigus, bought the ship
Hyacinth
in 1902, and it was lost near Change Islands in August 1909. Edward Murphy, planter of St. John's, sold the
Bertha May
to Mary and Annie Murphy, married women, in 1905. Mary Murphy died in 1909, and Annie acquired full title to all shares. Annie took a mortgage on the ship in 1916 and it was discharged in 1919, at which time she sold the ship to Elizabeth Murphy, married woman.

In 1909 Jane and Ellen Rideout of Bonavista Bay, married women, bought the
Cecil Belle
from Edward F. Harvey, St. John's merchant, and they sold it to Job Bros. & Co. in 1915, after six years of use. Dorcas Phillips, widow, and Maggie Anstey, married woman, of Twillingate were appointed executresses for the estates of Martin and James Phillips when the two men died in January and May of 1927, respectively; they sold the ship
Mabel
after having owned it for only five months. The 56-ton schooner
Pandora
was bought
by John and Josiah Yetman, fishermen of Harbour Grace, in 1906, and in 1909 they sold the vessel to Susannah and Minnie Yetman, married women. The women took a mortgage with John Rorke of Carbonear in 1910; the mortgage was transferred to John T. McRae, merchant at Harbour Grace, in 1913 and the mortgage was discharged in 1920. The vessel was sold as soon as the mortgage was discharged. Albert Hodder of Creston sold his ship
Ernie Loretta
to Lily Eliza and Sadie Pearl Hodder, married women of the same place, in 1958. They held 32 shares each. Lily Eliza was appointed the managing owner. In May 1960 Lily Eliza sold her 32 shares, and in May 1964 Sadie Pearl sold her shares.

In April 1937 Anna Mary Manuel and Myra Maud Bennett, married women of Corner Brook, bought the 101-ton ship
Dante
from Baine Johnston & Co. Ltd. and sold it in October 1939. Mary Florence Forward and Eleanor Tibbo of Grand Bank each owned 32 shares in the vessel
Chesley R.
for more than ten years; their husbands were business partners in the firm Forward and Tibbo.

Several of these types of cases were discussed in the first section on joint ownership, for example, Mary Parsons of Clown's Cove, Conception Bay. Mary Parsons, widow, jointly owned the ship
Venus
with Edward and John Parsons in 1818.

Mary Ann Stone, widow of Greenspond, owned 32 shares in the
Dash
when it was registered in 1867. George Allan, planter, owned the other 32 shares. Mary Ann was the widow of Benjamin Stone and married George Wright in 1868. George Allan was married to Rachel Stone, undoubtedly Benjamin's sister. Ada Mugford, married woman and later widow of Port de Grave, owned shares in the 43-ton
Tiger
from 1867 with William Mugford, Sr. (probably Ada's husband), William Mugford, Jr., Anthony Mugford and Elijah Mugford. William Sr. died in 1872. The three remaining males sold a total of 48 shares to Ada in 1887, and they held only 16 shares among them. In 1908 they sold a total of 32 shares to Abraham
Stone. This may well be a case of a woman owner with her husband and three sons. William Mugford, Sr., had two separate parcels of land at Port de Grave bequeathed to him alone and to him and his two sisters by his father's will of 1789.

Caroline Critchell, widow of Matthew of Belleoram, owned 16 shares in the
Marconi
in 1902 with her two sons, Uriah and James R. Critchell. Jane Collier, widow of Ship Cove, Bay d'Espoir, was a joint owner with Samuel Organ, fisherman and builder of the
Frances
when it was registered in 1887. Samuel Collier had owned shares in the ship when it was registered in 1869 so he had undoubtedly been Jane's husband. The fate of the vessel cannot be determined from the register. Mary Ann Brenton, wife of Charles Brenton of Belleoram, owned 32 shares in the
Bellona
in 1900; James Brenton, planter, owned the other 32 shares. I learned from interviews in Belleoram that Mary Ann was very involved in the business end of the fishing venture; she and Charles were the parents of Rev. Jacob Brenton of St. John's.

Mary Power, spinster of St. John's, bought 32 shares in the 115-ton
A. G. Eisnor
in 1922. John J. Duff held the other shares. Ellie Ann Hartigan, widow of Rencontre, bought the ship
Annie F. Hartigan
, along with William and Nicholas Hartigan, in 1922. The vessel was “wholly lost” on November 16, 1933, at Atlantic Cove, St. Paul's Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so it appears that Annie remained in the business with her partners for a total of 11 years. Annie Hartery, spinster of Cape Broyle, was an owner of a ship newly built by Michael Hartery, the 65-ton
Monica Hartery
along with Douglas, Martin and John Mulcahy, General Dealers at Cape Broyle in 1927. They sold the vessel to Bowring Bros. in 1929. From a personal diary at the Newfoundland Provincial Archives I was able to determine that the
Monica Hartery
was lost with all hands in January 1934, that Mrs. Monica Hartery died in 1936, and that Annie was married in 1944. There were several other women who owned ships as partners with men other than their husbands but those described previously give sufficient evidence that it was a viable ownership option for many women who wanted a hands-on involvement with the ship business.

This section may be a surmise on my part, but I am inclined to think that it may indeed have a basis in fact. It is quite possible that widows in the early years used their financial resources to keep their former husband's partners going in the fishing business. This may well have been true of Margaret McCarthy of Carbonear in 1823, of Olive Hederson of Brigus in the same year, of Mary Taylor of Carbonear in 1826, of Elizabeth Taylor of Carbonear in the same year, of Catherine Morris of Burin and St. John's in the early 1830s, of Ann Toque of Carbonear throughout the 1830s, of Elizabeth Henderson of Harbour Grace in 1837, and of Catherine Brown of Burin in 1844. It may also be true of Ann Giles of Carbonear in 1853, of Catherine Stoneman of Trinity and St. John's in 1858, of Mary Ann Stone of Greenspond in 1867, and of Jane Collier of Ship Cove, Bay D'Espoir in 1887.

A seemingly clearer case involved Elizabeth Freake, spinster of Joe Batt's Arm, in 1889. She was the owner of all 64 shares in the
Homeward
when it was built by her brother, Charles Freake of Birchy Bay. He was also the master of the vessel. No further information on the vessel is available from the register except that “it was broken up many years ago” and the registry was closed in 1945. My guess is that Elizabeth staked her brother in the building of the vessel and they shared the profits from the fishing venture. It is known that the Freakes moved from Joe Batt's Arm to Lewisporte, and on January 12, 1912, Elizabeth Freake of Lewisporte was granted one acre and nine perchas of land at Middle Mussel Bed Island, Burnt Bay, and that it abutted land owned by Henry Freake and Uriah Freake.

Gertrude Newman, spinster of Boyd's Cove, owned the ship
Margaret Newman
which had been built by her brother, Joseph Newman. Joseph had been a trader for at least four years before he built this ship. This seems to have been a partnership in which Gertrude was putting up the money, which she took in the form of a mortgage. Rosella Emberley, spinster of Creston, owned all shares in the
Rose and Blanche
which was built by William Emberley,
possibly her brother, in 1928. Enola Fudge, of Belleoram, whose husband was Edward Owen Fudge, was a partner with George Yarn in the
Mary Hearn
in 1926. From interviews I did at Belleoram I would guess that Enola may have staked George Yarn.

There are several sub-categories to be dealt with in this section. It should be noted that in the early periods, women were consistently referred to in the clumsy anachronistic terms “executresses” and “administratrixes.”

i. About 25 women in the ship registers were appointed to serve as executors or administrators along with one other man or with up to four other men, the latter in connection with very large estates. As many as 12 transactions were involved in settling some estates, including sale of ships, discharging mortgages and transfer of mortgages.

ii. More than 80 women were appoi as sole executors of wills and estates, which indicates both the trust that husbands had in their wives' business acumen, or fathers in their daughters', and the intimate involvement of the woman in the business affairs of the family.

iii. In two cases two women were appointed as the only executors of wills. Mary Howell and Jane Gould were appointed administrators of the estate of William Howell, merchant of Carbonear, in 1839, and they elected to remain in the business and did so for another 11 years until the vessel
Benjamin
was lost in 1850. The only other case involved Dorcas Phillips and Maggie Anstey to whom probate of the estates of Martin and James Phillips of Twillingate was granted in 1927 when James died in January and Martin in May of that same year. Dorcas was a widow; obviously either James or Martin had been her husband, and
Maggie was a married woman. They sold the ship
Mabel
in October of that year.