42 NEWFOUNDLAND 



have to go or starve. It's this way. Ye see there's lots 

 of poor fisher-folk all 'long the coast and islands that never 

 sees a dollar from one year end to another. 



" 'Fore they goes to cod fishin' in summer the merchants 

 give 'em grub to keep their families all summer while they're 

 away. Fishin' goes on till October, and by December they've 

 got nothing, so has to go to the merchants again to get ' tick ' 

 in provisions to last 'em through the winter. Then to pay 

 this off they hev to go to the seals in the spring or they 

 won't get no more credit, as the merchants also own the 

 seal vessels. Only the captains make any money at the 

 seals, and they're good fellers as a rule, but if they lose 

 a vessel or let their men ' break out,' as they do at times, 

 they're soon as poor as the rest o' us. It 'ud make your 

 heart sore to see the way lots o' these islanders come aboard 

 the sealin' vessels in the spring — wi' pinched, half-starved 

 faces, and hardly 'nough clothes to stand a summer breeze. 



" Yes, a've seen pretty rough times at the ice, 'specially 

 in the old sailin' vessel days. One spring wi' dad, we were 

 out two and a half months without takin' a single ' white- 

 coat.' We got caught in the ice, and a heavy gale came out 

 from the nor '-west, and none of us ever expected to see 

 Green's Pond no more. We was twenty-two days smashin' 

 to an' fro in the ice, wi' all our boats gone and the bulwarks 

 stove in, but by-and-by dad got her nose to the gale, and 

 after lyin'-to five days and five nights the gale rounded, 

 and we got out and made Harbour Grace half full o' water. 

 It was rough a' can say, no sleep, in at de pumps all the 

 time. Next year dad lost his vessel ; got caught in the ice 

 and drove up in Point o' Feather, Harbour Grace. So a' 

 shipped wi' Captain John Han for four or five springs. 

 Then a' went wi' Captain Sam Windsor for a spell ; and 



