158 NEWFOUNDLAND 



" Equally terrible destruction is often wrought by the gales 

 which sweep the banks in the fishing time. Chief among 

 these, in its appalling fatality list, was the ' Seventh of June 

 Breeze' of 1896. The day was fine and fair for fishing, 

 when the tempest broke and caught hundreds of dories far 

 from their ships, imperilling not alone the skiffs and occupants, 

 but also the vessels themselves, because only the captain and 

 cook remain aboard while trawling is on. Scores of boats 

 and several vessels sank, and over 300 lives were lost. Three 

 Newfoundland, two Canadian, and three Americans were sunk 

 at their moorings, and all hands were lost." 



It is sad to see a grand old man like Lord Roberts trying 

 to arouse the nation to a sense of its military weakness, but, 

 thank heaven, those in power in the Navy are not so blind 

 or foolish as to overlook the splendid reserve of naval seamen 

 that can be made from the Terra-Novan fishermen. We 

 have great and powerful colonies full of virile men capable 

 of making excellent soldiers, but where can we find sailors 

 that are experienced and used to the sea beyond our own 

 coasts, except in Newfoundland ? Here we have a people, 

 bound to us not only by the ties of kinship, but of love. 

 It is a land where the portraits of our beloved King and 

 Queen hang in every humble cottage, not as nominal rulers 

 of some visionary power, but as the heads of the great 

 motherland for which the islanders have both pride and 

 respect. Newfoundland will gladly give of her best when 

 the great day of war comes, as come it surely will, and her 

 bluejackets, I feel sure, will acquit themselves with honour. 

 I cannot do better than conclude this chapter with some 

 stirring lines by James B. Connolly : — 



