The Boatswain's ( Bo 'sun's ) Lament !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just when you think you've sized up the whole situation and make ready to set course out to sea through the channel between Big Soldier and Little Soldier Islands...... along comes low tide to upset the applecart and throw a monkey wrench in your plans.

Many of us see life pessimistically as  a sequence of low tides .....   bummers or downers ......  while others such as Biff and Buck , our local tugboats , optimistically take advantage of high tide to tow a huge scow through the Reversing Falls........... a simple feat that would have a disastrous outcome "on the rocks " at low tide.

. Moral of the story......... sleep , rest or simply play it cool when tide's out.... or maybe dig a few clams or get a tan !......... and go for broke when tide is high . Life just might be a wee bit more agreeable  this way !! 

Time and Tide Wait For No Man !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each day when we trek the beach at Saints' Rest and look out to sea I become overwhelmed with awe at the sheer might and immensity of it all........... the Bay of Fundy with the highest tides in the world ( 51 feet or 17 meters straight up and down ) ...... unfathomable  volumns of water measured by gazillions of gallons to the power of 2 ad  infinitum that disappear and reappear with astounding predictability twice daily. Quite a show ... and for me a highly religious experience. It looks very much like the needlepoint and crochet work of Saint Thomas Aquinas ' Prime Mover.

I bend over and pick up a few rocks and pebbles embedded in the sand at my feet and once again find myself staring the creation mystery straight in the face. The silent witnesses in my hands , nevertheless , bear loud and clear testimony to eons and eons of volcanic activity followed by the successive  stratification and hardening of molten lava into compressed layer upon compressed layer .... stratum upon stratum...... still visible to the naked eye today in spite of their being tossed around and bounced off one another for millenia by the pounding , relentless waves of the North Atlantic.

Now science tells us that the last volcanic eruption in this area... the one that gave the Bay of Fundy its actual shape today ....took place some 60 million years ago . ....... just a drop in the bucket of time on our way back to the primary bang that set the whole shebang in motion I guess. I kneel in humble awe before it all !!

P.S. I threw in a periwinkle to boot with all its growth rings quite visible. They abound here and are sold in supermarkets... ocean snails.  

Just when you think...

Roll Call on Partridge Island

 

There was a solemn moment yesterday at Saint Patrick's Square .... in the shadow of the giant Celtic Cross....... where many of us had gathered to commenorate and remember the thousands of our ancestors who had not made it to the Promised Land .... having died at sea or shortly afterwards upon arrival at Partridge Island of typhus fever.......  within swimming distance of the shore. Manys a tear was near I feel sure when the Master of Ceremonies asked us to gaze out to sea towards the island in silence and reflect upon the hardships and sufferings of our forefathers ... all the while the bagpipes softly shrilled out the mournful lament  The Flowers of the Forest.

Now an old Irish softie like myself would have liked to hear all the names as well as the ages of all 2000 victims read aloud ...... even had it meant standing there another 2 hours or so. However , that didn't happen so I am mentioning but a few here this evening to keep their memory alive in my own wee way.

Date July 10 1847
County Saint John
Place Saint John
Newspaper New Brunswick Courier

 

The following is a return of passengers who died in Hospitalon Partridge Island (St. John) from 7th May to 2nd July with their ages and the names of the vessels from which they landed: From Brig "Midas" from Galway - John SHAUGHNESSY, age 30; Martin WALSH, age 18. From Brig "Thorney" from Donegal - Barbara PRESTON, age 65; Mary TUMMANY, 26; Andrew TAIT, 35; James LYNCH, 40; Bernard HIGGINS, 25; Michael MAHIR, 26; Ellen CATTEN, 28. From Barque "Aldebaran" from Sligo - Andrew DEVITT, 50; Michael GILLAN, 18; John McCALEE, 32; Philip FORD, 20; Mary KELLY, 27; James KILMARTIN, 40; John McMANUS, 33; William RAFTER, 50; Mary HARRINGTON, 8; John DOUGAN, 60; Conly TUMMANY, 23; Larky McCUE, 25; Bartley MANTAN, 30; John MURRAY, 26; Patrick CULGIN, 28; Honora BRAY, 26; Barbara PRESTON, 60; Mary GUNNING, 9 mos.; Bernard KELLEY, 30; Thomas RAFTER, 30; Mary SHEA, 2; Peter COOPER, 35; Sarah BRANNAN, 25; Charles LAYMAN, 30; Mary McGEE, 30; Patrick MALONEY, 20; Mary MACK, 8; Michael MULLANEY, 20; Con. CORRAGAN,10; Thomas JUDGE, 40; Mary MALONEY, 25; Catherine FOX, 20; Margaret MORRISON, 25; Michael KENNON, 20; Peggy SULLIVAN, 1 1/2; Mary MANN, 25; James DYER, 27; Michael LAHEY, 30; Jerry CRONIN, 27; Martin CLARKE, 22; Mary MORRISEY, 25; Patrick McDERMOTE, 10; John RAFTER, 30; Ann BOYCE, 6; Unity GRAY, 23; Jerry McMANUS, 4; Mary LEAREY, 3; Mary HARRINGTON, 30; Catherine RAFTER, 25; John MARTIN, 15; Mary OPERAN, 9; Mary HARRINGTON, 9; Jerry SULLIVAN, 10; Winny CONLEY, 40; Michael CLIFFORD, 23; Bridget DOHERTY, 23; James McGEE, 4; John GREEN, 22; Patrick CONLEY, 40; Honora McGEE, 25; Bridget COIL, 18; Henry DOGAN, 18; Catherine ALLAN, 12; Lawrence MORIN, 30; Thomas DOUGAN, 13; Francis GILLESPIE, 13; John MORRISON, 23; Charles FLYNN, 24; Owen COUGHLIN, 10; Rody McMORRISY, 33; Ann GILL, 36; From Barque "Mary Harrington" from Donegal - Patrick KERIGAN, 20. From Barque "Marchioness of Clydesdale" from Londonderry - Charles DUFFY, age 40. From Barque "Amazon" from Liverpool - Winfred CUMMIDY, age46; Briget MARVEN, 25; Ann DUGGAN, 2 1/2; Mary HOBIN, 27; Rachel GYPSUM, 22; Norry SULLIVAN, 30; Charles McGUIRE, 8; James GIBSON, 30; Patrick McDONAGH, 25; Patrick McDONOUGH, 20; Catherine CURRYAN, 16; Martin AIKIN, 16; John COFFEE, 40; Catherine OWEN, 56; Thomas McGRAUGH, 30; Bernard MORIN, 4; William KENNEDY, 50; James GILL, 4; Joseph MARTIN, 2; Margaret CRAIG, 40; William KENNEDY, 35; Margaret McDONOUGH, 3 mos.; Margaret LOW, 50; John MORAN, 50; George CORR, 33; Francis W. MULLIN, 45; Alexander TAYLOR, 38; William BARRET, 31; Ellen KENNEDY, 60. From Barque "Pallas" from Cork - Peter RYAN, 22; Jerry CRONIN, 30; Jerry CRUMMINS, 25; Timothy CRUMMINS, 25; Margaret CARTY, 25; Mary CARTY, 20; Mary HICKEY, 25; Mary HARRISON, 54; Mary HARRINGTON, 50; Andrew MANNIAN, 40; Capt. HALL, 45; Daniel LINEHAN, 25; Catherine DONAHOUGH, 39; Jerry HARRIGAN, 60; Mary CLANCE, 20; Patrick KEEFE, 25. From Barque "Governor Douglas" from Cork - James McGINNIS,25; Margaret HALEY, 5; Hurly SULLIVAN, 35; John NEIL, 34; Mary NICKOLSON, 30; Patrick RANNEY, 42; John QUINN, 22; Daniel LYNCH 22; Mary McNEELY, 26. From Ship "AEolus" from Sligo - Sally TOHER, 18; David HENRY, 55; Unity BURNS, 11; Patrick CRADE, 7; Biddy KILBRIDE, 15; Mary HARTT, 25; Mary McLOUGHLIN, 40. From Brig "Inconstant" from Cork - Ellen McCARTY, 20; Catherine HENNISAY, 25; Ellen McCARTY, 25. From Brig "Dealy" from Bantry - Bridget CONNY, age 10; Catherine COLLINS, age 20; Ellen HALEY, 17. From Brig "Preserverance" from Cork - Robert HUES, 60; John McCARTY, 40; Catherine O'HARRIN, 55; Catherine O'HERRIN, 50; Daniel AHERRIN, 53; Ellen MORRISON, 15; Patrick MURRAY, 40; John CRAIG, 19; John LINESA, 33; Constantia BRESLIN, 20. From Brig "Mary" from Cork - Michael CRONIN, 28; Thomas FORD, 30; Johanna LEARY, 12; Bridget HURLY, 16; James LYNCH, 36. From Brig "Ocean" from Cork - Mary RAFTER, 32. From Ship "Sir Charles Napier" from Londonderry - John MITCHEL, 18; Hugh BOYCE, 60. From Barque "Malvina" from Baltimore, Ireland - James CARNEY, 26. From Brig "Friends" from Waterford via St. John's, Nfld. - William CONNER, 25. From Schr. "Mary" from Cork - Margaret COUGHLIN, 25. From Brigatine "Caledonia" from Cork - Anne McMANUS, 50. From Brig "Hannah" from Sligo - John FOLEY, 23; John McCUGLE, 32. From Vessel not named, Peter FINNIGAN, 30.

 

 

 

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In The Name of My Forefathers !!

It's that time of year again , my friends , when the teary - eyed Green Folk .... leprechauns in their belfries and shamrocks growing out of their coat lapels , nostrils and earlobes ..... congregate at the local teach tábhairne to belt out a few verses of Danny Boy or Mother Machree while belting down great quantities of green beer and uisce beatha ........ all this because Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland .... and the English sailed us out many centuries later on the despicably criminal death ships to the Americas !!! .......bountiful land made of green cheese and overflowing with Bailey's and Tullamore Dew !!

Now some of these fine folks might start boasting their Irish ancestry and identity by claiming that their kin had taken part in the Tain Bó Cualinge ( Cattle Raid at Cooley ) and were still on the enemy's most wanted list ..... but please don't believe them as the Cattle Raid at Cooley is the greatest saga in Irish mythology.  A few may even arrogate direct ancestral ties to some Irish lord , baron or earl .... but there once again I say "caveat "... beware ! as those terms are English aristocratic titles and , in no way , correspond to traditional Irish political vocabulary or categories. The only two true Irish terms for the leader or chief of a traditional clan or sept  and his / her deputy chief have always been "taoiseach "and " tánaiste " and are in current use even today . The present Taoiseach of the Dáil Éireann ( Assembly of Ireland ) is Brian Ò Comhain ( Brian Cowen ) and his backup tánaiste is Máire Ní Cochláin  ( Mary Coughlan ). The acting uachtarán or president is Máire Pádraigín Bean Mhic Ghiolla Íosa ( Mary McAleese ........ Mary Patricia , wife of the son of the servant of Jesus ! ). Now there 's a heraldic family name !  Shame on the conqueror , his scribes , tax collectors and shipping agents for masacring our surnames beyond  recognition !!......... among other " misdemeanors " of the sort

Forensic Geneology : Me and My Totem Pole !!

 

A few days ago my on-line friend , Barb, asked me whether I was still hot on the trail of  my forebearers ........ to which I shall now answer her by saying , " Yes , Barb , Yes..... and more so than ever since here in Saint John I have access to all the archival sources both ecclesiastical and civil necessary to write a doctorate on my family and their network of friends down through the ages ...... their occupations , hardships , successes and misfortunes  from the day Owen and Mary McAnulty along with their sons ,  Seamus and Myles , left their "coffin ship " in 1847 to the present day ."

Date April 14 1884
County Saint John
Place Saint John
Newspaper The Daily Telegraph

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On Friday afternoon a little girl, Katie McANULTY, age 10 years 10 mos., d/o James McANULTY of Portland (St. John) disappeared from her father's house near Murray's mills. (see original)

While researching the tragic drowning of little Katie  , my great aunt , just below the mill at the Reversing Falls I noticed that her godparents back in 1873 had been  Angus and Sarah McDonald .... so I decided to find out more about them. Did Angus and my great grandfather work together at the mill ? Did they live near each other ? And usually you ask someone you know well or a family member to sponsor your child at baptism , etc... I simply wanted to  know more about this couple... so I checked out the newspapers and city directories between 1873 and 1893 only to discover  that it was not necessarily a good thing to be named Angus McDonald in the Maritime Provinces  during the latter three decades of the 19th century !!

Gloucester, Mass. Nov. 2nd - Angus MCDONALD, 28 years old, a native of Cape Breton, washed overboard from Schr. "Maggie E. McKenzie" on passage home from Newfoundland, Jan. 26, 1892 and was drowned.

Harley Road (Kent Co.) Angus McDONALD took sick ten days ago and died 25th Feb. He was in the prime of life and has been in Boston for the last six months. His father went to Boston on a visit and came home with him and a few weeks after he was dead.

On Saturday last, while Donald McDONALD (miller) and his son Angus McDONALD, about 21 years of age, were repairing a lever in connection with the water gate of their mill, the temporary scaffolding on which they stood gave way, precipitating both of them down upon the water wheel, which happened at that moment to turn by the accidental opening of the water gate, the men in their fall having pressed the lifting lever. The son was instantly killed or drowned under the wheel; but the father, although passing under the wheel, was extracted alive by some of his family. Dr. McIntosh of this town was immediately called to attend the wonded man. An inquest was held on the body of the young McDonald. - 'Antigonish Casket'

On Saturday, 3rd Nov., Angus McDONALD, living on Brown's Mountain, was killed by the accidental discharge of his own gun. It appears that he was looking for a bear that had killed a hiefer belonging to him. His gun was loaded with two bullets besides some shot. While going down the other side of the mountain in company with another man, the gun slipped out of his arms and striking against a stone went off, the charge entering the upper part of the unfortunate man's thigh, killing him instantly. - 'Pictou Standard'

Am Inquest was held St. Peter's Village, Bathurst (Glouc. Co.) 11th inst., before John McKenna, Esq., Coroner on view of the body of Angus McDONALD, age 19, who was accidentally killed in the vicinity of the Lakes of the Big Nepisiguit River, some 80 miles from Bathurst, by a decayed hollow tree falling on him on morn. 6th inst. The deceased was in the employ of Messrs. Ferguson Rankin & Co. as a lumberman at the above lkes. He was interred in the graveyard of Saint George's Church, Bathurst. (see original)

Mrs. Mary McDONALD, age 105, a resident of Souris East, P.E.I., half a mile from that village, walks that distance to church and home again, making both trips usually without help and without halt. She was a McCORMACK. She is an aunt of Sheriff McCORMACK of Souris. She emigrated to this colony from Long Island, off the coast of Scotland, ninety years ago. Bishop McINTYRE's father was a fellow passenger. Angus McDONALD, her husband, died some years ago at an advanced age. - Examiner'

On Wednesday morn. a body very much decomposed was picked up in Halifax Harbor. It was supposed to be the remains of Angus McDONALD who fell overboard and was drowned from the ship "Northern" last December.

On 11th ult., Angus McDONALD, known as Angus McDonald TULLOCK of East Point, P.E.I. who has been employed at Sawyer's Lobster establishment, New London, during last year, was drowned while carrying lobster traps from New London to Rustico. The boat capsized. He tried to swim ashore, was seized with cramps and died.

d. River Hebert, 9th Oct., Sarah McDONALD w/o Angus McDONALD, age 40

N.B. Sarah died in 1877....three years after acting as godmother to little Katie.