While driving in the fog in Port aux Basques the other day, I passed Channel Head and saw the lighthouse shining through and was struck by the simple beauty of it. A relatively small iron tower currently painted white, the site has been guiding mariners home to the mouth ofContinue Reading
On the night of October 13th, 1942, Benjamin Taverner was reportedly worried about his scheduled ferry crossing. He had every right to be, because in the early hours of October 14th, 20 miles south of Port aux Basques, the SS Caribou sank. In five minutes the ship was under; struckContinue Reading
The Southwest coast has seen more than its fair share of shipwrecks. Sunkers, shoals, and hidden hazards wreaked havoc on vessels passing through for centuries. One memorable wreck was the Despatch. In Isle aux Morts in autumn 1832, a sudden gale swept through – an event that isn’t unusual forContinue Reading
As we’ve been going through the last year and a half of a pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about our region’s reaction and role in medicine as the gateway to the rest of the island. We’re certainly no stranger to illness here – Port aux Basques was lauded asContinue Reading
As we all know, the Southwest coast is no stranger to strong weather. Fun note: max wind speed I’ve seen was 218 km! Sometimes it has had severe effects on the landscape and the people. One such occasion was on the 14th of November 1918, when high winds caused aContinue Reading
For Indigenous History Month, I thought it would be good to talk about our own Indigenous history on the Southwest coast and in Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole. When NL joined confederation, Indigenous peoples were excluded from the Terms of Union and the province was exempted from the IndianContinue Reading
By: Melissa Samms The western part of the island of Newfoundland was generally ignored by English authorities for much of our history. As a result, it can be difficult to find early records of specific communities on the southwest coast in English. The earliest English record I have beenContinue Reading
Channel-Port aux Basques has been used by Europeans for centuries, and as such, has had many different names. Various landmarks and stations that eventually became towns were marked on and off throughout the centuries, and a few consistently had names, even if they changed over time. The earliest maps ofContinue Reading
Hello! Welcome to my first history column for the Wreckhouse Weekly! My name is Melissa Samms. I attended Bélanger Memorial from 1995-2008. Back then I had no interest in learning about history – I had such a hard time memorizing dates and names! Then I met history students while attendingContinue Reading