September 6, 2018
This morning there were many wispy clouds, but no fog, the temperature was 13°C and a moderate wind, that got stronger with gusts over 65 km per hour in the afternoon when the high was 21°C with fewer clouds.Today we had a later start. The coach – a Prevost H3-45 - departed at 9 a.m. for a three-hour tour of St. John’s with a local guide, Tom, from McCarthy’s Party tours. Lynn and Janet decided to skip the city tour.
St. John’s is one of the oldest settlements in North America with St. Augustine, Florida, (Spanish) and Quebec City (French) also claiming the distinction. August 5, 1583 Englishman Sir Humphrey Gilbert laid claim to Newfoundland, England’s first overseas colony. This is commemorated at Harbourside Park, near the old King’s Wharf. In the 1829 St. John’s census 75% of the population was Irish – 15 years before the Irish Potato Famine.
Tom explained that there are three geological zones making up the Newfoundland island. The Avalon Peninsula was once part of north Africa and has the same geological elements. The central part between Gambo down to Grand Falls is part of the European tectonic plate and the Northern Peninsula is part of the North American plate.
Pete drove the coach passed the Mile One Stadium. St. John’s is the eastern start of the Trans-Canada highway. A private narrow gauge railway was completed in Newfoundland in 1880. It was not reliable nor fast, but opened the interior of the island and the economic benefits to logging and mining. The train was known as the Newfie Bullet, but not for its speed. The last passenger train stopped in mid 1970s while the last freight train was discontinued in 1988 and all the rails were removed. The land was repurposed for hiking and cycling along the formers tracks from St. John’s to Port au Basque. St. John’s had two major fires in the 1800s. The last fire in 1892 destroyed 70% of the city leaving over 19,000 families homeless. Buildings were restored and new buildings constructed but in 1906 an earthquake struck.
Newfoundland has had a trade relationship with Jamaica since the cod fishery began and cod was traded for Jamaican rum and molasses.
In 1907 King Edward VII of Britain declared the colony an independent dominion within the British Empire becoming the Dominion of Newfoundland. Newfoundland supplied its own troops to the war effort. Newfoundland citizens narrowly voted to become a Canadian province in 1949 after the Dominion of Newfoundland was bankrupted by its support of Britain in World War 2.
Besides the Canadian November 11th Remembrance Day, Newfoundlanders also have their own Remembrance commemoration on the morning of July 1st ever since that day in 1916 when the Newfoundland Regiment, attached to the British 88th Brigade, were ordered to advance at the Beaumont Hamel ridge on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Miscommunication caused a tragedy. As the 778 Newfoundland soldiers climbed out of their trench into No Man’s Land, they were silhouetted against the sky, easy targets for the German Artillery. The following day only 68 soldiers answered roll call. 324 Newfoundland soldiers had been killed, or missing and presumed dead, and 386 were wounded in the. morning battle. St. John’s first Memorial Day ceremonytook placed in 1917. In the 1920s, the land where the Newfoundland Regiment fought was purchased by the Dominion of Newfoundland and commissioned a War Memorial featuring a caribou, which can be visited at Beaumont Hamel Park near Albert, France.
Our first stop was at the fishing wharf near the narrows of St. John’s Harbour. The natural harbour is sheltered and 67 meters deep, ideal for freighters, oil rig supply ships, fishing boats and cruise ships. There were a few fishing boats returning and off-loading their catch. From the wharf you could see the other side which is Signal Hill National Historic Site and The Battery. From Signal Hill you can look south and in the distance is the lighthouse at Cape Spear. An oil rig supply ship sailed into the harbour while we were at the wharf. Across the harbour we could see the homes of the Battery neighbourhood where the fishermen’s stages and homes were perched on the cliff side. The places that anchored the ropes or chains that laid across the Narrows was pointed out. The ropes kept ships out of the harbour at night during the 17th, 18th, and 19thcenturies while the chains or metal nets were strung across during World Wars 1 and 2 to trap the German submarines trying to enter the harbour.
Then there was a brief stop at the end of the harbour, Maggoty Cove, where on April 12, 1980 at Pier 17, Terry Fox put his artificial sneaker encased foot into the water to begin his Marathon of Hope cross country cancer fund raising run. Here a bronze statue of Terry Fox stands.
As we drove through the streets of St. John’s we passed a row of four more than 120 year old stone townhouses, built for his four daughters by the contractor of the Cabot Tower on Signal Hill between 1893 and 1902.
The Cabot Tower was built in 1897 on Signal Hill to celebrate the 60thanniversary of the reign of British Queen Victoria and the 400thanniversary of John Cabot landing in Newfoundland. It overlooks cliffs near the narrows of St. John’s Harbour at 200 meters above sea level. From here you can see Fort Amherst on the other side of the harbour. At this point in 1697, after a French attack the previous year, an English garrison was stationed on the harsh windy cliffs. There were never any further sea attacks although there were overland attacks by the French in 1705, 1709 and 1762. Each time it was recaptured by the English. By the 1790s it was decided that a citadel should be built on Signal Hill. Due to harsh weather on the windswept cliffs, it was never built and the garrison was withdrawn in 1870. It served as a defensive position for the protection of St. John’s Harbour during the World Wars 1 and 2. The Noon Day Gun is shot from just beside the Cabot Tower. The American army maintained an anti-aircraft gun here during World War 2.
A wealthy Italian inventor named Guglielmo Marconiestablished the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company in 1897. The company manufactured radio sets that were able to transmit and receive messages in Morse Code. It was from Signal Hill on December 12, 1901 that Marconi conducted an experiment by flying an antenna with a kite to receive a message from his transmitter at Poldhu, Cornwall, England. It was the simple sounds in Morse Code for the letter “s” – beep, beep, beep. Macrconi proved that "sky waves" bouncing off the upper atmosphere ionosphere would return to earth. It had only been a theory at the time. Marconi demonstrated with the 3,400 kilometer transmission that radio communication over great distances was possible.
Returning to the city, we drove through the neighbourhood of Quidi Vidi where, in the area near the Quidi Vidi Lake, an American base existed during war years. It now houses the region’s Canadian Army headquarters.
We stopped next at the Commissariat House, the residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. The group strolled through the grounds and visited the foyer of the house, constructed in the 1830s, to sign the guest book. Then we drove past the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. John the Baptist built between 1841 and 1855 after Queen Victoria granted the land to the Irish Catholics. It was the largest church in North America at the time. The Archbishop of New York, John Hughes took part in its consecration on September 9, 1885. He was so impressed that the tiny population of St. John’s could build such a church that he commissioned the building of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The stone was quarried locally and the stained glass windows came from Europe in barrels of molasses to protect them on the sea voyage. The molasses had a chemical reaction with the coloured glass that made the glass colours even more vivid.
Across the street was the location of Fort Townsend, which is now the location of The Rooms which contains a museum and art gallery. It was located on Garrison Hill. The coach negotiated the steep street down to Water Street and we were returned to the Delta Hotel by noon. The afternoon was free to do what we wanted.
After a brief visit to our room we decided to see the location of mile and kilometer Zero of the Great Trail of Canada or the Trans Canada Trail at the former railway station which was built in 1903. Newfoundland’s portion of the hiking trail is called the T’Railway and is 883 kilometers long from St. John’s to Port au Basque. From there we wandered uphill about one kilometer to visit the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. We passed the modern St. John’s City Hall, some modern colourful houses called Sebastian Court, the red brick Gower Street United Church and St. Patrick’s Hall. St. Patrick’s Hall was constructed between 1877 to 1880 as an orphanage and was damaged in the Great Fire of 1892 but the interior was rebuilt. The third floor was the home of the Nickel Theater.
Then we descended the hill, passing the Court House, before stopping at the Jumping Bean for coffee and a croissant (lunch). Our next destination was the War Memorial which was dedicated on July 1, 1924, across the street from Harbourside Park above the old King’s Wharf.
We returned to the hotel to complete out tour survey and get ready for the Farewell Dinner in the Delta’s restaurant. The Delta’s lobby was filled with people celebrating the completion of the renovation of the hotel.
The group assembled at tables of two, four or six for dinner. We started with salad, chowder or soup, followed by a glass of wine to accompany the main course. Dessert was cheesecake.
Between the main course and dessert, the group was “Screeched In”. It has been a tradition since the mid 1950s. Sheilaasked the group, "Is ya screechers?" then she coached us to respond:"Indeed I is, me ol' cock, and long may your big jib draw." ("Me ol' cock" is a cockney term of endearment. "Long may your big jib draw" is a mariner's term for good luck, meaning may there always be wind in your sail.) Next, Sheila approached each person with her frozen cod and you kissed the cod on the lips. Chris followed her with a tray of shots of Newfoundland Screech rum, passing each person a shot. When everyone had kissed the cod, we downed the Screech shot. Then each person was given a personalized document to certify that we are now members of the Royal Order of Screechers.
After finishing dessert people circulated to say goodbye, then return to their rooms to pack for leaving tomorrow morning. Total steps 15,461.
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