VALDMANIS, ALFRED ARTHUR ALEXANDER 471

VAIL, N. ROBERT (fi.1852-1867). Businessman. In 1932 Valdmanis graduated in law from the Uni­ Born New Jersey, U.S.A. Married Anna Walker. Vail versity of Latvia. Joining the Ministry of Finance, he came to St. John's in the early 1850s, opening a bakery rose rapidly to become Minister. As Minister (June on Water Street. Finding a poor market for soft 1938 to October 1939) Valdmanis followed the fascist "baker's" bread, he began to experiment with the government agenda of increased state intervention in making of ships' biscuit (or hard bread), which at the the operation of private firms, restrictions ofthe rights time was largely supplied through Hamburg, Germany. of Latvia's ethnic minorities and of foreign owner­ By 1857 he had learned the "secret" of making Ham­ ship, establishment of state-owned "national" enter­ burg bread and erected a mill and "Steam Bakery" in prises, mandatory cartelization and centralized the west end. Within five years his cheaper product had supervision of trades and crafts. captured 70-90% of the considerable Newfoundland Following the Soviet-German occupation of Poland market for this commodity. In 1863 he sold his recipe, and a Soviet ultimatum of September 1939 demanding bakery and mill to a syndicate formed by St. John's a pact of Latvian-Soviet cooperation, Valdmanis re­ merchants John Bowring, Edwin Duder, Stephen signed from the cabinet. However, in his capacity as Rendell and Robert Thorburn qqv. In 1867 Vail retired Director General of the Latvian Electric Trust Corpo­ to New York, a wealthy man. Vail's Joint Stock Co. ration Kegums ( 1940) he continued to participate in operated the business until 1873, when it was pur­ policy-making until the Soviet takeover of Latvia in chased by Gilbert Browning qv. The business contin­ 1940. Under Latvia's Soviet regime ( 1940-41) he be­ ued to be known as Vail's Mill until it was burnt in came Chief of the Planning Section of the Silk and 1879. In 1989 a millstone from Vail's was unearthed, Knitting Trust. In German-occupied Latvia, near the former site of the Mill Bridge over the Water­ Valdmanis emerged as a contender for leadership be­ ford River, and it has since been displayed on the cause he advocated collaboration as the best defense Rennie's River walking trail in St. John's, marking the of Latvia's interests. Not surprisingly, he acquired site of Rennie's Mill. See BREAD AND BREAD reputations as both a traitor and ardent patriot. He MANUFACTURE. P.K. Devine (1936), John L. Joy assumed the positions of acting chief public prosecu­ (1977). RHC tor (Sept. 1941 to Nov. 1941) and director general of justice (Nov. 1941 to Apr. 1943). But in April 1943, VALDMANIS, ALFRED ARTHUR ALEXANDER the Germans had him removed from Latvia. He had (1908-1970). Politician. Civil servant. Born Ziemupe, refused to sanction the recruitment of Latvian Waffen­ son of Ansis and Lavize (Saldnieks) Valdmanis. Edu­ SS legions without a German promise of Latvian au­ cated Liepaja; University of Latvia. Married Anna tonomy. He was first sent to Berlin and then to western Irma Elvira Slessers. A citizen of Russia, Latvia and Germany where he remain~d until the end of the War. Canada, Valdmanis also held a German passport. For In exile his efforts were directed at ensuring the two decades he not only survived a sequence of fas­ survival of 25,000 Latvians (former Waffen-SS le­ cist, communist, German-occupation, Allied military gionnaires) in West German and Belgian camps by government and western democratic regimes, but also preventing their repatriation to the Soviet Union and became a key player in each of them. His name is arranging for their overseas resettlement. To this end closely connected with some of the most controversial he worked as a refugee consultant with British and issues in Latvia's economic and political fortunes be­ American Headquarters ( 1945-4 7) and as a senior tween 1934 and 1945, in post-World War II Baltic staff officer with the U.N. refugee organizations refugee politics and migrations to Canada, and in the UNRRA and IRO. He emigrated to Canada in 1948. unsuccessful drive for industrialization in Newfound­ While a visiting professor of economics at McGill and land from 1950 to 1954. Carleton universities, he advised the government on displaced persons, immigration and economic devel­ opment. He was asked to prepare a plan for the estab­ lishment of gypsum and cement industries in Nova Scotia. The day his proposal fell through C.D. Howe qv recommended him to the Government of New­ foundland as director of industrial development. Valdmanis was appointed Director General of Eco­ nomic Development (1950-53) and chairman of the Newfoundland and Labrador Corporation (1951-54). Pressured by Premier Smallwood, he rushed negotia­ tions to launch some 40 industries with the help of Latvian friends, German business connections and Newfoundland government funds. By 1954, 16 Euro­ pean industries had been established. But as early as 1952 Valdmanis realized that the industrialization drive was headed for failure. In 1954 his career came to a sensational end with his Alfred Valdmanis arrest, trial and conviction on charges of fraud and ·472 VALLEY POND

extortion. Evidence at his trial revealed that as early as Throughout its history the vast majority of the resi­ 1950 he had demanded from the builders of the gov­ dents of Valley Pond have been Rideouts. ernment-owned cement and gypsum plants a 10% Valley Pond does not appear separately in the Cen­ commission, allegedly for the Liberal party, but pay­ sus from 1845 to 1884, being enumerated as a part of able in instalments to Valdmanis. Sentenced to four nearby Western Head qv. By 1884 the population was years imprisonment, he was paroled after 27 months 102, the Rideouts having been joined by families and spent the rest of his life in mainland Canada in named Fudge and Jennings, while Charles White set­ short-term positions with firms in Montreal, Calgary tled southeast of The Pond, at Hayward Cove. (In 1994 and Edmonton. He died in a highway accident in Al­ topographic maps of the Province identified Hayward berta. See also NEW INDUSTRIES. Balabakins and Cove as a separate community, and incorrectly placed Aizsilnieks (1975), G.P. Bassler (1986), Haralds it at Morton Cove, well to the southeast.) In 1901 the Biezais (1992), Alfred Bilmanis (1943), David various parts of the community were listed separately: Cesarani (1992), Misiunas and Taagepera (1993), 82 at Salt Pond, 63 at Whales Gulch Cove (presumably Seppo Myllyniemi (1973), Alti Rodal (1986), Aivars including both The Cove and Hayward's Cove) and Stranga (1992), Boriss Zemgals (1949), Bundesarchiv four people at Morton Cove. This is the only time Koblenz, Political Archive of the German Foreign Of­ Morton Cove is noted as having been occupied, while fice (Bonn), Joseph R. Smallwood collection (CNS the total population of 149 was the largest recorded for Archive, Memorial University), State Historical Ar­ some years. The 1901 Census also notes that the ma­ chive (Riga), Valdmanis papers (in family possession, jority of the people of Valley Pond were members of Montreal). GERHARD P. BASSLER the Salvation Army, which had established a corps and school on the path between Valley Pond and VALLEY POND (pop. 1991, 191). A fishing commu­ Moreton's Harbour. Thereafter, Valley Pond was nity on the western side of New World Island, Notre known as a bastion of the Salvation Army. (Clarence Dame Bay, Valley Pond has in the past been known as D. Wiseman qv was born there in 1907, while his both Whales Gulch and Salt Pond. The variations on parents were in charge of the Moreton's Harbour the community's name refer to a narrow cove around corps. From 1974 to 1977 General Wiseman was which the community is built. The head of this cove is worldwide commander of the denomination.) known as Saltwater Pond (or "The Pond"), and be­ In addition to the shore fishery, men from Valley cause it is not navigable fishing premises are located Pond became involved in the fishery on the Labrador, on either side of the entrance. the French Shore or the Horse Islands, but the commu­ Offering a favourable location to fish for cod around nity was hampered by its harbour, which was not the headlands of western New World Island, as well as suited for the larger schooners sailing out of harbours close access to herring and salmon stocks in the Bay such as Twillingate or Moreton's Harbour. Catches of Exploits, Valley Pond was fished from the late were sold in the early years to Twillingate, and later to 1700s by English migratory fishermen supplied out of the Moreton's Harbour firm of Osmond Brothers. Twillingate. One such fishing servant, Richard From about 1910 men from Valley Pond also found Rideout, settled there and by 1818 had a considerable seasonal work in the lumberwoods of central premises. When the first Census was taken in 1836 the Newfoundland. population of Whales Gulch was 18 : the families of In 1962 a gravel road was built to connect Valley Richard, David, James and Henry Rideout. Henry had Pond to Moreton's Harbour. The world beyond was settled at a cove to the northwest of The Pond ("The drawn closer in 1965, with the completion of the Cur­ Cove"). Although Henry may well have been a rela­ tis Causeway, connecting New World Island with the tive of Richard's, Rideouts at The Cove were later Province's highway network. The next year three fam­ considered as a different "crowd" altogether. ilies of Cove Rideouts were resettled to The Pond and

Aerial view of Whales Gulch, Hayward's Cove at bottom Valley Pond VARDY, DAVID ALLAN 473

Hayward Cove. Road connection facilitated working was engineer at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, where away from the community- in the lumberwoods or at his politics again brought him under suspicion. He the nearby Bridgeport fish plant- while most newer spent his final years with the East India Co. and died homes at Valley Pond have been built inland, along the in Bombay. DCB II. ACB road to Moreton's Harbour. Bruce Bowers (MHG 36- A-1-54), Garfield Rideout (MHA 36-A-1-53), Census ( 1836-1991 ), Statistics; Federal Provincial Resettle­ ment Program (1975?). Archives (MG 323/1/2). RHC

VALLEYFIELD. See BADGER'S QUAY-V ALLEYFIELD­ p()()L'S ISLAND; WESLEYVILLE.

VALLIES BIGHT (pop. 1945, 5). Vallies Bight, an abandoned community, was located on a long, shallow inlet of the northwest side of Lake Melville (identified as Valley Bay on modem maps). It takes its name from a broad valley on the north side of the Bay, forming the shortest pass between Lake Melville and Double Mer. Vallies Bight was the homestead of one or two families of trappers, who traded their furs to the Hudson's Bay Company post at Rigolet qv, about 40 km to the northeast. One J. Oliver was living there in 1873, and by 1883 Vallies Bight had been settled by William and Naomi Sheppard. In 1904 the Rev. Armin ius Young described Will Sheppard, "the only livyer, [as] an indus­ trious and well-to-do trapper". The Sheppards made up all the inhabitants recorded thereafter, with Vallies Bight first appearing in the Census in 1901 (pop. 9). The last inhabitants were Renauld and Annie Sheppard, who moved their family to Rigolet in the late 1940s. V. Tanner ( 194 7), Arminius Young (1916), Census ( 190 1-1945), Archives (A-7-5/13). RHC The Vanguard VANBRUGH, PHILIP (? -1753). Governor. Born Eng­ VANGUARD. This 322-ton steamship was built in Ab­ land? Vanbrugh was captain of the Royal Navy ship erdeen, Scotland in 1872 for John Munn & Co. of Speedwell in 1710. He served for a time in Gibraltar Harbour Grace. From 1873 to 1895 it made a total of and held a number of different commands in the years 33 trips to the ice, harvesting a total of 196,036 pelts. that followed. In 1738 he was appointed governor of During this period the ship sailed under the following Newfoundland. His term was generally unremarkable, captains: Azariah Munden (who commanded it until but he did travel to Fogo and Twillingate where he his retirement in 1879), Charles Dawe, Henry Dawe, recorded information such as the number of inhabi­ R. Gosse, J. Kennedy, William Winsor and T. Green. tants and the nature of the fishery. After a single In 1896 the Vanguard was sold to the local firm of season, Vanbrugh returned to England. In 1739 he was Murray and Crawford, and eventually to Baine, John­ appointed a Commissioner of the Navy, and remained in ston and Co. It continued as a sealer and freighter. that position and a resident of Plymouth until his death. From 1896 to 1908 another 212,915 pelts were taken. Gordon Duff(1964), D.W. Prowse (1895). ACB Its record year was in 1901 when, under Captain George Barbour qv, 26,525 pelts were harvested. VANE, GEORGE (? -1722). Military engineer. Born The Vanguard, while engaged in the seal hunt on the England. Until 1701 Vane was in France in the service east coast, was lost on April 11, 1909, when ice broke of James II, the exiled King of England. Eventually he the propeller and main shaft. When it began to sink returned to England, and in 1708 was posted to New­ torches of seal fat were lit as distress signals. The S.S. foundland. He had little time to improve defences in Algerine, and later the Bloodhound and Iceland, came St. John's before French forces attacked. Because of to the rescue. There was no loss of life, and the men his Jacobite sympathies, Vane was suspected by the were taken to Catalina. K.M. Coady (1973), William British of conspiracy. He was taken prisoner by the Howe Greene (1933), Shannon Ryan (1987), Naboth French and was allowed to wander freely at Placentia. ' Winsor ( 1985), Chafe's Sealing Book ( 1989), Centre Released in Dinan, France in 1710, he made his way to for Newfoundland Studies (Vanguard), Newfoundland England and suggested changes to Newfoundland's Historical Society (Vanguard). ILB defences. He considered St. John's the best harbour for fortification and proposed the construction of a new VARDY, DAVID ALLAN (1940- ). Civil servant. Born fort on Admiral's Rock. Between I 711 and 1715 Vane St. John's, son of John and Jean (Stowe) Vardy. 474 VARDY, EDMUND

Educated Memorial University of Newfoundland. Mar­ ried Janet Adams. Vardy has held a number of senior positions with the provincial government since 1972, as director of economic planning, deputy minister of the planning and priorities secretariat, secretary to cabinet and clerk of the Executive Council. In 1985 he was appointed president of the Institute for Fisheries and Marine Technology (formerly the *College of Fisheries, Navigation, Marine Engineering and Electronics qv). He held the position for several years before assuming the post of deputy minister in the provincial Department of Fisheries. Janet Vardy (interview, May 1994), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (David Vardy). ACB

VARDY,EDMUND (1891-1955). Mariner. Born Hickman's Harbour, son of John and Sarah (Reid) Vardy. Vardy sailed on his father's schooners from an early age, making his first voyage to the Labrador fishery as master when he was only 16. By the outbreak of World War I he was already an experienced master of ocean-going vessels. He was decorated after the War for his service in transporting provisions to the eastern United States, the Caribbean and the Mediter­ ranean. From the early 1920s he owned a number of vessels in the coasting and the foreign-going trades out of Hickman's Harbour and had business premises at Baird's Cove (St. John's), Deer Harbour (Random Is­ O.L. Vardy land) and at a number of locations on the Labrador coast. During World War II he continued in the inter­ Vardy was later charged with fraud, bribery and national fish business, owning such vessels as the Al­ breach of trust regarding the funding of John C. cala, Gertrude Jean, Gutta Percha, Ivy and Muriel, Ivy Doyle's Labrador Linerboard mill in Stephenville. V., Morning Star II, St. Helena and Silver City. Vardy Having escaped to Panama, in 197 4 he was taken into died aboard the Morning Star II, crossing Trinity Bay, custody there to be extradited to Canada. He escaped on August 2, 1955. Wilfred Martin (1993). RHC in Florida, and applied to an American court for bail, which was granted on the condition that he remain in VARDY, OLIVER LAWRENCE (1906-1980). Politi­ Florida while extradition proceedings were pursued. cian; civil servant. Born Channel, son of Charles and But he successfully fought extradition until his death Lora (Rideout) Vardy. Educated Channel. Married Ad­ in 1980. Harold Horwood (1989), Norma Jean Rich­ elaide Peek. Vardy moved away from Newfoundland ards (interview, Jan. 1994), Who s Who in Newfound­ at a young age, and served a prison term for armed land and Labrador ( 1968). JEAN GRAHAM robbery in Albany, New York before moving back to Newfoundland in the 1930s. He worked at various VARDY, REUBEN THISTLE (1897-1980). Business­ jobs, including selling advertising for the Book ofNew­ man; delegate to the National Convention. Born foundland, radio broadcasting and editing ·the Fisher­ Hickman's Harbour, son of John and Sarah (Reid) men-Workers Tribune. Vardy. Educated Hickman's Harbour. Married Amelia Vardy entered political life in 1941 with his election Maddock. Vardy enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland to the St. John's City Council. In 1949 he was elected Regiment in 1917. Demobilized with the rank of ser­ MHA for St. John's West and served briefly as parlia­ geant in 1919, he worked in the schooner fishery out mentary assistant to Premier J.R. Smallwood before of Hickman's Harbour and became in valved in being appointed minister without portfolio in 1950. sawmilling in Random Sound, while also serving as the He resigned his seat in 1951 under threats from Peter local labour agent and pulpwood contractor for the Cashin qv to expose his criminal record. Yet, Small­ Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co. From 1926 to wood appointed him director of tourist development, 1928 he was in Sydney, Nova Scotia as president of R. and in 1968 appointed him deputy minister of Eco­ & W. Vardy. In the early 1930s Vardy was again nomic Development. A Royal Commission later estab­ operating out of Hickman's Harbour in the lumber and lished by the government of Frank D. Moores to pulpwood business. investigate the previous government's financial deal­ Vardy became involved in politics in 1932, when he ings found that Vardy (with Premier Smallwood and ran as an independent candidate in the district of Trin­ Arthur Lundrigan) owned a company that had rented ity North. By 1937 he was describing his political properties to the Board of Liquor Control at excessive affiliation as "Independent Labour", and was at­ rates, as well as other irregularities. tempting to organize unemployed woods workers in VATERS, EUGENE 475

the Random Sound area. He was arrested and briefly his crew were killed. Earlier that day (but unknown to jailed in that year after leading a band of unemployed Vatcher at the time of his death) he had been awarded people in a march on the relieving office at Hatchet the Distinguished Flying Cross for ''many and varied Cove. After service with the merchant marine during operations", including "fine work attacking tanks and World War II, Vardy was elected to the National Con­ transport columns" during the Normandy invasion. vention qv as delegate for Trinity North, and was an Flying Officer Vatcher is buried in the Bonneville-La advocate of a return to Responsible Government. He Campagne War Cemetery in France. G.W.L. Nichol­ died at Hickman's Harbour on Christmas Day, 1980. son (1969), Austin R. Vatcher (letter, Feb. 1994 ), Gan­ W.B.W. Martin (1991; 1993), DNLB (1990), Who's der Beacon (Aug. 4, 1993), Profile of a Newfoundland Who in and from Newfoundland 1937 (1937?). RHC Airman (1990). JOHN PARSONS

VARDY, WILFRED (1918- ). Clergyman. Born Hick­ VATERS, EUGENE (1898-1984). General superinten­ man's Harbour, son of William and Sarah Vardy. Ed­ dent of the *Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland ucated Hickman's Harbour; Mount Allison University; (PAON) qv 1927-_62. Born Victoria. Educated Victo­ Pine Hill Divinity Hall. Married Gertrude Martin. ria; Moody Bible Institute; Rochester Bible Training After several years as a logger and fisherman, Vardy School. Married Jennie Sarah (Lacey) Gray. was accepted as a candidate for the United Church Raised a Methodist, Vaters experienced religious ministry in 1940. He served conversion around the age his probationship at Sound of I 1. He became a teacher Island, English Harbour and at 17 and, at Rantem Sta­ Musgrave Harbour. He was tion and later Little Harb­ ordained on completion of our Deep, he also con­ his university studies in ducted church services in 1950. During the next 38 the absence of regular years Vardy held pastorates clergy. Entering the minis­ at Garnish, Catalina, Harb­ try in 1916, he spent six our Grace, Gander (twice) years on the Methodist cir­ and Musgravetown. He was cuit in Newfoundland and president of the Newfound­ Labrador. Disaffected by land Conference of the Rev. Wilfred Vardy what he perceived as Eugene Vaters United Church in 1961-62, "modernism" creeping into and from 1973 to 1979 was director of Emmanuel the church, he resigned in 1922, and that year attended House qv, a United Church hospice in St. John's. He the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for a time. The was twice a commissioner to the Church's General next year he became the first Newfoundlander known Council and was a member of several of its national to have attended a Pentecostal Bible school (Roches­ boards. In 1966 he represented the United Church at ter Bible Training School in Rochester, New York). the Eleventh World Methodist Council in London, Leaving abruptly, he and his wife returned to Victoria, England. He was twice chairman of Presbytery and where in 1924 they established an independent Pen­ served as chaplain of the Canadian Forces Station and tecostal mission, as well as a publication, the Indepen­ the Royal Canadian Legion, Gander. Retiring in 1988, dent Communion. Vardy settled in Gander. Wilfred Vardy (letter, Mar. A year later, Alice B. Garrigus qv, founder of the 1990), Minutes of the Newfoundland Conference PAON, contacted Vaters and suggested amalgama­ (1961-62). DAVID G. PITT tion. A merger resulted and, in the same year, Pente­ costalism in Newfoundland was incorporated. Vaters VATCHER, WALTER CYRIL (1920-1944). Soldier. was elected general superintendent in 1927, and rap­ Born Burgeo, son of Frederick and Maud (Pinel) idly became the dominant personality in Pentecostal­ Vatcher. Educated Rose Blanche. Trained as a diesel ism in Newfoundland, leading the church for the next mechanic in Chicago, Vatcher was one ofthe first draft 3 5 years. From 193 5 to 1961, ·Pentecostals increased ofRAF air crew from Newfoundland, in August 1940. from 3721 to 20,367. Many of the denomination's After training in Canada he was posted to the 125 other ventures - Good Tidings magazine; the Reli­ (Newfoundland) Squadron in England. Later he trans­ gious Book and Bible House; the Printing Department ferred to the 174 Squadron, flying Hurricane aircraft, (later Good Tidings Press); Camp Emmanuel, a sum­ and took part in the Battle of Dieppe in August 1942. mer camp-meeting; and the Pentecostal education Mentioned in despatches in January 1943, he was system - were pioneered during Vaters' tenure. In shortly afterward commissioned Pilot Officer and was 1954 he became superintendent of Pentecostal promoted to Flying Officer in October 1943. Vatcher schools. Following his retirement Vaters wrote his began flying the rocket-equipped Typhoon aircraft and autobiography, Reminiscence ( 1983). He died in on July 20, 1944 was involved in a rocket attack on a 1984. Two months after his death, the PAON was target in the vicinity of Caen during the battle of advised that Memorial University had approved the Normandy. While pulling up after the attack, his air­ award of an honorary LL.D. posthumously. A.S. craft was hit and exploded in mid-air, and Vatcher and Bursey (1990; 1992), B.K. Janes (1983; 1990; 1991), 476 VAUGHAN, WILLIAM

Eugene Vaters ( 1983), DNLB ( 1990), Good Tidings VEITCH, WILLIAM (1843-1917). Priest. Born (Sept.-Oct. 1977; Jan.-Feb. 1982). BURTON K. JANES Holyrood, son of Elizabeth (Lewis) and John Veitch. After his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest, at VAUGHAN, WILLIAM (1575-1641). Colonial pro­ Rome in 1872, Veitch re­ moter; author. Born Carmarthen, Wales, son ofWalter turned to Newfoundland and Katherine Vaughan. Educated Jesus College, Ox­ and was assigned to the par­ ford; Vienna. Married ( 1) Elizabeth Robert; (2) Anne ish of Carbonear. He was Christmas. After travelling widely he settled at soon transferred to the mis­ Llangyndeyrn in Wales and became a justice of peace, sion of King's Cove qv and probably devoting most of his time to writing. His first Bonavista, where under his book had been published in 1597, and in 1600 his most leadership many churches famous work, The Golden Grove, appeared. and schools were built and Vaughan was one of the earliest advocates of improved. In July 1891 Newfoundland's suitability for English settlement. Veitch was appointed to the In 1616 he purchased the southern Avalon Peninsula parish of Conception Harb- (from Calvert to Placentia Bay) from the London and Bristol Company, and the next year sent Welsh our, and it quickly became Father William Veitch one of the most prosperous colonists to Renews. This venture, and further at­ in the diocese. Within five years a new church, school tempts at colonizing Trepassey in the 1620s and and presbytery were being built. In recognition of his 1630s, failed. In 1626 Vaughan published The work as a builder and administrator, Veitch was made Golden Fleece to promote the Island as a place for Household Prelate to the Pope, with the title of Mon­ settlement. The Newlanders Cure ( 1630) was a med­ signor, in 1909. He died at Conception Harbour in June ical work designed to help emigrants. In the last 1917. Williamina Hogan (1986), H.M. Mosdell (1923), years of his life Vaughan published two works of a Mary G. Veitch (1989), DN(June 25, 1917). LBM religious nature: The Church Militant ( 1640) and The Soules Exercise ( 1641 ). Although as a colonial VELVETLEAF BLUEBERRY. See BLUEBERRIES. promoter Vaughan was not a success, his works pro­ vide some of the earliest English literature on North VENEER MANUFACTURING. See PLYWOOD AND America. He was knighted in Ireland in 1628. DCB VENEER MANUFACTURING. 1, TCE (1985). ILB VENISON ISLANDS (pop. 1935, 30). The Labrador VEITCH, MARY ASSUMPTA (1906- ). Mercy sister; fishing station of Venison Islands is located on both educator. Born St. John's, daughter of Mary (Bolger) sides of Venison Tickle, a 100 metre-wide passage and Philip Veitch. Baptized Ellen, Veitch took the that separates Venison Island from the southeast cor­ name Mary Assumpta after she joined the Sisters of ner of Stony Island, approximately 32 km northeast Mercy in 1930. She served as local superior in several of Charlottetown. Venison Island was named by convents, including St. Mary's On-the-Humber at George Cartwright qv in 1775, for the quantity of Curling (1939-46), and was caribou he killed there. Slade and Company estab­ principal of schools in Curl­ lished their sealing and fishing outpost at Venison ing and Bell Island. She Islands (on the Stony Island, or western, side of the also taught in the Mercy Tickle) shortly after building their major Labrador Convent School in St. premises at Battle Harbour in 1795. In 1820 Venison John's. Sister Assumpta Islands was noted as one of the few locations on the was appointed vice-princi­ Labrador coast where English fishermen were pal of Holy Heart of Mary wintering, as caretakers for Slade' s premises, for Regional High School when fur-trapping and for the spring seal hunt. One of it opened in 1958. From Slade's early agents was Christopher Bourne, who 1961 until 1973 she served took an " Indian" (presumably Inuit) country wife two consecutive terms as from among the natives living in the area. By 1831 Sister Assumpta Superior General of the Sis- an Englishman named Richard Stevens had settled, ters of Mercy. Under her su­ and in that year married a "half-Indian" woman (the pervision the Order's administrative facilities were Rev. Edward Wix conducting the ceremony). An­ transferred from Military Road to the Generalate at other Slade servant, John Green, ' 'the son of an Littledale; convents were established at Baie Verte, attorney of Ringwood, Rants" (Feild: 18 51), also North River, Codroy Valley, St. Fintan's, Burin and settled, after marrying one of Bourne's daughters. Rushoon; and an Archival Centre for the Order was By 1856 there were four families living year-round opened in St. John's. Sister Assumpta also supervised at Venison Island. In the winter of 1863 the clergy­ the establishment and staffing of a mission house in man at Battle Harbour noted a winter population of Monsefu, Peru. Williamina Hogan (1986), Mary G. 47, the families of John Green, William Smith, Wil­ Veitch (1989). LBM liam Thomas and William Bourne along with 11 Slade men. VENOMS BIGHT 477

Venison Islands c. 1900 In about 1870 the Slade firm sold its room to the plied by the firm of Earle Freighting, were still mak­ Harbour Grace firm of Thomas Ridley and Sons, but ing the journey down north each summer. P.W. that firm soon faced bankruptcy and sold out to Car­ Browne (1909), Dave Collins and GilbertPenney(in­ bonear merchant John Rorke qv, Venison Islands terview,Aug. 1993),A.P. Dyke( 1969), Edward Feild becoming the major outpost of Rorke's "big room" (1851; 1854), J.B.K. Kelly [1870], John Parsons at St. Francis Harbour qv. The number of stationers (1970), Them Days (Sept. 1983; Jan. 1991), Ar­ out of Carbonear supplied by Rorke's Venison Is­ chives (A-7-4/36; MG 8/10/9; VS 113). RHC lands establishment increased to more than 100, in several nearby coves (such as Webber's Harbour, VENOMS BIGHT (pop. 1901, 37). An abandoned fish­ Cox's Cove and Wild Bight). There were eleven res­ ing community, Venoms Bight was located in western ident families and a population of 86 by 1884. In Notre Dame Bay,just south of Tilt Cove qv. The name 1880 a school had been established (at that time one of the bight (which also appears in some records as of only five schools on the Labrador coast), which Venous or Venam's) may have originated with the also served for Church of England services on those family name Vineham. Before being settled, Venoms occasions when clergy were able to visit from the Bight was probably used as a summer fishing station Battle Harbour mission. by one or two Twillingate families, as was Tilt Cove. Thereafter the resident population decreased, to After the beginning of Tilt Cove mine in 1864 there 36 by 190 I and to 23 ten years later, and by 1913 the was an influx of settlers into the area. Despite little school was open only sporadically. However, the shelter or levelland for homes and gardens, one family harbour continued to be a popular destination for the had settled Venoms Bight by 1884 (pop. 5). By 1891 Carbonear stationers. Some of the liveyers (the there were three families (pop. 14), rising to 37 people Bourne, Green, Marshall and Roberts families) left by 190 1. In that year there were two fishermen and two in the 193 Os and 1940s for wage labour, and in the miners living in the community, as well as one person 1960s the remaining few relocated to Norman Bay employed at the whale factory in Snooks Arm qv. This (the Greens) or to Charlottetown qqv. By 1990 the last was probably Thomas Foote, who had come to station was being used by only a handful of fisher­ Venoms Bight from Twillingate in the 1880s and men from Charlottetown or Norman Bay, although moved to Snooks Arm in about 1913. The other inhab­ as many as 60 stationers out of Carbonear, sup- itants probably left with the closure of Tilt Cove mine 478 VERGE, VERA LYNN

in 1917. E.R. Seary (1977), Census (1884-1921), VETCHES. Vetches (Vi cia) are climbing plants of the McAlpine's Newfoundland Directory (1894). RHC pea family qv. In Newfoundland several vetches occur as introduced species or as escapees from cul­ VERGE, VERA LYNN ( 1950- ). Lawyer; politician. tivation, commonly growing as weeds in waste Born Corner Brook, daughter of Ian and Mona Fisher. ground and on roadsides and rail banks. The seeds or Educated Corner Brook; Memorial University ofNew­ peas of vetches have been used as an emergency food foundland; Dalhousie University. Married Robert for humans, but they are neither palatable nor easily Verge. Admitted to the Newfoundland Bar in 1973, digested. While domestic animals have been re­ Lynn Verge practised in Corner Brook. ported to thrive on a diet of vetches, the seeds have A founding member and former president of the produced diseases in livestock. Species occurring in Corner Brook Status of Women Council, she played a Newfoundland include V. augustifo/ia, V. cracca, V. leading role in establishing the Provincial Advisory faba, V. Sativa and V. sepium. Fernald and Kinsey Council on the Status of ( 195 8), William A. Niering ( 1979), Peterson and Women. Verge became in­ McKenny ( 1968), Ernest Rouleau ( 1978), Szczawinski volved in provincial poli­ and Turner (1988). KATHLEEN WINTER tics as a delegate to the I 979 Progressive Conser­ VETERAN, THE. Edited by Herb Wells qv, this publi­ vative leadership conven­ cation was the official organ of the Newfoundland tion. Later that year she Provincial Command of the Canadian Legion. It prob­ was elected MHA for Hum­ ably began and ceased publication in 1958. One issue ber East and, along with was dedicated to Memorial Day and another to the Hazel Newhook qv, was ap­ Battle of Britain. It contained poems, branch reports pointed one of Newfound­ and various other articles. Veteran (passim). ILB land's first female cabinet VETERAN MAGAZINE, THE. The official organ of Lynn Verge ministers. As Minister of Education, Verge was re­ the Great War Veterans' Association of Newfound­ sponsible for the introduction of a revised high school land, this quarterly magazine was established in 1920 program for the Province. In 1985 she became Attor­ to provide relevant news for ex-servicemen and as an ney General and Minister of Justice. When Thomas G. appeal to the soldier and the general public to memo­ Rideout qv became Premier in 1989, Verge was briefly rialize the idealism and fraternity that had been engen­ Minister of Consumer Affairs and Communications, dered by the Great War. The editors hoped to give a president of the Executive Council and Deputy Pre­ faithful record of the part played by Newfoundland in mier. Despite the defeat of the Rideout government in the War, to compile a history of the Royal Newfound­ April 1989, Verge defeated Liberal leader Clyde K. land *Regiment qv and the Newfoundland Royal Wells qv to retain her seat in Humber East. In 1991 she *Naval Reserve qv, to record every campaign "that the was appointed to the Province's constitutional commit­ entire Trail of the Caribou will be followed, till even­ tee. Verge was reelected for Humber East in 1993. Cana­ tually the glory that is our Country's will be blazoned dian Parliamentary Guide (1994), DNLB (1990), Centre throughout the land.'' for Newfoundland Studies (Lynn Verge). LBM The magazine was edited by Fred R. Emerson, J.G. Higgins, G.J. Whitty, and later by an editorial commit­ VERRAZZANO, GIOVANNI DA (c.1485-c. l528). tee that included Thomas Nangle qqv. It contained Explorer. Born in or near Florence, Italy; son of poems, short stories, news from branches, special Fiametta (Capelli) and Piero Andrea da Verrazzano. events and biographical sketches of soldiers. Issues Some time before 1522 Verrazzano entered the mari­ were dedicated to the battles of Monchy, Gallipoli, time service of France and was commissioned by King Beaumont Hamel, Brombeck, Cambrai and Guede­ Fran~ois I to travel to the north of Cape Breton in hope court qqv. Later issues contained sections for women of finding a passage to the far east. With a Norman and children and had less explicitly military content. crew of 50, Verrazzano set sail from the Madeiras in Veteran Magazine (1920-1949,passim). ILB 1523. His landfall in North America was probably near North Carolina, though locations as far south as Flor­ VETERINARY MEDICINE. Animals, like people, ida have been claimed. Verrazzano sailed as far north were traditionally treated with a variety of home­ as the southeast and east coasts of Newfoundland, made cures and over-the-counter patent medicines. where provisions began to run low. The ship returned The first animal "doctors" were often blacksmiths. to France, landing at Dieppe in July 1524. Verrazzano William S. Pope, for example, advertised his ser­ made maps of the coast, several of which have sur­ vices in St. John's in 1864 as "Ship Smith and vived. Around 1528 he sailed to the West Indies, where General Blacksmith (horse shoeing done with neat­ he was captured by native Caribs and is said to have ness and dispatch), also Veterinary Surgeon". Op­ been eaten within sight of his crew. DCB I. ACB portunities for formal training were not available on the Island. A private veterinary college had opened VERSAILLES, TREATY OF. See TREATY OF VER­ in Toronto as early as 1862 while the London, SAILLES. Ontario Veterinarian Correspondence School made VIBURNUM 479

Garland's bookstore in St. John 's, photographed by James Vey rudimentary texts on animal care widely available after VEY, JAMES (1852?-1922). Photographer. Born St. 1896. James MeN airn was a veterinary surgeon in St. John's, son of Samuel Vey. Married Alice Whiteley. John's in 1894. His qualifications are unknown but he Vey took an interest in photography from an early age, may have been a graduate of the Edinburgh Veterinary apprenticing under Page Woods and then Simeon H. College. Parsons qv after 1875. In 1886 he began a photographic The first veterinarian who is known with certainty studio in partnership with one E. W. Lyon. After the to have been professionally trained was John H. Great Fire of 1892 he opened his own studio, which he Furneaux, a native of St. John's. After running away operated from an upper floor of the Bank of Montreal from home he worked on farms in western Canada, building at Water Street and McBride's Hill. In about and in 1918 graduated as a veterinary surgeon from 1917 he closed his studio and subsequently worked as the University of Guelph. He then returned to the a picture framer with bookseller and stationer S.E. Island to set up practice, importing most of his medi­ Garland qv. cines from the United States. He introduced the hunt­ Although little of Vey's work has survived to 1994, ing beagle to the Island. and was also considered an his images of St. John's harbour and the sealing fleet expert on the Newfoundland dog. He died while re­ are considered among the best early photographic turning from a house call on Portugal Cove Road in work in Newfoundland. (Vey had a particular interest 1963. During the 1940s the agricultural division of the in the seal hunt and in his later years several times Department of Natural Resources employed veterinar­ made the spring journey to the ice as a "medical ian A. LeGrow, who was succeeded in 1944 by Clar­ attendant"). Some of his contract work, which in­ ence Button, a Newfoundland-born veterinarian who cludes a series documenting experiments conducted had received his training in Ontario. by Guglielmo Marconi qv on Signal Hill in 1901 and Furneaux was still in practice in 1959, when Dr. photographs of the Reid Newfoundland Company Drew Leslie came to Newfoundland. Leslie was one fleet of coastal steamers, has also been frequently of eight veterinarians in the Province who helped reproduced. See PHOTOGRAPHY; also POLAR EX­ implement the Newfoundland Veterinary Act of June PLORATION and KITE for images presumed to be by 2, 1971. Andrew Fraser, a Scot, was another practi­ James Vey. Devine and 0 'Mara (1900), Gertrude tioner who came to Newfoundland, where he helped Crosbie ( 1986), ET (Dec. 14, 1922). RHC to organize the Newfoundland *Pony Society qv. The establishment of a veterinary college in Prince VIBURNUM. There are three shrubs of the genus vibur­ Edward Island in 1986 encouraged more students num which are commonly found in Newfoundland, one from Atlantic Canada to enter the profession and by of which is also common in Labrador. The northern 1992 Newfoundland had approximately 50 veteri­ wild *raisin qv or witherod (v. cassinoides) is found narians. There were several clinics in St. John's in near wetlands in most ofNewfoundland but not on the 1994 (including one devoted exclusively to the Great Northern Peninsula or in Labrador. The treatment of cats) and some in other areas of the squashberry qv (v. edule) persists into northern Labra­ Province. Andrew Fraser (1990), Hutchinson s New­ dor while the highbush cranberry (v. trilobum) is com­ foundland Directory for 1864-65 ( 1864 ), McAlpine s mon on the Island. All are characterized by whitish Newfoundland Directory for I 894-97 (1894), New­ blooms in summer and tart, edible fruit which ripen in foundland Lifestyle (Winter 1992). ACB the fall. A. Glen Ryan (1978). ACB 480 VICTORIA

VICTORIA (inc. 1971; pop. 1991, 1831). The commu­ Lovell :S Newfoundland Directory ( 1871 ), Statistics Fed­ nity of Victoria, near Carbonear qv, probably began as eral-Provincial Resettlement Program (1975?). ACB a "winterhouse" for people from Freshwater and Car­ bonear. It was noted that the area was being used for VICTORIA CAMP. Located near Carbonear, Victoria wood cutting in 1817. Gradually people built more camp was built at British expense in 1940 and disman­ permanent dwellings, along the road between Car­ tled in 1943. Intended at first for 1000 allegedly bonear and Heart's Content and around Beaver Pond. "dangerous" civilian internees (in reality, refugees) Documents indicate that Nicholas Powell was granted about to be relocated from the United Kingdom, it was land along the Heart's Content road in 1859. There redesigned for prisoners of war and then merchant were enough settlers by 1864 to justify a school, where seamen, but was ultimately considered unsuitable for classes were taught by Sarah Powell. The settlement any enemy prisoners or internees. was named in honour of Queen Victoria and was Construction began in response to an urgent des­ known in the nineteenth century as Victoria Village. patch from the British government on June 14, 1940 There were 200 people in the community by 1869. pleading with Newfoundland to take 1000 of Britain's Though Victoria lies inland, it is within walking civilian internees "at earliest possible date". In Brit­ distance of Carbonear, Freshwater and Salmon Cove. ain fifth-column panic was gaining such wide cur­ The majority of early settlers were fishing families, rency in light of the unexpected swiftness of German with most of the men involved in the Labrador fishery. victories in western Europe that even Jewish refugees Small-scale farming and livestock raising were auxil­ from Germany and Austria were interned for fear that iary activities to the fishery, with surplus produce they might aid and abet the enemy. The plan was for being sold in Carbonear. In the late 1800s, scores of Newfoundland to receive the internees in a hastily­ people from Victoria signed on with merchants in Car­ erected temporary canvas camp while Victoria camp bonear, Harbour Grace and Northern Bay for the Lab­ was under construction. The internees were to arrive rador fishery. Lumbering, the railway and mining (at in St. John's on July 10 in the company of seven Bell Island and Cape Breton) employed others in the officers and 148 NCOs and men on the former Polish early 1900s. An electrical power station was running passenger liner Sobieski. However, at the last moment in the community in 1904. Sawmills were operated the Sobieski was rerouted to Canada. The original plan locally by James and David Stephenson, Robert had to be altered because the luxury liner Arandora Clarke, Isaiah and John Clarke and William Burke, but Star, which was supposed to bring the tents to New­ in 1921 a forest fire destroyed much of the timber in foundland three days before the arrival of the intern­ the immediate area. In that year, merchants in Victoria ees, was torpedoed off the Irish coast and sank. were Nicholas Powell and Reuben, William and Nich­ On August 3, the Dominions Secretary cancelled all olas Clarke. plans to send internees to Newfoundland and asked Of 448 people in Victoria Village in 1884, 378 were that no further expenditure be incurred in connection Methodist and there were two Methodist churches. In with the camp. But on September 27, 1940 he changed 1924 Victoria native Eugene Vaters qv established an his mind and proposed its utilization as a POW camp independent congregation, which later joined the Pen­ for 1000 captured enemy airmen (250 officers and 750 tecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland, and by 1935 other ranks). A new layout provided for officers to be there were more than 300 members. In that year, with separated from the other ranks by a road 15 feet in the Labrador fishery in its death throes, 28 families width with a strong wire fence on both sides. Accord­ from Victoria took part in a land settlement scheme ing to a blueprint from London, the camp would re­ and moved to Markland qv, to help found the first quire 153 guards and an administrative staff of 24, Commission of Government *land settlement qv. Dur­ including four nursing orderlies, three batmen, three ing World War II, an internment camp was built at clerks, two interpreters, two electricians and a hospi­ Victoria to house prisoners of war. The structure was tal cook. The Newfoundland camp would relieve Brit­ never used, as the Americans felt it was a security risk ain of the need to send POW s to Australia for some for their bases in Newfoundland, and it was disman­ time. While construction was proceeding to modify tled in 1943 (see VICTORIA CAMP). and complete Victoria camp, the Canadian-American The population of Victoria grew steadily in the fol­ Permanent Joint Defence Board (PJDB) learned of the lowing decades, as many of the people of the nearby plans and objected to the scheme. Canada's Secretary · communities of Blomidon, Flatrock and Otter bury re­ of State for External Affairs warned that a German located there, as well as much of the population of POW camp in Newfoundland would present a serious Perry's Cove qqv. By the 1990s very few residents of military hazard, possibly jeopardizing the Board's de­ Victoria remained involved in the fishery; they fence scheme. German forces might be prepared to worked in Carbonear in local services or away from take grave risks to liberate captured airmen and might the area. In 1994 Persalvic elementary and regional make the vulnerable Island subject to attack. Canada high schools served Perry's Cove, Salmon Cove and offered to take the German airmen destined for New­ Victoria, and there was also a Pentecostal elementary foundland. school. Other services include a town hall, library, fire . In the fall of 1940, Victoria camp was nearing com­ department and the Victoria Electrical Museum which pletion just as an apparent imminent German invasion opened in 1985. Census (1874-1991), DA (Dec. 1980), of the British Isles made it more desirable than ever VICTORIA CAMP 481

I I

ViCTORIA INTERNMENT CAMP-

-- ..SrTE PLAN-

for the British to transfer their growing number of guard house, an administration building, a hospital German POWs overseas. The Dominions Secretary, building, a quartermaster's store and offices, an un­ therefore, proposed a third scheme for the utilization derground vegetable store and six sentry posts. The of Victoria camp. While the 1000 enemy airmen would camp had electric floodlights and electric wiring in all be diverted to Canada, Canada would in turn send the buildings. A supply of blankets, drugs, cutlery, I 000 of its interned merchant seamen to Newfound­ crockery, enamelware and tinware was ready for use. land. The Home Office, however, ruled out this trans­ According to a watchman's report of January 1941, fer of civilian internees, and proposed to send interned the camp contained 2224 mattresses and pillows, "all merchant seamen from the United Kingdom instead. placed in readiness". The report also lists "quite a lot Again, on November 15, the Canadian government of boxes containing soap, hardware, cooking uten­ warned on behalf of the PJBD that establishment of sils . .. in the original packages." Considering it "un­ internment camps in Newfoundland would create an wise not to obtain possession of the land, at least for a unnecessary and dangerous hazard. However, in view period commensurate with the life of the buildings", ofNewfoundland's eagerness to utilize the completed the Government of Newfoundland offered to purchase camp, the Cabinet War Committee in Ottawa agreed the 20-acre camp site from the British government for not to object to the idea of civilian internees. This $3100 in December 1940. time, however, the Dominions Office ruled out all In the spring of 1941 the fate of Victoria camp was transfers of civilian internees because the British gov­ still uncertain. The Newfoundland and British govern­ ernment began to release the refugees it had hastily ments hoped in vain that it might be taken over by the interned. Meanwhile, the PJBD repeatedly reaffirmed U.S. or Canadian military forces stationed on the Is­ its opposition to an enemy POW camp. land. The Newfoundland government itself considered Occupying an enclosed area of 600 by 1100 feet, the camp undesirable as training barracks for its own Victoria camp was completed on time at a cost of militia because of its inaccessible location. Through­ $200,000. It consisted of 20 bunk houses and latrines out 1941 and early 1942 the Newfoundland govern­ for internees, five kitchen mess house blocks, one ment toyed with the idea of using the camp or some of officers' mess and quarters, three bunkhouses and la­ its buildings either as a sanatorium or convalescent trines for guards, a kitchen mess house for guards, a home or as a temporary accommodation for distressed 482 VICTORIA COVE

and injured seamen, but was deterred by the cost of As the Labrador fishery declined in the 1920s and conversion and upkeep. In June 1941, news was re­ ultimately collapsed in the 1930s, more attention was ceived that the fleet had orders to capture French paid to the shore fishery. By the late 1930s, however bankers suspected of sympathizing with France' s the local fishery was also in decline and many men lef; pro-Nazi Vichy regime. Their fishing crews were to the fishery to work as labourers on the construction of be interrogated and either interned as enemy aliens the air base at Gander. Indeed many families left the or formed into a pool of Free French merchant mar­ community altogether, and the population of Victoria iners. The Newfoundland government made the in­ Cove has not grown to any degree since the 1930s. The ternment of French fishermen contingent on the use completion of a causeway across the Bay in 1968 had of Victoria camp, the provision of military guards the effect of making the town of Gander more accessi­ and the consideration of costs, but nothing came of ble, and in 1994 most of the work force was either the scheme. employed in Gander, in local services, or in sawmill­ In August 1942, London finally decided to dispose ing. Maxwell Head (MHG 102-B-5-5), Gary L. of the camp. The commanding officer of the Canadian Saunders ( 1986), Arthur Scammell (interview, Jan. troops in Newfoundland, Major General L.F. Page, 1994), E.R. Seary (1977), Census (1911-1991), Ar­ recommended purchase of the facilities for $50,000. chives (A-7-4/20; MG 323/112), Newfoundland His­ The camp's ultimate worth turned out to be the mate­ torical Society (Victoria Cove). RHC rials with which it was built. Never used for any pur­ pose, the camp was sold to Canada and dismantled in VICTORIA, S.S. The Victoria was the first Newfound­ the spring of 1943, with its recoverable assets credited land government coastal steamer. In 1860 a bill was to the British government. G .P. Bassler (1989; 1992), passed to provide three thousand pounds a year for five Archives, Public Record Office (London), National years to charter a steam vessel to operate between St. Archives (Ottawa). GERHARD P. BASSLER John's and the outports. Without official authorization Bishop John T. Mullock and Judge J.l. Little qqv, while VICTORIA COVE (pop. 1991, 282). Located on the in New York, entered into a virtual contract to charter west side of Gander Bay (locally Gander Bay North), the S.S. Victoria for this purpose. When the govern­ Victoria Cove was originally known as Old House ment of John Kent qv refused to honour the agreement, Cove. The broad cove had been a site for winter woods Mullock denounced the Kent administration, accusing work from the mid-1800s and was settled in about it of "legalized robbery" and pointing out that " ... 1894, with tradition identifying Richard Bursey as the without steam communication the people must remain first settler. Most of the original settlers were from poor, degraded and ignorant ... [this vessel] would either Change Islands or Fogo Island (family names have done more to develop the interests of the out­ Bursey, King, Mercer, Oake, Record, Torraville and harbours than all the Houses of Assembly that ever met Webb), while other family names of Victoria Cove are on the island." In 1862 the administration of Hugh common elsewhere in Gander Bay (notably Gilling­ Hoyles chartered the Victoria, which began service on ham and Hodder). November 2, 1862. It was succeeded by the S.S. Ariel In contrast with other communities in Gander Bay, the following year. Paul O'Neill (1976). ILB where logging was historically more important, up until the 1930s Victoria Cove was known as a fishing VICTORIAN ORDER OF NURSES. The Victorian community. Most of the fishing effort took place away Order of Nurses (or V.O.N.) is a non-profit organiza­ from the community, on the Labrador. However, from tion primarily concerned with the health of citizens 1890 many of the men of Change Islands worked as who cannot adequately look after themselves. It was loggers in the winter months for Gander Bay sawmills, founded in 1897 by the wife of the Governor General and it is likely that the availability of seasonal work in of Canada, Lady Aberdeen, to commemorate Queen the lumberwoods further in the Bay played a role in Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The V.O.N. 's Newfound­ the decision to settle Victoria Cove. After the Hor­ land branch was established in 1952, providing home wood Lumber Co. established a major lumber mill at nursing service in St. John's and, the following year, nearby Dog Bay (Horwood qv) in the early 1900s local in Corner Brook. There was also a branch in Gander in cutting increased. 1954. In 1994 the professional staff consisted of a One of the early settlers of Old House Cove, John nursing supervisor, three full-time nurses, nine casual Wesley Webb, had worked as a surveyor, and it is said nurses and numerous volunteers. The V.O.N. has been that it was he who chose the name Victoria Cove, to particularly active in providing services to senior citi­ honour the Queen, in about 1896. By 1898 the commu­ zens, allowing many of those requiring health care to nity had its first school/chapel and a church was under remain in their homes. Services also include foot care construction in 1903, when it was destroyed in a forest clinics, meals-on-wheels and health care training. fire. A new Church of England church was completed In 1993 the V.O.N. nursing service made over in 1910. Another forest fire in 1912 destroyed much 17,000 visits to Newfoundland homes, and more than nearby timber and a few homes. Victoria Cove first 15,000 meals were delivered by volunteers. Home appears in the Census in 1911, with a population of support workers are given a 12-week training program 140. The first business was established by Esau Re­ before assisting citizens in light housekeeping, hy­ cord, in about 1920. gienic care, light meal preparation, grocery shopping VIKINGS 483

and respite care (relieving individuals ordinarily in of which were to create dramatic scenes for the movie. charge of home care). Fees for these services are based As feared, a violent explosion occurred in the powder on the individual's ability to pay. Financial support is magazine. The Viking sank around midnight on March obtained through both municipal and provincial 16. A large group of survivors made their way over the grants, special fund-raising events, assistance from ice to Horse Islands. service clubs and bequests. "Brief presented to the Radio signals, for the first time in the history of Royal Commission on Hospital and Nursing Home the seal fishery, conveyed news of the disaster to St. Costs" (1983), V.O.N. headquarters (interview, Mar. John's. Rescue ships, including the tug Foundation 1994). RUTH KONRAD Franklin, the Sagona qv and the sealing vessel Beothic qv, were sent to the scene. The Beothic was VIKING, S.S. Built in 1881 at Arendal, Norway, this the first to arrive, and helped in the transfer of crew three-masted wooden vessel of 620 tons was purchased to the Imogene, Sagona and Prospera qqv. Twenty­ in 1904 by Bowring Bros. After coming to Newfound­ seven people, including Frissell, lost their lives. land, the vessel was engaged in the seal fishery, under Clayton King qv, the Viking's wireless officer, pub­ the command of William Bartlett, Sr. qv. With the lished an account of the disaster, The Viking's Last exception of 1914 and 1915, Bartlett commanded the Cruise, in 1936. The cause of the explosion was vessel until 1926, during which time 222,025 pelts never determined. J.P. Andrieux ( 1986), Michael were harvested. Harrington ( 1986), Clayton L. King ( 1936), Shan­ On March 9, 1931, captained by Abram Kean Jr. qv non Ryan (1987), Frank Saunders (1981), Chafe's and with a crew of 147 (plus two stowaways), the Sealing Book ( 1989), NQ (Spring 193 1), Centre for Viking left St. John's for the seal fishery. Passengers Newfoundland Studies (Viking), Newfoundland His­ included an American film crew headed by producer torical Society (Viking). ILB Varick Frissell qv, who were completing the movie "White Thunder", begun the previous year. On Sun­ VIKINGS. The term viking comes from the Old Norse day night, March 15, the ship was in an ice flow near word vikingr, meaning pirate or raider. The period the Horse Islands. In the meantime Frissell had ex­ from AD 760 to AD 1080 is sometimes referred to as pressed concern about the safety of explosives, some the Viking Age, a time when Norse-speaking people

Crew and passengers for the Viking's last voyage. Varrick Frissel/ is at bottom, right. 484 VILLA MARIE

from southern Scandinavia and Denmark began to ex­ name ofBonavista. The family ofVineard Fisher were pand into the Mediterranean and across the north At­ also living there by 1921. lantic. This period of expansion was marked by piracy After the completion of the Bonavista branch rail­ and war but also by more peaceful trade, land coloni­ way in 1911 most of the families of Villa Verde zation and farming. Within Norse society there were wintered at sidings along the branch line, where the three broadly defined classes: the ruling warrior elite, men were employed as loggers. Meanwhile, in the slaves and the free-born land user. While the warrior summers some families from Bonavista maintained elite engaged in such pursuits as raiding, it was primar­ fishing premises near the Cape. In the 1940s the prac­ ily the latter group who expanded into colonies in tice of wintering "on the cars" died out and it would Iceland, Greenland and Vinland qqv. appear that most of the inhabitants of Villa Verde Around AD 1000 Norse colonists arrived at L'Anse began wintering in Bonavista and were subsequently aux Meadows, on the northern tip of the Island. Evi­ enumerated as inhabitants of either Bonavista or Lan­ dence from the sagas indicates that the settlers who caster. But some summer fishing premises were main­ came to Vinland included women and that livestock tained at Villa Verde until the early 1960s, while one were brought to the site. The sod dwellings, smithy family of Hayleys lived there year-round. After Lan­ and such artifacts as the spindle whorl uncovered by caster was resettled later in the decade the site of Villa archaeologists at L'Anse aux Meadows support the Verde became a community pasture and the town view that the site was an attempt at land colonization dump for Bonavista. Harry Cuff (interview, Mar. rather than a base for pirates. Though the site at 1994), Robert Cuff (NQ, Fall 1983), H.A. Wood L'Anse aux Meadows is sometimes called a viking (1952), Census (1891-1945). RHC settlement, the people who came would be better de­ scribed as Norse colonists and farmers. See NORSE VILLAGE VOICE. The first issue of this weekly paper DISCOVERY. Gwyn Jones (1986). ACB appeared in May 12, 1978, published by the Watchman Publishing Co. and printed by Robinson-Blackmore VILLA MARIE. Villa Marie is located between Dun­ Printing and Publishing Ltd. Colin Jamieson was the ville and Fox Harbour, Placentia Bay. In 1889 a rail­ paper's general manager, with contributing editors in­ way line was constructed from Placentia Junction cluding Bas Jamieson, Ron Pumphrey qqv, Jim Phillips southwest to the town of Placentia. Villa Marie station and Allan McKinnon. Describing itself as "the people's was built where the'line crossed the road from Placen­ paper'', the Village Voice was associated with the Q tia to Fox Harbour. The siding appears in the Census radio network and published local news, interviews, only once, in 1891, with a population of 10. After 1968 television and radio listings, letters, entertainment Villa Marie was the site of a silica mine operated by news and a personal advice column. Suzanne Ellison Dunville Mining Ltd., a subsidiary of ERCO Industries. (1988), Village Voice (1978-1979, passim). ILB Silica was taken to the company's plant at Long Harbour where it was used as a flux in the production of phos­ VINCENT, JOHN ( 1885-1965). Artist; architect. phorous. When the phosphorous plant ceased produc­ Born Cape Island, son of George and Mary Ann tion in 1989, the Villa Marie mine was taken over by (Sainsbury) Vincent. Educated Wesleyville; St. Silica Products Ltd. See QUARTZ. Wendy Martin John's; Boston Technical College. Married Violet May (1983), E.R. Seary (1971), Census (1891). ACB Carter. Vincent's family moved to Wesleyville when he was seven. By the age of 12 he was fishing on the VILLA NOVA ORPHANAGE. See MANUELS; MOR­ Labrador coast as a shareman. RIS, MICHAEL; ORPHANAGES. It was obvious that Vincent's talents lay elsewhere and his father arranged for him to study painting under VILLA VERDE (pop. 1945, 32). An abandoned fishing a Mr. Pittman. He was encouraged to put aside part of community, Villa Verde was located just south of Cape his earnings from the fish­ Bonavista qv, on the Trinity Bay side. The community ery and the family boat­ appears in official records at various times as Villa building business against Verde, Victoria and Villavert - but was usually the day when he would be known locally as Back Side. Although there is little able to attend college. shelter from the open sea, it would appear that small Meanwhile, he took a corre­ coves on either side of the Cape were used as summer spondence course in archi­ fishing premises by residents of Bonavista, as they tecture and designed offered the closest access to prime headland fishing several homes in the grounds. Early Census figures for the nearby commu­ Wesleyville area. At the age nities of Spillars Cove and Lancaster qqv probably of 17 he went away to study include the family of William Hayley, who had moved architecture. While study- to Villa Verde from Bonavista by 1876. The commu­ ing at Boston Technical, John Vincent nity does not appear separately in the Census until Vincent painted Newfound- 1891, with a population of 46 in five families. Most of land fishing scenes from memory, which he sold to the inhabitants of Villa Verde were descendants of help finance his education. He also visited Europe to Hayley or members of the Way family, also a common study the great cathedrals and produced a lithograph VINLAND 485

of Milan cathedral which sold quite well. After gradu­ John's athlete in the 1890s and early 1900s. He ex­ ation he went to work with an architectural firm in celled in track and field (he had an unofficial time of Chicago. While on a return visit to Newfoundland he 9.8 seconds for the 100 yard dash) as well as in hockey, submitted the winning entry in a competition to design soccer and cricket. He was the star performer for the a new *Cochrane Street Church qv. He did not see the St. John's teams which challenged the crews of visiting modified execution of his design until 1961. warships in the 1890s, and also boxed against naval By 1926 Vincent was much in demand as a portrait opponents. A pioneer in organizing city leagues in painter and, while in Europe to study the masters, was hockey and baseball, he was a member of teams asso­ commissioned to paint portraits of King George V, ciated with the Benevolent Irish Society and the Star King George VI and Pope Pius XI. In the 1930s he of the Sea Association, and was a member of the returned to the United States, establishing a studio in hockey team which won the first Boyle Cup in 1904. New York, later moving to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. From the 1920s through to the 1940s he helped to Health problems, including paralysis, forced him to organize and coach amateur athletics in St. John's. He stop painting in the 1940s. In 1961 he returned to was one of the original inductees when the Newfound­ Newfoundland as a guest of the provincial government land and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame was established during the opening ceremonies of the new campus of in 1973. In work, Vinicombe was an agent for the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Clifford An­ Canadian Life Insurance Co. See also SPORTS. Frank drews ( 1987), ET (Oct. 25, 1961 ). JAMES WADE Graham (1988), DNLB (1990), ET (May 16, 1947). ACB VINCENT, SAMUEL FLETCHER (1907-1981). Del­ egate to the National Convention. Born Cape Island, VINICOMBE, NICHOLAS JOSEPH ( 1 8 7 7- 1 9 2 8). Bonavista Bay; son of Judith (Norris) and Charles Athlete; politician. Born St. John's, son of Hannah Vincent. Educated Cape Island; Memorial University (McCarthy) and Nicholas Vinicombe. Educated St. College. Married Nellie Hounsell. After completing Bonaventure's College. Married Anne Sutton. ''Nix'' teacher training, Ted Vincent worked as a travelling Vinicombe and his brother James qv belonged to Be­ teacher on the Labrador coast. In 1930 he took a posi­ nevolent Irish Society and Star of the Sea Association tion at Pound Cove, where he subsequently married championship teams playing hockey, soccer and and went into business in partnership with his wife. cricket. Nix was also noted as a goaltender with the The Vincents operated a general fishery supply busi­ Terra Nova and Victoria hockey clubs, and he com­ ness and sent two of their own schooners to the Labra­ peted in track and fielq and in the annual St. John's dor fishery. In 1945 Vincent played a role in the regatta. inclusion of Pound Cove in the newly-incorporated From 1892 Vinicombe was employed as a clerk by town of Wesleyville, and was subsequently elected to grocer and wine merchant James Stott, but in 1904 the first municipal council. The next year he was nom­ established his own wine and grocery business, con­ inated as delegate to the National Convention for centrating on foodstuffs after prohibition was intro­ Bonavista North, and was returned by acclamation. duced during World War I. From 1916 he was a During the Convention Vincent supported confedera­ member of the St. John's municipal council, and in tion with Canada, and campaigned for confederation in 1920-21 was a member of the municipal commission the Wesleyville area prior to the referenda of 1948. and deputy mayor. He was elected to the House of After Confederation, Vincent was appointed a member Assembly in 1919 as a representative for St. John's of the Board of Liquor Control, serving as deputy East, and was re-elected in 1923, as a supporter of the commissioner of the Board from 1967 until his retire­ opposition Liberal-Progressive party. In 1924 ment in 1972. M.F. Harrington (letter, Mar. 1989), Vinicombe was again elected, this time for the victori­ Roma Paul (interview, Oct. 1993), DNLB. RHC ous Liberal-Conservative party of Walter S. Monroe. After the Monroe government repealed prohibition, in VINDICATOR AND BRIGUS REPORTER. A weekly 1926 Vinicombe resigned his seat to accept an ap­ newspaper, the Vindicator was founded in the spring pointment to the Board of Liquor Control. He was of 1898 by Jabez Thompson qv, a former editor of the posthumously inducted into the Newfoundland and Twi/lingate Sun who had been appointed magistrate at Labrador Sports Hall of Fame in 1974. Frank Graham Brigus. This local paper continued to publish until ( 1988), DNLB ( 1990), Who's Who in and from New­ October of 1903, when its printing plant was sold to a foundland 1927 (1927). ACB local teacher, H.M. Mosdell qv, who subsequently started the Newfoundland Outlook qv in Bay Roberts. VINLAND. According to the Norse sagas, Vinland (or The Vindicator and Brigus Reporter bears no relation­ Wineland) was the name bestowed by Leifr Eiriksson ship to the Newfoundland Vindicator qv, a St. John's qv on lands he discovered to the west of Greenland. newspaper of the 1840s. Suzanne Ellison (1988). RHC The exact location ofVinland is a matter of debate (see NORSE DISCOVERY). Cartographic evidence, espe­ VINICOMBE, JAMES I. (1874-1947). Athlete. Born cially Stefansson's map of 1590, suggests that Vinland St. John's. Son of Hannah (McCarthy) and Nicholas was on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. In Vinicombe. Educated St. Bonaventure's College. 183 7 Danish scholar C. C. Rafn published Antiquitates "Hooks" Vinicombe was probably the best-known St. Americanae, a work which touched off a search for 486 VIOLET FAMILY

physical evidence of the Vinland colony. Rafn be­ a transplant from Europe which grows in Newfound­ lieved Vinland to be in the area of Rhode Island, but land and south to some of the southern United States. hard evidence was not found. A white violet with a yellow-splashed base leaf, V. As early as 1914, W.A. Munn qv concluded that the arvensis favours soil that has been disturbed. Niering Great Northern Peninsula was the site ofVinland. This and Olmstead ( 1979), Peterson and McKenny ( 1968), theory gained credence with the discovery and excava­ Frank D. Venning (1984). KATHLEEN WINTER tion of a Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows in the 1960s. Critics, however, noted discrepancies between VIOLETTA. In March 1875 the Violetta, a brig sailing L'Anse aux Meadows and physical descriptions given out of Granville, France bound for St. Pierre, became in the sagas and the absence of wild grapes, for which stuck in the ice two miles southwest of Cape English. Vinland was named. Other researchers maintained that After the crew managed to cross the ice to St. Mary's the 'grapes' could easily have been wild berries. Per­ several local men went to the brig to rescue the ill haps Vinland, like Greenland, was a name chosen to captain. Intent on salvaging the cargo, local men, in encourage settlement. It seems most likely that Yin­ parties of two or three, then walked over the ice to the land refers to an extensive stretch of coast and country brig and removed most of the cargo. When they at­ and not to a specific site. L' Anse aux Meadows was tempted to return to shore, a large lead of open water probably considered by the Norse both as part of Yin­ lay between them and the land. There was no choice land and the entrance to lands further south. Gywn but to return to the Violetta, although it was now Jones (1986), Birgitta Wallace ( 1982). ACB drifting out to sea, and several men drowned. The survivors spent the night on the ice in sub-zero temper­ VIOLET FAMILY. This family of dainty herbs, of atures. The next day one group of men managed to get which the garden pansy is a member, comprises 900 back on board the Violetta, but another drifted away on species worldwide. Violets are low-growing plants an ice pan. Some of this party died, but others managed whose flowers have five petals, the base petal often to walk 15 miles over the ice to Cape Pine. wider, patterned with veins and curving backward. The The group on the Violetta were carried 100 miles out pistils of violets have distinctive thick head and short to sea, and trapped in the ice for 10 days. Their only beak. provisions were flour and some rum. In the meantime, Of species which grow in Newfoundland, Marsh with a change of wind the ship had drifted back to blue violet (Viola cucullata) is a stemless plant whose within about 40 miles of land, and rescue operations leaves and flowers grow out of the root stocks. The had begun. They had almost given up hope when, on Latin cucullata (hooded) refers to the young leaves' March 11, the G.S. Fogg (a schooner en route from St. being rolled inward. This is one of several violets John's to the West Indies) came upon the drifting ship, whose leaves and flowers can be eaten. The leaves, rescued the men and transferred some of them to the rich in vitamins A and C, make a nice salad green, and Lady Mary and the Trusty. The men remaining in the the purplish flowers, also vitamin-rich, have been can­ Fogg were transferred to the S.S. Nuremburg, taken to died and used in syrups taken to ease coughs. This Baltimore, and returned to St. John's by the S.S. New­ violet grows in swamps, wet meadows and rocky foundland. Of the men who had set out to board the beaches, requiring rich humus and partial shade. Its Violetta (accounts vary as to the actual number) 13 range is from Newfoundland to British Columbia and either drowned or died from exposure. Galgay and Mc­ south to Georgia. Carthy (1979), Public Ledger (March 9-23, 1875). ILB The small white violet (V. Pal/ens) grows from Lab­ rador to Alaska and south to Colorado. Like V. VIPOND, FRANCIS ELI ( 1900-1972). Clergyman. cucullata, its leaves and flowers are high in vitamins Born Hamilton, Ontario. Educated Hamilton; Victoria A and C. One of the first flowers of spring, this white University, Toronto. Vipond was received into the ,...------...... , violet has been used as a spring Methodist ministry as a tonic. Its dainty white flowers are ''candidate on trial''. On veined with purple, and its leaves graduation from university are heart-shaped. The small white in 1925, he was ordained by violet grows near brooks and in wet the Hamilton Conference of woods. The kidney-leaved violet (V. the United Church and ap­ " renifolia) is a white, runnerless vio­ pointed assistant minister at let whose leaves are broader than Hamilton First United • tf~ they are long. Growing in cool Church. During the next 20 ·~ W woods from Alaska to Newfoundland years he served a number of ~, ' and south to Colorado, V. renifolia charges in Ontario and Sas­ ..___ _._ __-..~ has leaves which, when young, are katchewan, taking a year's Blue Violet pale and downy on both sides. The leave in 1946-4 7 for post- Rev. F. E. Vipond hooked-spur violet (V. adunca) is a graduate study in Toronto. deeper-blue violet of dry, rocky woods. It has great In 1948 he came to Newfoundland as minister of range, growing from Labrador and Alaska south to Gower Street United Church, where he served until Arizona and California. The wild pansy (V. arvensis) is December 1958, the longest pastorate in that Church's VIRGIN ROCKS 487

first century and a half. During this time he also served Gleesons, Hanns, Ingses and Prices (from Tilt Cove, as Presbytery chairman, and in 1956-57 was president now a part of Fairbank qv). As Virgin Arm was quite of the Newfoundland Confetence of the United distant from the best headland fishing grounds, most Church. He resigned from Gower Street Church in fishermen were involved in the fisheries on the Labra­ December 1958 to accept an appointment with the dor and French Shore. The most lucrative small-boat Canadian Council of Churches, which he served from fisheries in the area were for bait fishes and lobster, 1959 to 1962. Thereafter he served as a missionary in both in Friday's Bay and Dildo Run. New World Is­ Jamaica from 1962 to 1970. Retiring in 1970 he re­ land is only about 1 km wide at the bottom of Virgin turned to Toronto, where he died on October 7, 1972. Arm and early in the twentieth century there was a Following his death a Memorial Fund in his memory tramway built between the two bodies of water for the was established at Gower Street Church. Minutes of the transportation of fishing boats and lumber (see Official Board of Gower Street Circuit (1948-58), Min­ PARKVIEW). Virgin Arm had a strong tradition of utes ofthe Newfoundland Conference (1956-57), United woods work and, after the decline of the schooner Church of Canada Year Book (1973). DAVID G. PITT fisheries in the 1920s and 1930s, many people found employment in pulpwood cutting or in supplying local VIREOS. Vireos are small song birds which constitute sawmills. The population had grown to 225 by 1945. the family Vireonidae, and are confined to the Ameri­ In the mid-1960s the completion of a network of cas. Although they are easily mistaken for warblers, roads and causeways connecting the various commu­ vireos may be distinguished by their slightly hooked nities of New World Island with each other and with and thicker bills. All are olive or greyish above, while the mainland saw Virgin Arm South emerging as a the underparts may be either whitish or lemon in col­ service centre of the area, with such facilities as the our. Some species have conspicuous eye rings and New World Island Medical Clinic and a regional high wing bars. All are rather sluggish in their movements. school, Coaker Academy. In addition, several busi­ They are woodland birds, mostly of deciduous forests, nesses serving New World Island have located either in and they migrate to Central and South America. Eight Virgin Arm South or along the Road to the Isles leading species occur in Canada, only two of which are known towards Summerford qv. Harvey Bulgin (1991 ?), Wil­ to breed in Newfoundland. Neither species is common liam Burt (interview, June 1992), Census (190 1-1991 ), in the Province. List of Electors ( 1889), Lovell's Newfoundland Direc­ The solitary vireo (Vireo solitarius) has conspicu­ tory ( 18 7 1), McAlpine's Newfoundland Directory ous eye rings (or "spectacles") and wing bars. The (1894), Archives (A-7-2/L; VS 88). RHC red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceushas) has neither of these features, but has stripes through and above the VIRGIN COVE (pop. 1891, 10). An abandoned fishing eye. Both species are regarded as quite uncommon in community, Virgin Cove was located on Merasheen Newfoundland. The red-eyed vireo is noted for its Island, Placentia Bay, north of Merasheen harbour. almost continuous but rather monotonous song. Three When geologist J.B. Jukes qv visited the settlement other species have been seen in Newfoundland: the about 1840 he described it as being situated on a small Philadelphia vireo (Vireo philadelphicus), which is space of flat land beneath a high cliff over which fell very uncommon; the warbling vireo (Vireo gilvus) and a waterfall. In 1836 Brule, Tack's Beach and Virgin the yellow-throated vireo (Vireo jlavifrons), both of Cove had a combined population of 62, but it is likely which are regarded vagrant. Mactavish, Maunder and that only one or two families were living at Virgin Montevecchi (1989). CHARLIE HORWOOD Cove. There were 42 people in the settlement in 1845, who made a living from small-scale fishing and farm­ VIRGIN ARM (pop. 1991, 539). The community of ing. Of the 30 people in 1857,29 were Roman Catho­ Virgin Arm is located at the head of Friday's Bay, on lic. A Catholic school operated in Merasheen, but the New World Island qv. Its name probably originated in census taker for that year noted that attendance was the fact that the narrow Arm was not settled until the poor. Richard McCarthy was granted six acres of land 1870s, although it was used for winter woods work and in the community in 1859 and ten years later Virgin schooner-building by fishermen from Tizzard's Harb­ Cove consisted of six dwellings. The population de­ our and Twillingate from the early 1800s. clined from five families in 1884 to only two in 1891, The first record of settlement at Virgin Arm is from and it appears that the cove was deserted soon thereaf­ Lovell's Newfoundland Directory (1871 ), which iden­ ter. J.B. Jukes (1842), JHA (1859), Census (1836- tifies fisherman John Smith as a resident and notes a 1891). ACB population of 10 people. However, Smith does not appear in subsequent records, while Virgin Arm is not VIRGIN ROCKS. The Virgin Rocks comprise a series enumerated separately in the Census until 1901 (pop. ofjagged, underwater ridges on the Grand Banks. They 70). Locally, the first settler is said to have been a lie at 46"25' latitude and 50"49' longitude and cover Curtis, of Snellings Cove, Twillingate. William Curtis several square kilometres in area. In some places the was resident by 1876, and by 1882 had been joined by summits of the rocks are only 3.6 m under the surface, John Hicks and a family named Nicholas, also of and the sea can break over them in bad weather. The Twillingate. At about the tum of the century several first reference to the Virgin Rocks by a cartographer other families settled: Burts (from Tizzard's Harbour), was made by Jorge Reinel qv in about 1520. They were 488 VIRGINIA

noted by mariners as a prominent landmark, and in the days of the banking schooners became a rendezvous point for hook and line fishermen. In I964 the provin­ cial government sponsored an expedition to the Rocks. A scientific party under the direction of Memorial University geologist Hugh Lilly qv left for the Grand Banks on board the vessel Bamasteer. Apart from mak­ ing numerous biological and geological observations, the team sent divers to affix a plaque to the Rocks themselves. It bore the Newfoundland coat of arms, flanked by the insignia of Memorial University and the Fisheries College, and recorded the date of the expedi­ tion. See BANKS, MARINE. Smallwood Files (Virgin Rocks). ACB

VIRGINIA. The Virginia, a 30-ton pinnace, was appar­ ently the first commercial vessel built in America Cottage at Virginia Waters (Spears). In I607 the Plymouth Company established prominent residents of St. John's built cottages in the a fishing colony on the coast of Maine, and that fall the area, a few eventually moving there to live, and a small keel of the Virginia was laid at the mouth of the schoolhouse was erected. Kennebec River. It carried a spin sail and jib, as well In the I960s a residential neighbourhood, Virginia as oars. The vessel was intended for use in the New­ Park, was built nearby, but the lakefront remained in foundland cod fishery, in coastal trade with the Indians private hands, much of it owned by the Crosbie family. and in overseas trade. J .R. Spears ( I9I5), NQ (July In 1988 the Crosbie Group Ltd. began building exclu­ I9I6). ILB sive homes on a development north of the lake, known as King William Estates. Paul O'Neill (1976; 1977), VIRGINIA LAKE. Built in 1882 as the Conscript, the Newfoundland Historical Society (Thomas Cochrane; Virginia Lake was used in the coastal mail service for Virginia Water). RUTH KONRAD 12 years, running from St. John's to St. Anthony. From 1901 to 1908 it was engaged in the seal fishery, har­ VIRGINITE. See MINERALS. vesting 158,476 pelts under the command of such noted masters as Job Knee, William C. Winsor, Samuel VIVIAN, ALBERT (1918- ). Civil servant. Born Port Blandford and Jacob Kean qqv. Rexton. Educated Port Rexton; Bishop Feild College; Repaired and outfitted after damage incurred in a McGill University. Vivian- taught school for four years, January 1908 storm, the Virginia Lake, commanded by followed by service in the Royal Artillery during World Kean, sailed from St. John's on March 10, 1909 with War II. He subsequently attended McGill University, the annual sealing fleet. Near the Funk Islands the obtaining a B.Sc. in agriculture in 1949. Following grad­ entire fleet became jammed in ice, and the Virginia uation he was appointed regional supervisor for New­ Lake suffered severe damage including a broken pro­ foundland of the Veterans' Land Act Administration. In peller shaft. The Bellaventure got close enough to pass 1953 he joined the Canada Mortgage and Housing Cor­ a towing line, but three times the manila line broke poration (CMHC), where he was Newfoundland man­ and a steel cable subsequently broke when it snagged ager from 1955 to 1966. Vivian then entered the under a pan of ice. When the decision was made to employ of the provincial government as Commissioner abandon the vessel the Bellaventure took aboard II 0 of Housing. His work led to the creation of the New­ men, while the remaining 50 walked to land over the foundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, of rafted ice. The Virginia Lake burned for four hours which he was chairman and chief executive officer before sinking. Harry Bruce ( I977), H.M. Mosdell until 1978. Vivian then established a land development (1923), Chafe's Sealing Book (I989), Newfoundland consulting company, which he operated until the early Historical Society (Virginia Lake). ILB 1990s. His other activities include 25 years of service with the Canadian militia (retiring in I978 with the VIRGINIA ROSE. See ROSES, WILD. rank of lieutenant-colonel). M.O. MoRGAN

VIRGINIA WATERS. Virginia Lake is located north­ VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY east of St. John's. In about 1827 Governor Thomas COLLEGES. The modern system of vocational/ Cochrane purchased a tract of land on the lake as a technical schools and community colleges in New­ summer residence, which he named Virginia Waters. foundland and Labrador began in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1869 Robert McCrea wrote of Virginia Waters, Before that time, vocational training was provided "what a site for a house might this be for a man with through commercial schools and an informal system of means at his command to do the thing well.'' At about apprenticeships. The first vocational and technical this time the estate was acquired by George H. Emer­ school in Newfoundland was established in 1946 for son qv, who retired there. In the late 1800s other war veterans. Known locally as the Ex-Servicemen's VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES 489

the rear of the main building, and off-campus facilities were also used. Despite Newfoundland's long association with the fishery, there was little formal training available. The provincial Department of Fisheries had offered some extension services, while short courses in navigation were periodically available. The *College of Fisher­ ies, Navigation, Marine Engineering and Electronics qv was established to meet the need and in the hope of attracting federal research money to the Province. De­ tailed planning was done by Douglas Cooper qv, a professor at Memorial University, who had set up the so-called fishermen's travelling schools in 1953 while a consultant to government. The equipment and staff of the travelling schools were turned over to the Col­ lege and formed the nucleus of its extension services. Seal Cove campus of Cabot College Other staff were seconded from government depart­ School, it held classes in vacant admiralty buildings on ments. The College officially opened in 1964 under the south side of St. John's harbour. By the end of the presidency of William Hampton qv. Only 146 stu­ 1948, between 500 and 600 veterans had attended six­ dents enrolled in the first term, but the total enrolment month courses in one or more of: diesel engineering, (including travelling schools) exceeded 3000 in 1966- motor mechanics, carpentry and joinery, electrical 67. The first female students were admitted to the work, plumbing and pipefitting, machine shop practice College in 1966, when 20 women took courses in net or sheet metal work. In 1949 the provincial govern­ braiding. Because many fishermen lacked the aca­ ment expanded the school's mandate to include civil­ demic background to undertake technical and voca­ ians. Classes in navigation previously conducted by tional training, a department of Basic Training Memorial University College were transferred to the Upgrading was established at the College. In addition Vocational Institute. After 1953 the Institute became to Fisheries, the other departments were Naval Archi­ involved in formal apprenticeship training, combining tecture, Nautical Science, Mechanical Engineering class work with work experience. By the early 1960s Technology, Electrical Engineering and Technology, it was apparent that the school was operating well Food Technology and Extension Services. By 1971, beyond capacity and it closed in 1963. The last princi­ itinerant schools in 60 communities were offering pal, William May qv, was part of the task force which such short courses as engine repair, boat-building and helped to plan a new vocational education system for repair and fish processing. The name of the College the Province. With monetary assistance from the federal govern­ ment, 11 district vocational schools were built. These were located in Corner Brook, Grand Falls, Gander, Burin, Bell Island, Carbonear, Port aux Basques, Ste­ phenville Crossing, Lewisporte, Clarenville and Seal Cove, Conception Bay. Admission to the schools was generally granted to students with a minimum of grade eight or grade nine education and tuition was nominal, at $5 per term. Legislation in 1963 gave allowances to unemployed persons undergoing retraining and en­ couraged enrolment, which initially had been low. The curriculum varied according to local circumstances. In Gander, for example, a course was developed in air­ craft maintenance. Most of the schools offered courses in auto mechanics, drafting, welding, shorthand, typ­ ing and clerical work. What was to become the largest technical and vocational centre in the Province -the College of Trades and Technology - was officially opened in St. John's in 1963. Kenneth Duggan qv was the College's first principal and in 1970 became its first president. In the first year the College had 659 full-time students enrolled in 35 courses. A large num­ ber of part-time students also attended. Although by 1970 the instructional staff had grown to 126, only a fraction of applicants could be accommodated. In Students at the Marine Institute (formerly the College ofFisheries) 1972 a number of portable classrooms were placed at 490 VOEUX, WILLIAM DES was changed in 1985 to the Newfoundland and Labra­ Stephenville Crossing), St. Anthony, Port aux Basques dor Institute of Fisheries and Marine Technology (the and Corner Brook. Central Newfoundland Community Marine Institute). College became Central Newfoundland College, with By the mid-1970s the College of Trades and Tech­ campuses at Gander, Baie Verte, Grand Falls, nology was offering four basic types of programs. Lewisporte and Springdale. Eastern Community Col­ These were pre-employment certificate courses usu­ lege became Eastern Regional College, with cam­ ally lasting one year, apprentice programs of six to puses at Burin, Bonavista, Clarenville, Placentia and eight weeks, extension service evening courses and Carbonear. Finally, the Cabot Institute and the Avalon post-secondary diploma programs. In 1983 the Col­ Community College were amalgamated as the Cabot lege had five three-year programs (petroleum technol­ College of Applied Arts, Technology and Continuing ogy, surveying technology, medical laboratory Education. It had campuses at Bell Island, Seal Cove technology, pharmacy and X-ray technology), 13 two­ and in St. John's at Prince Philip Drive, Parade Street year diploma courses (in the areas of computer stud­ and Topsail Road. In the early 1990s many academic ies, community recreation leadership, accounting, services were expanded to provide retraining and up­ secretarial science, forest resources technology, elec­ grading to people formerly employed in the fishing tronics technology and food administration) and 30 industry. Retraining was sponsored by the Atlantic courses lasting one year or less. Renamed in 1986 the Fisheries Adjustment Program at various vocational Cabot Institute of Applied Arts and Technology, it was and technical schools. See also NAVIGATION the largest non-university post-secondary institution SCHOOLS; SCHOOLING. George Anderson (1979), in eastern Canada, with 5000 full-time and part-time John Loveys (interview, Apr. 1994), R.I. McAllister students. The number of students had grown to 10,000 (1964?), Frederick Rowe (1976), BN IV (1967), NQ by 1992. (Oct. 1972), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Col­ In 1986 the Minister of the department of Career leges of Applied Arts, Technology and Continuing Ed­ Development and Advanced Studies, Charles J. Power ucation; Post Secondary Education and Adult qv, announced a restructuring of the Province's post­ Education), Smallwood Files (Institutions, Educa­ secondary education system, and in 1988 community tional). ACB colleges served the Avalon, Eastern, Central, Western and Labrador regions. In 1992 Minister of Education VOEUX, WILLIAM DES. See DES VOEUX, GEORGE Philip J. Warren qv announced that the post-secondary WILLIAM. education system was again to be revamped. The Ma­ rine Institute became the Fisheries and Marine Insti­ VOISEYS BAY (pop. 1945, 28). Located approxi­ tute of Memorial University. The Labrador mately 35 km south of Nain on the Labrador coast, Community College became the Labrador Regional Voiseys Bay is a 50 km-long inlet. It was inhabited by College, with campuses at Labrador City and Happy several settler families for about 100 years. The Bay Valley-Goose Bay. Extension service courses were of­ takes its name from Amos Voisey, a native of Ply­ fered at Northwest River. The Western Community mouth who came to Labrador in about 1850. After College and the Fisher Institute of Applied Arts and working at Cartwright, presumably for the English Technology became Westviking College. Campuses firm of Hunt and Henley, Voisey moved north to were located at Bay St. George (Stephenville and Ford's Harbour qv, near Nain. There he was outfitted

Kamarsuk VON ELLERSHAUSEN, FRANCIS 491

for trapping by John Ford, eventually marrying a local school supervisor for Conception Bay North. From woman and settling at Kamarsuk, on the north side of 1972 to 1986 he was director of professional develop­ Voiseys Bay near its entrance. ment for the Newfoundland Teachers' Association. He After the death of Amos Voisey in 1887, his son joined the Newfoundland George moved farther in the Bay, on its south side, to and Labrador School Old Harbour. By the early 1900s there were several Boards Association as exec­ families of Voiseys living at various sites in the Bay. utive director in 1986. The Winter family lived at Kamarsuk and the Ed­ Along with his career in ed­ munds family 5 km away at Akuliakattak, while a ucation, Vokey has become band of Innu had a seasonal camp at Idlavik Brook (at known as an after-dinner the head of the Bay). These families made their living speaker on Newfoundland from a seasonal round of fishing, trapping and hunting folklore, customs and dia­ - trading furs and fish either to a Moravian mission lect. In recognition of his store at Old Harbour or to independent trader Richard efforts in this area, he was White qv. The settler families were accounted by the named Newfoundland Moravian mission as forming a part of the Nain con­ "Ambassador of the Year" Myrle Vokey gregation and consequently were not recorded sepa­ in 1991 by the Department rately in early Census figures. Voiseys Bay first of Tourism and Culture. His many community involve­ appears in the Census in 1921, with a population of 3 5 ments include several years on the provincial execu­ people in seven families. By the early 1950s most of tive of the Canadian Red Cross Society. In 1993 he was the younger people had left to work either at Goose elected national president of the Society. Myrle Vokey Bay or in the construction of a radar site at Hopedale. (letter/interview, Feb. 1994). JOHN PARSONS Apart from a few people who moved to Postville, the rest of the people relocated to Nain. In the mid-1960s VOLES. See MICE AND VOLES. there was only one person living year-round at Voiseys Bay-near the southern entrance, at Anton's Place­ VON ELLERSHAUSEN, FRANCIS (1820-1914). Min­ while one family lived there in summer for the fishery. ing engineer. Born Saxony (Germany). Francis von A family of Innu wintered there as well. Since that Ellershausen left his mark on the history of both Nova time there have been fishing camps and cabins at Scotia and Newfoundland as a daring entrepreneur Voiseys Bay, most used by residents of Nain. Census and industrialist. Well educated in the arts and sci­ (1921-1945), List of Electors (1948), Our Footprints ences, with patents in metallurgy to his credit, at the are Everywhere (1977), Them Days (Apr. 1993), Ar­ age of 42 he went to Nova Scotia as mining engineer. chives (A-7-5/13; MG 8/15/1). RHC In Nova Scotia he devoted most of his efforts to ambitious industrial projects, ranging from a pulp VOKEY, EDWARD HARVEY ( 1920- ). Educator. and paper mill to oil drilling and drainage of land for Born Spaniard's Bay, son of Isaac and Sarah Vokey. agricultural usage. Educated Memorial University College; Memorial Von Ellershausen first visited Newfoundland in 1874 University of Newfoundland. Married Ellie Hiscock. to inspect a copper claim a German associate, Adolph Vokey spent 40 years as a teacher and administrator in Guzmann, had staked out for him in Notre Dame Bay Newfoundland schools. From 1955 to 1969 he regu­ in 1872. He optioned the Betts Cove qv site from its larly contributed items on the Spaniard's Bay area to owners for a royalty on the mined ore and formed the the Daily News. Interested in local history, in 1990 he Betts Cove Mining Company with two Glasgow finan­ served on the lOOth anniversary committee ofthe New­ ciers. Mining operations began in the spring of 1875. foundland Teachers' Association, as well as on the During that summer 6000 tons of copper were produced. 1OOth anniversary committee of Holy Redeemer Angli­ By 1879 a total of 102,000 tons had been mined. The ore can church in Spaniard's Bay, which he had served for was smelted for shipment to Swansea. In the meantime, many years as a layreader and organist. Active in local Betts Cove had become a thriving town of 1000 New­ affairs, he has served as deputy mayor of Spaniard's foundland, German, Canadian, English, French, Califor­ Bay, as secretary of the local public library board since nian and Australian miners. Von Ellershausen took a 1955 and as chairman oflocal branches ofthe Red Cross personal interest in the welfare of the community by and the Newfoundland Lung Association. E.H. Vokey inspecting the working conditions in the shafts daily and (letter, May 1993), DA (Mar.-Apr. 1989), NTA Bulletin providing for entertainment and cultural activities. Dur­ (June 1992), Newfoundland Churchman (July 1985; Mar. ing the winter season mine officials, "all young gentle­ 1992). JOHN PARSONS men of good education", as the Rev. Moses Harvey noted, gave concerts, public readings, lectures and even VOKEY, MYRLE ( 1939- ). Educator. Born Bell Island, engaged in amateur theatricals. The company built a son of William and Ethel (Gosse) Vokey. Married Presbyterian church and maintained a school, whose Marilyn Carter. Educated Memorial University ofNew­ teacher was paid by the company. The community had foundland; University of New Brunswick; University four churches, a school, a hospital, a telegraph station, a of Toronto. In 1967, after teaching in several New­ customs house, various stores, and even a "clean, cosy foundland communities, Vokey was appointed district and well-kept market place". 492 VOY'S BEACH

In order to reduce his expenses and maximize VOY'S BEACH (pop. 1966, 12). Voy's Beach is lo­ profits at Betts Cove, von Ellershausen in 1878 cated on the south shore of the Bay oflslands, southeast pleaded for a rail link between Halls Bay and St. of Frenchman's Cove, and was probably one of the George's Bay, arguing that such a line would be earliest settled sites in the area. In 1849 Bishop Edward cheaper, easier to build, and more useful than the Feild noted two cottages southeast of Frenchman's planned railway between St. John's and Notre Dame Cove, while a family named Park (one of the earliest Bay. He continued to be involved in Newfoundland recorded family names in the Bay, dating from the railway politics after he sold, at a handsome profit, 1830s) was living there by 1866. By the 1880s the other his Betts Cove Mining Company holdings (which family names associated with Voy's Beach had also included the copper mine at Little Bay qv) to the been recorded (Bayley, Parsons and Strickland). The Newfoundland Consolidated Copper Mining Com­ community first appeared in the Census in 1901, with pany in January 1881. From the summer of 1883 a population of 15. The largest number ever recorded until August 1884 von Ellershausen worked the lead was 53 people, in 1945. The tiny fishing community mine at Silver Cliff near Little Placentia (now was resettled in the late 1960s, and in 1971 the site was Argentia). This time, however, success eluded him. included in the incorporated community of Halfway Point­ At age 64 he left Newfoundland for some prospecting Benoit's Cove-John's Beach-Frenchman's Cove qv. Since in Spain and subsequent retirement in Germany. He that time the highway behind the beach has been settled, died in Berlin in 1914. Moses Harvey (1879), James but in 1994 this area (Strickland's Road) was considered Hiller (1980), ET, Harbour Grace Standard, Morning a neighbourhood of Frenchman's Cove. There were also Chronicle, North Star, Royal Gazette, Times, Archives summer cabins at Voy's Beach itself. Edward Feild (GN 1/3/A- 1877, 1878). GERHARD P. BASSLER (1851), E.R. Seary (1977), Census (1901-1966). RHC