Maro Adjemian, Adrienne Blattel and Monica Green Labrador

Basse-Côte-Nord La Tabatière Québec Mutton Bay Sept-Îles

N Golfe du Saint-Laurent Terre-Neuve CANADA St-Jean Québec Nouveau- I.-P.-É. Brunswick Océan Montréal Nouvelle- É-U Écosse Atlantique

“The country around is all my own much farther than you can see. No fees, no lawyers, no taxes are here. I do pretty much Introduction as I choose. My means are ample through my own industry. People have been coming to the rugged north The seal fishery ended in the 1980s, and These vessels come for sealskins, seal oil, and salmon, and shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence for nearly with it, an important part of the region’s give me in return all the necessities, and indeed comforts, 9,000 years because of its exceptionally rich culture. Seal fishing was once central to the of the life I love to follow.” marine resources. During their annual migra- economy of the Lower North Shore. Today, - Samuel Robertson, 1833 tion from the Arctic, thousands of harp seals few Canadians even know of the existence of pass by this coastline, known as the Quebec this historic industry. Despite the controversy Lower North Shore. In the 18th century, surrounding the capture of seals, this story has officials from New France began fishing seals a place alongside the cod fishery and fur trade commercially along these shores. Permanent as a significant part of Canadian history. This settlers arrived in the 19th century and a string booklet tells the largely unknown story of the of isolated villages sprang up alongside a seal fishery, part of the rich cultural heritage of large-scale seal fishing industry. These settlers Quebec’s Lower North Shore. devised increasingly complex systems of nets to capture seals. Seals had many uses for the people living along the coast. They sold seal skins and oil to commercial firms, ate the meat or fed it to their dog teams, and made water resistant sealskin clothing, essential for survival in a harsh coastal climate. The seal fishery reached unprecedented heights in the village of La Tabatière, where legendary Scottish pioneer Samuel Robertson established the most productive seal fishing post in the region.

Labrador

Lower North Shore La Tabatière Québec Mutton Bay Sept-Îles N Gulf of St.Lawrence Newfoundland CANADA St.John’s Québec New P.E.I. Brunswick Montréal Nova Atlantic USA Scotia Ocean

Quebec’s Lower North Shore, also known as the Coast, is made up of 15 villages with a total population of just under 6,000 people. The villages are spread out across 400 km. 1 The Harp Seal’s Migration The Ancient Practice of Four species of seal are found along Quebec’s Harp seal pups of the Gulf herd are usually Lower North Shore: the harp seal, the harbour born on ice floes in late February or early Capturing Seals seal, the hooded seal and the grey seal. The March, close to Anticosti Island and the most plentiful is the harp seal, which is the Magdalen Islands. In May, once the pups are Long before the development of a commercial The Innu, primarily an inland people, spent third most abundant species of seal in the weaned and the seals have moulted, the herd seal fishery, people were already making use of time on the Coast during the warmer months world with a population of approximately of harp seals gradually travels back north to the rich abundance of seals on the Lower North and hunted seals when they came across them. 5.8 million. Large groups of harp seals pass Arctic waters. Shore. Aboriginal peoples first came to this The Innu primarily hunted sedentary species by the Lower North Shore during their annual region to hunt seals and other marine mammals such as harbour seals, rather than the migra- migration, making them the preferred species over 8,000 years ago, as the glacial ice cap tory harp seals. Like the Inuit, they used the for the Lower North Shore seal fishery. retreated. Seals were relatively easy to catch and sealskins and oil for their own needs, as well drew both ancient Arctic peoples and inland as to trade with Europeans. The largest population of harp seals world- peoples to the coastline. wide is found in the northwest Atlantic. During the summer, this population can be Seals were traditionally useful to both the Inuit found northwest of Greenland and in the and the Innu (also known as the Montagnais), eastern Canadian Arctic. In October, the especially as a source of food and clothing. seals begin a long southward migration to The Inuit first came to the Lower North Shore the areas where they will give birth and moult between 1550 and 1600, where they lived - either along the shores of Newfoundland or mainly from seal hunting. Like the Inuit across in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. the Canadian Arctic, these coastal Inuit used seal meat for food, seal oil for light, cooking and warmth, and sealskins to make clothing, shelters, and boats. They also traded seal products to Europeans in exchange for other goods. Harp seals at different stages of maturity: the newborn “whitecoat,” older “beater,” almost mature “bedlamer,” and a fully mature male “old harp” with a harp- shaped marking on its back.

BafBaB fffinfiniB Bayy N The Inuit sometimes captured seals onshore, but most often hunted from kayaks on the open water.

Baffin Island Greenland

Atlantic harp seal migration. Most of the population stays along the Innu hunting seals shores of Newfoundland, but the on the ice along the Iceland Gulf herd travels through the Strait North Shore of the of Belle Isle, along the Lower North St. Lawrence. Denmark Strait Shore, and into the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Atlantic Labrador Ocean CANADA Lower North Shore Québec NewfoundlandN Distribution GulfGulf ooff St. Lawrence MagdalenMaMaggddaala e Islands Whelping areas

Major Migration Pathways USA SOUTH IN AUTOMN NORTH IN SPRING

2 3 New France From a Seasonal Workforce When Europeans arrived in North America, Over time, a number of other fishing posts were they soon developed a keen interest in the rich established and seal fishing became a significant to Permanent Settlement resource of the harp seal herds on the Lower industry within New France. Fishing techniques North Shore. In the late 17th century, the king of improved, and officials began to operate a fishery Around 1790, after the British Conquest of France began awarding large tracts of coastline during the winter seal migration as well as the North America, the Labrador Company took called concessions to high-ranking officials from spring one. In 1738, a particularly lucrative sealing over all of the seal fishing posts in the region New France. The concession system was created post called Poste du Gros-Mécatina operated from the concessionaires. Seasonal employees to help France control this vast territory, and near present-day Mutton Bay. By 1742, the post were hired to carry out the seal fishery. When gave the officials the right to fish for seals and employed up to 24 men, mostly from around the Labrador Company went bankrupt in cod and trade furs with the Inuit and Innu. One Quebec City. A team of Innu lived at the post, 1820, former employees and other settlers were of the first and best known concessionaires trading furs for food and other provisions. free to occupy the fishing posts and claim new in the early 1700s, Augustin le Gardeur de unoccupied posts. The promise of rich resources Courtemanche, conducted a major seal fishing and unlimited freedom lured migrant fishermen operation out of the harbour of Bradore. to the area. Some of these seal fishing stations became the basis of today’s villages, marking the beginning of permanent settlement on the Lower The Basques were probably the first North Shore. By 1860, there were over 50 posts

Europeans to capture seals in North inhabited year-round, scattered along the coast- America. From the 16th to the 18th century, Basque fishermen from line near the richest fishing grounds. In the early southwest France and northwest days of permanent settlement, seals were the Spain came to the Gulf of St. Lawrence chief resource on the Lower North Shore. to hunt whales. They also captured seals for their pelts and for the oil. They boiled the whale or seal blubber into oil using large outdoor ovens, The newcomers had diverse origins. At first, Scottish, and brought the oil back to Europe. English and American settlers arrived, including the Scottish entrepreneur Samuel Robertson who founded La Tabatière. French-speakers from the crowded south shore of the St. Lawrence soon followed. Between 1860 and 1900, major waves of settlers from Newfoundland arrived, including the Willcott and Organ families. Ivy Gallichon Robertson is pictured above (right) with Beatrice Organ Willcott in 1946. Map of the Nontagamiou fishing post (near present- day Chevery) around 1740. Concessionaires had to NontN ntaaggammmiiioouou fishingshshinng post invest an enormous amount Unlike the employees of the of capital and labour A B into these posts. They C Labrador Company, settlers D had to stay on the Coast typically employed a captain, ine orel A. MMaster’ssh housou e year-round to protect their navigator, sailors, carpenters, Sh E y B. Empmpll e eees’s house seal fishing posts. They built coopers and fishermen, all of nd G whom had to live away from Sa C. Storehoususe houses and brought their their families for 6 months D. Storehouseef foforr pprrrovoviisionssio families to live and work with them. This photograph shows at a time. At the end of the F F E. Foundouuunnddryy bbuildingillddin andaannd seal oil storageg season, they exported the F F.F SSeal fifisfisheryy nets the rustic back kitchen of Bill Gallichon in the 1930s. seal oil to France for lighting G G.G IsIslandsl aanandnd isletstss whwherehere e capsappsttansnssa andanddi ironi and tanning leather. Pelts F F H mooringsgs werew re pplaceded went to tanneries in Quebec H.H Wooden ra held byy tthree anchors City where they were made duringg the fishery into shoes, boots, harnesses J. GroeGroG oeI Islsle,eo onenne leagleagueueueea awawaayy omomom and covers. the mainlandnd Islandnndd pprrectingg the wooden ra om oceaneaaannwn waves ccoming om the sosouo th and southh--wwesstt.

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4 5 Samuel Robertson: The Big Fishery Sealing nets started out as simple single nets, The big fishery was set in early December. Founder of La Tabatière much like those used in the cod or salmon Fishermen strung the main net from La Tabatière’s Around 1820, a Scotsman named Samuel Samuel Robertson refined seal fishing techniques fisheries. They evolved into complex systems North Side Point to Fishery Island. Upon arriving, Robertson acquired fishing posts at La Tabatière until his post became the most productive on the of connected nets. A set of nets joined together the seals found their migration route blocked and Bradore from the bankrupt Labrador Coast. The famous American naturalist John was called a fishery. Fisheries could be partly by the net, so they swam through a large door Company. A native of the Orkney Islands, James Audubon met Robertson in La Tabatière anchored to the shoreline, rocky shoals or purposely left open that led into the trap’s main he had been hired by the Labrador Company in 1833 and recorded in his journals: islands, and the other part moored with grapnels chamber. Inside were two V-shaped traps, each in the early 19th century and sent to work on or anchors. The fishery led seals into a confusing with a door leading into an enclosed chamber. the Coast. Robertson established a home at maze of nets where many were caught. The deepest and largest of these traps was called Sparr Point right across from his fishing post. “We visited today the Seal establishment the big net, and the other was called the puzzle. He married Mary Anne Chevalier, and of a Scotchman, named Robertson… Every seal fishery was unique because it had to Many seals got lost in the labyrinth of traps, became tangled in the nets and drowned. The little together they raised seven children. This man has resided here twenty be tailored to suit its specific location. Samuel Robertson’s post at La Tabatière was the most fishery was set for seals that avoided the big years, and married a Labrador lady, the productive on the Lower North Shore. Adapting fishery altogether and swam between Fishery daughter of a Monsieur Chevalier of Bras to the unique geography of islands and shoals Island and Lower Fishery Island. d’Or; has a family of six children, and a off of La Tabatière, he developed a complex and good-looking wife. He has a comfortable effective set up for his fishery, earning it the title The total weight of the big fishery’s nets and house, and a little garden, in which he of the big fishery. ropes exceeded 3,300 pounds (around 1,600 raises a few turnips, potatoes, and other kg), and the equipment needed to set it up cost vegetables. He appears to be a lord of all thousands of dollars. However, Robertson’s these parts, and quite contented with his constant experimentation and innovation lot. He told me that his profits last year paid off. At its peak, the Robertson seal fishery caught 3,600 seals in one season. amounted to three thousand dollars… His seal-oil tubs were full, and he was then engaged in loading a schooner bound to Quebec.”

Portrait of Samuel Robertson I. Since few settlers lived on the Coast when Samuel Robertson first arrived in La Tabatière, he hired men from else- where to work for him, encouraging more people to settle in the area. As his family grew, he worked with his own sons. Shares in Samuel Robertson’s fishery were passed down within the family for generations until their seal fishing license was The fishery nets (also called meshes) required continual care. taken away in the 1980s. Robertson is still a They could get torn by drifting ice, damaged in a storm, worn prominent family name in La Tabatière. away by rocks or broken by seals. Making and repairing nets was an art of its own. The technique was called knitting. Sparr Point, the site of the Robertson fishery in At one time, all of the profits from the seal oil were used La Tabatière. The ship in the foreground is the mail boat to maintain and replace the nets of the big fishery. belonging to Samuel J. Robertson, who was the mail- man for the region from the 1930s to the 1950s.

6 7 ROBERTSON FISHERY

ROBERTSON FISHERY N Lower Shoal Nets Fishery Fishermen on the Lower North Shore also Additionally, there was less risk of a shoal net Fishery Island Island North Side Point caught seals using a much simpler system being damaged, since it was placed out in the of shoal nets. Shoal nets were single large, open water away from drifting ice and sharp Main rectangular nets set in the open water of the rocks. Most fishermen from Mutton Bay used Door Gulf. Two corners of the net were held up by shoal nets rather than setting up a fishery. In wooden buoys that floated on the surface, other villages along the Coast, individual Cable Net Little and the other two were pinned down to the fishermen who did not have a share in a Fishery Gulf floor by grapnels. Cork floats attached at fishery set shoal nets. In La Tabatière, even intervals along the top edge of the net and lead those with shares in the big fishery often Anchor Shoal Puzzle weights attached along the bottom also helped had shoal nets on the side. to ensure that the nets hung vertically in the water. Shoal nets were set overnight, and the seals were hauled in the next day.

In contrast to the hundreds or even thousands of seals that could be caught in a fishery, 60 to 100 seals was considered a good catch for Big Net Sparr Point a shoal net. However, shoal nets cost much less to install than a fishery, and only two men were required to haul in the captured seals.

At the foundry in Mutton Bay. THE BIG NET

8 9 By December, sea ice has usually formed along the shoreline of the villages. Seal fishermen had to navigate their boats through the ice to get to the The Foundry open water where the seals were caught. In May, when the weather warmed enough to thaw the pelts, the preparation of seal products began. Throughout most of the years that the seal fishery took place, fishermen prepared the seal oil and skins themselves. The blubber was carefully scraped from the sealskins. Skins reserved for household use were salted and stretched on wooden frames to dry. The majority of skins were salted and put in containers to be Going Out Fishing sold. The fishermen then chopped the seal The Robertsons with seal oil from their foundry, blubber into small cubes, and melted them in La Tabatière, in the 1920s. The seal fishery had two distinct phases: the “You start in the fall and you get your a massive iron foundry pot heated by a wood It was sometimes possible for the fishermen to seal fishing itself, between mid-December and oven. When the fat had completely melted into twine ready and when the time comes sell the pelts whole to be processed at fish plants mid-January, and the foundry phase in May, oil, it was cooled and poured into large barrels. for seals, you set your cables. And rather than melting down their own oil. From when the seal oil and pelts were prepared. The It took the blubber of approximately 6 to 8 seals then after about a week you set your 1936 to 1951 there was a small seal processing seal fishing took place during a short, intensive to fill a 45 gallon drum with oil. The remnant twine and you overhaul - what we call plant in La Tabatière. From 1965 to 1972, a period of 2 or 3 weeks in late December. Men crispy bits of fat and meat left behind in the ‘overhaul’ – you go and haul your nets plant located on Schooner Island near Har- set up their nets in the fall before the ice formed, foundry pot were called scruncheons. rington Harbour processed seal oil and skins. and then waited patiently for the seals to come. about every second morning and after These could be eaten or fed to the dogs. The Schooner Island factory processed around Villages further east usually informed the fisher- you get about three or four seals, well 5,000 seal pelts a year, and produced approxi- men of La Tabatière when the migrating harp then you know it’s not going to be mately 2,000 gallons of seal oil a day during seals were about to arrive, provoking much much longer before they’re going to the seal fishery period. excitement. After the hard work involved in be in schools...” knitting and setting their nets, the men were anxious to see the seals arrive. - Clifford Robertson, La Tabatière, 1983

During the weeks when seals swam in large groups past the village shores, fishermen left their homes at daybreak to go out into the freez- ing cold and haul in their catch. They rowed out to the nets, untangled the seals, and hauled them into their boats. Since a seal could weigh up to several hundred pounds, the fishermen had to “douse” it up and down in the water several times before gaining the momentum needed to lift it into the boat.

Once the boat was filled to the brim, the men rowed back to shore with their catch and pulled Worker Derilas Landry removes the fat from Samuel Robertson V and Thomas Gallichon at the Fishermen untangling a seal from their nets in 1964, the seals into the village on dog sleds. They near Harrington Harbour. Most fishermen developed sealskins in La Tabatière’s seal processing factory. Robertson foundry in La Tabatière in the 1940s. bad arthritis from having their hands immersed in sculped many of the seals immediately before The factory was constructed by Louis T. Blais in The large iron pot in the middle contains seal cold water while setting nets and hauling in seals. they froze solid, removing the skin and attached 1936, using a loan from Samuel Robertson II. blubber being boiled down into oil. An old tradition In 1938, St. Lawrence Sea Products bought the along the Coast dictated that anyone who visited a blubber from the carcass. The pelts were piled factory. The company bought seal pelts from local foundry while the men were working was obliged between layers of snow in a storage shed where fishermen for processing. Factory workers removed to say “Honour to the trade” or get covered in they would remain frozen until spring, along the fat from the sealskins and melted it into oil, seal fat by the workers! with any un-sculped round seals. Most of the producing up to 450 gallons of seal oil a day. The seal factory burned down and was meat was used to feed the sled dogs. abandoned in 1951.

10 11 Waste Not, Want Not: Women’s Stories On the Lower North Shore, women were rarely The Many Uses for Seals directly involved in the seal fishery. Repairing and setting nets, fishing seals, boiling down the Villages of the Lower North Shore depended on fat and preparing the skins were traditionally the seal fishery for their very survival. Products men’s tasks. However, women played a key from the seal fishery were used locally and role in preparing the seal meat and pelts. They exported as an important source of income. cooked seal meat for the family on wooden On the Coast, the meat fed both sled dogs and stoves. The first seal meat in December was a people. Women crafted boots, moccasins, hats good excuse for a festive meal. Typical recipes and mittens from the sealskin. Seal leather was included seal soup with split peas, boiled seal made into dog harnesses. During the foundry with salt beef, bottled seal, seal roast, seal steak period, seal oil was used to deep-fry doughnuts and seal pie. It was also up to the women to as a special treat. prepare seal meat for the dog teams, preserving some of it in salt for the summer months. This photo shows Délima Anderson McKinnon with her catch of seals in the 1930s. She was one of the only women known to have fished seal on the Sealskin hats, such as the one shown here at left, th Women also sewed sealskin clothing for their Lower North Shore. She fished north of La Tabatière were stylish in Paris and New York in the early 20 with her husband Charley McKinnon. century. This advertisement first appeared in the family, including waterproof sealskin boots, Ladies Home Journal in 1910. jackets, mittens and hats. Some women made sealskin items commercially and sold them “I started making seal skin boots after through the Grenfell Mission, which provided Once families in La Tabatière had put aside the I got married. I guess I watched my medical services to remote coastal communities seal oil and skins they needed for their own use, mom do it. I had no experience the rest was exported. There has been a market and also contributed to the development of the whatsoever at that time but I was for seal products from the Lower North Shore craft industry in the region. It was up to women for centuries, and the seal fishery linked families to sew canvas overalls, jackets and duffle mitts pretty determined… It took me quite along the Coast with the global economy. As for the seal fishermen. After the men returned a while to make them, probably five early as the 1770s, demand for seal oil rose as from a day “at the seals”, women washed their or six hours. Once you got the outside Europeans began to use oil lamps to light their mittens and jacket sleeves and hung them up to all finished, you had to turn the boot homes. During the early years of the Industrial dry in the house. inside out and stitch over the edges Revolution, seal oil was used as a lubricant for again to make it water-tight.” machinery. Throughout the 20th century, seal Gallichon Island (near Whale Head), in the 1920s. – Clara Cox, Harrington Harbour, 1997 Merchants sailed along the Lower North Shore oil was exported for processing into machinery every year in schooners like this one to trade seal lubricants, edible oil products, cosmetics, and oil and pelts for basic provisions such as fishing for use in leather and fabric preparations. Seal gear, flour, beef, clothing, furniture and other goods important to families on the Coast. pelts were exported and made into a variety of LINDA J. ROBERTDON’S products, including muffs, hats, boots, shoes, SEAL PIE RECIPE coats, handbags and belts. The seal leather was INGREDIENTS: also used, mostly to cover furniture and to make Up until the early 3 slices of salt pork waterproof boots and shoes. 1960s, everyone had a pair of sealskin 1 cup of seal meat in cubes boots. They were both 1 cup of potato in cubes A sealskin stretched warm and waterproof. 1 onion on a frame to dry. The design and technique for making Salt and pepper to taste sealskin boots was Pie crust originally learned from the Aboriginal peoples Fry up the 3 slices of salt pork and then remove of the region. the slices from the pan. Use the grease from the salt pork to fry the cubes of seal meat and onion. Once the seal is cooked medium, add the potatoes and enough water so that the potatoes can cook until soft. Allow the seal, onion and potatoes to cool down for 15 minutes. Once the mixture has cooled down, transfer it into the pie crust. Add a pie crust cover on top and seal the pie. Bake in the oven at 350º until the pie crust is golden brown.

12 13 Making a Living and The End of the Seal Fishery Over the centuries, the seal fishing industry had Controversy continues to surround the sealing Getting Around its ups and downs. The price of seal oil and furs industry. Activists are concerned about the fluctuated, as did the seal population and the sustainability of the hunt and whether the seals number of posts. Although the plummeting price are killed humanely. Proponents of the seal hunt of seal oil in the 1880s almost brought the seal argue that a carefully managed seal hunt does fishery industry to a halt, the tradition started not endanger harp seal populations, and is im- up again around 1945, this time founded on portant to livelihoods in coastal areas with few the market for seal pelts. However, by the late sources of income. Some proponents of the hunt 1970s, the market for both seal oil and sealskins believe the seal population must be culled to had decreased dramatically, and the traditional allow the cod population to recover, since seals big fishery was gradually abandoned. In 1983, are major consumers of cod. Scientific studies are the European market banned seal products. In inconclusive on this point. According to Fisheries the years following, increasing international and Oceans Canada, the Northwest Atlantic pressure led the Canadian government to ban harp seal herd is presently healthy and abundant. seal fishing with nets on the Lower North Shore At 5.8 million, its population has nearly tripled and to prohibit the winter harvest altogether. since the 1970s. Fishermen turned from fishing seals with nets to hunting adult harp seals on the ice for a period Although in a different form than its origins, of a few weeks each spring. Today, the quota for sealing is still an important part of the culture hunting seals is strictly regulated and no animals and sustenance of the people of the Lower North can be hunted until they are old enough to swim. Shore. Today, seal pelts can still earn up to one- It is not unusual for seal hunters to be blocked third of a family’s annual income, a significant by ice from reaching the herd at all during the percentage for an underemployed region. very short window of time in which they are allowed to hunt. The seal net fishery was perfectly adapted This photo depicts one of the last dog teams in The fall seal fishery was at the heart of economic to local ecological conditions. The intricate La Tabatière in the late 1980s. Today, skidoos activity for people all along the Coast. Families labyrinth of nets exemplified the creativity and have replaced sled dogs as the main means of ingenuity of the people of the Lower North transportation. lived primarily from the cod fishery in the sum- mer, but had little or no income during the win- Shore. Over many generations, they have ter months. The arrival of the seals during this sustained themselves through hard work and a “Seal fishing was always 75-80% of our period was crucial to their livelihoods. Histori- balanced relationship with the land and sea. The living here. It was a good job, every- cally, the seal fishery was an important source of history of the seal fishery remains important to body liked it, and we made income in a region where people relied on sparse communities along the Coast - their livelihoods good money.” and seasonal work, and often provided the depended on it for centuries. majority of a family’s yearly revenue. - Laurie Cox, Harrington Harbour, 1997 People on the Coast relied on seal products in everyday life and for their very survival. The winter harvest of seal meat was a particularly critical resource. Most of the seal meat was fed to sled dogs, and people needed their dogs to survive through the winter. When men traveled long distances to cut firewood used to heat their homes and cook their meals, the dogs pulled the Burland Anderson (left) and Martin Bobbitt hauling wood back on komatiks, or wooden sleds. The in a harp seal near Gull Cliff Island, 1984. dogs were also used to fetch drinking water. Dog teams were the only means of winter travel.

Leonard Gallichon with his sled dogs and firewood.

14 15 Seal Fishery Song by Thomas Keats, St. Paul’s River Chanson sur la pêche au loup-marin par Thomas Keats de Rivière St-Paul

Attention all you, peoples, and listen on to me Success at last, to crown our wreck, and the seals are going mad. While I relate the experiences about the seal-fishery. And everyone is feeling fine, and oh boys, are we glad We start in Mid-November our equipment to prepare To see those “old Harps” tangled up, with collar-mesh and tail. And then, it is a question: will they come before New Year. And oh how we do tear about till darkness to prevail.

By the middle of December, we’re mostly in a stew, The Roberts boys done the best, and they come first in line. Just wondering if we’ll set or not, or what is right to do. I think they’d best Tabatière, if they only had good twine. We’re often looking for advice and it’s not hard to find; It is for Abe and Norman, they also did quite well For some will tell you get her out, you will be behind. And with their partners, Frank Lévesque, on Old Island, they did well.

Some more, they are the opposite, say “boys now take your time As for Wilford Chevalier, young boys composed his crew For as yet there hasn’t been any seals reported on the “line”. And oh how long the time must be, then there is no seals in view, And if you wait a day or two, it will be the right thing, To think up on their sweethearts dear, whom they have left behind. But then, some eager fisherman says “they got no bells to ring”. But better times are coming boys, and your girls are doing fine.

By now, it is the twentieth and time the seals were here. How anxious those girls must wait, for their sweethearts to appear. We got out of our fishery shacks and wait for them to appear. And the first thing that those boys will need is a shave and cut their hair. Perhaps, after a day or two, there isn’t any sign yet, So girls, now, keep your courage up, for they’ll come roaring back, But the skipper says on to his crew, “we’ll put out our stop net”. All talking of the seals they caught and smelling seal-fat.

Our weary waiting now begins, and it’s not a pleasant task, As for Tom and Cecil, their crews they did combine, Just wondering if we will have a storm and just how long it will last. To fish down Hart Scrabble’s Point, those lads they were inclined. We listen to our radio and oh how we do dread, At first the prospect did look good, a fair wage was in sight, And instead of news of plenty seals, it’s south-west gales ahead. But then, how very sad to say, when the scene changed over night.

Next day, the wind is raging high, the sea is roaring mad. Next morning, when the daylight broke, as they looked from the door As we look from our cabin door, the sight do make us sad. The first thing now that met their gaze, it was their fishery washed ashore. For where our fishery should have been, it’s foaming line And still they did not give it up, but did the best they could And we wonder if the storm will last, till we lose all our twine. And got to work, and mended it up, and then, did very good.

Next day, the storm is over and our fishery is a wreck So now, my song is ended, you have it in details. And how oh we do work and drag to get the damned thing back. Those fishermen have sturdy hearts, and storms don’t make them quail. But still, we’re not discouraged, for the seals are not gone yet. Their courage is undaunted, and they do not despair. So boys, we will do our very best and fix a float-net. We wish them all the best of luck, and a bumber wage next year.

Printed on Rolland Enviro100, which contains 100% recycled post-consumer fibre, is EcoLogo, Processed Chlorine Free and FSC Recycled certified and manufactured using biogas energy. Imprimé sur du Rolland Enviro100, contenant 100% de fibres recyclées post-consommation, certifié Éco-Logo, Procédé sans chlore, RSC Recyclé et fabriqué à partir d’énergie biogaz.

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