QUOTATION FROM
SAINT JOHN TELEGRAPH AND MORNING JOURNAL
7 OCTOBER 1869
“We continue our description of the ravages of the great storm outside the city, throughout the province and in parts of Nova Scotia. The losses suffered are very great, and besides the loss of property, that of life is truly sad, one of the worst cases of the kind, being the loss of the GENII at New River. The interest felt in this deplorable disaster induced us to send a special reporter to the scene of the wreck, a distance of 35 miles from this city, so that he had to travel 70 miles going and coming in order to procure this information. His account of the disaster will be found below.
The Wreck of the GENII at New River
Eleven Lives Lost
“Perhaps one of the most appaling disasters which the storm of Monday night brought about is the loss of the new barque, Genii, 500 tons (1) Register, at New River. This vessel was built at St. Andrews by Messrs. Glenn and Co., for (2) Captain Duncan Robertson, Robert Robertson, Esp., (3) of Canterbury, and E. R. Burpee, Esq., and launched some three weeks since (4). She sailed in ballast from St. Andrews on Friday last and arrived in New River on Saturday morning to load deals for Liverpool under charter of J. E. Knight, Esq., lessee of the mills of Messrs. Prescott and Lawrence of that place. There were some 60,000 feet of deals rafter and ready to put on board on Monday. The raft being completed, it was placed under the lee of the breakwater which, it was thought would offer it ample security from the effects of the coming (5) storm. The pilot of the ship, Captain James Clarke (6) of St. Andrews, had been put ashore, and it was intended that he should be taken on board again towards night. The Stevedores, Messrs. George and Peter McVicker (7), had come from Mascarene (8), bringing their crew, six in number, with them, and thus all except the Pilot, Captain Clarke, were on board when night came on. The following are the names of the men who were lost:
Charles Bayley (9)
of Westport, Brier Island, Captain
John M. Straton of Fredericton, Mate
James McGill of St. Andrews, 2nd Mate (10)
John Wilson, a portuguese, Steward
“The names of the Stevedores, all of whom belonged to Mascarene, were Peter McVicker, George McVicker, Eben Green, Harvey McNichol, Daniel Hoyt, John Roix and George Henderson.
“The first mate, Mr. Straton, was the son of F. A. H. Straton, Esq., of Fredericton (11), and the second mate was the son of the late Captain McGill of St. Andrews. Captain Bayley leaves a wife and family resident in Westport, Brier Island.
The Place Where the Ship Was Lost
“The place where the ship was lost, known as New Harbour (12), is about thirty-five miles from Saint John and ten or eleven miles to the W. S. W. Point Lepreau (13), and there is no spot on our line of seaboard more exposed than it to the fury of a South-easterly or Southerly storm. Standing on the “Ledge” near the fated ship and looking to the South and West, Grand Manan is seen in the distance, some fifteen miles away (14), and in the same range is Pocologan Island with its Ledges, long and black, stretching away to the North East (15) and distant 4 miles. There is a small space of clear water, and moving the eye further to the East, George’s Island (16) rears itself from the sea with its jagged cliffs rising to the height of about seventy-five feet on the south side and terminating in a high popple stone and gravelly beach on the inner or northern side. About east from the spot and distant about two miles, is Barnabas Head (17), and further east four miles, are Mason’s Bay (18) Ledges, running far out to the south-west and covered at high water. The wind which was south by east drove the mountainous waves through the open sea between George’s Island and Barnabas Head; and as the tide rose and the tornado swept the angry waves and spray up on and over the land this scene was on of such terrible grandure that those who witnessed on that night say that they hope never to see another such war of the elements.
The Last Seen of the Ship
“Captain James Meeley (19) of the schooner Linnet (20) was lying under Georges Island at nightfall within a short distance of the Genii, she on his weather bow. Both large anchors were down and one seemed to be well ahead, while the other, having been more recently let go, was about half way between the ship and the first one. When the gale commenced and darkness had come thickly down, Captain Meeley says he observed that Genii which lay about mid-way (21) between the Island and the shore, was “kedging”. She went about one-third of the distance slowly and then somewhat faster to where the anchors seemed to hold, as the lights were visible tot hose on board the schooner. At this juncture the gale increased and the schooner broke ground and her crew (22) were busily engaged for the next half hour in paying out hawser and saving themselves and their vessel from the inevitable destruction which awaited them on the foam-washed rocks to leeward. After they had looked to themselves, their next thought was the ship, and, turning their eyes to where she should be, no light was visible, and the dread thought came to them that she had gone upon the coast where no human aid could reach to save them.
How the Men Perished
“The glassy black bottom of the Genii as it lies beyond the reach of the waves, tell too well the story of how she yielded to destruction. From the spot, where all that remains of her is, about two hundred yards to the east, is the New River Ledge, a black frowning rock, just cropping above an ordinary high water surface. When the blast drove down upon her she dragged and was beaten over this and dashed, broadside on, up the ragged and precipitous cliff. The wind and the inside of the huge wave which landed her there must have listed her in toward the land and when the rocks were bared as the waters rushed back, she rolled with one awful lurch down again (23) into the sea, breaking shrouds, stays and masts like straws, and hurling the men at once into eternity. There was no clinging to the wreck, no praying for assistance against hope, but, with the deck upon which they had stood they were dashed down against the rocks and the returning wave mingled their corses (sic) with the splintered hull and tangled rigging of the noble ship. Not a soul could stand near the scene on that night, and no one living saw the doomed vessel drift to her fate but the bottom unchafed and the top ground away on one side of the tops of the floor timbers as she worked up and down the rocks, point clearly to the fact that with one great effort she was overturned and the work of destruction accomplished.
The Ship’s Present State
“She lies bottom up in one piece with the shore, or port side, ground down to the heads of the floor timbers, and the starboard side is worn away to the pin-rail, both stem and stern are chafed nearly off and both decks are gone, having been probably knocked out by the ballast (24) when she was overturned. Alongside lie pieces of iron bolts, the broken yards and tangled rigging, while both anchors and chains are out ahead to the south-east. To the north in a gully between the ledge and the main cliff are crammed tons of wood, broken like kindling, mingled with the iron that fastened it but hardly a piece big enough to distinguish whether it is part of keel or cavel. Around at the foot of the mill dam there are perhaps 100 cords of wreck wood, and a yard, and we also noticed one side of a long boat.
The Bodies Found
“The body of the Captain was found on New River beach, about three quarters of a mile from the wreck, and near it that of Harvey McNichol. Eben Green’s and John Wilson’s bodies were found in the river below the mill, and the others, except those of James McGill, John Roix and George Henderson were found near the wreck (25). An inquest was held by Coroner Valentine of St. George, on all the bodies found except that of the Captain. The Captain is not much disfigured, having only one cut on the forehead, and beyond a slight discolouration, the face of Mr. Straton looks quite natural. The bodies of the men who belonged to Mascarene were taken away to that place yesterday (26), and when the inquest is held on the remains of the Captain, he and Wilson will be buried at Lepreau (27). Mr. George McSorley and Mr. John Campbell are sending the body of Mr. Straton to Fredericton (11) and it will reach the boat at Indiantown this afternoon. It is to be hoped that the other three bodies will be recovered to-day (25).”
MORE NEWSPAPER REPORTS
The scrapbook that contained the lengthy article just quoted also contained the two following small newspaper clippings whose origins I have not been able to determine.
“The Genii was insured for $15,000 by St. John Underwriters and in Mr. Ranney’s offices.”(28)
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“The body of Captain Chas. Bayley, of the bark Genii, lost at New River, was brought to town yesterday and taken to Mr. M. N. Powers, who put it into a coffin and shipped it on board a schooner which sailed for Brier Island, where the deceased belonged (27). The body was not bruised but cut on the head.”
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The 13 October 1869 issue of “The Standard”, a St. Andrews weekly contains the following notice:
“The remains of Mr. Stratton, lost during the late gale while on board his ship, the Genii, reached Fredericton last evening, and will be interred tomorrow with masonic and military honors at 4 o’clock. Funeral from his father’s residence on Brunswick street (11).
“Mr. Stratton was esteemed in Fredericton and his untimely death has caused a general gloom throughout the community.”
OTHER RECORDS AND TRADITIONAL STORIES
I have studied other contemporary newspaper accounts of GENII’s loss. None of the accounts adds substantially to the report of the Saint John Daily Telegraph and Morning Journal. A typical example is that carried in the 6 October issue of “The Standard” which reads as follows:
“Loss of the New Bark “Genii” With All the Crew
“Letters received this morning confirm the melancholy tidings, that the new bqe. Genii, Capt. Bailey, launched here only last month loading at New River, was driven on the reefs, went to pieces, and we are sorry to learn, all the crew met a watery grave. The bodies of the mate Mr. John Stratton, a native of Fredericton, two McVicars, from Mascarene, and two others were picked up. James McGill a native of this place was also on board, he leaves a young wife to mourn her loss.”
Both before and after Dr. MacBeath drew my attention to the Telegraph and Morning Journal article, I uncovered many bits of information from talking with townsmen and from things they brought me when they discovered that I was interested. Almost everything has fitted together like pieces of a puzzle providing background to the drama our newspaper reporter has unfolded.
Building and Ownership of GENII
Mr. Fred Treadwell (1890- ) and his father Nathan (1855-1933) were both born in St. Andrews and Fred remembers his father telling him that GENII was built at Indian Point, St. Andrews, and that Fred’s grandfather, John, had helped build her (29). Her ways were set up on the beach approximately 125 yards below the Osborne House which stood on the landward side of Water Street. This fine home, built in the early 1850’s, later became the C. P. R. Inn and was demolished shortly after World War I. Stately maples still line its driveway and a crumbling stone foundation marks its site. Fred says that GENII’s ways lined up exactly with the front door of this house.
The Telegraph and Morning Journal states, “The vessel was built by Messrs. Glenn and Co. for Captain Duncan Robertson, Robert Robinson, Esq., of Canterbury and E. R. Burpee, Esq.” The private ledger (28) that belonged to Robert Robinson shows that he paid R. Glenn and Co. $691.40 in January 1870. The service rendered is not specified but it is under the caption, “Genii and owners” which suggests that Robinson and his partners were paying the builders’ bills.
However, the story Fred Treadwell heard from his father, Nathan, says that GENII was built only for Robert Robinson; that she was several years a-building; that there were lengthy periods when no work was done on her at all; that at one stage she was even boarded over for a long time to protect her from the weather but that in spite of this precaution her stern post went “doty” and had to be replaced towards the end of construction. Because both Fred and his father were natives of St. Andrews their ideas on GENII’s ownership deserve attention.
Fred says that Robert (“Canterbury”) Robinson’s affairs were shaky in the latter stages of GENII’s construction on account of a fire that destroyed one of his saw mills in York County; that this slowed down his costly business of ship building and explains the long interruptions; that Robinson may have supplied timber for GENII’s construction from his own mills and that he built her as an investment using surplus funds when they were available. He does not think that Robinson necessarily expected her to serve his own timber-shipping needs. This view is supported by the fact that she was chartered to an outside firm for her maiden voyage as the Daily Telegraph and Morning Journal states. It is also supported by the fact that in November 1870 he owned shares in five ships and that by August 1871 this number had increased to nine. All this is shown in his private ledger (18) under a caption, “List of vessils (sic) owned by me.” According to the ledger he had many other investments e.g. one quarter of the water works in St. Andrews.
Thus the ledger evidence shows that there probably is truth in both the newspaper and the Treadwell versions of who financed GENII’s construction. On 20 July 1869, toward the end of the building program, Robinson made a ledger entry showing that he had sold two-thirds of his interest in the vessel for $5,989.61 for each third “of hull and spars of Bark Genii and outfits”. Captain Duncan Robertson made a down payment of $2,000 on that date and Mr. Burpee, $2,500 cash (28). Apparently Robert Robinson foresaw likely needs for ready cash and the needs soon became real. The ledger shows that on a single day, 24 September 1869, bills presented by sailmaker, rigger, blacksmith and canvas supplier totalled $2, 043.75. The $4,500 received from the new partners must have been quite useful on that date. The last pages of the ledger’s GENII account show that these gentlemen completed their payments “by account of insurance”, surrendering their share of the payments, on 18 February 1871 when Mr. Ranney’s office of St. John Underwriters apparently made a settlement (See the section, More Newspaper Reports).
You will understand now what I meant when I said there was truth in both stories about ownership. At first Robinson apparently was the sole owner as Fred says. Later he formed a partnership and there were several owners as the newspaper states and as our frontispiece shows.
Ownership has been debated but so far as I know there has never been any argument about who designed and built GENII in the physical sense of that word. This is clearly spelled out in a short article which appeared in the 15 September 1869 issue of The Standard (See quotation in the section, Launching and Crewing). A confirming statement appears in a scrapbook kept by the late Maria Bradley and now in the possession of Mr. Robert Cockburn of St. Andrews. George Edgar was the designer and builder and Thomas Wren was the joiner.
Under the caption “Genii and owners”, Robinson’s ledger shows a debit of $433.87 labelled “Edgar’s bill, sundaries” (sic Robinson was not a good speller). This is dated November 1869. Payments were also made to John Treadwell (which confirms Fred Treadwell’s recollection (29)) but there are no similar records of payments to the joiner, Thomas Wren. However there are good records of the work he did.
In 1962 I found a daybook inscribed, "Thos. Wren 462", in the attic of the house he once occupied, 327 Water Street, St. Andrews, N.B. This includes many entries from 2 January 1856, to 18 April 1882. Some of its pages are missing and the date entries are not always complete. But, by using perpetual calendar tables, I have been able to fill in most of the gaps. With these amendments the daybook shows that Thomas Wren sometimes worked alone and sometimes with assistant carpenters including B. Johnson and a Mr. Farris, on "Mr. Robinson's new ship". It is most unlikely that Robinson had two vessels on the ways at the same time. This view is supported by the last sentence in the quotation in the next section, Launching and Crewing. So it seems safe to say that the daybook entries apply only to GENII.
True to tradition, the name of the vessel is never mentioned in the daybook. This may have been because it was and, in some quarters, is still considered bad luck to mention the name of a vessel before christening or because no name had been selected for her at that time.
At first Thomas's wages were $7.00 for a six-day week. But they were later increased to $8.00.
On the assumption that all the "Robinson's-new-ship" entries refer to GENII, it appears that Thomas Wren worked on her for a total of 266 and a quarter days. He started 27 October and continued into November 1865. Then, after a three-year lapse, he worked on her again for ten days in August 1868. On 2 November of that same year he began a long period of steady work--day after day, month after month through the cold winter of 1868-69, then through spring and summer until 17 September 1869 which is the last entry under the heading. The next day he went to work on "James Sharkey's new schooner".
All this substantiates Fred Treadwell's story that building was done by fits and starts with long intervals between.
Launching and Crewing
I have searched back issues of The Saint Croix Courier, published in St. Stephen, only twenty miles from St. Andrews, but, so far as I can find, it had nothing to say about the launching of GENII. Perhaps launchings were so common in those days that they were not considered newsworthy beyond the settlements where they took place. Apparently the 15 September 1869 issue of The Standard carried the only newspaper account of this event. The Dominion Archivist of Canada helped me discover this and I am glad to be able to quote it in full:
"The barque Genii, launched last week is beautifully modelled and thoroughally finished and adds another to Mr. Edgar's fame as a draftsman and builder. The joiner work was done under Mr. Thomas Wren, whose skill as a workman has long been established. Mr. Sime, French Veritas inspector, examined the vessel and we learn that she will be classed A1 for six years. The vessel is being rigged at the wharf, and Capt. Bailey, an experienced shipmaster, who has been here for some weeks, is her commander. The Genii hails from St. John. We wish her owners success, and the vessel prosperous voyages. We understand that it is in contemplation to put another vessel on the stocks during the fall."
There is no mention of a christening, although it is hard to believe that this did not take place. So we don't know who named her. Indeed, we are not even sure how her name should be pronounced. St. Andrews residents all say she was called "jean-eye" with the two syllables equally accented. But according to New River people her name was "jen-eye", with the first syllable lightly and the second heavily accented. Which was correct we shall never know!
At least one St. Andrews-built vessel was born under a curse which, some say, brought her bad luck (Carson, 1961). GENII was not cursed, so far as we know. Nevertheless she did have bad luck. According to Fred Treadwell's father's story she hogged (spread her ways) when she was launched and fell over on her side. This must have been embarrassing to her builders and it is not surprising that this is not mentioned in our quotation from The Standard.
Fred says there was much activity at the next low tide. Wagonloads of ballast rock were driven down the beach and made fast deep in her hold. And, at the next rising tide, she righted herself and she was shored up in spite of her 380 tons. After more "frigging" with her ballast she was floated at high tide the following day.
The Standard says GENII was "beautifully modelled". Fred Treadwell disagrees. He says she had a great deal of dead rise in her hull to help her sail close to the wind and that when she was righted after hogging and stood on her keel on the beach at the next low water, she looked so sharp that someone remarked that she was more like a saw file on edge than like a ship. This remark, The Standard's comments, the formal description of the vessel which appears in the registration (frontispiece), and other comments by Thomas Howe and James Powers (see below) are all we have in the way of description of GENII. I have found no trace of a half-model of the hull, a drawing, a painting, a photograph or any other likeness of her that might have come down to us to show what manner of vessel she was. Dr. MacBeath tells me that this is typical. Indeed, he has never seen a painting or drawing of any of the scores of ships that were built here in Charlotte County. If any of you ever find a likeness of any of these please let me know so we can have it copied.
The registration (frontispiece) states that she was launched on 9 September 1869 at St. Andrews and there is no reason to doubt this. But it does seem peculiar that GENII was registered in Saint John. So far as I can learn, registration could have been conducted right here in St. Andrews as is still possible. There may have been good reason for outside registration but we don't know what they may have been.
Thomas Wren's day book entries show that he worked on her until 17 September, that is, for more than a week after she was launched, which was common practice. The carpenters and riggers were probably busy almost up to the day she sailed for New River and The Standard tells us that during that time she was lying at the St. Andrews wharf.
According to the Standard the owners had recruited a captain well before launching. But there is no mention of recruiting a crew. This may have been a difficult job. GENII had hogged!! And people seem to have been more than willing to find fault with her. Mr. George Howe (1885- ) of St. Andrews, states that his father, Thomas ("Peck") Howe and another townsman, James Powers, were young men at the time and were looking for berths in a ship. George says, they decided against going in GENII. When the saw her afloat they described her as, "too mean aft", by which they meant too narrow in the stern. In their opinion she would not behave well in heavy weather, especially in following seas. Besides, they considered her taffrail too low for safety. Perhaps her design was bad in spite of what The Standard had to say about her or perhaps they bad launching influenced their decision. It may have been difficult to recruit local men.
From the Telegraph and Journal account we cannot be sure that more than one St. Andrews mand signed on the ship. This one man was the Second Mate, James McGill (10). Robert Robinson was frequently in St. Andrews at this time although not yet a town resident (3). More than likely he knew James personally and recruited him. Perhaps Robinson had a hand in selecting other members of the crew and the skipper as well.
The Telegraph and Journal account states that the skipper, Charles Bailey, came from Westport, Brier Island, N.S., and The Standard says he was an "experienced shipmaster". The First Mate, John M. Straton, was a Fredericton man (11). The Telegraph and Journal also lists John Wilson, a Portuguese, as Steward. Wilson may have been a temporary resident of St. Andrews because seamen of foreign origin did settle here occasionally for indefinite periods. But, more than likely, he transferred from some other vessel.
Only officers, no ordinary seamen, are mentioned in the Telegraph and Morning Journal list of crewmen but crew arrangements must have been complete by loading time and some St. Andrews men besides McGill may have signed on for the maiden voyage to Liverpool. Captain J. R. Wren, of St. Andrews, estimates that twelve seamen would have been required to operate the barque but that the officers and James Clark could have sailed her from St. Andrews to New River without a full crew. Probably the ordinary seamen were expected to join the ship at New River when loading was complete.
Circumstances Preceding Storm
Tradition has much to say about events leading up to the storm. And what it says agrees well with reports furnished by Ganong (1911), by Hutchinson (1912) and by newspapers. In some respects the traditional stories are more complete than the published accounts. Mr. Roy Daly's report is a good example. He was born in 1885 at New River, son of John Daly, and brought up in a house that stood beside the Saint John road (Highway No. 1) about two hundred yards directly inshore from the western end of New River Beach where the bodies of the drowned men were found. Roy has heard his father tell the story of GENII so often that he seemed to be reciting when he repeated it for me on 9 May 1959, the day I first met him.
He took me to the shore and with the aid of a chart showed me the position of the Ballast Ground (Fig. 2) which Roy claims is still a favourite spot for setting lobster traps. GENII anchored there after sailing from St. Andrews. The Mascarene men probably arrived there on Saturday or Sunday and Roy says they dumped her rock ballast there on Monday, 4 October 1869. Apparently the ballast dumping was finished by noon or early afternoon. After that GENII lay at anchor waiting to move closer to the breakwater for loading the rafted deals referred to in the Telegraph and Morning Journal.
According to Roy, the men did not stay aboard Monday afternoon as might be judged from the Saint John newspaper accounts. Instead, they decided to visit “Mick” Haggerty for refreshment. James Clark, the pilot who accompanied the vessel from St. Andrews, is said to have preceded them in that direction.
According to Roy Daly, Michael Haggerty was a small hunchback man who kept a store of spirits at Haggertys Cove. It included gin brought by stagecoach from Saint John and rum from Eastport, Maine. Some of Mick’s patrons were crewmen of American schooners (“saltbankers”) that often put into Lepreau Harbour to dig clams. They shelled these there on the beaches and salted the meats in barrels for use as bait for cod-fishing on the Nova Scotia Banks and on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. Other attendants included hands from the Prescott and Lawrence lumber mill at New River according to Mrs. Henry Taylor (1875- ).
The afternoon of Monday, 4 October, was dead calm and the GENII men rowed ashore at Carion Cove (Fig. 2). Roy and others say that they were together at Mick’s and that all returned in late afternoon when it began to breeze up—all, that is, except pilot James Clark. According to our Saint John reported, “it was intended that he should be taken on board again towards night”. This may have been the plan but it was not carried out. James stayed ashore and, as we have already learned from the newspaper, he was the only survivor of all the ship’s company. The newspaper does not state, but everyone tells me, that James would not, or could not, go aboard in the evening with the others. Nor does it state that ever thereafter, James blessed that extra glass of rum that kept him ashore at Mick’s that night. Neil Oliver of Back Bay, N.B., says that the late John Heins of L’Etang claimed to have been with the stevedores and to have shared Clark’s experience. I have no corroboration of this claim from any source.
The Great Storm
It was also on 9 May 1959, after meeting Roy Daly, that I talked for the first and only time to the late George Mealey of Haggertys Cove. The next time I went to see him he had gone forever. He had been an orphan boy raised by his grandfather, James Mealey, Master of LINNET. Like Roy Daly, George recited the GENII story in the minutest detail, having heard his grandfather recount it many times. His version agreed in all essentials with the newspaper account but it included certain details which seem doubtful. For example, the story stated that GENII had never been slept in until the night of the storm and that there was little sleep aboard her that night, as may well be judged. One would supposed that the Captain and officers would surely have slept aboard her at New River from Saturday until Monday. She was too far offshore and much too valuable a ship to leave untended.
On 22 July 1960, I met Roy Daly’s sister, Mrs. Wm. Henry Taylor, and I have talked to and corresponded by mail with her several times since. She also gives a vivid description of the disaster. But, whereas Roy remembers his father’s version, and whereas George Mealey remembered his grandfather’s version, Mrs. Taylor recalls the story as she heard it from her mother (nee Sarah Kimball, of Pocologan). It describes the wreck and in this it agrees well with the other accounts. But it also tells of many trips thereafter to Shipwreck Ledge to see the battered hulk and of strange events that took place ashore during the great storm itself.
Sarah Kimball was “very handy with a needle” and was unmarried in 1869. In those days her assistance as a seamstress was in great demand in the district and on 4 October she was busy sewing at the home of Charles McLean, a storekeeper at Locke’s Brook, Pocologan. In later years she told her children about her experiences there that night.
After the gale came on in late afternoon and evening, it was impossible to keep the storeroom door closed. It blew open time and again, in spite of its latch, until finally barrels of flour had to be rolled against it. The whole building swayed and groaned from the pressure of the wind and there was little sleep that night even though the full fury of the storm had passed by late evening. When daylight came the store still stood but the mill was a complete wreck. The neat piles of sawn lumber that had stood nearby and the moored booms of saw logs at the mouth of the brook were scattered far and wide. Tales of the storm were on every lip and were almost the sole topic of conversation for days thereafter.
Another of her mother’s stories that particularly sticks in Mrs. Taylor’s mind concerns an orphan girl, Mary Patterson, who was born, Roy Daly believes, on a farm above Stick Cove just west of the outfall of New River. Mary was brought up in the home of Wm. Nightingale at Haggertys Cove, not far from Mike’s establishment. Some of the MacVicar team of stevedores used to board with the Nightingales when they were working at New River. But none stayed there on 4 October 1869, and William was away that night too. Mrs. Nightingale and Mary were alone.
The house shivered and shook. It creaked in the gale. The women feared it would blow down and they sat up late into the night by flickering lamp light, afraid to go to bed. At the height of the storm they heard a blood-curdling wail. It was so eerie that Mary, who was a nervous girl, took a “real turn”, almost fainted. They never could decide whether that awful wail was the shrieking of the gale, the cry of GENII’s men when she struck or a “fore-runner” of the great tragedy.
Requiem
George Mealey was a philosopher. On 9 May 1959, the first and last time I saw him, he remarked that all men are inevitably drawn to scenes of their great sorrows. He told me that during the week following the storm, John Straton’s father (11) came down from Fredericton to New River by stagecoach and spent the day there. He was taken across New River bridge, along the shore, past Stick Cove and on to the gully at Shipwreck Ledge where GENII lay bottom-up.
He stood there and wept. And through his tears he asked by what fate it was decreed that his son, who had sailed in safety the seven seas of the world around, should have come to his death on his own native shore.
None of our forebearers who stood by him that day could answer! Are we wiser than they?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank Mr. W. Kaye Lamb, Dominion Archivist, for supplying
a photocopy of GENII’s registration and for searching ancient issues of
The Standard; Mr. J. M. Bidlake, Librarian, Photogrammetry Branch, New
Brunswick Department of Lands and Mines, for supplying and authorizing
me to publish the aerial photograph of the New River Beach area; Mr. Maurice
P. Boone, Librarian, New Brunswick Legislative Library, for supplying information
on the Honourable Robert Robinson; Dr. George MacBeath, former Director
of New Brunswick Museum, for showing me Mr. D. C. Allison’s scrapbook in
which I first saw the newspaper report that forms an important part of
this paper; Mrs. Lenox Atcheson of the Saint John Public Library for assistance
in tracing this article to its source; all those whose names are mentioned
in this paper as contributing to this study and many more who helped but
whose names are too numerous to mention.
References
Allison, D.C. 1861-1870. Scrapbook. Now files (C.32) in
Canadian History Department of New Brunswick Museum.
Bradley, Maria K. Scrapbook. Now in possession of Robert Cockburn
of St. Andrews, N.B.
Carson, Bertha. 1961. The BLACK SWAN. Contribution
from the Charlotte County Historical Society No. 1: 1-2 (filed at
N.B. Museum).
Canadian Parliamentary Companion (now Canadian Parliamentary Guide).
Various issues 1870-1886.
Hutchison, D.L. 1913. The Saxby Gale. Transactions of the
Canadian Institute for 1912: 253-259
Ganong, W.F. 1911. A preliminary study of the Saxby Gale.
Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick 29: 325-330
Robinson, Robert. 1869. Private ledger. Now in author's
possession.
Saint John Daily Telegraph and Morning Journal. Issue of 7 October,
1869, page 2.
The Standard (A weekly newspaper published in St. Andrews, N.B., 1833-1880)
Issues of 15 September and 6 and 13 October 1869.
Wallace, F.W. 1929. Record of Canadian Shipping. Musson Book
Co., Toronto, Publishers
Wren, Thomas. 1856-1882. Daybook 462. Now in autor's possession.
2. Apparently R. Glenn and Co. contracted to build the vessel for Robert Robinson alone and Robinson entered into partnership with the other gentlemen mentioned only very late in the construction program (28). Later still Robinson and Glenn became business partners and operated a hardware business in St. Andrews.
3. There is no question that "Robert Robinson" was the Honourable Robert Robinson who was born in Ireland and lived in Canterbury, N.B., for several years and held many important public offices. He represented the people of York County in the Legislative Assembly, 1870-1878. And in 1878 he was appointed to the Legislative Council. He retained this position until his death in 1885 (Canadian Parl. Comp.). In 1880 or 1881 he moved to St. Andrews and he is buried in the St. Andrews Rural Cemetery where an impressive stone marks his grave. It bears this inscription, "Sacred to the memory of Hon. Robert Robinson, MLC, Born 17th November 1828. Died 5th September 1885. He giveth his beloved sleep."
4. The launching date (Frontispiece) was 9 September 1869.
5. The storm had been predicted by Saxby (Hutchinson, 1912) and was therefore named after him.
6. James Clark's surname is spelled without the "e". He was married to Esther Maloney, also of St. Andrews, whose gravestone is in the old Methodist burying ground behind Greenock Kirk, St. Andrews, N.B.
7. The Standard, a St. Andrews weekly newspaper quoted in the section, Other Records and Traditional Stories, spells the name "McVicar". This family now spells it "MacVicar", distinguishing it from other families of Mascarene who spells theirs, "McVicar"(26).
8. Mascarene is the Passamaquoddy shore district southward from the estuary of the Magaguadavic River to Green Point, Charlotte County, N.B. All together there were seven stevedores from this area on GENII--not eight as the reporter suggests here. (See the reporter's list of seven names which he presents later.)
9. Mrs. J. Messervy of Halifax, N.S., a great-granddaughter of Captain Charles, advises me that the family name has always been spelled "Bailey". And a grandson, George, now resident in Digby, N.S., agrees.
10. James McGill appears to have been the son of Captain Alexander McGill who skippered the barque, PRINCESS ROYAL., which once plied the West Indies trade out of St. Andrews. The log of this ship for the period 10 March 1842 to 11 May 1843 is one of the treasured possessions of the Charlotte County Historical Society. According to Capt. J. R. Wren of St. Andrews, Jame's wife's family (Wade) was Presbyterian. Rev. H. L. Orr has searched the Greenock Kirk deaths register and found no record of the drowning. Rev. M. Bentley of the United Church has searched the Wesleyan Methodist church records, which are under his care, and found nothing. I have found no record in All Saints (Anglican) Church death registers and I have found no gravestone to James McGill in any St. Andrews cemetery.
11. Judge Ralph Limerick of the New Brunswick Supreme Court, Fredericton, N.B., has advised me that John Matthew Straton was one of ten children of F.A.H. Straton (1817-1900) and M. Sarah Bliss (1817-1864). John was a Second Lieutenant in the New Brunswick Artillery (Gazetted 14 April 1863.) His brother Barry, was a poet as were also his cousins Bliss Carmen and Sir Charles G.D. Roberts. His father (F.A.H.S.) was senior partner in the law firm, Straton and Phair and was also Clerk of the Executive Council, 1856-1900. John was buried from the Cathedral (Anglican) and interred in the north-west corner of the "Old Protestant Burying Ground" on Carleton Street, Fredericton. The stone marking his grave is inscribed "Sacred to the memory of John M. Straton, First Mate of the Barque Genii, who perished at sea Oct. 4, 1869, in the 26th year of his age. This stone is erected by his school mates as a token of their respect and esteem."(See Figure 3).
12. This is apparently a misprint. Roy Daly who has lived in the area all his life has never heard any other name applied to it but "New River Harbour".
13. Chart No. 1247 of the U.S. Hydrographic Office indicates that New River Harbour lies 6 sea miles NNW of Point Lepreau.
14. New River Harbour is 22 sea miles from the northern end of Grand Manan and 11 miles from The Wolves. Both are in a southwesterly direction.
15. Pocologan Island, called "Pope Logan" on some early charts, lies 2 miles SSW of New River Harbour.
16. Without doubt Mink Island is referred to here. It is so named on all British Admiralty and U.S. Hydrographic Office charts that I have consulted. But it is labelled "Mole Island" on the Canadian Department of Mines and Technical Surveys topographic maps that have been recently published. Roy Daly states that the island was once owned by a George Matthews and that this may be the origin of the name used by the Telegraph and Morning Journal reporter.
17. This is named "Barnaby Head" on all charts I have seen. It is 1 1/4 miles from New River Harbour.
18. Maces Bay Ledges are referred to here. Today they are commonly called Lepreau Ledges and they lie 3 miles southwest of New River Harbour, not "southwest".
19. Today the name is spelled "Mealey" by all residents of the region.
20. Roy Daly says LINNET was a two-masted schooner and, just before the gale, Captain James Mealey had loaded her with 10,000 laths and was ready to sail for Eastport, Me.
21. Roy Daly says GENII was lying offshore from Chittick Beach (Barnaby Head) over the ballast ground (Fig. 2) which is about one-third the distance off Chittick Beach toward Mink Island.
22. Roy says that Captain Mealey was the only able seaman aboard LINNET. He had taken two passengers with him to make the Eastport run--a woman named Brown and a young boy named McCarty. When the gale came on Mealey put out a kedge anchor and swung the schooner into the lee of Mink Island bar.
23. Roy Daly says that none of the local people would agree with this interpretation of what happened. The ledge referred to here has since been known as Genii Ledge or Shipwreck Ledge. It is the most westward pinnacle of New River Ledge. Roy believes the vessel must have struck the top of the ledge (which was covered by the storm tide) side-on because she was dragging two forward anchors and because there was a plainly visable scar on her hull although it was otherwise "unchafed". Roy believes she was dismasted by the force of the blow when she first struck and that the next sea unset her over the ledge and left her lying upside-down in the rocky gully between the ledge and the shore cliff. From there she was washed into the gulch in the cliff where she finally came to rest.
24. The vessel arrived at New River on Saturday and apparently finished discharging her ballast on Monday, the day of the storm. For this reason she rode high in the water and must have been hard to manage in the gale. Unless some ballast was left in her this proposed explanation of how the decks were damaged seems unlikely.
25. Roy's father, John, was one of the men who helped gather up the bodies on the morning after the storm, And according to his account, all but one of the corpses taken up that morning were found on the sandy New River Beach. John helped carry them up the bluff and laid them in a shed which was attached to Mr. Knight's house, now owned by Mrs. Bulkley Buchanan. The bodies of McGill, Roix, and Henderson were missing at that time.
The gale blew first from the southeast which explains why the vessel drove onto the ledge (Fig. 2). But the wind direction shifted to southwest during the storm (Hutchinson, 1912) and this, Roy says, drove the bodies eastward along the beach from the wreck. This explanation assumes that the men were able to stay aboard until the vessel struck which seems likely. But they may have been washed overboard during the early part of the storm. If this happened, the bodies might then have been washed directly onto the beach where Roy says they were picked up.
Roy says that two more bodies were found October 6 and that the last body was found ten days after the storm where it washed ashore on Deadman's Beach on Barnaby Head. Thus, the bodies of all the drowned men were eventually recovered.
26. So far I have been able to find grave markers of only three of the seven Mascarene victims--the brothers George and Peter MacVicar and George Henderson. The first two share a rather unusual twin gravestone that stands in the well-tended family burial plot that overlooks Passamaquoddy Bay on the old MacVicar homestead now owned by Angus MacVicar who referred me to it. On this stone the name is spelled "McVicker", the same as in the Saint John Telegraph and Morning Journal account. The inscriptions are simple, "In memory of PETER C. McVICKER, died Oct. 4th 1869 AE 33 y'rs, also his wife CATHERINE, died Aprl. 2nd 1871, also his brother GEORGE, died Oct. 4th 1869, AE 39 y'rs." Mr. and Mrs. Russel Bradford of St. Andrews adopted one of the fatherless MacVicar children. Her name was Annie and she grew up here and married a local boy, Thomas Rudolph Wren who established the Wren Drug Store.
George Henderson's name and those of other members of the Henderson family are inscribed on a fine red granite stone that stands in the Henderson plot in the old Baptist cemetery at Mascarene. Mr. Eugene MacNichol of L'Etete, directed me to it. The part of its inscription which interests us reads simply, "George Henderson, died 1869".
Mr. MacNichol also showed me the Chub plot in the MacNichol graveyard at L'Etete in which another victim, Harvey MacNichol, is believed to be buried. But there is no stone for him.
This leaves the following GENII men whose graves I have not found; Stevedores--Daniel Hoyt, John Roix, and Eben Green; Ship's Crew--James McGill(11) and John Wilson.
27. I have been unable to find out where John Wilson was buried. Rev. Father Joseph P. Quinn of St. Andrews Church (Roman), St. Andrews, N.B. has searched the parish death records without finding a statement on Wilson. But we do know where Captain Bailey is buried. It is not at Lepreau (see More Newspaper Reports) but at Westport, N.S. Mr. H. D. Cossaboom of Tiverton, N.S. has generously assisted me by searching out what seems to be the captain's family grave plot in the community cemetery at Westport, N.S. The inscription on its new-looking stone (Fig. 3) reads in part, "Capt. Charles Bailey, 1820-1868".
GENII's captain was drowned in 1869, not in 1868, Mr. Cossaboom found no other likely stone. Dating errors in gravestone inscriptions are common and to me it seems certain that this stone belongs to our Captain Charles.
28. A 5 by 7 inch, leather-bound book with a
strong self-locking brass clasp that requires a key to open was found in
1960 in the loft of the grocery store on Water Street, St. Andrews, now
operated by Robert Stinson. The lower part of this same shop was
operated as a hardware and general store by Robinson, Glenn and Company,
and the lost itself was used as a sail loft for many years. The book
was the private ledger of Mr. Robinson. Perhaps he cached it there
for safekeeping.
This ledger shows how the funds from the insurance settlement were
distributed among GENII's shareholders.
29. Fred states that his grandfather, John Treadwell,
was a block, ship's wheel, spar and pump maker. He was not sure that
John had worked on GENII but believes he did. John was born in St.
Andrews and All Saints Church (Anglican) records state that he died 28
June 1899 at the age of 91.
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Notes
©Charlene Beney 2002