Shannon Ryan - Haulin Rope and Gaff

Sawing a channel through the ice to allow the sealing ships to leave St. Johns harbour. Latter nineteenth century.Courtesy of Martin R. (Mac) Lee.

Songs and Poetry in the History of the Newfoundland Seal Fishery Shannon Ryan/Larry Small 1978, Breakwater Books Limited. Published by
Breakwater Books Limited
617 Empire Avenue
St. Johns, Newfoundland
A1E 1X1 Typeset by Breakwater Books Limited Printed by
The Hunter Rose Company Limited
125 Bermondsey Road
Toronto, Ontario Cover illustration by Gerry Squires
Ferryland Lighthouse, Newfoundland.

Cover design by Helmut Rath Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title:
Haulin rope and gaff (Historical & cultural series; 1) (Folklore & folklife; 1) Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-919948-53-7 bd. ISBN 0-919948-52-9 pa. 1. Sealing Newfoundland Songs and music. I. Ryan, Shannon, 1941- II.

Small, Larry, 1941- III. Series. IV. Series: Folklore & folklife; 1. M1977.H8H38 784.49718 C78-001057-4 STUDIES OF THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND
LABRADOR FISHERY: HISTORICAL AND
CULTURAL SERIES, No. 1, 1978
General Editor: Kenneth S. 1, 1978
General Editor: Kenneth S.

Goldstein Dedicated to the Newfoundland sealers,
a rare and hearty breed.

91 Loss of the S.S. Algerine This collection is an attempt to bring together from various sources songs from Newfoundlands sealing tradition. The collection in not intended to be complete, but is rather an effort to make a beginning towards what one day might result in a more comprehensive work. It is with this in mind that we invite those readers interested in preserving and sharing with others sealing songs which they might know to submit them to us for possible future publication. In some instances we have included more than one version of the same song. This was done to give readers some understanding of the composition process and the changes which occur when songs and stories are transmitted from one person to another.

We feel there are two reasons why a collection of sealing songs is a necessary publication. In the first place, these songs are historical documents and as such they enable us to learn more about the sealing industry; it is for this reason that the songs have been arranged in a rough chronological order. Second, the songs are also an expression of a fundamental part of our cultural heritage. Like most other occupations, sealing caught the attention of local composers, foremost being James Murphy (1867-1931) of St. Johns who was referred to as the sealers poet. Moreover, he was not only a writer and composer but also published his own works.

Murphys seven song books contain several selections pertaining to the seal fishery, the most pertinent works being MURPHYS SEALERS SONG BOOK (1905) and SONGS SUNG BY OLD TIME SEALERS OF MANY YEARS AGO (1925). These books, which were privately published, are now out-of-print and extremely rare. We are thankful to James Murphys son, Michael, for permission to include in our work selections from his fathers collection. Michael Murphy himself is also well-known as a local historian and writer with a variety of publications to his credit and others which are forthcoming. Another local composer and publisher was Johnny Burke (1851-1930). Mr. Mr.

Mercer is known for his book, THE BALLADS OF JOHNNY BURKE (1974), published by the Newfoundland Historical Society. At all times he cooperated with us in discussing Burke as a composer and in seeking out otherwise obscure Burke collections. We are indebted to John White, among the first and most popular singer of Newfoundland songs, for his kind permission to use selections from his publication, BURKES BALLADS, which he found time to compile and edit in the midst of a very busy career. The Gerald S. Doyle song books, OLD TIME SONGS AND POETRY OF NEWFOUNDLAND, issued in 1927, 1940, 1955 and 1966, have been invaluable throughout our task. The late Gerald S.

Doyle (1892-1957), a St. Johns businessman, had a keen interest in Newfoundland culture. In his many journeys around the coast by boat he not only distributed school supplies to needy students but also succeeded in collecting a large number of local songs. These songs, along with some taken from other works, he published and distributed free of charge. We are thankful to his wife, Mrs. Gerald S.

Doyle, for discussing her husbands work with us, locating a few songs not in the Doyle printed collections, and kindly giving us permission to reprint selections from the Doyle published sources. The texts of the songs and poems in the collection appear, for the most part, as they did in the source from which they were taken. Where changes have been made it has been with incorrect dates, punctuation, and the italicizing of the names of sealing vessels. We would also like to thank the following for permission to use their songs or those of their relatives: Arthur Scammell, A.C. Wornell, Otto Kelland, Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf, E.J.

Bonnell, Gerald Loveridge, Norman Payne, Mrs. Dorothy Cook, Mrs. Michael Colbert, Harry Carter, Mrs. Stella Whelan, Herbert Cranford, Leslie Stansford, John Greene, Nicholas Lane, John Widdowson, Clayton L. King, Pat Byrne, Michael Harrington, F.J. OLeary, Cyril Byrne, Gerard Patenaude of the National Museum, Tundra Books, Montreal; MacMillan Company of Canada; Susan Sherk and Fred Earle, Memorial University Extension Service* and Hal Andrews of the CBC.

Other people have aided us in this undertaking and we should like to take this opportunity to thank them for their help; Burnham Gill and the staff of the Provincial Archives for the use of their photographic collection; the staff of the Newfoundland Studies Center, Memorial University; the staff of the Arts and Culture Centre Library; Jack Martin of ETV; Bertram Shears and Cyril S. Chafe, formerly of Bowring Brothers; Harry Collingwood, Manager, Baine Johnston Limited; Dr. D.G. Pitt, Memorial University; Peter Narvaez, MUNFLA archivist; John Ashton and Martin Lovelace, doctoral students, Department of Folklore, Memorial University; Carole Henderson Carpenter, York University. We owe a special appreciation to Dr. Kenneth S.

Goldstein and Dr. Herbert Halpert of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore Department and Dr. James Tague of the History Department for their advice and encouragement. We are much indebted to Dr. G.M. Story who kindly read the manuscript, gave numerous helpful suggestions, especially with the notes, and who continues to intrigue us with his immense knowledge, often articulated with humour.

Heather Wareham deserves our thanks for the map work. Mrs. Susan Snook, Miss Mary Butler, Mrs. Cindy Turpin, Mrs. Sharon Cochrane and Mrs. Pamela Roberts of Memorial University deserve our sincere gratitude for their assistance in typing and proofreading our often illegible scrawl.

And our special thanks to Mrs. Ruth Thornley for the musical transcriptions. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to those old sealers who helped us acquire the flavour of the seal fishery with their songs and yarns. Among them we would like to mention especially Andy Short, Edward Russell and Joe Ryan of Riverhead, Harbour Grace, and Warwick and Abe Horwood of Moretons Harbour. Memorial University of Newfoundland 1978 Shannon Ryan. Department

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