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$4.99 June 2026
Vol 39 • No 01
Pirates of Manuel’s River
Trekking to Cape St. Charles Pucker Up: The Screech-In Story
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life is better Published monthly in St. John’s by Downhome Publishing Inc. 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 Tel: 709-726-5113 • Fax: 709-726-2135 • Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 E-mail: mail@downhomelife.com Website: www.downhomelife.com Editorial Editor-in-Chief Dillon Collins Assistant Editor Nicola Ryan Editor Lila Young
Warehouse Operations Warehouse Operator Josephine Collins Shipping/Receiving Clerk Jonathon Organ Shipping/Receiving Clerk Kim Tucker
Art and Production Art Director Vince Marsh Illustrator Mel D’Souza Illustrator Snowden Walters
Retail Operations Retail Operations Director Jackie Rice Retail Manager, Water Steet Crystal Rose Retail Manager, Avalon Mall Emma Luscombe Retail Manager, Twillingate Donna Keefe Retail Sales Associates Destinee Rogers,
Advertising Sales Account Manager Ashley O’Keefe Account Manager Sharon Muise Marketing Director Tiffany Brett Finance and Administration Accountant Marlena Grant Accountant Sandra Gosse Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney
Emily Snelgrove, Alexandria Skinner, Colleen Giovannini, Morgan Powless, Adriana Hann, Keith Lamkin, Martina Rogers, Hayley Warren, Annie Woelfel
Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Jennifer Kane Customer Service Associate Jacinta Squires Founding Editor Ron Young Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Grant Young General Manager/Assistant Publisher Tina Bromley
To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above. Subscriptions 1-Year term total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NB, PE $49.44; NS $49.01; ON $48.58; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $45.14. US $54.99; International $59.99
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement #40062919 The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to the negligence of the servants or otherwise, and there shall be no liability beyond the amount of such advertisement. The Letters to the Editor section is open to all letter writers providing the letters are in good taste, not libelous, and can be verified as true, correct and written by the person signing the letter. Pen names and anonymous letters will not be published. The publisher reserves the right to edit, revise, classify, or reject any advertisement or letter. © Downhome Publishing Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.
Printed in Canada
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78 be shellfish
Contents 60 bountiful blooms
JUNE 2026
46 The Fight Beneath the Surface Have we truly learned from what was lost? Pam Pardy
60 Wild & Wonderful Guide to Common Plants of Newfoundland and Labrador Part One Todd Hollett
78 Downhome Recipes Succulent Shellfish
90 What is a Log? Insights into naval navigation Lester Green Dave Wheeler photo
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Contents
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homefront 8 Between the Lines A note from the Editor
10 Letters From Our Readers A Dad and His Daughter, A Fisherman’s Weekend
16 Then & There Downhome catches readers up on major recent news, notes, events, anniversaries and acknowledgements across NL and beyond.
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WHO’s askin’
18 Downhome Tours The Caribbean 20 Island Insights Is Ye a Screecher? Nicola Ryan
24 Life’s Funny Right or Left? Rose Noel
26 l’il skippers
25 Say What? A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth
26 Lil Charmers Fishin’ for Fun 28 Pets of the Month Snack Pack 32 Book Nook Downhome dives into the latest and greatest in Newfoundland literature
34 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose reviews Yes, Officer’s Ignore The Town Crier
38 Adventures Outdoors Social Media and Salmon Angling Gord Follett 4
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34 new music
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Contents
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66
edge of labrador
features 54 A Day on the Water My first-hand experience with Newfoundland’s The Shark Co. Gary Collins
66 A Bucket List Trek to Cape St. Charles G. Tod Slone
home and cabin
54 sharkin’ around www.downhomelife.com
72 Stuff We Love Slip Into Summer
74 Everyday Gourmet Simple Sauces to Elevate Your Burger Andrea Maunder June 2026
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Contents
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88 faces from the past
reminiscing 88 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places.
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summer fun
89 This Month in History Levi “Shotty” Rogers
96 The Oil Tank Pirates of Manuel’s River Eric Gordon Tippett
100 Memories of King’s Road Lloyd Bonnell 104 Something Fishy Diane Unger
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136 pucker up!
108 Puzzles 120 Colouring Page 122 Classifieds 124 Mail Order
the back porch 128 The Labrador Current A Culture of Creativity Nathan Freake
130 What Odds Paul Warford Tangos with Tech About the cover It’s summer, and what goes better with the fun and sun than shellfish? Our cover features mouthwatering mussels fit for a proper summer boilup. Find succulent shellfish recipes, kitchen hacks, and tips in our June issue. Elsewhere, we head out for a day on the water with The Shark Co. and present our first in a two-part exploration into the fishery.
132 Ties to Home Heartstrings to Home: Glimmers and Microjoys Dianna Brown
136 Kissin’ da Cod A birthday, a shot of Screech, and a cod with a mind of his own Darlene Norman-Brown
Cover Index
140 From Our Readers The
Fishery in Flux • 46 At Sea with The Shark Co. • 54 Succulent Shellfish • 78 Pirates of Manuel’s River • 96 Trekking to Cape St. Charles • 66 Pucker Up: The Screech-In Story • 20
Voices of the Cliffs Evelyn Sulley
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142 From Our Readers Poppy’s Kind of Love Debbie Adams
144 Photo Finish June 2026
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reminiscing
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Many of us seniors
who grew up in Newfoundland and Labrador before the 1970s in the scattered outports dotting the coastline, are familiar with the various types and sizes of boats. My early memories of the vessels in the cosy harbour of Little Heart’s Ease included punts, motorboats, speedboats, and longliners. The remnants of old wooden sailing vessels that had been rammed ashore during high tides and abandoned to succumb to nature in the coves we called the ship’s graveyard most stimulated my imagination. These boats were known as schooners, boats that sailed the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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The Spoonwright - James Spurrell owner As boys, we often shaped boats from pieces of wood, mounted a sail or two with the help of our dads, and pulled them along the shore with a rope tied to a stick. Our imaginations ran wild as if we were sailing the high seas, docking our toy boats at imaginary St. John’s wharves we’d built from the flat rocks on the shoreline. One misty day I wondered how did they find their way through the thick fog? Come up now to the stage loft, pull up the keg, turn over the puncheon tub or sit on the trap if you’re not wearin’ your Sunday best, and I’ll spin a yarn for ye about my younger days and the chum-jigger, you know, the log. I recall the remains of a schooner that we would tie our punt to every time we landed in Saul Martin’s Cove 92
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on the Point. A quick half-hitch and you were ashore faster than jumping ice pans in the spring. Fifty years later, I stumbled upon a photo of that schooner published in the June 1954 issue of the Newfoundland Quarterly. After consulting with skipper Frank Vey, a resident of Long Beach who has since passed away, I was told that he helped his father, Wilson, put the Flora McKiver ashore at Little Heart’s Ease. Frank remarked that the schooner leaked like a flake on its final voyage to Labrador, and they rammed the schooner ashore in Saul Martin’s Cove. Now I have the photo to prove it! As a boy, I listened to many fishermen and their tales of sailing to Labrador. My ears perked up when I 1-888-588-6353
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heard them talk about times when it was “foggy as pitch!” Now, for you mainlanders, that means the fog was thick. You know, just like pea soup. I wanted to know how they could sail across Random from Western Head to the lighthouse of Eastern Head on Random Island. How fast was the boat sailing, and how long did it take? Now, my Uncle Bill was a smart fella and always answered me questions with the word “ahh?” I knew this meant he wanted me to say it again. So, I said, “How did you know how long it took? How fast was the schooner going?” I leaned back on the keg with ears cocked like a crackie and saw the Jacobs smile on Uncle Bill’s face. “Now we’d take the log and toss it over the arse of the boat and set the clock.” I imagined a piece of wood four feet long, cut into lumber at the mill, but I was as stunned as a lump! Uncle Bill explained that he sailed on his dad’s schooner, Margaret Ann Smith, to Labrador using a log. He described the log as a brass, torpedo-shaped device about 21 inches long. It had a ring at the pointed end where a rope was tied, and a propeller-like device at the opposite end that record-
ed the distance. The thing you had to do with this device was throw it over the back of the boat and haul it in to get the distance. The timepiece recorded time. Now, the b’ys knew arithmetic! They used the distance and time to determine the schooner’s speed, which they recorded in knots. You know what I mean when we say the boat sailed at 4 knots. Don’t ya? Using the charts onboard, they could determine where they were in the fog. Sure, they could find anything out on the water in the mist using charts, a compass and the log. Now, there are different types of logs. Depending on the dough you had in your pocket, you could buy different ones when you sailed into town and docked at Baine Johnston or Steer’s wharf. Sure, there is one made by Thomas Walker that had different dials. I even saw one at a store in Quidi Vidi that looked like this one. Now that I am older, some say that I am a bit wiser. I call Uncle Google to ask about logs, knots, and schooners. “Eh, Uncle Google, Where does the term knots for speed come from?” The term ‘knot’ for speed originated in the 17th century from a nautical method using a
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speed was measured by dragging a weighted rope of evenly spaced knots behind a ship. Counting the number of knots that unspooled in a given set of time would give the ship’s speed, measured in “knots” ‘common log’: a rope with evenly spaced knots (about 47 feet apart) attached to a wooden float. Sailors tossed the log overboard, counted how many knots unspooled in a set time (using an hourglass), and that count equalled the ship’s speed in knots (nautical miles per hour). This practical, traditional unit stuck, linking directly to nautical miles based on Earth’s geography for navigation. Among the treasured mementos displayed in the loft is the log that once helped my grandfather navigate the schooner Margaret Ann Smith safely to Labrador and back with his summer catch of fish. Harry Martin, a resident of Little Heart’s Ease, kept the log over the 94
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years. Harry passed in 2020, willed the log to me, and for this, I will be forever grateful. As I finish my yarn, I can truly say that our ancestors will watch over us. It was a time when the log helped them navigate the waters, and speed was measured in knots. Remember, the next time you say “logbook,” think of it as related to water, dating back to the time when sailors kept a book noting the ship’s speed, distance travelled, time taken, and weather conditions. Listen up, youngins! Think about the words “log in,” “logging data,” and “logging entries,” and remember that, to our ancestors, the term “log” meant something entirely different. 1-888-588-6353
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