Here are excerpts from the 1943 obituary of Henry Bowering printed on Feb. 20, 1943 in the Bay Roberts Guardian.....He was 22 years old when the Coley's Point Disaster occured at Black Island Labrador on October 10-12, 1885 "There passed peacefully away on January 19th at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Gilbert Mercer, of Mercer's Cove, an old and respected resident of Coley's Point, in the person of Henry Bowering, at the ripe old age of 80 years. Uncle Harry, as he was better known in the community, was born at Coley's Point, the son of the late Richard and Mary Bowering. When quite a young man he went to the Labrador fishery, serving many years with different skippers in the Summer, and also went to the ice fields in the Spring. Then he started out for himself, building a fishing room at Black Island, near Grady, Labrador. For quite a number of years he was looked upon as one of the most successful fisherman of that place, which seems to place to his credit good judgement and a hard worker. When only a young man he went to Notre Dame Bay, somewhere in the vicinity of Exploits, and there he spent some time working at schooner building, from which he gathered some good ideas about that particular business, which in following years proved to be of great benefit to different schooner owners in Bay Roberts as well as to others whom he employed to help with the work. Many winters in succession he was engaged in repairing some old schooners, and so it was that whenever a man had a schooner to repair he would always try and get Uncle Harry to look after the job, feeling confident that he would get a good job done. Uncle Harry was always noted for his wit and humor and whenever he was met by the neighbours around him, they mostly expected to be greeted with some quaint and humorous saying. Early in life he started to live a Christian life and thus endeavored to serve his God to the best of his ability, and it will long be remembered at Black Island in the old salt store where a crowd of humble fishermen would gather on Sunday after a hard weeks toil to listen to Uncle Harry as he led service..........He leaves to mourn besides a large circle of friends, one son, Malcolm, now residing at Bay Roberts; one daughter, Sophie, (Mrs. Gilbert Mercer) at Mercer's Cove and four grand-children, Nathan Bowering, UC Probationer, now serving on the Sound Island Mission; Susie Bowering at the Memorial College, St. John's, and Wallace and Mabel Bowering at Coley's Point. He was laid to rest on Jan. 22 in the family plot in the UC cemetery, Coley's Point. The funeral procession was attended by members of the LOA of which he was one of the oldest members of Coley's Point Lodge......" from the Chronicle of Canada, page 426...October 12, 1885 LABRADOR --A fierce gale swept the coast today, and there are reports that dozens of vessels, vast quantities of saltfish and, worst of all, more than 300 lives were lost. Families come to this coast every summer from Conception Bay in Newfoundland. At the end of the fishing season, they leave their bleak and exposed fishing stations and return home for the winter. The storm struck when the last of the crews were preparing to leave. A similar storm occured in 1866. Note by lghr: I wonder if the writer for Chronicle of Canada found a credible source for the number of lives lost in this disaster. An interesting part of the 1977 taped words of Mr. Robert Henry Daw b. Oct.9, 1885 was his account of this tragic event that occured quote:"the day after I was born". When discussing his knowledge of the 'Folklore' surrounding this incident, he mentioned the only loss of life as being the grandfather and his baby grandchild named Morgan. He also mentioned that the 'Excell' could have been saved if the captain had 'run her ashore' on the beach like Capt. Dawe did with his schooner. The 'old skipper Isaac Morgan' owner of the schooner did not allow his son the Capt. to 'run the Excell ashore' because he was fearful of not collecting insurance unless 'she was beat up on the rocks'. ===== 1784...a quote from page 129 of the 1938 book titled �The Story of Newfoundland� by J.A. Cochrane, B. Sc. ..(Authorized by the Department of Education for use in the schools of Newfoundland)..... �Owing to the attitude taken by some of the governors there had sprung up a very regrettable sectarian rivalry and even hatred in many parts of the country. It will serve no good purpose to tell the story of the origin of the quarrels, but the year 1784 must be noted as the beginning of better things. In that year the Governor issued a proclamation which allowed all persons to worship as they pleased.� end quote (lghr note: This textbook was used from 1939 to abt. 1957 and had a deep impact on the minds of those children who had a 'middle school' interest in NL History) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com