Fishery Products Company
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As I have been inspired by Cassie
Brown's novel Death On The Ice, I have decided to share with
you two shipwreck stories, the Zaandam and the Cap Brule, whose magnificent
crew are from the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland. In my research I have
found that a great deal of shipwrecks occurred on the waters of
St. Pierre and
Miquelon, a small french island near the south coast of Newfoundland.
To learn more about these shipwrecks which are boats from all around the
world, the book Shipwrecks written by Jean-Pierre Andrieux and Joseph
Leltuenen has offered these stories in great detail. I got my information
on the following stories from the french version of this book and from
family.
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The Zaandam, was a trawler who belonged to the
Fishery Products Company (FPI), in Burin, situated on the south coast of
Newfoundland, (pictures below of Burin and FPI). This trawler was
built in 1965, in Holland where the name Zaandam originates. She was 50
meters long and 667 tons. Unfortunately, today this boat is only known
as a memory for she went down in on January 20, 1972. This was a very cold
and stormy day, -10 degrees celsius and violent winds of 60 miles swifted
across the waters, north-west of Miquelon, where many boats were
trying "to get under land" as fishermen would say. Included in these boats
was the Zaandam, her slow moving motor had cut out, leaving her to drift
and run aground on a rock in the harbor of Miquelon. This rock is known
as "La Chatte" (the cat) luckily for the crew of the Zaandam, men from
Miquelon managed to rescue them and get them back to land.
Fishery Products Company
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These stories tie links to Death on the Ice as the Newfoundland ship had problems of communication. They had no radar or contacts with the other boats. Fortunately today, there are many ways to tell the weather on the waters in time, to get them out of the waters For example: Radar, Global Position System and Electronic Charts.
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The Shipyard
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Cassie
Brown is known for her intriguing novels: Death on the Ice, The
Caribou Disaster, Standing into Danger, etc. I was really inspired
by her novel Death on the Ice. Her description of the seal hunt
for the boats: Newfoundland, Stephano, Florizel, Bellaventure, Nascopie,
and Beothic, was so real and capturing. Some ships in this novel
and other shipwrecks who are known for their courageous days on the waters,
are still valued today. For example,
The
Navy League of Canada of Newfoundland and Labrador Division gave
the names of these boats to their corps. Some examples and their locations
are listed below:
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Churchill
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Ramea
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The symbol of the Zaandam Corp is:
A description of the crest comes from The Navy League of Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador Division (1995):
"The name of the corps crest comes from the country of Holland
where the trawler was built for Fishery Products in Burin. The corps crest
has on it a windmill which was characteristic of the country in which the
trawler was built and the Pitcher Plant which is Newfoundland's provincial
flower. The crest was originally designed by the Founding Commanding Officer,
Mr. William Murphy." (p.35)
Other resources: Newfoundland and Labrador Division. (1895-1995). Navy League of Canada
Lehuenen, J., Andrieux, J.P. (1997). Naufrage. Histoire Illustre Desastres
Maritimes aux Iles Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. W.F. Rannie-Publisher
Beamsville- Ontario Canada
Curriculum Outcomes:
taken from the Foundation for the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum. Government of Newfoundland Labrador. Department of Education. Division of Program Development.
Students will be expected to:
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