The Sealers Memorial - Elliston, Newfoundland and Labrador
N 48° 38.006 W 053° 02.030
22U E 350155 N 5388703
The Sealers Memorial is a tribute to the 251 men who lost their lives in two separate disasters during a 1914 storm. The bronze sculpture is sorrowful - of a father and son holding one another as they brave the elements with little hope of survival.
Waymark Code: WMPEGM
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Date Posted: 08/18/2015
Views: 4
Home from The Sea - The Sealers Memorial - is a tribute to the 251 sealers who lost their lives in two separate disasters during a 1914 storm. The bronze sculpture is sorrowful - of a father and son holding one another as they brave the elements with little hope of survival.
It was dedicated in June, 2014.
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The sign on site reads:
A Boy's Dream
A Father's Promise
A Mother's Woe
At age 16, Albert John Crewe of Elliston couldn't wait to go sealing. This was the last thing his mother, Mary, wanted. Her husband, Ruben, had already survived the SS Greenland sealing disaster. Mary was insistent that he not go sealing again.
But Albert John was determined to go. And, to protect him, Ruben went too. Like many women in Newfoundland and Labrador with sons, husbands, brothers and fathers sealing, Mary did what she could. She helped them to prepare; then she waited and prayed for their safe return.
On March 31, 1914, Mary woke to a vision that confirmed her worst fears. As depicted in the sculpture by Morgan MacDonald at the Sealers Memorial, Albert John had died in Ruben's arms on the ice, the father protecting his son until they both perished.
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The full story of the disasters can be found on the Home from The Sea website (www.homefromthesea.ca):
The Newfoundland and Labrador spring sealing fishery was far more hazardous than any other local fishery at the turn of the 20th century. Sealing ships would steam or sail into the dangerous ice floes off Newfoundland and Labrador’s coast where large masses of ice and sudden blizzards could cause ships to become stranded and damaged. Sealers might spend up to 12 hours walking on ice fields. When foul weather struck, their only option was to attempt to return to their distant ships guided only by the sound of a whistle.
1914 Sealing Disasters On March 30th, 1914, 166 men left the SS Newfoundland and headed towards the SS Stephano seven miles away. A group of 34 men chose to turn back as the weather worsened while the remaining men pressed on. They had been instructed to harvest 1,500 seals before returning to the SS Newfoundland and felt obliged to do so. The SS Stephano would eventually leave the men nine miles out in a rising storm. For the next two days they were lost in a vicious blizzard due to the captain of each ship assuming the men had found refuge on the other. In that time, 78 men were lost, many disappearing into the frigid waters.
In that same storm, another sealing vessel- the SS Southern Cross- sank while returning from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In total, 251 brave sealers perished trying tirelessly to provide for their families and communities. This was a tremendous loss for a country of only 250,000.
Sector of the workforce: Sealing
Created or Donated by which group: Elliston Heritage Foundation
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