MV Trepassey‘s Newfoundland Crew (continued)
Header Photo: Courtesy of Digital Collection of the Maritime History Archives of the Memorial University of Newfoundland
The resettlement of Newfoundlanders was an unfortunate part of their history. There were hundreds of small communities peppering the coastlines, bays & islands. There livelihood, as it had been for generations, was based on fishery and their only access was by boat. As the fisheries modernised they could no longer compete and they were out of work, so they moved and some of them took their houses with them. The government couldn’t support them either but after about 1950 there were various incentive programs and some support to get them into more productive communities – fish factories, mining, lumber.
And it is still in 2020, ongoing. Quite recently one community closed after voting to be relocated. Over the years some 300 communities have closed and 30,000 people moved, that would be about 10% of the total population of the island of Newfoundland in those days.
Brian Hill – Fossil Bluff 1970, Stonington 1971
Readers who are interested in reading more about the Trepassey, and other polar ships, will find the following two books very informative. Tony Dickinson wintered as a Sealing Inspector on South Georgia in 1965 and Rorke Bryan wintered at Base T as a Meteorologist in 1962 and 1963.
