Coastal Boats

Before the mid to late 1960's the communities of Bay d' Espoir had to rely on coastal boats for some of their every day needs. The weekly visits would bring much needed supplies, mail and passengers. Since St.Alban's, St.Joseph's Cove, St.Veronica's, Milltown-Head of Bay d' Espoir, Morrisville and Conne River had no roads to other areas, this was their only way of connecting to the outside world.

The coastal boat would come every week and be greeted by a hoard of people. Before any wharfs were built, the boats would have to moor off in the harbour. They would come out in their skiffs and dories to carry the supplies ashore. In the winter time, the coastal boats would come in as far as they could until the ice blocked them out. Sometimes they would only get to Roti Point. People would go out over the ice with their horses and oxen to bring back supplies; some even skated out to the boats.

"The coastal boat would come in and everyone would buy whatever they needed because the coastal boat would not come in when the ice was frozen. People called March a long, cold, hungry month because their supplies were running out about the first of March." said Clyde Sutton.

George Sutton recalls "Coastal boats came and people would buy supplies for the winter in November. They would have to try to make it last until the boat returned in November. Sometimes people would meet the boat outside of Roti Point and people would end up waiting for days on the ice when the coastal boat was late."

Besides supplies, most people traveled by coastal boats. If there was an emergency, people traveled on the boat to Harbour Breton's hospital. If you could not travel to the hospital, sometimes the doctor came in by boat. The Christmas Seal was one such boat. So-an-so states that "People would meet the boat at the Government Wharf. They went aboard to get scratches on their arms to check for T.B. If your scratches turned you had to get X-rays done." This happened about once a year. When the Christmas Seal did come, the people would hear music coming from the ship. It had a record player on board and not many people ever heard music played like that before.