Page Two

There can be little doubt about the origin of the name, Lance Cove, or that it was thus known by the early inhabitants.  An interesting, though not by any means the earliest reference to the name is to be found on a beautifully carved powder horn that exists amongst the Rees family heirlooms. The inscription reads:

John Stone
Lance Cove
Big Bell Isle
Conception Bay, Newfoundlande
February 3, 1828.

Besides its historical value, this powder horn is a folk-art gem.  John Stone married Elizabeth Pitts, granddaughter of James Pitts, and settled on the east end of the island.

The lance (launce, lawnce), which in turn derives its name from its peculiar lance-like shape and tough skin, is a small sand-eel of the genus Ammodytes.  It grows from six to twelve inches in length and is found in abundance along the shore in Lance Cove.

The lance was an important bait fish  in the early days, and its pursuit must have made Lance Cove a well known stopping place for European fishermen long before permanent settlers remained upon its shore. Whitbourne recorded that the "Riuers are stored with lance, capelin, cod and trouts, and also that there was found "sufficient quantity of herrings, mackerll, capeling and lawnce to bait their hooks withal".⁶  A later but equally interesting reference to this little fish states: "In Conception Bay the schools of herrings arrive generally about the beginning of May and continue until the latter end of June.  Their first appearance is anxiously expected  because they are the first fish used as bait in the cod fishery.  The second is the lance or sand-eel, a long thin fish,  which appears in June.  The next is the caplin and in the beginning of August the squid, or cuttle-fish, makes its appearance."⁷  Every lad who grew up in Lance Cove must have fond recollections of long, lazy, summer evenings spent on the wharf jigging "guffeys",  "conners"and "conger-eels". (Lance)