From Glovertown to Boston

The National Convention's
Long Voyage

                                                                               
Watermarks


She was a beautiful schooner, and her name was the National Convention.

Edgar Paul of Glovertown built her at Burry's Shipyard in the winter of 1946-47 for the Hiscock Brothers -Captain Job, Frank and Lawrence, who lived on Coward's Island, Bonavista Bay.

As a sign of the times, the brothers named her after the politics of the day. The National Convention, then in progress in St. John's, was about to determine the Island of Newfoundland's political future.

As time would tell, fate would also shape the future of the National Convention.

The Convention was built for the Labrador fishery and to operate as a sailing schooner, according to the brothers' specifications.

"Her only power other than sails during her first three voyages to the Labrador was two 10 horsepower Atlantic 'make and break' engines,' " wrote Owen Hiscock, son of Frank. "Under the command of Captain Job she fished on the Labrador coast from Grady to Seglek Bay from 1947 until 1953. In those seven years she brought back over one million pounds of dried Labrador codfish."

Captain William Bridgeman of St. Brendan's and his sons bought the National Convention in the spring of 1954 for the Labrador salmon fishery. She also operated as a coastal freighter on Newfoundland's east coast and along the Labrador.

In 1959, she was sold again. Captain Charles Rogers and his sons, Lester and Ronald, bought the schooner and renamed her Dorothy Marie II.

"Discovering that her stern was rotten, they made repairs, giving her a somewhat different appearance with an upright stern," Owen Hiscock wrote. "It was about this time too that her foremast was  shortened and her mainmast was replaced by a much smaller and shorter mast. At this point, she ceased to be a sailing vessel."

The Dorothy Marie was used as a coastal freighter on the coast for two summers. Around 1960-61, she was sold to Captain Lester Andrews, who continued to operate her in the coastal trade, to collect and transport salmon on the Labrador coast, and as a longliner and gillnetter in the fishery.

Ralph Mercer of Clarenville Dockyards bought the ship in 1975 and towed her to Clarenville.

"In a state of disrepair and and virtually a derelict she lay moored to the wharf where she eventually sank," wrote Owen Hiscock. "There she lay submerged throughout the winter."

John Andrews of St. John's purchased the ship and got her back afloat, then sold her, nameless, to William  Jones of Pittsburgh, who came to Clarenville in 1979 to purchase a pleasure boat.

According to the Clarenville Packet at the time, "when Jones first laid eyes on her, she had already been at the bottom during her tenure at the wharf in Clarenville and refloated. It was nothing short of a seagoing sight for sore eyes. Her seagoing days had no doubt been numbered but even that failed to daunt the  nautical ambitions of one Bill Jones."

Jones replanked the ship from the water line up and replaced all the decking. The ship, 102 feet in length and weighing 98 tonnes, was then equipped with a 250 Mercedes Benz engine and a 30 KW generator.

Jones' plan was to sail the ship to the Florida coast by way of St. Pierre and then Boston to use her as a  pleasure and tour boat.

"So another bit of Newfoundland heritage and tradition is about to leave our shores," the Packet stated.

But the story of the National Convention didn't end there.

A storm hit the ship enroute, with 100-kilometre per hour winds and 20-foot swells. The 90-foot mast splintered.

"It wasn't the wind that sheared the spar," Jones told the Evening Telegram following themishap. "It was the water. When we hit that storm we reefed the mainsail and tied all other sails to the deck, but the ship was rocking back and forth so much that the weight of the tremendous waves sheared the spar right off the deck."

Jones' crew consisted of Watson Goodyear, Bob Balsom, Boyd Rideout and Roger Bursey. When the mast split, it crashed onto the deck and into the water.

"The cables and stays were spread all over the deck and we were dragging pieces of the mast both on the port and starboard sides."

The ship was taking on water and the crew started bailing. In the engine room, the engine was filling with salt water. They steered out to sea to avoid the rocks near Fermuse Harbour.

With a severed mast, no radio and no radar, the ship was spotted by an oil rig supply vessel 10 miles southwest of Fermuse. Eventually they wee surrounded by boats, and "by then, I knew we were going to be all right," Jones told the Telegram.

So where is she now? By the last account, the former National Convention made it to Boston after damage from its maiden voyage was repaired.

Such was her fate, as was the fate of many a schooner from the seafaring history of Newfoundland and Labrador. For a ship named after an event of historical significance, the National Convention has had a long and colourful history of her own.

                                Watermarks



                                            With thanks to Owen Hiscock and Lena Noftall