his mother, a charming lady of West County ancestry, declares his first schooling in ice seamanship was gained when with his companions he spent winter play-hours jumping from pan to pan in the harbour, "copying" the sealers. As a toddler he sailed the frigid waters in a borrowed tub with a broom as propeller. Brigus youngsters are like that. They skim the thinnest ice, swim the coldest seas, disport themselves on the slipperiest bergs, scale the straightest flanks of the raggedest cliffs. Little wonder that their deeds in later life excite no wonder among their townsfolk. Heroism is at a discount in this nook of the world where adventure is bred in the bone and danger is the sauce of life.
Brigus was originally the port of departure for the seal-killers. In the sixties, forty craft manned by fishermen from Placentia, Burin, Trepassey and other outports were accustomed to leave the ice-choked harbour. As the sailing vessels fell off and steamships took their place the sealing fleet made St. John's the assembling and outfitting port.
The Terra Nova, one of the Bowring fleet, carried the Scott Expedition to the Antarctic. On her return she was re-bought by the St. John's firm. During the seal fishery of 1914 she was commanded by Captain William Bartlett, who brought back a catch of 28,000 seals.
In June and July the men of this coast bark their nets, forge their trawl anchors and make ready
