41

Kelly's Cove after the Tidal Wave 1929

"Dad wasn't home he was in a Jackboat getting wood. We lost the store, beef...we had nothing. We had to survive off others. We stayed in Kelly's Cove after the Tidal Wave and lived in Willis Mayo's house, because he had moved to Parson's Point. Our house had been brought over to Kelly's Cove and made into a fish stage. We had a cat, she must have jumped out as we didn't see her again.

Mom always had a roaring in her ears after the Tidal Wave. I think she was still in shock and was never treated for it."

42

Three Brushett Sisters (Lillian, Pearl, Lottie) Celebrating Pearl's 80th Birthday
2001
Burin, Newfoundland, Canada

43

A photo taken of Lillain, Pearl, and Lottie (Brushett) at Pearl's 80th Birthday

"Aunt Beatie and Uncle Ben took us in and they did up the cuts on our arms with flour and molasses and bound it up. The next day I remember Fred picking up coal along the beach with a dress on. Billy Foote gave me a pair of boots. The next day it was snowing and blowing and debis everywhere. It was miserable. I had to go to Foote's Cove in a boat and stay with my aunt."

44

Louise (Emberley) Hollett
1999
Great Burin, Dominion of Newfoundland

45

Louise Hollett was twenty-three years old when the tidal wave hit Great Burin.
" I was in the house. It was about five o'clock. We were getting supper. We had a lady come over to visit us that day and Mom was baking apple dumplings. I heard this noise and I thought it was the stove. We ran out by the door and you could feel the earth shaking under your feet."

46

Site of Telegraph Office : Great Burin
2005
Great Burin, Dominion of Newfoundland

47

Photo site of the Telegraph office, Great Burin

After supper, Louise made her way to the telegraph office. Up and away fromt the beach there was a road called the "high road," but she took the route down by the water. "I went over to hear the news and when I was going over, the harbour went right dry. Darby's boat was there and she was high and dry at the wharf."
"In the post office they used to have telegraphy. Mrs. Helen Darby was the telegraph operator and she had a big news book. The news would come and she would write it all out and then put it out in the lobby. Sometimes she would read it for the crowd of men standing around."

48

People Gathered From Shalloway at the Telegraph Office
1920
Shalloway, Dominion of Newfoundland

49

After the earthquake, they came over from Shalloway. That's another island they had to come over footbridges to get there. They came over to hear the news and see what was happening."

50

Lighthouse Keeper, Sidney Hussey, Knew It Was An Earthquake In the Ocean.
1900
Great Burin, Dominion of Newfoundland

51

"I wasn't over there very long, only a few minutes, when I heard the big rush and the water all rushed in."
Luckily, the water did not come up to where Louise was standing.
"The telegraph office was up higher. There were the wharves and then you came upa little bit to what they called the beach. They had beaches, down there where they used to make fish. Then there was an upgrade to the telegraph office."

"Everybody went up on higher ground. And we were scared stiff. The funny thing was, we didn't know what a tidal wave was. We were quite ignorant of what was happening. We thought the place was sinking or something."

"There was a lighthouse keeper up there, from somewhere in England. Sidney Hussey was his name. He told us what was happening. "You know, when there's an earthquake, there is usaully a tidal wave if it is out in the ocean."

Seeing the damage on the beach, the visitors from Shalloway became nervous. They had good reason to be uneasy. "The Shalloway people lived right down on beaches. They thought their houses would be gone. They got the ferry boat that was there and tried to go over to see how their families were and see what was gone. Do you know, they couldn't steer the thing at all, with so much tide. They finally got there and there was hardly a thing damaged."

52

The High Tide Took Many Wharves Out To Sea and Left depris Scattered Along the Shoreline
1929
Great Burin, Dominion of Newfoundland

53

At the telegraph office, Louise was worried. "I was out by the door, looking and listening. Everybody was looking. I didn't know what to do. My mother was home and we lived down near the water. I went home by way of the high road and called out to her. She and this other woman came up over the hill."

"Mr. E. Hollett had a store where he used to keep lumber and other things. You could hear all the lumber tumbling out of his store, as the high tide took all his wharves out to sea. Some of the lumber lodged on the bank and in the landwash. All night long we could hear the men trying to salvage it and throw it up on high land."

Great Burin did not sustain as much damage as other villages on Great Burin Island. "It came in there and went down through the Reach and down in Stepaside, but in Kelly's Cove it got pinned there. It brought up there, so they had more damage than the rest. then it went on down to Port au Bras. It sort of passed along by us."

54

Honorable Malcolm Mercer Hollett
1940

Credits:
Photo courtesy of Legislative Library, Confederation Building