14

Captain Henry Dibbon
1980
Port au Bras, Newfoundland, Canada

15

The following interview was taped by Clyde and Gordon Cheeseman with Captain Henry Dibbon on October 23, 1988. Permission granted by son, John Dibbon.

"The Bellaventure was in Marystown. That's where I had to go to fit her up. She was moored up for the winter. I had to, I had to go down to get her ready, you know, to clean her out, set her up to go for a load of fish. Jeff Reddy left Marystown, then goin', but I had to come in here to get a lot of weighing gear and that over the Cheesesmans. The water was so smooth, so calm. There wasn't a ripple on the landwash nowhere, when the wind died down, blowed hard all day, oh, that was a calm evening."

"But you felt something when you were outside, out of Beau Bois was it?"

"Yeah, off Tides Point."

"Yeah!"

"That was just before the sunset, just before the sunset, there was, I don't know, what it was, a roar, t'was fire, a big roar, just the same as fire or something roaring."

16

A Jackboat Similar to the 'Bellaventure'
1910
Collin's Cove, Dominion of Newfoundland

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"I wanted to go in, but there was no wind. We had to tow her (the 'Belleventure') in. We soaked in off here. I said, let the anchor down here now for the night and we'll go in in the morning. Yeah! Let the anchor down off here. I minds I said to Will Abbott, when I walked along I said, put the riding light on her and he went and got the riding light and put on her. The lights was on her. But the moon was shining like silver. You could see the light, could see the boat going in and out with the light on."

"That's when, that's when the wave came in."

"Yeah."

"You were up home here then, weren't you? You were ashore then!"

"Oh yes, oh yes, we were. I suppose we was outside handy a half hour anyway they, he was gone in home, I s'pose. I don't know where they was to then. They couldn't have been much further than home. He landed on this wharf here and went in in the dory."

"Oh, they rowed in!"

"They rowed in."

"They were lucky then."

"They were lucky, he was out in the dory and gone. He was home anyway by the time, the time it come in."

"There wasn't enough wind to carry that..."

"No, not then. So you anchored off there."

"I anchored off there."

"Just in from the swell rock."

"Took me an hour or more to tow her from here in, the dory in there."

"That just put you in..."

"I was in a hurry to get in the harbor, you know when I come and washed and dressed myself. I was gone through the harbor then for a bit.

18

Devastation
November, 1929
Port au Bras, Dominion of Newfoundland

19

"T'was a bad night. They say some people got frightened to death boy, frightened to death you'd be if you were sat down here and you never know nothing for you hear all, there was some tremors was in here, some cracking and ranting."

"Had to be."

"Ah, everything in the harbor,.......schooners busted up and come out. There was some racket. Cheesemans had a good place in there built up, big stores, wharfs and stages, my God. Everybody had a very good place built up."

"All swept, swept right out."

"Beat it all up. Just the same as nothing."

"But Henry, that, Skipper, that wave, that wave went right in, it didn't sweep in around, did it?"

"Yeah! It went right in. It went right in. Went right in and come out again, but I don't know how many times, it went in, I don't know you know, I don't know. I see it coming out but..."

"You don't know whether that was the first time or the second time."

"No, I don't know."

"They say it was three waves, wouldn't it?"

"That's what they say you know. But I know the water was frightful high when I landed. I never see the water no higher down her. I could float right in on the wharf. I said that's some kind of high tide tonight. Then I got out in the dory."

"Yeah, yeah! That was coming in, the wave was on its way in then I suppose, pushing the water in with it."

"The roads was all blocked, there under George Bennett's, up in the bottom you know. All blocked up with stores and God, flakes and everything washed in across it, you know."

20

Devastation
November, 1929
Port au Bras, Dominion of Newfoundland

Credits:
Picture Courtesy of Larry Mahoney

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"My dory I had a new dory that spring."

"Where did you get her too?"

"Over in Lunenburg, built in Luneneburg. Brought down from Lunenburg, had a new dory that spring. When I was going away I said to your father, I'd always be over around with your father, (you know) over around your place. After your father got married (you know), I'd be always be over there, everynight. I'd go over to your fathers, (you know) for a yarn. That's where I'd go, Bill and Jim's until nine o'clock or so then I'd come home and I said I got no place to put me dory, Jim when I'm going away. What about putting her on your flake and strapping her down. Your father had a nice flake there (you know). Nice flake there, Jim built it there. I said I'll strap her down. Oh yes, he said, she'll be alright there. That's where I carried her in and turned her up on your flake and tied her down. She was up in Joe Eddy's Cove on the flake. But she had the gurders broke in or something struck her..."

"...Oh yes, the flake was, the flake was (you know), the way he had the flake and the lift was tied on, the flake never fell to pieces, you know not the longer, the shores that went from under. The flake fell...The flake went afloat and the dory on it."

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A tidal wave washing Jerry Cheeseman's house off its foundation.
November, 1929
Port au Bras, Dominion of Newfoundland

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"You never would think it could be so bad in Port au Bras as it was that night."

"And where was it, the Bellaventure. Did she come back to where she was?"

"Oh yes, stopped right, right where she was anchored, she stopped right where she was anchored. I got her next morning there right where she was anchored.
Then next morning there was a gale of wind to the southern and I, I went down. You know, I didn't want to see her there. I didn't know whether she was aground or ashore or what happened (you know). So I went aboard and got her out. Oh, a hurricane, there was sea, mountains high, out in the Bight, that was a sea heaving in. I carried her up and put her under....When I slacked out all the chain, like this, could clear the Gripe Cove Point and Uncle Larry was down on the point."

"Larry who?"

"He singing out and old coat and that blowing and he singing out, "Don't, don't let that boat go cause you're going to have her in on the point!" But I didn't heed him, I went on."

"What point was that?"

"Bridge Cove Point."

"Bridge Cove Point."

"There was a big sea running there then the next morning."

"Yes boy!"

"Hove in pretty quick."

"And who was that? Larry Cheeseman was over there."

"Old Larry Cheeseman. He was out on the point watching all this. Now he thought I was going to have the boat in on that, in on the point, the Bridge Cove Point, cause I had to heave all the chain out. Had to heave all the chain out and let her go (you know). "

"What way was the wind then, Henry? What way was the wind then? Out through the harbour or what, the wind?"

"And then the three of us..."

"The wind, the wind out the harbour. The wind was right southern. The wind was right southern. Now....takes a squall that way and when she takes a squall that way she'd fall, you see she'd fall, off and go on out. She could go on out with a southerly wind under the force. The foresail on her and the wind went up in under the foresail."

"Was there much, was there much old debris, was there much stuff in the water then when you were going up?"

"I figured we'd see a lot of stuff but it was all pushed in."

"All pushed in the Bridge Cove."

"All pushed in the Cove (like you know). After I got out a little bit, I was out clear the litter."

"All along on that side of the harbor. All on one side."

"On the north side, we'll say."

"Yeah! About half ways out. But then when the wind veered down, this place was right full of stuff."

"Sure yeah!"

"The wind then veered down along."

24

Silence After the Wave
November, 1929
Port au Bras, Dominion of Newfoundland

Credits:
Photo Provincial Archives

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"But then in an hour or so, it was all straightened up again. The tide went down pretty slow. After an hour, it was all still. Running like a brook. Then run slower and slower and but it slowed right down."

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Mr. John Dibbon, son of Captain Henry Dibbon, Port au Bras, Burin remembers the stories passed on by elders.

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John Dibbon, son of Captain Henry Dibbon of Port au Bras
October, 2005
Burin, Newfoundland, Canada