14

South Coast Disaster - Part II Stephen Adams

Families sitting in their homes
So happy, bright and gay
And in a moment they were washed
Into the foaming sea

There was no respect of persons
And this you all may know
It took fathers and mothers
And children were laid low

Some of the bodies were never found
They are lying in the sea
Waiting the last loud trumpet
Which says "Come, Come Away."

Loved ones had to give them up
Their work with was done
With broken hearts and flowing tears
Sat in a lonely home

They have a hope, a glorious hope
A hope which Christ has given
A hope when days and years have passed
That they may meet in heaven

15

The Rugged Shores of Burin
July, 2005
Shalloway, Newfoundland, Canada

16

Shalloway, Burin

Terrible Disaster on the South West Coast ---Part I

Attention now good people all
And hark to what I say
About this sad disaster
That we record today
What happened on the Western Coast
Around that rugged shore
There families were swept away
To see their friends no more

Last Monday week just after four
They heard a rumbling noise
But used to storms on that wild coast
It gave them no surprise;
When suddenly an earthquake shock
And then a tidal wave,
When six and twenty precious souls
Soon met a watery grave.

The tidal wave with fearful force
Full fifteen feet or more
The Fishermen's snug little homes
Was swept from off the shore
Poor helpless women on that day
All paralyzed with fear
To save their homes and families
And children they loved dear

17

Terrible Disaster
1929
Burin North, Dominion of Newfoundland

18

Terrible Disaster on the South West Coast...part II

In parts of Burin on that coast
And also Lamaline
The place is strewn with wreckage
And scarce a house is seen
Their boats and nets and stages
And all their fishing gear
Was carried away by this tidal wave
And soon did disappear.

And whan the sad news reached the town
And soon flashed o'er the wire
They quickly sent the "Meigle"
With food they did require
No blankets, quilts or bedding
Could these poor creatures save
Their homes and all their savings
Swept by this tidal wave.

Then Arlie Marks and Company
Though stranger in our land,
The first to hold a concert
And gave a helping hand;
To these poor souls in sore distress
A fine donation gave
Who suffered most severely
By that fearful tidal wave.

Donations soon came pouring in
From every one in town
The poor man with his dollar
Did freely put it down;
The merchants grand donations gave
To head the list did start,
Outsiders, friends and strangers
Gave with a generous heart.

Success in this world's goods they'll have,
And God's blessing fall for sure,
On those who give out freely
To assist the hungry poor.
For newfoundland was always known
And always did its share
And never let a Christian die
When she had a crust to share.

19

Bartlett's Store Was Ripped From its Foundation
1929
Burin, Dominion of Newfoundland

20

Picture of Bartlett's Shop

Our Christmas - And Theirs

Our Christmas will be joyous, we shall know
Home's gladness, gatherings around the blaze;
Our tables spread with plenty all the days
Of Yuletide; and whatever storms may blow
We shall be warm and cosy; there shall glow
The Christmas Tree, the hollies and the bays
The mistletoe and mountain-ash; and praise
to Christ shall sound and bells across the snow
Yes, but to those our bretheren on the Coast
Swept by the heartless wave, the Christmas sun
Shall coldly shine upon their landwash bare,
And hunger bite, with grief for those they lost:
So let us do for them what may be done
And all our Christmas blessings with them share.

21

Comforted
2004
Burin - Atlantic Ocean

22

Comforted

Let me but hear the wind from off the world
Rise on the stillness; or upon the roof
The sudden drops grow louder; though aloof
Stand every former joy, and I be old,
Alone, bereft-knowing youth's fire grown cold,
It's very Heaven dissolved when put to proof;
I in my desert scarceness have enough,
Across the sand the waving palms behold.
On some still midnight desolate as death
Drooping I lie, until there comes thy breath
Oh rain my sister and oh wind my brother!
And I straighten me in my bed to hear what it saith;
My shallows call, and the great deep answereth,
Kindred and friend though I should have no other.

23

The Rugged Shores of Burin
1900
Epworth, Dominion of Newfoundland

24

The Community of Epworth

The Waters of Burin ---Part I

As dear to me as Scotia's shores is the Isle of Newfoundland
although I never saw its shores or walked upon its strand
It is the land my parents love, and in happy days of yore
They told me tales of their childhood days, down on the western shore

My kindred dwelt on that ancient isle where the great Atlantic roars
and many times I have listened to stories of its shores
And now tonight with heart sincere I ask the Lord to bless
The people on the Sou'west Coast, in trouble and distress.

November the Eighteenth, Twenty-nine, will never forgotten be,
It is the date of the earthquake, and a tidal wave at sea,
and cries of women and children were heard above the roar
Of the rushing, turbulent waters that swept the Burin shore.

25

The Waters of Burin
November, 1929
Burin, Dominion of Newfoundland

26

The Waters of Burin - Part II

Neath Burin's swollen waters, that dark November night
Twenty-seven persons lost their lives before the morning light
Women and little children, men that were strong and brave
Were swept away in their little homes and drowned by the tidal wave.

Now saddened and discouraged, their means of living gone
The Fishermen walk their native shores, searching the beach along
Watching closely the harbor, where the boats at anchor ride,
Maybe the form of some love one will be cast ashore by the tide.

Stooping to pick up the driftwood, once a part of their home
Or part of a flake or a fish-house, half buried in sand and foam
Flinging it down in the land wash, to be taken again by the tide,
Then searching again for the bodies that the waters of Burin hide.

27

Trouble and Distress
November, 1929
Collin's Cove, Dominion of Newfoundland