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Winterton continued to grow and its prosperity varied according to the quantities of fish cured and the market prices. The pattern of life changed little until the middle of the twentieth century. The people of Winterton built fishing boats for their own use and to sell. For the most part, men built the boats and caught the fish, the women cured it. Both men and women cultivated gardens for their own use and in fall and winter the men spent long hours in the woods cutting firewood and timber for boats, barrels, houses, church furniture, stages, flakes and all the many other uses for wood. The carpentry skills within the community were noteworthy and the boats built in Winterton were renowned throughout the Avalon Peninsula. At the end of the nineteenth century dependence on Trinity decreased as the local merchants became established, marketing the fish and outfitting the fishermen.

15

Newfoundland folk song
2003
Winterton, Newfoundland, Canada

16

The words of I's the bye, a traditional Newfoundland song, summarize the traditional lives of fishermen and boatbuilders of the province.

Sound clip:
I's the bye that builds the boat
And I's the bye that sails her
I's the bye that catches the fish
And sends 'um home to Liza

Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo
Hip yer partner Sally Brown
Fogo, Twillingate, Morton's Harbour
All around the circle

Sods and rinds that cover yer flake
Cake and tea for supper
Cod fish in the spring a the year
Fried in maggoty butter

I don't want yer maggoty fish
That's no good fer winter
I can buy as good as that
Down in Bonavista

I took Liza to a dance
Fast as she could travel
Every step that she did make
Was up to her knees in gravel

Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo
Hip yer partner Sally Brown
Fogo, Twillingate, Morton's Harbour
All around the circle