Abstract
Situated on the east coast of the island of Newfoundland, the port of St. John’s has welcomed fishermen and mariners since 1527. Despite its lengthy history, it has attracted surprisingly little scholarly interest. In his ‘Foreword’, Sean Hanrahan, President and CEO of the St. John’s Port Authority, advises that the Authority commissioned this book to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of its management of the port. (The National Harbours Board, which assumed management of the port in 1965, was replaced by the Port Corporation in 1985, which yielded to the Port Authority in 1999.) He advises that instead of ‘an academic history’, the Authority opted for ‘informal stories of those who know the place intimately’ (p. ix). Those stories appear here as thirteen chapters based on interviews conducted by Allan Byrne, who subsequently edited them – deftly at that – into narrative form. Informal though they may be, they will please scholars and general readers alike.
Robert (Bob) Innes, who was local chairman for the National Harbours Board from 1972 to 1980, gets the collection off to a rocky start. Indeed, he is so opaque on the port’s organization and operations that it is difficult to understand why this interview was included. Fortunately, David Fox, who was port manager for the National Harbours Board from 1980 to 1985, and CEO of the Port Corporation from 1985 to 1998, provides excellent accounts of both, including the transition from bulk cargo to containerization, and the growth of cruise ship traffic.
John Crosbie, Miller Ayre, and Sid Hynes offer a business perspective. The Crosbie family successfully transitioned from the salt-fish trade into shipping, construction, and the offshore oil industry. John Crosbie states that the end of rail transportation in Newfoundland in 1988 was a boon to ocean transport and thus to the port. He makes an equally important point by reminding us that despite the myriad changes that have occurred, the port is still home to fishermen. Ayre, whose family’s port connection dates to 1859, describes the decline of the old waterfront department stores (including Ayre’s) as the retail focus shifted to suburban shopping malls. His tale of the disappearance of the mercantile finger piers speaks to the port’s historical geography. Sid Hynes is partner and CEO of the shipping firm Oceanex, which by his estimate generates some sixty-five percent of the Port Authority’s revenue. Apropos of Crosbie’s remark about the end of rail transportation, Hynes says that Oceanex’s main competition is the trucking industry, most of whose cargoes originate in central Canada.
Stevedore Ches Sweetapple changes the focus to the working man, giving a dockside view of the impact of containerization and technological change. At its peak, says Sweetapple, the port employed over 5,000 stevedores, and sometimes idle fishermen and even children were hired temporarily. Today, about a hundred stevedores do the same work and more. Fisherman Glenn Critch echoes the child labour theme, noting that he and his brother, who are in their sixties, began working in the port’s fishery at the age of ten and are now ‘worn out’ (p. 84).
Len Kenny, who served in the port police from 1973 to 1998, is a shrewd judge of character, and not only of the criminal element. He makes a key point by observing that ‘every port has its own culture and personality’ (p. 96). In that vein, former ship’s agent Jean Pierre Andrieux emphasizes the social dimension of port operations, arguing that ‘Port hospitality is integral to the industry’s survival and ensuring that ships keep coming’ (p. 108). Andrieux’s often poignant account of visits by the men and ships of the Portuguese White Fleet highlights Portuguese influence on the port’s character, which has always had an international dimension.
Regardless of how warmly visiting ships are received, they will not come at all if a port is unsafe. Retired pilot Ed Anthony is insightful on the pilotage service, even if his musings on its origins are ill-founded. I especially like his comment that ‘Ships are like babies. They usually come at unusual hours, in the middle of the night, and in the worst kind of weather’ (p. 119). Anthony underscores the oil industry’s primacy in modern-day port operations. With perhaps some exaggeration, he says that without it ‘there would be very little of anything’ (p. 146). happening in the port.
Marine engineer and former St. John’s dockyard manager Albert Burgess admits to a lifelong love affair with the port, and it is only fitting that he supplies the book’s title. Because of the harbor’s long, narrow entrance, mariners nearing the port ‘see none of St. John’s until – bang! – there she is, ablaze in the night-time. Man, what a beautiful sight that is’ (p. 155). Burgess, who was ten years old when the Second World War began, witnessed the port’s transformation into a Royal Canadian Navy convoy escort base. The wartime experience is also the subject of amateur historian William (Bill) Rompkey’s contribution, which reinforces Burgess’s view that the war was a modernizing agent.
In light of the importance of the offshore oil industry to both the port and the Newfoundland economy, it is fitting that the collection ends with a chapter by industry veteran Rob Strong. According to Strong, the port is now home to ‘some of the most sophisticated supply and support vessels found anywhere in the world. This transition, of course, is predominantly due to the oil industry’ (p. 179).
The book has its limitations. It deals mainly with recent history; Allan Byrne’s ‘Introduction’ is slight; there is no map to assist readers unfamiliar with the port; and despite a text that cries out for annotation, there is none. Those quibbles aside, this engaging collection will be an essential source for whoever writes the long overdue history of the port of St. John’s. Readers of this journal might also wish to note that the Port Authority has donated Byrne’s original audio recordings to Memorial University’s Maritime History Archive.