TRIP TO ST. JOHN’S IN APRIL1943 IN THE SCHOONER ALICE & GRACE
by Captain Ernie Wilson
Crew: Myself, Gerald, Stan & Bill Fulford
We loaded sand in Sandy Harbour for St. John's. My dad (Paul) was sick at the time and couldn't come but was wondering where he could get someone to take the boat and its load to St. John's. I was anxious to take her myself so I asked him ‘Why not me?’ Dad said, “I suppose I'll have to let you take her“. So Mom (Jane), Dad and myself sat at the kitchen table and he told Mom to write out the courses to and from St. John's and the bearings - provided the weather was clear (no charts). I didn't know them anyway. I knew the compass. ‘The main thing is to steer the courses given and run on time - that's important‘ Dad said.
Sunday morning at 11:30 we left Little Merasheen in a light breeze of wind from the Westward. Half way out the bay the wind was increasing, blowing a fresh breeze and getting rough. By the time we rounded Cape St. Mary's, we had lost our two hoops of wood off the deck, our stovepipe blew off and the stove in the galley filled with water. We came abeam off Cape St. Mary's and set our course across St. Mary's Bay. By now it was blowing real hard with a big sea running. We were making good time. We came abeam of Cape Pine and shaped our course for Cape Race. We were still in full sail but she was making off Cape Race quite a distance and the mainsail was on our port side. We had to get the mainsail on the starboard but it was too rough to bring her to the wind so we put the wheel hard over and lay down on the deck. When that mainsail came over, it shook everything - it was a miracle we didn't tear the mast out of her. (We knew it was a stupid thing to do).
We had a good trip down the shore until we got off Bay Bulls where heavy squalls of wind had risen. Spray covered us but we were making good time when all of a sudden we hit this odd squall. I put the wheel hard to Port to help her out of it. She didn't answer too well.
By now there was no sign of the lee rail and it was hard to hold the wheel. The other crew members were hanging on the windward rail when she finally came out of it. The middle cloth of the mainsail was ripped open but we kept it on until we got to the Narrows of St. John's and the Navy Patrol boat towed us in the harbour. The skipper asked us where we were ‘in the breeze’ and I told him we came from
Merasheen. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. We made the trip in 23 hours - and covered many more miles than the 165 mile distance. (All we ate was bologna sandwiches).