The Wave That Blotted Out The Stars
On November 18, 1929 forty communities on the south coast of Newfoundland experienced a massive tsunami. 10,000 people were affected and 27 people died.
I’ve written about what happened before — an earthquake, subsea landslide, tsunami and storm — and if that’s interesting, hearing the way people experienced, and felt about it, is fascinating.
I’ve been reading accounts, many housed in the virtualmuseum.ca Tsunami 1929: The Silence of the Sea collection and others from newspapers, and they paint a vivid picture.
“she saw the houses going up through the harbour with lights on 'em. The lamps were still lit.”
— Captain Chesley Abbott, resident of Port au Bras
Abbott was describing what his mother saw when she looked out the front door. It must have been, literally, unbelievable. I’m not sure how you make sense of a sight like that — the neighbourhood is not supposed to float away.
“At Taylor’s Bay eyewitnesses described [the wave] as rising so high it blotted out the stars”
— The Western Star, Dec 4, 1929
Huge, beautiful, expanses of sea and sky are familiar sights in Newfoundland but, generally, they know their roles — the sea stays low and sky goes high. Not always, I guess. Some accounts suggest the waves rose up to 100ft. Unbelievable.
The wave was experienced differently in different communities partially due to the shapes of the harbours. If the harbour was steep and narrow, the water had nowhere to go but up.
“I haven't got a picture of any of them. Poor Mom, I don't even know what she looks like.”
—Margaret Saint, Lord’s Cove
Margaret Saint (nee Rennie) was only 3 when the tsunami hit Lord’s Cove. Her mother and 3 siblings died when their house was washed out to sea and back again before coming to rest in a pond. Miraculously, she survived.
Ms. Saint died in January 2015. Her story is one reminder of the way the tsunami changed the lives of the people of the Burin Peninsula forever.
These are a taste of some of the experiences of the 1929 Tsunami, for a bigger picture read Tsunami 1929: The Silence of the Sea. Block out some time, you might want to stay a while.
