Smith Sound (Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador)

Smith Sound is a zigzag 24 kilometer inner region of Trinity Bay. This sound is one of the longest portions of inshore waterways in Newfoundland, located on its north-eastern coast in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Bonavista Peninsula is to the north of the sound, while Random Island is to the south. The waters that make up the sound is a continuous channel that encircles Random Island, broken only by a narrow channel located at Clarenville where a causeway was built to provide access to the communities on Random Island. The channel on the south side of Random Island is North West Arm.

Early history

The area was visited seasonally by fishermen in the 1700s, and first settled in the 1800s. On September 5, 1822, William Cormack sailed through Smith Sound to explore the region with Sylvester Joe, a Mi'kmaq guide. [cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/nf_interior.html |title=The Newfoundland Interior "The Beothuk Phase" |author=J.K. Hiller |date=1998 |publisher=heritage.nf.ca |accessdate=2007-11-07] [cite web |url=http://www.nwpl.new-westminster.bc.ca/nwheritage.org/phototour/citylife/churches&monuments_monuments.htm |title=Cemeteries #3080 |publisher=new-westminster.bc.ca |accessdate=2007-11-07] Cormack's account of his travels were published in 1824 and republished in 1856. [cite web |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/nfldhistory/Newfoundland%20biographies%20A-D.htm |title=Newfoundland Biography (1497-2004) |publisher=marianopolis.edu |accessdate=2007-11-07]

Permanent residents settled in during the 1850s through 1870s. In addition to the fishery industry, others were involved in sawmilling and slate quarrying. Towns abounded on both shores. Some changed or merged over the years, but a partial list includes White Rock and Burnt Brook (or "Brickyard"), [cite web |url=http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/NF-TRINITYBAY/2004-03/1079743141 |title=NF-TRINITYBAY-L Archives |publisher=rootsweb.com |accessdate=2007-11-06] the site of an 1850's brick plant at the head of Smith Sound, along with British Harbour, also at the head of Smith Sound, but now an abandoned community, as is Popes (or Pope's) Harbour. Other communities included Britannia, Lower Lance Cove, and Petly, [cite web |url=http://clarenville.newfoundland.ws/Clar_History_Random.asp |title=History of Random Island |publisher =clarenville.newfoundland.ws| author=Kevin Elliott |accessdate=2007-11-06] (now Petley, Random Island's second largest community, a merger of two original communities of Upper Lance Cove and Aspen cove). [cite web |url=http://www.nfinteractive.com/features/randomislandcharter.php |title=Random Island Charter |author=Sharon Martin |publisher=nfinteractive.com |accessdate=2007-11-06] George's Brook was settled early on, around 1862, after John Pelley started a saw mill. King's Cove was renamed Milton in 1910. Sandy Point became Harcourt. Upper Rocky Brook became Monroe. Daniel's Cove became Waterville. Burgum's Cove was renamed Burgoyne's Cove in honor of a British general, John Burgoyne, who spent time in the area in the late 1700s. [cite web |url=http://clarenville.newfoundland.ws/Clar_today_Community_Profiles.asp |title=Community Profiles |publisher=clarenville.newfoundland.ws |accessdate=2007-11-06]

Present day

1953 Nut Cove tragedy

On the north shore of Smith Sound, across from Britannia, lies Nut Cove, the site of a slate quarry run by three brothers, William Carberry, George Carberry and Jubal Carberry, 1850-1900.cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/mine/ch4p9.html |title=Chapter IV: Coal, Quarries and Concessions (continued) |publisher=heritage.nf.ca |accessdate=2007-11-06] [cite paper |url=http://www.nr.gov.nl.ca/mines&en/geosurvey/publications/cr2001/Batterson.pdf |title=Quaternary geology and till geochemistry of the Bonavista Peninsula |author=M.J. Batterson |co-author=D.M. Taylor |publisher=heritage.nf.ca |accessdate=2007-11-06] Approximately 100 years later, it became better known as the inclement-weather crash site of an American Convair B-36 bomber known as "The Peacemaker", killing all on board on March 18, 1953, including Brigadier General Richard E. Ellsworth. The flight originated in the Azores and was bound for the plane's home in Rapid City Air Force Base, South Dakota, renamed Ellsworth Air Force Base. [cite web |url=http://www.air-and-space.com/b-36%20wrecks.htm |title=Convair B-36 Crash Reports and Wreck Sites |publisher=air-and-space.com |accessdate=2007-11-06] The calamity claimed more lives that night when all on board a second plane, a Boeing SB-29 Superfortress from Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador spotted the downed Convair, then disappeared, the plane and crew never seen again. [cite web |url=http://clarenville.newfoundland.ws/Story_BJ_P_B-36.asp |title="They shall mount up with wings as eagles" |author=Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe |publisher=clarenville.newfoundland.ws |accessdate=2007-11-06]

Industry

In addition to its jellyfish harvesting industry, [cite web |url=http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:T6J_hKbe0BoJ:www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/FDP/ProjectReports/fdp_424-5.pdf+%22smith+sound%22+%22trinity+bay%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us |title=Fisheries Diversification Program |publisher=gov.nl.ca |accessdate=2007-11-06] Smith Sound is known for its large Atlantic cod population. Fourteen year old cod are not unusual here. [cite journal |url=http://www.newfoundlandquarterly.ca/issue411/future_cod.php |title=The Future of Cod |author=George A. Rose |publisher=newfoundlandquarterly.ca |date=Vol.96, No.4, 2003, Issue 411 |accessdate=2007-11-06]

2003 frozen cod mystery

In April 2003, thousands of dead cod, a weight of approximately a quarter-million pounds, washed up on the shores of the sound within a few days, called an ecological disaster, prompting scientific research into the cause. [cite news |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20030410/dead_cod030409?s_name=&no_ads= |title=Dead cod continue to wash up on Nfld. shores |publisher=CTV.ca |date=April 10, 2003 |accessdate=2007-11-07] After an interview with DFO scientist John Brattey, CBC St. John’s news website posted:

Brattey says the water remains the coldest that the department has ever recorded in the area, and some fish will continue to die. He says tests show some of the cod have an anti-freeze protein, while others don't. Otherwise, the dead cod appears to have been healthy up until it was instantly frozen by contact with ice crystals. Brattey says the organs of the dead cod are frozen solid, even though the flesh of the fish is pliable.cite news |url=http://www.fisherycrisis.com/DFO/frozencod.htm |title=Northern cod discovered ‘belly up’ in Newfoundland …were they frozen, starved or suffocated? |author=Debbie MacKenzie |date=April 7, 2003 |publisher=fisherycrisis.com |accessdate=2007-11-06]

Tourism

* List of Newfoundland and Labrador highways
Route 232, Smith Sound Road - located on the Bonavista Peninsula, north side of the sound.
* The scenic Smith Sound Trail - located at Brittania. [cite web |url=http://www.rosswiseman.ca/trinitynorth.php |title=Trinity North-a truly special place |publisher=rosswiseman.ca |accessdate=2007-11-06]

ee also

* List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador

References

Further reading

* Cormack, W. E. (1824). "Account of a Journey Across the Island of Newfoundland". Edinburgh: Printed for A. Constable.
* Cormack, W. E. (1828). "Report of Mr. W.E. Cormack's Journey in Search of the Red Indians in Newfoundland Read Before the Bœothick Institution of St. John's, Newfoundland". S.l: s.n. ISBN 0665611013
* Cormack, W. E. (1856). "Narrative of a Journey Across the Island of Newfoundland". St. John's, Nfld.?: s.n. ISBN 0665225598
* Dunbar, M. J. (1951). "Eastern Arctic Waters A Summary of Our Present Knowledge of the Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Arctic Sea, from Hudson Bay to Cape Farewell and from Belle Isle to Smith Sound". Ottawa: Fisheries Research Board of Canada.
* Matthew, George Frederic (1899). "The Etcheminian Fauna of Smith Sound, Newfoundland".
* Rideout, R., M. Burton, and G. Rose (2000). "Observations on Mass Atresia and Skipped Spawning in Northern Atlantic Cod, from Smith Sound, Newfoundland". "Journal of Fish Biology". 57, no. 6: 1429-1440.
* Rose, George A. (2003). " [http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/60/3/453 Monitoring Coastal Northern Cod: Towards an Optimal Survey of Smith Sound, Newfoundland] ". "ICES Journal of Marine Science : Journal Du Conseil". 60, no. 3: 453.
* Rose, George A. (2000). "Acoustic Surveys of Smith Sound, Trinity Bay, 1995-2000". Ottawa: Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat.

External links

* [http://www.nvo.com/oncearockinc/photosofnewfoundland/ Photos] - from nvo.com
* [http://www.infonet.st-johns.nf.ca/Community/Providers/kayak/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/irelandseye.html Photos] - from infonet.st-johns.nf.ca
* [http://www.infonet.st-johns.nf.ca/Community/Providers/kayak/sea_kayaking/trip_reports/tripimages/delaney2.gifMap] - from infonet.st-johns.nv.ca
* [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:rRV7CBCVqZ8J:www.ices.dk/reports/occ/2003/wgccc03.pdf+%22smith+sound%22+cod+newfoundland+2003+dead+fins&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us Government report on the April 2003 cod incident] - Oceanography Committee, ICES/GLOBEC Working Group