On the day we head out in the boat, Liam Duggan  joins our crew to help bait the jiggers and haul in the catch. He’s also a great puffin-pointer-outter-too, we discovered. Orren and Hearn are passionate about sharing and celebrating the knowledge and skills they have gained when it comes to the ways of the traditional family fishery. They created Island Rooms as a sanctuary for people willing to learn and experience a way of life that sustained generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Fishing for Success is located in beautiful Petty Harbour, traditionally a thriving fishing village and now a protected fishing area. 

The traditional ways

Orren is particularly passionate about teaching the traditional ways to children, like my nephew Kaleb and my Daughter Elia, who joined my sister and I on our voyage. An interesting tidbit about Fishing for Success; as a non-profit and educational organization, they have special access and are able to participate in the recreational cod fishery every day of the season – not just on weekends.  

“Petty Harbour is only about 15 minutes away from downtown St. John’s, yet it offers a totally different perspective to a way of life,” Orren said. 

“We want to make space for everyone in the boat so we partner with First Light (a registered non-profit organization that serves the urban Indigenous and non-Indigenous community) and the Association for New Canadians and Choices for Youth and the YMCA and Canadian Wildlife Federation, with their Youth Leadership program. We want to provide social supports for others when it comes to having access to this way of life,” she added.

‘Wonderful therapy’

Nothing cures all like getting out on a boat on the ocean, seeing the coastline from a different view, or participating in catching your own food supply, she said. 

“If you think about nature and all of the wonderful therapy that it provides when you’re out there experiencing it, then you know that those type of experiences should be available to all.”

For more on Fishing for Success, including some hands-on cod-fish art, don’t miss an upcoming issue of The NL Herald or visit fishingforsuccess.org 

Newfoundlander Larry Daley has an interesting claim to fame. “I would say I have one of the largest Titanic and iceberg exhibits in the world, or one of the largest privately owned Titanic exhibits in the world, and probably the only Titanic and Iceberg collection in the world,” he shared proudly. 

Walking into Daley’s home is like walking into a museum. His daughter Becky Daley, well known to OZFM listeners and to NTV viewers, is always proud to show off her father’s treasures. 

From artifacts off of the actual Titanic, to remarkable props from the famous James Cameron blockbuster, Titanic, there’s so much to take in. 

Daley’s passion for all things Titanic started innocently enough; by being in the right place at the right time, he opined.  While out enjoying a sociable after work in September 1985 at Christian’s Pub on George Street, a group of what seemed to be expedition type individuals entered the bar and were celebrating.

13,000 foot Decent

“When I asked them what was the occasion, they stated that they had just found Titanic in the past few days and were heading home through Newfoundland,” he shared.

His passion has taken him many places, including to the resting place of that ill-fated vessel which sunk after striking an iceberg off Newfoundland in 1912. It sank within hours, taking over 1,500 lives with it. There were just 700 survivors. On June 25, 2003, Daley dove in a small Russian sub to see the wreckage, which lies almost 13,000 feet, or 2.5 miles deep below the ocean surface about 350 nautical miles off Newfoundland’s coast.

Daughter Becky told The Herald that she will never forget the day her dad set sail on his now famous expedition. “I was scared. I remember when he left, mom and I watched from Signal Hill. I was upset. He was on a boat and really couldn’t communicate with us.”

Daley knew, and understood, her fear. “I knew she was afraid. Her mother had to peel her off a chain link fence when she saw me on the stern of the ship sailing out through the harbour. The bond between us has always been so tight, we’re so close, but I also knew she was proud of what I was doing because she knew how much it meant to me,” he said.

Daley has long been intrigued by the Titanic. “I always knew about it when I was young, and I had seen some of the old black and white movies and watched the documentaries in the late 80’s of when they went back to recover artifacts to put in public display … but the year they discovered The Titanic and the chance meeting in a bar after work really pulled me in.”

He always knew there was a Newfoundland connection, he added. “Cape Race (Titanic’s distress call, issued late on the night of April 14, 1912, was received at the Marconi wireless station at Cape Race on our southern shore) and Newfoundland being the closest landfall to the wreck. That’s kind of where it started.”

Then, there was the film, Titanic, and the many expeditions to view the wreckage for documentaries, for science, as well as for eager tourists paying anywhere from $75,000 American dollars in 2003, to $250,000 to dive and see the wreckage in 2022.

“In 1996 an expedition went out to recover more artifacts and also to raise a big piece of the hull. They ended up having to drop it, and couldn’t get it on the vessel because of some technical issues. So they actually dropped it in a more shallow area close to the site.” 

The crew would return in 1998. “I actually was hired to be the expedition logistics coordinator for that one. I put a vessel out myself that I chartered and I also hosted Dateline NBC and Discovery Channel folks who were documenting that for television.”

That led to Daley forming a relationship with famed director James Cameron. “I’ve been very fortunate to work with Jim Cameron over several expeditions and through that a friendship formed and that friendship is still intact to this day,” he shared.

Fascinated by icebergs

Daley has spoken often about icebergs and the significance they hold. He’s an adventurous spirit, that we know, but what is it about icebergs themselves that captivate him, we ask. 

“I was always fascinated by icebergs because they’re very majestic and we’re very fortunate to see them go by our coastlines every spring going into the summer.” 

They’re a huge magnet for tourists, he added, and little wonder. “They’re amazing to see in all the different sizes and the shapes. When they’re active and you see them rolling, you put on the proper gear and grab your good cameras and go and get lots of photographs, video and things like that, but always enjoy them from a safe distance.”

The feeling of being out there is hard to explain, he added. 

“When you get into a nice field of ‘bergs and growlers, and they’re floating there, you get a feeling. There might be a few ‘bergs in that same area and all you hear is this hiss and crackling sound of all this ice that’s floating by, big and small. And what you hear is the air that was trapped in the ice from tens of thousands of years ago being released as the ice melts when it hits the waters. And the odd time you may see a humpback whale swim near an iceberg, which is pretty amazing to watch.”

Is he planning anything special for The Titanic’s 110th? “Internationally, there will be things around the world and it will be recognized as a significant anniversary. The topic is still very hot around the world.  There’s several generations interested and excited about The Titanic story. I had kids come up to me or parents with kids ask for a picture autographed of The Titanic that I took when I was down that time. I’m always amazed that six and seven year old kids know about The Titanic. It gets them excited about reading and science and that’s a good thing,” he said. 

What does he think the attraction is 110 years later? He paused. “Well, it’s interesting. It’s the story of how something man-made that was bragged about as being unsinkable could lead to such a catastrophic event with such a great loss of life. Over 1,500 people perished on a calm evening in calm waters.”

There’s also the compelling story of survival too, he continued. But there’s more to the tale. 

“It’s the arrogance and ignorance. That’s what caused that catastrophic event off our shores, which could have been easily avoided in numerous ways. From the speed they were going … It could have been avoided.”

‘Lifeboat drills’

Life boats. There wasn’t enough, he continued. “They even avoided doing the lifeboat drills because they wanted to get underway and get across the Atlantic. Break a record, type thing.” 

As to his collection? It’s nothing compared to his memories of being on board a submersible. “You drop for hours, down to almost 13,000 feet and you land on the bottom, turn on the outside floodlights and light up the bow of The Titanic, and that’s the picture I took. We floated from the sea floor up over the bow and to realize you are on the bottom of the ocean looking at the most famous ship of all time is amazing.” 

Daley paused, lost in reflection and thought. “That’s such an amazing part of my life and it’s so surreal to have been there,  and I know how blessed I was to experience that.”

it was a scene oft repeated on wharfs in St. John’s harbour. A ship docks and hearses from local funeral parlours roll up to offload a tragic cargo. 

So it was last week when recovered bodies from the sunken Spanish trawler Villa de Pitanxo were brought ashore. 

It is a scene that has unfolded many times at the waterfront. We all are familiar with the images. They say much without using words. There is, it seems, a reverence about it all. It isn’t about rescue. It’s about counting the dead and returning the bodies to those left behind. I remember the Vasco D’Orey. 

Abandoned at sea

She was a Portuguese trawler that exploded in the harbour back in 1977. She was eventually towed out to Freshwater Bay with three bodies of Portuguese fishermen still on board. 

I remember too the tragedy of the MV Gabriella. Abandoned at sea in a terrible storm 100 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. 13 members of Gabriellas crew died, some in a lifeboat. Their bodies and the lifeboat were brought to the harbour at St. John’s. It was 1976. 

A savage irony is that the Gabriella never sank and was brought to port to be tied up at the wharf.

Back in 1914 the S.S Bellaventure, so much a part of the Newfoundland sealing disaster, slipped quietly into the harbour with her decks piled high with the corpses from that sealing tragedy. People lined the harbour as she arrived. The Bellaventure had on board both the living and the dead from the S.S. Newfoundland. She had picked up survivors and the bodies of those frozen on the ice. 

All those ships are part of our history and that sad waterfront ballet that plays out so often doesn’t include the bringing ashore at the harbour bodies from the Ocean Ranger or the Cougar helicopter crash, but they too are part of the tale. 

What struck me as odd is that even as I watched interviews with Spanish officials this week there was a sense that I had seen all this before. It’s a grim play of disaster and recovered bodies and unrecovered bodies that has been a quiet sub-plot to life around the Atlantic Ocean. 

Unforgiving place

It’s a tough and unforgiving place to try and make a living. It’s a place where ships sink or drive ashore or in some cases like the Southern Cross or the Blue Wave; simply vanish from the face of the earth.   

We are reminded of all that this week with the loss of the Villa de Pitanxo as we have been reminded before for centuries. Unfortunately, we will be reminded again about the perils facing men who “go down to the sea in ships and occupy their business in great waters.”

Anyone from Newfoundland knows to expect the unexpected when it comes to the weather. Terrence and Courtney Howell, owners of Grates Cove Studios in Grates Cove, know that better than anyone. On the day we met for a chat, the two had been dealing with excessive water run-off from a wild winter rain storm. The day before their biggest challenge had been ice buildup on a cold, sunny late January day.

But little wonder these two are up for challenge and adventure. They met back in 2004 while teaching in South Korea and were united almost instantly by a shared desire to explore and sample their way around their far east home. Courtney hails from Louisiana, USA, and Terrence was born and raised in the Grates Cove area. The journey that brought this couple to Grates Cove to open Grates Cove Studios involves travel, hurricanes, disaster relief efforts and a shared curiosity and a love of the ocean. 

The two, who have a 13 year-old daughter, Phoenix, wet their entrepreneurial chops opening a restaurant business in rural NL. 

“When we started the restaurant it wasn’t strategic. It was us doing what we had to do to be able to stay here. That is really what the last decade has been about. And I think now we see a fuller picture. But at the time, it was just how can we stay here? And it was scary,” Courtney shared. The fear wained as the love of this place grew, she added. 

“I knew that with all of its imperfections, (Grates Cove, NL) is where we want to be. I grew up in a very impoverished area, and when I came here, I remember crying when I realized how good people who are in the fishing industry have it. Maybe no one’s wealthy, but they’re fine. They’re not starving. Where I’m from, small fishermen, they will never recover from a storm. They may have mold in their house. Literally, we would see homes where you could see daylight. Generational poverty.”

‘Take a chance’

Courtney and Terrence started the restaurant and it grew through word of mouth. “I just put on Facebook that we were serving jambalaya and pea soup. I didn’t know what else to do. I was like, ‘Just cook what we know.’ Slowly, we just started adding things and I thought people would think we were crazy for putting Cajun food on the menu,” she said.

The first dish that really caught on was made with local snow crab. 

“It was this crab etouffee, a lovely roux butter sauce built up with lots of vegetables. Where I grew up, we grew up eating that with either crawfish or shrimp. But here, pairing that butter roux with the sweet snow crab was just an ideal pairing and that became one of the dishes that really started getting people coming here,” Courtney said. 

The pandemic has helped business, they shared. Locals, they say, “take a chance” and come visit now more than before, for one thing. They also began doing deliveries to St. John’s from time to time.

“We’re so grateful for our customers. It’s so unexpected. Our Newfoundland customers are amazing. They know that this is a journey. They know throughout the year there’s so many shifts and they want to make sure that we’re OK during the winter,” she said.

Playing with Seaweed

The fact that so many “help spread the word,” is incredible as well, they add.  

“I don’t even know what to say, except how grateful I am. This became very overwhelming quickly. Moving. Raising a child. Starting a business. The local community here and the St. John’s community here have played a huge part in helping us get to this point,” Terrence said.

There’s the food. The art. Harbourview and Snug Harbour houses – two delightful homes with breathtaking views to stay in while visiting the area. And now? Seaweed.

“We thought we were just going to build this tiny little existence out here and then we just kept discovering this place and that’s how we got to seaweed,” Courtney said. 

“It was after a nor’easter storm. We went down to a little rocky beach, not far from here. It was a really big storm, and so when we went down, there was all the seaweed washed up,” Courtney continued. She literally stepped over it, but their daughter picked some up. Terrence then “bent down with his curious mind and picked it up, and when he did, all of this gel was coming out of it and that just sparked something,” she continued.

Terrence’s hands had been raw from working with wood and clay.

“You see kelp but I never really played with it like that before. My hands were always wrecked from woodworking, always cracked and dried out from sawdust, but after handling the gel, things were happening very quickly and the cracks healed. The inflammation went down,” he said.

They started researching what they had just out of pure curiosity. “He was just playing with it on the beach. We had no idea. Is this harmful for our skin? Is it good? We had no idea,” Courtney added. 

Terrence felt he was on to something fairly quickly. “I grew up around kelp. Everyone in Newfoundland, especially if you go to the beach, get to see kelp, but I never really played with it like that before.”

Trial & Error

When he saw the results on his own hands, the passion was born. “We just said, ‘My God, what is this?’ So then we started researching what we had. And then we were like, ‘How do we get this gel out?’” Courtney said.

Over the next four months, they started experimenting. “We just started collecting it ourselves, just out of pure curiosity not even realizing what kind of journey we were on,” she said.

They taught themselves as they went “out of pure instinct.” They learned how to extract the gel from the seaweed, making sure nothing was destroyed, through trial and error. 

 “We did it in a way that didn’t destroy what we were extracting, which is super important to where we are now, and then we were like, ‘What do we do with this now?’ And ‘How do we make lotion?’” Because Terrence’s hands got better,  they were doing it for themselves at first.  

“We didn’t even realize we were going against the grain of how extractions are done and how most lotions are made. Normally you would just put in this tiny little bit of something  and then the rest of it is water. We didn’t do that. We made this product where the majority of it is our extract,” she said proudly.

‘I love your lotion’

They mostly just used it on themselves or gave it to friends. There was no denying the results. “‘I’m going to try it on my face,’ I said, and then I did, and I was like, ‘Oh no, it’s making me break out.’ But it wasn’t. It was reducing pore size. It was bringing dirt out of my skin. And over the next year, my whole skin quality just got better,” Courtney said.

They began packaging and selling their seaweed-based products.

“Customers came back to us and said, ‘This has helped my eczema.’ ‘I love your lotion.’ ‘It’s so hydrating and not itchy during the winter.’ And then we met Doctor Helleur.”

To experience unpolished living for yourself, or for more info visit www.7fathomsseaweedskincare.ca or gratescovestudios.ca or just get in the car and drive and see for yourself 

For Shawn Bath, an unlikely environmentalist, his Clean Harbours Initiative across Newfoundland and Labrador has seen the commercial diver haul some 15,000 pounds of garbage from the depths of our island’s harborus. You’d think that would make for a compelling film, no?

Cats Eye Cinema founder and filmmaker Cody Westman, helped bring the story of Bath, his partner Staunene Whelan, and a host of colourful characters to life in Hell Or Clean Water.

The Herald spoke with Westman ahead of the premiere at the prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which took place from April 29th to May 9th. 

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an environmentalist, but I’m certainly aware and I’ve been studying, reading things for a long time,” begins Westman. 

“So my antennas were out, but Sean actually got a hold of me looking for a price to do a video to show his efforts so far. And I think he was going to try and fundraise to get money to do this video. But when I heard that one line, he said ‘in the first year I’ve cleaned up 15,000 pounds of trash by myself.’ I was like, man, that’s the story.”

Meddling of nature

Hell Or Clean water follows Bath’s personal journey to make a difference in a never-ending stream of pollution and decades of ocean dumping in our province. 

Battling potential bankruptcy and a family on the brink of splintering, the film is as much a human story as it is an eye-opening wake-up call to the levels of human meddling of nature.

“I think it’s way more important and engaging to tell a human story with real people, with emotions and goals and what gets in their way, just a proper drama, really, rather than a talking heads scientific film,” says Westman, noting that Bath’s partner Staunene serves as one of the emotional centers of the film. 

“She says some crazy stuff like ‘I’ve considered walking away many times, but when you love someone, you stick through it.’ Sean just always knew that if he just kept doing this and kept showing the problem that eventually people would support and I think ultimately they did.”

Dumping dilemma

A native of Northern British Columbia who married his way into Newfoundland and Labrador, Westman has become accustomed to island living and the beauty of our oceanside views. It shocked him as much as potential viewers of the film the magnitude and gravity of the garbage dumping dilemma both here at home and internationally.

“I didn’t grow up near the ocean,” he says. “We did have garbage dumps and everything. I mean, I used to go to the dump with my dad all the time. I understood that that’s where your garbage goes. But so many people that we’ve heard, multiple, dozens of people in the making of this film said that they all dumped their garbage in the ocean for generations. And that just blows my mind. Did nobody ever consider that’s also where your food source is? That’s crazy.

“I never set out to try and make something that’s going to solve the problem or even change the world,” adds Westman. 

“You don’t think of all of that when you just follow the story. But if this became even a small part of the conversation about a solution, if it was just a small part of that conversation, it would be very satisfying.”

‘Means something’

With Hell Or Clean Water taking to one of the leading film festivals in Canada before a move to CBC and the Documentary Channel later this year, eyes may finally open on a wider scale to the calling that has become Bath’s life’s work. 

For the film to be a vehicle to promote change, however small, is the ultimate reward for Westman and all hands involved in its creation. 

“I think that it’s entirely possible that Clean Harbours Initiative could be an international organization. I mean, why not? Anyone who watches this, who gets inspired, then goes, man maybe I could do that,” ponders Westman. 

“Just to become the vehicle for this story is rewarding. I’m very happy. I love what I do. I’m very happy getting to do this every day. But you know, it’s not just a corporate video or something with the talking head. This film actually means something and hopefully, it’ll mean something to somebody else. 

“It instills that idea in the next generation that we can do something, instead of just sit back and do nothing,” he adds. “One person can’t do everything, but everybody can do something.”

For more on Hell Or Clean Water and its premiere at Hot Docs visit hotdocs.ca. For all things relating to the Clean Harbours Initiative follow the official Facebook page