Tag Archives: Newfoundland

11 September 2019:
Corner Brook, Newfoundland:
Mill Town

By Corey Sandler

At long last, land.

We arrived about noon in Newfoundland, after five days st sea from Iceland.

The glories of Atlantic Canada are numerous, and Corner Brook is not far from the spectacular Gros Morne park and other natural attractions.

But here in town, the roads near the port are criss-crossed by huge flatbed trucks carrying logs and dominated by the massive plume of a very large paper mill.

Silver Wind at the dock in Corner Brook today, upwind of the paper mill

The good news is that you can set your watch (or to be more accurate these days, double-check your cell phone clock) by listening for the factory whistle: the original century-old steam whistle sounds at 8 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.

I went with guests to visit some of the “outports” of Newfoundland.

Bottle Cove, the Newfy-adjusted name for Bateau Cove (Boat Cove) when the French were here

Corner Brook is located on the Bay of Islands at the mouth of the Humber River; it is the principal commercial center for all of western and northern Newfoundland, and also the administrative headquarters of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nations government.

Outside of town on Crow Hill is the Captain James Cook National Historic Site.

Yes, that Captain Cook.

In 1767, the famous British explorer and cartographer surveyed the Bay of Islands and was the first to map the area.  At the memorial are some copies of his charts, and an attractive view of the Bay of the Islands—the one here in Newfoundland, not the one in New Zealand.

All photos and text Copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. See more photos on my website at http://www.coreysandler.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE ANY PHOTO OR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

18 September 2018:
St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada:
Landfall in Newfy John

By Corey Sandler

After a mere four days at sea, Silver Spirit made first landfall on the other side of the pond in Saint John’s, Newfoundland.

The first piece of land we saw was Cape Spear, which is the Anglicized/mangled version of the French name for the big rock: Cap d’Espoir, the Cape of Hope.

And around the corner in the wintry mist and rain we saw a familiar friend, our smaller sister ship Silver Cloud, returned from an expedition in Greenland.

When you step ashore in this part of Canada, the landscape may seem different, but the accent and the music and other parts of the culture are infused with many things Irish.

On the Great Circle Route followed by ships and airplanes, Saint John’s, Newfoundland and Waterford, Ireland are the two closest cities of Europe and North America.

Saint John’s is the capital of Canada’s province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The city itself has a population of just a bit more than 100,000, with about 181,000 in the metropolitan area.

In geographical terms, the Saint John’s is on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.

In historical terms, it is the oldest English-founded city in North America.

Its location as the closest significant population center in North America to Europe, a straight-line distance between the two points of about 3,500 kilometers or 2,200 miles, it attracted Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi to set up a station that may have received the first transatlantic wireless signal there.

We have only Marconi’s word; some scientists and historians are unsure. Marconi reported hearing some faint dots and dashes on December 12, 1901, sent from Saint John’s to his wireless station in Poldhu, Cornwall.

And for the same reasons of distance, St. John’s was the starting point for the first non-stop transatlantic aircraft flight, by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown.

On June 14, 1919, they flew a modified Vickers Vimy IV bomber from Lester’s Field in Saint John’s, landing a day later in a bog near Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.

It would not be until May 1927 before Charles Lindbergh would make the first solo transatlantic flight. Lindbergh flew from Long Island near New York to Le Bourget Field near Paris.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

24 September 2013: Corner Brook, Newfoundland

Corner Brook, Newfoundland: The Mill Town at the Other Side of Pond

By Corey Sandler, Silversea Cruises Destination Consultant

We have completed our voyage across the North Atlantic from Southampton to the New World, arriving in Newfoundland. We will continue west to Gaspé, then Quebec, and end this cruise in Montreal.

It is a thrill, each time we make the crossing. And it is almost always a challenge.

I believe that there have been a few times when we have made it across the pond as if it really were a pond. But I’m having a hard time remembering an uneventful crossing.

On this trip, we faced an extra-tropical hurricane off of Northern Ireland and missed our call at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Sailing in high seas, we arrived at Reykjavik nearly 12 hours late and then had to push back later calls in Greenland and cancel a stop at L’Anse aux Meadows to get back on schedule.

But we arrived safely, well fed, and well entertained.

Corner Brook Blog-7225 Corner Brook Blog-7199

Corner Brook Blog-7195 Corner Brook Blog-7190

Wood to pulp to newsprint in Corner Brook. Photos by Corey Sandler

Corner Brook is located on the Bay of Islands at the mouth of the Humber River in Canada’s remote Newfoundland.

Outside of town on Crow Hill is the Captain James Cook National Historic Site.

Yes, that Captain Cook.

In 1767, the famous British explorer and cartographer surveyed the Bay of Islands and was the first to map the area.

Putting the Hum in Humber

One of the major local employers is the Corner Brook Pulp & Paper Mill. It has been making paper—mostly newsprint—since 1925.

When it was opened, a local politician declared that the plant would “put the Hum in Humber.”

It still does, along with a great deal of steam and a bit of eau de paper mill, which to me smells like a dog who has rolled in sauerkraut.

Corner Brook Blog-7185 Corner Brook Blog-7219

The paper mill dominates Corner Brook, around every corner. Photos by Corey Sandler

When I worked for a newspaper in Ohio early in my career, the town also had a large paper mill. The managers lived upwind; the workers downwind. But they agreed on the smell: the called it the smell of jobs.

The Great Somber

But for me, the true gem of the area is Gros Morne National Park.

The park takes its name from Newfoundland’s second-highest mountain peak (2,644 feet/806 meters) located within the park.

Corner Brook Gros Morne2 Corner Brook Gros Morne

Autumn colors in Gros Morne. Photos by Corey Sandler

In French, Gros Morne literally means “Great Somber.”

In context, it is meant as “large mountain standing alone.”

And in Newfie pronounciation, it is called GROSS-MORN.

And it is definitely upwind of the paper mill.