St Pierre, France

 Aug 16 - 17 - St Pierre, France

Woke to an overcast day. Matthew checked out what the low tide might reveal

Before driving through Goobies again on our way to Fortune,

Matthew visited the St Lawrence Miners Museum while I tried to nap. He was given a private tour by Roberta, who was celebrating her 65th birthday.  She told of the 3 American naval ships that ran aground in foul weather on Feb 18, 1942. One of the ships was able to reflect, but 2 began to sink. The men on board had to make the decision to either stay on the ship and hope they were rescued before it sank, or to jump into the icy waters and take their chances. A. 15 year old boy saw the ship lights in the wrong place and alerted the miners in town, who hastily went to work trying to save the men. 186 men were saved, 203 died, including all those who stayed on the two sinking boats.

One of the survivors was an African American man, one of only 4 or 5 on the ships. The others wouldn’t jump because “this is white people’s land” and they feared their reception worse than taking their chances on the ship. They all perished. Phillips jumped and once rescued, had to explain to the white women scrubbing him to get the oil off, like they did for all the men, that this was his skin color. The Newfoundlanders had never seen a black person. In the morning, they invited him to breakfast with the family and he feared what would happen.  Instead he said it was the first time he felt treated like a human. He returned for anniversaries of the rescue, including the 75th, at which he made his way down the stairs to the rescue site and back up, with his walker. He died 2 weeks later. 

The cliffs the miners rescued the sailors from.

Most of the museum was dedicated to the miners of the area. Silicosis became widespread and widows got no compensation. Roberta lost her own father to “industrial disease”.  One in three families in St Lawrence lost at least one breadwinner to mining caused illnesses.

We drove on to Fortune but found both the ferry office and the Visitor Centre closed before 3:30. It has been so hard to get info about going to St Pierre! I bought a round trip ferry ride for tomorrow and we’ll just go for a few hours.

Outside the visitors centre

Spent the night in a pull off at the Fortune Head Eco Centre.

Saturday morning we awoke early and made our way to the visitor Centre. We learned how we had to park and that we had to go to the ferry office immediately because we had to check in at least an hour before departure. It was all very chaotic feeling. We got our boarding passes at the ferry office, followed a van to the parking and then road in it to the ferry terminal where we had to wait outside because there were no seats inside left. 

No one, not even the immigration folks, could tell us the difference between cigarettes and tobacco sticks

Josie has low standards

The ferry was to leave at 9:30 local time but was late so we didn’t arrive in St Pierre until almost noon. The weather was clear until we got near St Pierre, then we were socked in. The ferry kept blowing its foghorn to let other boats know it was there.

A lighthouse doesn’t help if it isn’t lit

It was hard to tell if these were islands or boats

They were boats on a tour and I think they started following us so they could find their way back

And then the fog lifted as we docked

The sidewalks were so narrow

Had the local brew, the Miqu’ale and a delicious dinner at Le Bar à Quai.

The scallops were the best I’ve had this summer

And the caramel mousse desert was divine

Cement street posts

Came upon a Basque street festival

It was children’s day and they were competing in all sorts of events. 

Installing the ever present vinyl siding 

So many colorful houses

Interesting packaging

Four hours after we arrived it was time to board the ferry back.

So this is what it all looked like now the fog lifted

Back to Canada

Interesting poster at immigration into Canada

Since our time was so short we didn’t take the ferry to the other French islands - that will have to wait for another year. I was disappointed we didn’t find and open bakery in St Pierre so we came back with no baguette nor pastries. Instead we drove to a Walmart parking lot and bought ice cream for supper.