VAIL, N. ROBERT (fi.1852-1867). Businessman. Born New Jersey, U.S.A. Married Anna Walker. Vail came to St. John's in the early 1850s, opening a bakery on Water Street. Finding a poor market for soft "baker's" bread, he began to experiment with the making of ships' biscuit (or hard bread), which at the time was largely supplied through Hamburg, Germany. By 1857 he had learned the "secret" of making Ham­burg bread and erected a mill and "Steam Bakery" in the west end. Within five years his cheaper product had captured 70-90% of the considerable Newfoundland market for this commodity. In 1863 he sold his recipe, bakery and mill to a syndicate formed by St. John's merchants John Bowring, Edwin Duder, Stephen Rendell and Robert Thorburn qqv. In 1867 Vail retired to New York, a wealthy man. Vail's Joint Stock Co. operated the business until 1873, when it was pur­chased by Gilbert Browning qv. The business contin­ued to be known as Vail's Mill until it was burnt in 1879. In 1989 a millstone from Vail's was unearthed, near the former site of the Mill Bridge over the Water­ford River, and it has since been displayed on the Rennie's River walking trail in St. John's, marking the site of Rennie's Mill. See BREAD AND BREAD MANUFACTURE. P.K. Devine (1936), John L. Joy (1977). RHC

VALDMANIS, ALFRED ARTHUR ALEXANDER (1908-1970). Politician. Civil servant. Born Ziemupe, son of Ansis and Lavize (Saldnieks) Valdmanis. Edu­cated Liepaja; University of Latvia. Married Anna Irma Elvira Slessers. A citizen of Russia, Latvia and Canada, Valdmanis also held a German passport. For two decades he not only survived a sequence of fas­cist, communist, German-occupation, Allied military government and western democratic regimes, but also became a key player in each of them. His name is closely connected with some of the most controversial issues in Latvia's economic and political fortunes be­tween 1934 and 1945, in post-World War II Baltic refugee politics and migrations to Canada, and in the unsuccessful drive for industrialization in Newfound­land from 1950 to 1954.

Alfred Valdmanis

VALDMANIS, ALFRED ARTHUR ALEXANDER 471

In 1932 Valdmanis graduated in law from the Uni­versity of Latvia. Joining the Ministry of Finance, he rose rapidly to become Minister. As Minister (June 1938 to October 1939) Valdmanis followed the fascist government agenda of increased state intervention in the operation of private firms, restrictions ofthe rights of Latvia's ethnic minorities and of foreign owner­ship, establishment of state-owned "national" enter­prises, mandatory cartelization and centralized supervision of trades and crafts.

Following the Soviet-German occupation of Poland and a Soviet ultimatum of September 1939 demanding a pact of Latvian-Soviet cooperation, Valdmanis re­signed from the cabinet. However, in his capacity as Director General of the Latvian Electric Trust Corpo­ration Kegums ( 1940) he continued to participate in policy-making until the Soviet takeover of Latvia in 1940. Under Latvia's Soviet regime ( 1940-41) he be­came Chief of the Planning Section of the Silk and Knitting Trust. In German-occupied Latvia, Valdmanis emerged as a contender for leadership be­cause he advocated collaboration as the best defense of Latvia's interests . Not surprisingly, he acquired reputations as both a traitor and ardent patriot. He assumed the positions of acting chief public prosecu­tor (Sept. 1941 to Nov. 1941) and director general of justice (Nov. 1941 to Apr. 1943). But in April 1943, the Germans had him removed from Latvia. He had refused to sanction the recruitment of Latvian Waffen­SS legions without a German promise of Latvian au­tonomy. He was first sent to Berlin and then to western Germany where he remain~d until the end of the War.

In exile his efforts were directed at ensuring the survival of 25,000 Latvians (former Waffen-SS le­gionnaires) in West German and Belgian camps by preventing their repatriation to the Soviet Union and arranging for their overseas resettlement. To this end he worked as a refugee consultant with British and American Headquarters ( 1945-4 7) and as a senior staff officer with the U.N. refugee organizations UNRRA and IRO. He emigrated to Canada in 1948. While a visiting professor of economics at McGill and Carleton universities, he advised the government on displaced persons, immigration and economic devel­opment. He was asked to prepare a plan for the estab­lishment of gypsum and cement industries in Nova Scotia. The day his proposal fell through C.D. Howe qv recommended him to the Government of New­foundland as director of industrial development.

Valdmanis was appointed Director General of Eco­nomic Development (1950-53) and chairman of the Newfoundland and Labrador Corporation (1951-54). Pressured by Premier Smallwood, he rushed negotia­tions to launch some 40 industries with the help of Latvian friends, German business connections and Newfoundland government funds. By 1954, 16 Euro­pean industries had been established. But as early as 1952 Valdmanis realized that the industrialization drive was headed for failure.

In 1954 his career came to a sensational end with his arrest, trial and conviction on charges of fraud and

·472 VALLEY POND

extortion. Evidence at his trial revealed that as early as 1950 he had demanded from the builders of the gov­ernment-owned cement and gypsum plants a 10% commission, allegedly for the Liberal party, but pay­able in instalments to Valdmanis. Sentenced to four years imprisonment, he was paroled after 27 months and spent the rest of his life in mainland Canada in short-term positions with firms in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton. He died in a highway accident in Al­berta. See also NEW INDUSTRIES . Balabakins and Aizsilnieks (1975), G.P. Bassler (1986), Haralds Biezais (1992), Alfred Bilmanis (1943), David Cesarani (1992), Misiunas and Taagepera (1993), Seppo Myllyniemi (1973), Alti Rodal (1986), Aivars Stranga (1992), Boriss Zemgals (1949), Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Political Archive of the German Foreign Of­fice (Bonn), Joseph R. Smallwood collection (CNS Archive, Memorial University), State Historical Ar­chive (Riga), Valdmanis papers (in family possession, Montreal). GERHARD P. BASSLER

VALLEY POND (pop. 1991, 191). A fishing commu­nity on the western side of New World Island, Notre Dame Bay, Valley Pond has in the past been known as both Whales Gulch and Salt Pond. The variations on the community's name refer to a narrow cove around which the community is built. The head of this cove is known as Saltwater Pond (or "The Pond"), and be­cause it is not navigable fishing premises are located on either side of the entrance.

Offering a favourable location to fish for cod around the headlands of western New World Island, as well as close access to herring and salmon stocks in the Bay of Exploits, Valley Pond was fished from the late 1700s by English migratory fishermen supplied out of Twillingate. One such fishing servant, Richard Rideout, settled there and by 1818 had a considerable premises. When the first Census was taken in 1836 the population of Whales Gulch was 18: the families of Richard, David, James and Henry Rideout. Henry had settled at a cove to the northwest of The Pond ("The Cove") . Although Henry may well have been a rela­tive of Richard's, Rideouts at The Cove were later considered as a different "crowd" altogether.

Aerial view of Whales Gulch, Hayward's Cove at bottom

Throughout its history the vast majority of the resi­dents of Valley Pond have been Rideouts.

Valley Pond does not appear separately in the Cen­sus from 1845 to 1884, being enumerated as a part of nearby Western Head qv. By 1884 the population was 102, the Rideouts having been joined by families named Fudge and Jennings, while Charles White set­tled southeast of The Pond, at Hayward Cove. (In 1994 topographic maps of the Province identified Hayward Cove as a separate community, and incorrectly placed it at Morton Cove, well to the southeast.) In 1901 the various parts of the community were listed separately: 82 at Salt Pond, 63 at Whales Gulch Cove (presumably including both The Cove and Hayward ' s Cove) and four people at Morton Cove. This is the only time Morton Cove is noted as having been occupied, while the total population of 149 was the largest recorded for some years. The 1901 Census also notes that the ma­jority of the people of Valley Pond were members of the Salvation Army, which had established a corps and school on the path between Valley Pond and Moreton's Harbour. Thereafter, Valley Pond was known as a bastion of the Salvation Army. (Clarence D. Wiseman qv was born there in 1907, while his parents were in charge of the Moreton's Harbour corps . From 1974 to 1977 General Wiseman was worldwide commander of the denomination.)

In addition to the shore fishery, men from Valley Pond became involved in the fishery on the Labrador, the French Shore or the Horse Islands, but the commu­nity was hampered by its harbour, which was not suited for the larger schooners sailing out of harbours such as Twillingate or Moreton's Harbour. Catches were sold in the early years to Twillingate, and later to the Moreton's Harbour firm of Osmond Brothers. From about 1910 men from Valley Pond also found seasonal work in the lumberwoods of central Newfoundland.

In 1962 a gravel road was built to connect Valley Pond to Moreton's Harbour. The world beyond was drawn closer in 1965, with the completion of the Cur­tis Causeway, connecting New World Island with the Province's highway network. The next year three fam­ilies of Cove Rideouts were resettled to The Pond and

Valley Pond

Hayward Cove. Road connection facilitated working away from the community- in the lumberwoods or at the nearby Bridgeport fish plant- while most newer homes at Valley Pond have been built inland, along the road to Moreton's Harbour. Bruce Bowers (MHG 36-A-1-54), Garfield Rideout (MHA 36-A-1-53), Census ( 1836-1991 ), Statistics; Federal Provincial Resettle­ment Program (1975?). Archives (MG 323/1/2). RHC

VALLEYFIELD. See BADGER'S QUAY-V ALLEYFIELD­p()()L'S ISLAND; WESLEYVILLE.

VALLIES BIGHT (pop. 1945, 5). Vallies Bight, an abandoned community, was located on a long, shallow inlet of the northwest side of Lake Melville (identified as Valley Bay on modem maps). It takes its name from a broad valley on the north side of the Bay, forming the shortest pass between Lake Melville and Double Mer. Vallies Bight was the homestead of one or two families of trappers, who traded their furs to the Hudson's Bay Company post at Rigolet qv, about 40 km to the northeast. One J. Oliver was living there in 1873, and by 1883 Vallies Bight had been settled by William and Naomi Sheppard. In 1904 the Rev. Armin ius Young described Will Sheppard, "the only livyer, [as] an indus­trious and well-to-do trapper". The Sheppards made up all the inhabitants recorded thereafter, with Vallies Bight first appearing in the Census in 1901 (pop. 9). The last inhabitants were Renauld and Annie Sheppard, who moved their family to Rigolet in the late 1940s. V. Tanner ( 194 7), Arminius Young (1916), Census ( 190 1-1945), Archives (A-7-5/13). RHC

VANBRUGH, PHILIP (? -1753). Governor. Born Eng­land? Vanbrugh was captain of the Royal Navy ship Speedwell in 1710. He served for a time in Gibraltar and held a number of different commands in the years that followed. In 1738 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland. His term was generally unremarkable, but he did travel to Fogo and Twillingate where he recorded information such as the number of inhabi­tants and the nature of the fishery. After a single season, Vanbrugh returned to England. In 1739 he was appointed a Commissioner of the Navy, and remained in that position and a resident of Plymouth until his death. Gordon Duff(1964), D.W. Prowse (1895). ACB

VANE, GEORGE (? -1722). Military engineer. Born England. Until 1701 Vane was in France in the service of James II, the exiled King of England. Eventually he returned to England, and in 1708 was posted to New­foundland. He had little time to improve defences in St. John's before French forces attacked. Because of his Jacobite sympathies, Vane was suspected by the British of conspiracy. He was taken prisoner by the French and was allowed to wander freely at Placentia. Released in Dinan, France in 1710, he made his way to England and suggested changes to Newfoundland's defences. He considered St. John's the best harbour for fortification and proposed the construction of a new fort on Admiral's Rock. Between I 711 and 1715 Vane

VARDY, DAVID ALLAN 473

was engineer at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, where his politics again brought him under suspicion. He spent his final years with the East India Co. and died in Bombay. DCB II. ACB

The Vanguard

VANGUARD. This 322-ton steamship was built in Ab­erdeen, Scotland in 1872 for John Munn & Co. of Harbour Grace. From 1873 to 1895 it made a total of 33 trips to the ice, harvesting a total of 196,036 pelts. During this period the ship sailed under the following captains: Azariah Munden (who commanded it until his retirement in 1879), Charles Dawe, Henry Dawe, R. Gosse, J. Kennedy, William Winsor and T. Green. In 1896 the Vanguard was sold to the local firm of Murray and Crawford, and eventually to Baine, John­ston and Co. It continued as a sealer and freighter. From 1896 to 1908 another 212,915 pelts were taken. Its record year was in 1901 when, under Captain George Barbour qv, 26,525 pelts were harvested.

The Vanguard, while engaged in the seal hunt on the east coast, was lost on April 11, 1909, when ice broke the propeller and main shaft. When it began to sink torches of seal fat were lit as distress signals. The S.S. Algerine, and later the Bloodhound and Iceland, came to the rescue. There was no loss of life, and the men were taken to Catalina. K.M. Coady (1973), William Howe Greene (1933), Shannon Ryan (1987), Naboth

' Winsor ( 1985), Chafe's Sealing Book ( 1989), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Vanguard), Newfoundland Historical Society (Vanguard). ILB

VARDY, DAVID ALLAN (1940- ). Civil servant. Born St. John's, son of John and Jean (Stowe) Vardy.

474 VARDY, EDMUND

Educated Memorial University of Newfoundland. Mar­ried Janet Adams. Vardy has held a number of senior positions with the provincial government since 1972, as director of economic planning, deputy minister of the planning and priorities secretariat, secretary to cabinet and clerk of the Executive Council. In 1985 he was appointed president of the Institute for Fisheries and Marine Technology (formerly the *College of Fisheries, Navigation, Marine Engineering and Electronics qv). He held the position for several years before assuming the post of deputy minister in the provincial Department of Fisheries. Janet Vardy (interview, May 1994), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (David Vardy). ACB

VARDY,EDMUND (1891-1955). Mariner. Born Hickman's Harbour, son of John and Sarah (Reid) Vardy. Vardy sailed on his father's schooners from an early age, making his first voyage to the Labrador fishery as master when he was only 16. By the outbreak of World War I he was already an experienced master of ocean-going vessels. He was decorated after the War for his service in transporting provisions to the eastern United States, the Caribbean and the Mediter­ranean. From the early 1920s he owned a number of vessels in the coasting and the foreign-going trades out of Hickman's Harbour and had business premises at Baird's Cove (St. John's), Deer Harbour (Random Is­land) and at a number of locations on the Labrador coast. During World War II he continued in the inter­national fish business, owning such vessels as the Al­cala, Gertrude Jean, Gutta Percha, Ivy and Muriel, Ivy V., Morning Star II, St. Helena and Silver City. Vardy died aboard the Morning Star II, crossing Trinity Bay, on August 2, 1955. Wilfred Martin (1993). RHC

VARDY, OLIVER LAWRENCE (1906-1980). Politi­cian; civil servant. Born Channel, son of Charles and Lora (Rideout) Vardy. Educated Channel. Married Ad­elaide Peek. Vardy moved away from Newfoundland at a young age, and served a prison term for armed robbery in Albany, New York before moving back to Newfoundland in the 1930s. He worked at various jobs, including selling advertising for the Book of New­foundland, radio broadcasting and editing ·the Fisher­men-Workers Tribune.

Vardy entered political life in 1941 with his election to the St. John's City Council. In 1949 he was elected MHA for St. John's West and served briefly as parlia­mentary assistant to Premier J.R. Smallwood before being appointed minister without portfolio in 1950. He resigned his seat in 1951 under threats from Peter Cashin qv to expose his criminal record. Yet, Small­wood appointed him director of tourist development, and in 1968 appointed him deputy minister of Eco­nomic Development. A Royal Commission later estab­lished by the government of Frank D. Moores to investigate the previous government's financial deal­ings found that Vardy (with Premier Smallwood and Arthur Lundrigan) owned a company that had rented properties to the Board of Liquor Control at excessive rates, as well as other irregularities.

O.L. Vardy

Vardy was later charged with fraud, bribery and breach of trust regarding the funding of John C. Doyle's Labrador Linerboard mill in Stephenville. Having escaped to Panama, in 197 4 he was taken into custody there to be extradited to Canada. He escaped in Florida, and applied to an American court for bail, which was granted on the condition that he remain in Florida while extradition proceedings were pursued. But he successfully fought extradition until his death in 1980. Harold Horwood (1989), Norma Jean Rich­ards (interview, Jan. 1994), Who s Who in Newfound­land and Labrador ( 1968). JEAN GRAHAM

VARDY, REUBEN THISTLE (1897-1980). Business­man; delegate to the National Convention. Born Hickman's Harbour, son of John and Sarah (Reid) Vardy. Educated Hickman's Harbour. Married Amelia Maddock. Vardy enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in 1917. Demobilized with the rank of ser­geant in 1919, he worked in the schooner fishery out of Hickman's Harbour and became in valved in sawmilling in Random Sound, while also serving as the local labour agent and pulpwood contractor for the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co. From 1926 to 1928 he was in Sydney, Nova Scotia as president of R. & W. Vardy. In the early 1930s Vardy was again operating out of Hickman's Harbour in the lumber and pulpwood business.

Vardy became involved in politics in 1932, when he ran as an independent candidate in the district of Trin­ity North. By 1937 he was describing his political affiliation as "Independent Labour", and was at­tempting to organize unemployed woods workers in

the Random Sound area. He was arrested and briefly jailed in that year after leading a band of unemployed people in a march on the relieving office at Hatchet Cove. After service with the merchant marine during World War II, Vardy was elected to the National Con­vention qv as delegate for Trinity North, and was an advocate of a return to Responsible Government. He died at Hickman's Harbour on Christmas Day, 1980. W.B.W. Martin (1991; 1993), DNLB (1990), Who's Who in and from Newfoundland 1937 (1937?). RHC

VARDY, WILFRED (1918- ). Clergyman. Born Hick­man's Harbour, son of William and Sarah Vardy. Ed­ucated Hickman's Harbour; Mount Allison University; Pine Hill Divinity Hall. Married Gertrude Martin. After several years as a logger and fisherman, Vardy was accepted as a candidate for the United Church ministry in 1940. He served his probationship at Sound Island, English Harbour and Musgrave Harbour. He was ordained on completion of his university studies in 1950. During the next 38 years Vardy held pastorates at Garnish, Catalina, Harb­our Grace, Gander (twice) and Musgravetown. He was president of the Newfound­land Conference of the United Church in 1961-62,

Rev. Wilfred Vardy

and from 1973 to 1979 was director of Emmanuel House qv, a United Church hospice in St. John's. He was twice a commissioner to the Church's General Council and was a member of several of its national boards. In 1966 he represented the United Church at the Eleventh World Methodist Council in London, England. He was twice chairman of Presbytery and served as chaplain of the Canadian Forces Station and the Royal Canadian Legion, Gander. Retiring in 1988, Vardy settled in Gander. Wilfred Vardy (letter, Mar. 1990), Minutes of the Newfoundland Conference (1961-62). DAVID G. PITT

VATCHER, WALTER CYRIL (1920-1944). Soldier. Born Burgeo, son of Frederick and Maud (Pinel) Vatcher. Educated Rose Blanche. Trained as a diesel mechanic in Chicago, Vatcher was one ofthe first draft ofRAF air crew from Newfoundland, in August 1940. After training in Canada he was posted to the 125 (Newfoundland) Squadron in England. Later he trans­ferred to the 174 Squadron, flying Hurricane aircraft, and took part in the Battle of Dieppe in August 1942. Mentioned in despatches in January 1943, he was shortly afterward commissioned Pilot Officer and was promoted to Flying Officer in October 1943. Vatcher began flying the rocket-equipped Typhoon aircraft and on July 20, 1944 was involved in a rocket attack on a target in the vicinity of Caen during the battle of Normandy. While pulling up after the attack, his air­craft was hit and exploded in mid-air, and Vatcher and

VATERS, EUGENE 475

his crew were killed. Earlier that day (but unknown to Vatcher at the time of his death) he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for ''many and varied operations", including "fine work attacking tanks and transport columns" during the Normandy invasion. Flying Officer Vatcher is buried in the Bonneville-La Campagne War Cemetery in France. G.W.L. Nichol­son (1969), Austin R. Vatcher (letter, Feb. 1994 ), Gan­der Beacon (Aug. 4, 1993), Profile of a Newfoundland Airman (1990). JOHN PARSONS

VATERS, EUGENE (1898-1984). General superinten­dent of the *Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland (PAON) qv 1927-_62. Born Victoria. Educated Victo­ria; Moody Bible Institute; Rochester Bible Training School. Married Jennie Sarah (Lacey) Gray.

Raised a Methodist, Vaters experienced religious conversion around the age of I 1. He became a teacher at 17 and, at Rantem Sta­tion and later Little Harb­our Deep, he also con­ducted church services in the absence of regular clergy. Entering the minis­try in 1916, he spent six years on the Methodist cir­cuit in Newfoundland and Labrador. Disaffected by what he perceived as Eugene Vaters "modernism" creeping into the church, he resigned in 1922, and that year attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for a time. The next year he became the first Newfoundlander known to have attended a Pentecostal Bible school (Roches­ter Bible Training School in Rochester, New York). Leaving abruptly, he and his wife returned to Victoria, where in 1924 they established an independent Pen­tecostal mission, as well as a publication, the Indepen­dent Communion.

A year later, Alice B. Garrigus qv, founder of the PAON, contacted Vaters and suggested amalgama­tion. A merger resulted and, in the same year, Pente­costalism in Newfoundland was incorporated. Vaters was elected general superintendent in 1927, and rap­idly became the dominant personality in Pentecostal­ism in Newfoundland, leading the church for the next 3 5 years. From 193 5 to 1961, ·Pentecostals increased from 3721 to 20,367. Many of the denomination's other ventures - Good Tidings magazine; the Reli­gious Book and Bible House; the Printing Department (later Good Tidings Press); Camp Emmanuel, a sum­mer camp-meeting; and the Pentecostal education system - were pioneered during Vaters' tenure. In 1954 he became superintendent of Pentecostal schools. Following his retirement Vaters wrote his autobiography, Reminiscence ( 1983). He died in 1984. Two months after his death, the PAON was advised that Memorial University had approved the award of an honorary LL.D. posthumously. A.S. Bursey (1990; 1992), B.K. Janes (1983; 1990; 1991),

476 VAUGHAN, WILLIAM

Eugene Vaters ( 1983), DNLB ( 1990), Good Tidings (Sept.-Oct. 1977; Jan.-Feb. 1982). BURTON K. JANES

VAUGHAN, WILLIAM (1575-1641) . Colonial pro­moter; author. Born Carmarthen, Wales, son ofWalter and Katherine Vaughan. Educated Jesus College, Ox­ford; Vienna. Married ( 1) Elizabeth Robert; (2) Anne Christmas. After travelling widely he settled at Llangyndeyrn in Wales and became a justice of peace, probably devoting most of his time to writing. His first book had been published in 1597, and in 1600 his most famous work, The Golden Grove , appeared.

Vaughan was one of the earliest advocates of Newfoundland's suitability for English settlement. In 1616 he purchased the southern Avalon Peninsula (from Calvert to Placentia Bay) from the London and Bristol Company, and the next year sent Welsh colonists to Renews . This venture, and further at­tempts at colonizing Trepassey in the 1620s and 1630s , failed. In 1626 Vaughan published The Golden Fleece to promote the Island as a place for settlement. The Newlanders Cure ( 1630) was a med­ical work designed to help emigrants. In the last years of his life Vaughan published two works of a religious nature: The Church Militant ( 1640) and The Soules Exercise ( 1641 ). Although as a colonial promoter Vaughan was not a success, his works pro­vide some of the earliest English literature on North America. He was knighted in Ireland in 1628. DCB 1, TCE (1985). ILB

VEITCH, MARY ASSUMPTA (1906- ). Mercy sister; educator. Born St. John's, daughter of Mary (Bolger) and Philip Veitch. Baptized Ellen, Veitch took the name Mary Assumpta after she joined the Sisters of Mercy in 1930. She served as local superior in several convents, including St. Mary's On-the-Humber at

Curling (1939-46), and was principal of schools in Curl­ing and Bell Island . She also taught in the Mercy Convent School in St. John's. Sister Assumpta was appointed vice-princi­pal of Holy Heart of Mary Regional High School when it opened in 1958. From 1961 until 1973 she served two consecutive terms as

Sister Assumpta Superior General of the Sis-ters of Mercy. Under her su­

pervision the Order's administrative facilities were transferred from Military Road to the Generalate at Littledale; convents were established at Baie Verte, North River, Codroy Valley, St. Fintan's, Burin and Rushoon; and an Archival Centre for the Order was opened in St. John's. Sister Assumpta also supervised the establishment and staffing of a mission house in Monsefu, Peru. Williamina Hogan (1986), Mary G. Veitch (1989). LBM

VEITCH, WILLIAM (1843-1917). Priest. Born Holyrood, son of Elizabeth (Lewis) and John Veitch. After his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest, at Rome in 1872, Veitch re­turned to Newfoundland and was assigned to the par­ish of Carbonear. He was soon transferred to the mis­sion of King's Cove qv and Bonavista, where under his leadership many churches and schools were built and improved. In July 1891 Veitch was appointed to the parish of Conception Harb-our, and it quickly became Father William Veitch one of the most prosperous in the diocese. Within five years a new church, school and presbytery were being built. In recognition of his work as a builder and administrator, Veitch was made Household Prelate to the Pope, with the title of Mon­signor, in 1909. He died at Conception Harbour in June 1917. Williamina Hogan (1986), H.M. Mosdell (1923), Mary G. Veitch (1989), DN(June 25, 1917). LBM

VELVETLEAF BLUEBERRY. See BLUEBERRIES.

VENEER MANUFACTURING. See PLYWOOD AND VENEER MANUFACTURING.

VENISON ISLANDS (pop . 1935, 30). The Labrador fishing station of Venison Islands is located on both sides of Venison Tickle, a 100 metre-wide passage that separates Venison Island from the southeast cor­ner of Stony Island, approximately 32 km northeast of Charlottetown. Venison Island was named by George Cartwright qv in 1775 , for the quantity of caribou he killed there. Slade and Company estab­lished their sealing and fishing outpost at Venison Islands (on the Stony Island, or western, side of the Tickle) shortly after building their major Labrador premises at Battle Harbour in 1795. In 1820 Venison Islands was noted as one of the few locations on the Labrador coast where English fishermen were wintering, as caretakers for Slade ' s premises, for fur-trapping and for the spring seal hunt. One of Slade's early agents was Christopher Bourne, who took an " Indian" (presumably Inuit) country wife from among the natives living in the area. By 1831 an Englishman named Richard Stevens had settled, and in that year married a "half-Indian" woman (the Rev . Edward Wix conducting the ceremony). An­other Slade servant, John Green, ' 'the son of an attorney of Ringwood, Rants" (Feild: 18 51) , also settled, after marrying one of Bourne's daughters. By 1856 there were four families living year-round at Venison Island. In the winter of 1863 the clergy­man at Battle Harbour noted a winter population of 47, the families of John Green, William Smith, Wil­liam Thomas and William Bourne along with 11 Slade men.

VENOMS BIGHT 477

Venison Islands c. 1900

In about 1870 the Slade firm sold its room to the Harbour Grace firm of Thomas Ridley and Sons, but that firm soon faced bankruptcy and sold out to Car­bonear merchant John Rorke qv, Venison Islands becoming the major outpost of Rorke's "big room" at St. Francis Harbour qv. The number of stationers out of Carbonear supplied by Rorke's Venison Is­lands establishment increased to more than 100, in several nearby coves (such as Webber's Harbour, Cox's Cove and Wild Bight). There were eleven res­ident families and a population of 86 by 1884. In 1880 a school had been established (at that time one of only five schools on the Labrador coast), which also served for Church of England services on those occasions when clergy were able to visit from the Battle Harbour mission.

Thereafter the resident population decreased, to 36 by 190 I and to 23 ten years later, and by 1913 the school was open only sporadically. However, the harbour continued to be a popular destination for the Carbonear stationers. Some of the liveyers (the Bourne, Green, Marshall and Roberts families) left in the 193 Os and 1940s for wage labour, and in the 1960s the remaining few relocated to Norman Bay (the Greens) or to Charlottetown qqv. By 1990 the station was being used by only a handful of fisher­men from Charlottetown or Norman Bay, although as many as 60 stationers out of Carbonear, sup-

plied by the firm of Earle Freighting, were still mak­ing the journey down north each summer. P.W. Browne (1909), Dave Collins and GilbertPenney(in­terview,Aug. 1993),A.P. Dyke( 1969), Edward Feild (1851; 1854), J.B.K. Kelly [1870], John Parsons (1970), Them Days (Sept. 1983; Jan. 1991), Ar­chives (A-7-4/36; MG 8/10/9; VS 113). RHC

VENOMS BIGHT (pop. 1901, 37). An abandoned fish­ing community, Venoms Bight was located in western Notre Dame Bay,just south of Tilt Cove qv. The name of the bight (which also appears in some records as Venous or Venam's) may have originated with the family name Vineham. Before being settled, Venoms Bight was probably used as a summer fishing station by one or two Twillingate families, as was Tilt Cove. After the beginning of Tilt Cove mine in 1864 there was an influx of settlers into the area. Despite little shelter or levelland for homes and gardens, one family had settled Venoms Bight by 1884 (pop. 5). By 1891 there were three families (pop. 14), rising to 37 people by 190 1. In that year there were two fishermen and two miners living in the community, as well as one person employed at the whale factory in Snooks Arm qv. This last was probably Thomas Foote, who had come to Venoms Bight from Twillingate in the 1880s and moved to Snooks Arm in about 1913. The other inhab­itants probably left with the closure of Tilt Cove mine

478 VERGE, VERA LYNN

in 1917. E.R. Seary (1977), Census (1884-1921) , McAlpine's Newfoundland Directory (1894). RHC

VERGE, VERA LYNN ( 1950- ). Lawyer; politician. Born Corner Brook, daughter of Ian and Mona Fisher. Educated Corner Brook; Memorial University ofNew­foundland; Dalhousie University. Married Robert Verge. Admitted to the Newfoundland Bar in 1973, Lynn Verge practised in Corner Brook.

A founding member and former president of the Corner Brook Status of Women Council, she played a leading role in establishing the Provincial Advisory

Council on the Status of Women. Verge became in­volved in provincial poli­tics as a delegate to the I 979 Progressive Conser­vative leadership conven­tion . Later that year she was elected MHA for Hum­ber East and, along with Hazel Newhook qv, was ap­pointed one of Newfound­land's first female cabinet ministers. As Minister of Lynn Verge Education , Verge was re­

sponsible for the introduction of a revised high school program for the Province. In 1985 she became Attor­ney General and Minister of Justice. When Thomas G. Rideout qv became Premier in 1989, Verge was briefly Minister of Consumer Affairs and Communications, president of the Executive Council and Deputy Pre­mier. Despite the defeat of the Rideout government in April 1989, Verge defeated Liberal leader Clyde K. Wells qv to retain her seat in Humber East. In 1991 she was appointed to the Province's constitutional commit­tee. Verge was reelected for Humber East in 1993. Cana­dian Parliamentary Guide (1994), DNLB (1990), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Lynn Verge). LBM

VERRAZZANO, GIOVANNI DA (c.1485-c. l528). Explorer. Born in or near Florence, Italy; son of Fiametta (Capelli) and Piero Andrea da Verrazzano. Some time before 1522 Verrazzano entered the mari­time service of France and was commissioned by King Fran~ois I to travel to the north of Cape Breton in hope of finding a passage to the far east. With a Norman crew of 50, Verrazzano set sail from the Madeiras in 1523. His landfall in North America was probably near North Carolina, though locations as far south as Flor­ida have been claimed. Verrazzano sailed as far north as the southeast and east coasts of Newfoundland, where provisions began to run low. The ship returned to France, landing at Dieppe in July 1524. Verrazzano made maps of the coast, several of which have sur­vived. Around 1528 he sailed to the West Indies, where he was captured by native Caribs and is said to have been eaten within sight of his crew. DCB I . ACB

VERSAILLES, TREATY OF. See TREATY OF VER­SAILLES.

VETCHES. Vetches (Vi cia) are climbing plants of the pea family qv. In Newfoundland several vetches occur as introduced species or as escapees from cul­tivation, commonly growing as weeds in waste ground and on roadsides and rail banks . The seeds or peas of vetches have been used as an emergency food for humans, but they are neither palatable nor easily digested. While domestic animals have been re­ported to thrive on a diet of vetches, the seeds have produced diseases in livestock. Species occurring in Newfoundland include V. augustifo/ia, V. cracca, V. faba, V. Sativa and V. sepium. Fernald and Kinsey ( 195 8), William A. Niering ( 1979), Peterson and McKenny ( 1968), Ernest Rouleau ( 1978), Szczawinski and Turner (1988). KATHLEEN WINTER

VETERAN, THE. Edited by Herb Wells qv, this publi­cation was the official organ of the Newfoundland Provincial Command of the Canadian Legion. It prob­ably began and ceased publication in 1958. One issue was dedicated to Memorial Day and another to the Battle of Britain. It contained poems, branch reports and various other articles . Veteran (passim). ILB

VETERAN MAGAZINE, THE. The official organ of the Great War Veterans' Association of Newfound­land, this quarterly magazine was established in 1920 to provide relevant news for ex-servicemen and as an appeal to the soldier and the general public to memo­rialize the idealism and fraternity that had been engen­dered by the Great War. The editors hoped to give a faithful record of the part played by Newfoundland in the War, to compile a history of the Royal Newfound­land *Regiment qv and the Newfoundland Royal *Naval Reserve qv, to record every campaign "that the entire Trail of the Caribou will be followed, till even­tually the glory that is our Country's will be blazoned throughout the land.''

The magazine was edited by Fred R. Emerson, J.G . Higgins, G.J. Whitty, and later by an editorial commit­tee that included Thomas Nangle qqv. It contained poems, short stories, news from branches, special events and biographical sketches of soldiers . Issues were dedicated to the battles of Monchy, Gallipoli, Beaumont Hamel, Brombeck, Cambrai and Guede­court qqv. Later issues contained sections for women and children and had less explicitly military content. Veteran Magazine (1920-1949,passim) . ILB

VETERINARY MEDICINE. Animals, like people, were traditionally treated with a variety of home­made cures and over-the-counter patent medicines. The first animal "doctors" were often blacksmiths . William S. Pope, for example, advertised his ser­vices in St. John's in 1864 as "Ship Smith and General Blacksmith (horse shoeing done with neat­ness and dispatch), also Veterinary Surgeon". Op­portunities for formal training were not available on the Island. A private veterinary college had opened in Toronto as early as 1862 while the London, Ontario Veterinarian Correspondence School made

VIBURNUM 479

Garland 's bookstore in St. John 's, photographed by James Vey

rudimentary texts on animal care widely available after 1896. James MeN airn was a veterinary surgeon in St. John's in 1894. His qualifications are unknown but he may have been a graduate of the Edinburgh Veterinary College.

The first veterinarian who is known with certainty to have been professionally trained was John H. Furneaux, a native of St. John's. After running away from home he worked on farms in western Canada, and in 1918 graduated as a veterinary surgeon from the University of Guelph. He then returned to the Island to set up practice, importing most of his medi­cines from the United States. He introduced the hunt­ing beagle to the Island . and was also considered an expert on the Newfoundland dog. He died while re­turning from a house call on Portugal Cove Road in 1963. During the 1940s the agricultural division of the Department of Natural Resources employed veterinar­ian A. LeGrow, who was succeeded in 1944 by Clar­ence Button, a Newfoundland-born veterinarian who had received his training in Ontario.

Furneaux was still in practice in 1959, when Dr. Drew Leslie came to Newfoundland. Leslie was one of eight veterinarians in the Province who helped implement the Newfoundland Veterinary Act of June 2, 1971. Andrew Fraser, a Scot, was another practi­tioner who came to Newfoundland, where he helped to organize the Newfoundland *Pony Society qv. The establishment of a veterinary college in Prince Edward Island in 1986 encouraged more students from Atlantic Canada to enter the profession and by 1992 Newfoundland had approximately 50 veteri­narians. There were several clinics in St. John's in 1994 (including one devoted exclusively to the treatment of cats) and some in other areas of the Province. Andrew Fraser (1990), Hutchinson s New­foundland Directory for 1864-65 ( 1864 ), McAlpine s Newfoundland Directory for I 894-97 (1894), New­foundland Lifestyle (Winter 1992). ACB

VEY, JAMES (1852?-1922). Photographer. Born St. John's, son of Samuel Vey. Married Alice Whiteley. Vey took an interest in photography from an early age, apprenticing under Page Woods and then Simeon H. Parsons qv after 1875. In 1886 he began a photographic studio in partnership with one E. W. Lyon. After the Great Fire of 1892 he opened his own studio, which he operated from an upper floor of the Bank of Montreal building at Water Street and McBride's Hill. In about 1917 he closed his studio and subsequently worked as a picture framer with bookseller and stationer S.E. Garland qv.

Although little of Vey's work has survived to 1994, his images of St. John's harbour and the sealing fleet are considered among the best early photographic work in Newfoundland. (Vey had a particular interest in the seal hunt and in his later years several times made the spring journey to the ice as a "medical attendant"). Some of his contract work, which in­cludes a series documenting experiments conducted by Guglielmo Marconi qv on Signal Hill in 1901 and photographs of the Reid Newfoundland Company fleet of coastal steamers, has also been frequently reproduced. See PHOTOGRAPHY; also POLAR EX­PLORATION and KITE for images presumed to be by James Vey. Devine and 0 'Mara (1900) , Gertrude Crosbie ( 1986), ET (Dec. 14, 1922). RHC

VIBURNUM. There are three shrubs of the genus vibur­num which are commonly found in Newfoundland, one of which is also common in Labrador. The northern wild *raisin qv or witherod (v. cassinoides) is found near wetlands in most ofNewfoundland but not on the Great Northern Peninsula or in Labrador. The squashberry qv (v. edule) persists into northern Labra­dor while the highbush cranberry (v. trilobum) is com­mon on the Island. All are characterized by whitish blooms in summer and tart, edible fruit which ripen in the fall . A. Glen Ryan (1978). ACB

480 VICTORIA

VICTORIA (inc . 1971; pop. 1991, 1831). The commu­nity of Victoria, near Carbonear qv, probably began as a "winterhouse" for people from Freshwater and Car­bonear. It was noted that the area was being used for wood cutting in 1817. Gradually people built more permanent dwellings, along the road between Car­bonear and Heart's Content and around Beaver Pond. Documents indicate that Nicholas Powell was granted land along the Heart's Content road in 1859. There were enough settlers by 1864 to justify a school, where classes were taught by Sarah Powell. The settlement was named in honour of Queen Victoria and was known in the nineteenth century as Victoria Village. There were 200 people in the community by 1869.

Though Victoria lies inland, it is within walking distance of Carbonear, Freshwater and Salmon Cove. The majority of early settlers were fishing families, with most of the men involved in the Labrador fishery. Small-scale farming and livestock raising were auxil­iary activities to the fishery, with surplus produce being sold in Carbonear. In the late 1800s, scores of people from Victoria signed on with merchants in Car­bonear, Harbour Grace and Northern Bay for the Lab­rador fishery. Lumbering, the railway and mining (at Bell Island and Cape Breton) employed others in the early 1900s. An electrical power station was running in the community in 1904. Sawmills were operated locally by James and David Stephenson, Robert Clarke, Isaiah and John Clarke and William Burke, but in 1921 a forest fire destroyed much of the timber in the immediate area. In that year, merchants in Victoria were Nicholas Powell and Reuben, William and Nich­olas Clarke.

Of 448 people in Victoria Village in 1884, 378 were Methodist and there were two Methodist churches. In 1924 Victoria native Eugene Vaters qv established an independent congregation, which later joined the Pen­tecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland, and by 1935 there were more than 300 members. In that year, with the Labrador fishery in its death throes, 28 families from Victoria took part in a land settlement scheme and moved to Markland qv, to help found the first Commission of Government *land settlement qv. Dur­ing World War II, an internment camp was built at Victoria to house prisoners of war. The structure was never used, as the Americans felt it was a security risk for their bases in Newfoundland, and it was disman­tled in 1943 (see VICTORIA CAMP).

The population of Victoria grew steadily in the fol­lowing decades, as many of the people of the nearby communities of Blomidon, Flatrock and Otter bury re­located there, as well as much of the population of Perry's Cove qqv. By the 1990s very few residents of Victoria remained involved in the fishery; they worked in Carbonear in local services or away from the area. In 1994 Persalvic elementary and regional high schools served Perry's Cove, Salmon Cove and Victoria, and there was also a Pentecostal elementary school. Other services include a town hall, library, fire department and the Victoria Electrical Museum which opened in 1985. Census (1874-1991), DA (Dec. 1980),

Lovell :S Newfoundland Directory ( 1871 ), Statistics Fed­eral-Provincial Resettlement Program (1975?). ACB

VICTORIA CAMP. Located near Carbonear, Victoria camp was built at British expense in 1940 and disman­tled in 1943. Intended at first for 1000 allegedly "dangerous" civilian internees (in reality, refugees) about to be relocated from the United Kingdom, it was redesigned for prisoners of war and then merchant seamen, but was ultimately considered unsuitable for any enemy prisoners or internees.

Construction began in response to an urgent des­patch from the British government on June 14, 1940 pleading with Newfoundland to take 1000 of Britain's civilian internees "at earliest possible date". In Brit­ain fifth-column panic was gaining such wide cur­rency in light of the unexpected swiftness of German victories in western Europe that even Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria were interned for fear that they might aid and abet the enemy. The plan was for Newfoundland to receive the internees in a hastily­erected temporary canvas camp while Victoria camp was under construction. The internees were to arrive in St. John's on July 10 in the company of seven officers and 148 NCOs and men on the former Polish passenger liner Sobieski. However, at the last moment the Sobieski was rerouted to Canada. The original plan had to be altered because the luxury liner Arandora Star, which was supposed to bring the tents to New­foundland three days before the arrival of the intern­ees, was torpedoed off the Irish coast and sank.

On August 3, the Dominions Secretary cancelled all plans to send internees to Newfoundland and asked that no further expenditure be incurred in connection with the camp. But on September 27, 1940 he changed his mind and proposed its utilization as a POW camp for 1000 captured enemy airmen (250 officers and 750 other ranks). A new layout provided for officers to be separated from the other ranks by a road 15 feet in width with a strong wire fence on both sides . Accord­ing to a blueprint from London, the camp would re­quire 153 guards and an administrative staff of 24, including four nursing orderlies, three batmen, three clerks, two interpreters, two electricians and a hospi­tal cook. The Newfoundland camp would relieve Brit­ain of the need to send POW s to Australia for some time. While construction was proceeding to modify and complete Victoria camp, the Canadian-American Permanent Joint Defence Board (PJDB) learned of the plans and objected to the scheme. Canada's Secretary · of State for External Affairs warned that a German POW camp in Newfoundland would present a serious military hazard, possibly jeopardizing the Board's de­fence scheme. German forces might be prepared to take grave risks to liberate captured airmen and might make the vulnerable Island subject to attack. Canada offered to take the German airmen destined for New­foundland.

. In the fall of 1940, Victoria camp was nearing com­pletion just as an apparent imminent German invasion of the British Isles made it more desirable than ever

I I

ViCTORIA INTERNMENT CAMP-

-- ..SrTE PLAN-

for the British to transfer their growing number of German POWs overseas. The Dominions Secretary, therefore, proposed a third scheme for the utilization of Victoria camp. While the 1000 enemy airmen would be diverted to Canada, Canada would in turn send I 000 of its interned merchant seamen to Newfound­land. The Home Office, however, ruled out this trans­fer of civilian internees, and proposed to send interned merchant seamen from the United Kingdom instead. Again, on November 15, the Canadian government warned on behalf of the PJBD that establishment of internment camps in Newfoundland would create an unnecessary and dangerous hazard. However, in view ofNewfoundland's eagerness to utilize the completed camp, the Cabinet War Committee in Ottawa agreed not to object to the idea of civilian internees. This time, however, the Dominions Office ruled out all transfers of civilian internees because the British gov­ernment began to release the refugees it had hastily interned. Meanwhile, the PJBD repeatedly reaffirmed its opposition to an enemy POW camp.

Occupying an enclosed area of 600 by 1100 feet, Victoria camp was completed on time at a cost of $200,000. It consisted of 20 bunk houses and latrines for internees, five kitchen mess house blocks, one officers' mess and quarters, three bunkhouses and la­trines for guards, a kitchen mess house for guards, a

VICTORIA CAMP 481

guard house, an administration building, a hospital building, a quartermaster's store and offices, an un­derground vegetable store and six sentry posts. The camp had electric floodlights and electric wiring in all the buildings. A supply of blankets, drugs, cutlery, crockery, enamelware and tinware was ready for use. According to a watchman's report of January 1941, the camp contained 2224 mattresses and pillows, "all placed in readiness". The report also lists "quite a lot of boxes containing soap, hardware, cooking uten­sils . .. in the original packages." Considering it "un­wise not to obtain possession of the land, at least for a period commensurate with the life of the buildings", the Government of Newfoundland offered to purchase the 20-acre camp site from the British government for $3100 in December 1940.

In the spring of 1941 the fate of Victoria camp was still uncertain. The Newfoundland and British govern­ments hoped in vain that it might be taken over by the U.S. or Canadian military forces stationed on the Is­land. The Newfoundland government itself considered the camp undesirable as training barracks for its own militia because of its inaccessible location. Through­out 1941 and early 1942 the Newfoundland govern­ment toyed with the idea of using the camp or some of its buildings either as a sanatorium or convalescent home or as a temporary accommodation for distressed

482 VICTORIA COVE

and injured seamen, but was deterred by the cost of conversion and upkeep. In June 1941, news was re­ceived that the fleet had orders to capture French bankers suspected of sympathizing with France ' s pro-Nazi Vichy regime. Their fishing crews were to be interrogated and either interned as enemy aliens or formed into a pool of Free French merchant mar­iners. The Newfoundland government made the in­ternment of French fishermen contingent on the use of Victoria camp, the provision of military guards and the consideration of costs, but nothing came of the scheme.

In August 1942, London finally decided to dispose of the camp. The commanding officer of the Canadian troops in Newfoundland, Major General L.F. Page, recommended purchase of the facilities for $50,000. The camp's ultimate worth turned out to be the mate­rials with which it was built. Never used for any pur­pose, the camp was sold to Canada and dismantled in the spring of 1943, with its recoverable assets credited to the British government. G .P. Bassler (1989; 1992), Archives, Public Record Office (London), National Archives (Ottawa) . GERHARD P. BASSLER

VICTORIA COVE (pop. 1991, 282). Located on the west side of Gander Bay (locally Gander Bay North) , Victoria Cove was originally known as Old House Cove. The broad cove had been a site for winter woods work from the mid-1800s and was settled in about 1894, with tradition identifying Richard Bursey as the first settler. Most of the original settlers were from either Change Islands or Fogo Island (family names Bursey, King, Mercer, Oake, Record, Torraville and Webb), while other family names of Victoria Cove are common elsewhere in Gander Bay (notably Gilling­ham and Hodder).

In contrast with other communities in Gander Bay, where logging was historically more important, up until the 1930s Victoria Cove was known as a fishing community. Most of the fishing effort took place away from the community, on the Labrador. However, from 1890 many of the men of Change Islands worked as loggers in the winter months for Gander Bay sawmills, and it is likely that the availability of seasonal work in the lumberwoods further in the Bay played a role in the decision to settle Victoria Cove. After the Hor­wood Lumber Co. established a major lumber mill at nearby Dog Bay (Horwood qv) in the early 1900s local cutting increased.

One of the early settlers of Old House Cove, John Wesley Webb, had worked as a surveyor, and it is said that it was he who chose the name Victoria Cove, to honour the Queen, in about 1896. By 1898 the commu­nity had its first school/chapel and a church was under construction in 1903, when it was destroyed in a forest fire . A new Church of England church was completed in 1910. Another forest fire in 1912 destroyed much nearby timber and a few homes. Victoria Cove first appears in the Census in 1911, with a population of 140. The first business was established by Esau Re­cord, in about 1920.

As the Labrador fishery declined in the 1920s and ultimately collapsed in the 1930s, more attention was paid to the shore fishery. By the late 1930s, however the local fishery was also in decline and many men lef; the fishery to work as labourers on the construction of the air base at Gander. Indeed many families left the community altogether, and the population of Victoria Cove has not grown to any degree since the 1930s. The completion of a causeway across the Bay in 1968 had the effect of making the town of Gander more accessi­ble, and in 1994 most of the work force was either employed in Gander, in local services, or in sawmill­ing. Maxwell Head (MHG 102-B-5-5), Gary L. Saunders ( 1986), Arthur Scammell (interview, Jan. 1994), E.R. Seary (1977), Census (1911-1991), Ar­chives (A-7-4/20; MG 323/ 112), Newfoundland His­torical Society (Victoria Cove). RHC

VICTORIA, S.S. The Victoria was the first Newfound­land government coastal steamer. In 1860 a bill was passed to provide three thousand pounds a year for five years to charter a steam vessel to operate between St. John's and the outports. Without official authorization Bishop John T. Mullock and Judge J.l. Little qqv, while in New York, entered into a virtual contract to charter the S.S. Victoria for this purpose. When the govern­ment of John Kent qv refused to honour the agreement, Mullock denounced the Kent administration, accusing it of "legalized robbery" and pointing out that " ... without steam communication the people must remain poor, degraded and ignorant ... [this vessel] would have done more to develop the interests of the out­harbours than all the Houses of Assembly that ever met on the island." In 1862 the administration of Hugh Hoyles chartered the Victoria, which began service on November 2, 1862. It was succeeded by the S.S . Ariel the following year. Paul O'Neill (1976) . ILB

VICTORIAN ORDER OF NURSES. The Victorian Order of Nurses (or V.O.N.) is a non-profit organiza­tion primarily concerned with the health of citizens who cannot adequately look after themselves. It was founded in 1897 by the wife of the Governor General of Canada, Lady Aberdeen, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The V.O.N. 's Newfound­land branch was established in 1952, providing home nursing service in St. John's and, the following year, in Corner Brook. There was also a branch in Gander in 1954. In 1994 the professional staff consisted of a nursing supervisor, three full-time nurses, nine casual nurses and numerous volunteers. The V.O.N. has been particularly active in providing services to senior citi­zens, allowing many of those requiring health care to remain in their homes. Services also include foot care clinics, meals-on-wheels and health care training.

In 1993 the V.O.N. nursing service made over 17,000 visits to Newfoundland homes, and more than 15,000 meals were delivered by volunteers. Home support workers are given a 12-week training program before assisting citizens in light housekeeping, hy­gienic care, light meal preparation, grocery shopping

and respite care (relieving individuals ordinarily in charge of home care). Fees for these services are based on the individual's ability to pay. Financial support is obtained through both municipal and provincial grants, special fund-raising events, assistance from service clubs and bequests. "Brief presented to the Royal Commission on Hospital and Nursing Home Costs" (1983), V.O.N. headquarters (interview, Mar. 1994). RUTH KONRAD

VIKING, S.S. Built in 1881 at Arendal, Norway, this three-masted wooden vessel of 620 tons was purchased in 1904 by Bowring Bros. After coming to Newfound­land, the vessel was engaged in the seal fishery, under the command of William Bartlett, Sr. qv. With the exception of 1914 and 1915, Bartlett commanded the vessel until 1926, during which time 222,025 pelts were harvested.

On March 9, 1931, captained by Abram Kean Jr. qv and with a crew of 147 (plus two stowaways), the Viking left St. John's for the seal fishery. Passengers included an American film crew headed by producer Varick Frissell qv, who were completing the movie "White Thunder", begun the previous year. On Sun­day night, March 15, the ship was in an ice flow near the Horse Islands. In the meantime Frissell had ex­pressed concern about the safety of explosives, some

VIKINGS 483

of which were to create dramatic scenes for the movie. As feared, a violent explosion occurred in the powder magazine. The Viking sank around midnight on March 16. A large group of survivors made their way over the ice to Horse Islands.

Radio signals, for the first time in the history of the seal fishery, conveyed news of the disaster to St. John's. Rescue ships, including the tug Foundation Franklin, the Sagona qv and the sealing vessel Beothic qv, were sent to the scene. The Beothic was the first to arrive, and helped in the transfer of crew to the Imogene, Sagona and Prospera qqv. Twenty­seven people, including Frissell, lost their lives. Clayton King qv, the Viking's wireless officer, pub­lished an account of the disaster, The Viking's Last Cruise, in 1936. The cause of the explosion was never determined. J.P. Andrieux ( 1986), Michael Harrington ( 1986), Clayton L. King ( 1936), Shan­non Ryan (1987), Frank Saunders (1981), Chafe's Sealing Book ( 1989), NQ (Spring 193 1 ), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Viking), Newfoundland His­torical Society (Viking). ILB

VIKINGS. The term viking comes from the Old Norse word vikingr, meaning pirate or raider. The period from AD 760 to AD 1080 is sometimes referred to as the Viking Age, a time when Norse-speaking people

Crew and passengers for the Viking's last voyage. Varrick Frissel/ is at bottom, right.

484 VILLA MARIE

from southern Scandinavia and Denmark began to ex­pand into the Mediterranean and across the north At­lantic. This period of expansion was marked by piracy and war but also by more peaceful trade, land coloni­zation and farming. Within Norse society there were three broadly defined classes: the ruling warrior elite, slaves and the free-born land user. While the warrior elite engaged in such pursuits as raiding, it was primar­ily the latter group who expanded into colonies in Iceland, Greenland and Vinland qqv.

Around AD 1000 Norse colonists arrived at L'Anse aux Meadows, on the northern tip of the Island. Evi­dence from the sagas indicates that the settlers who came to Vinland included women and that livestock were brought to the site. The sod dwellings, smithy and such artifacts as the spindle whorl uncovered by archaeologists at L'Anse aux Meadows support the view that the site was an attempt at land colonization rather than a base for pirates. Though the site at L'Anse aux Meadows is sometimes called a viking settlement, the people who came would be better de­scribed as Norse colonists and farmers. See NORSE DISCOVERY. Gwyn Jones (1986). ACB

VILLA MARIE. Villa Marie is located between Dun­ville and Fox Harbour, Placentia Bay. In 1889 a rail­way line was constructed from Placentia Junction southwest to the town of Placentia. Villa Marie station was built where the 'line crossed the road from Placen­tia to Fox Harbour. The siding appears in the Census only once, in 1891, with a population of 10. After 1968 Villa Marie was the site of a silica mine operated by Dun ville Mining Ltd., a subsidiary of ERCO Industries. Silica was taken to the company's plant at Long Harbour where it was used as a flux in the production of phos­phorous. When the phosphorous plant ceased produc­tion in 1989, the Villa Marie mine was taken over by Silica Products Ltd. See QUARTZ. Wendy Martin (1983), E.R. Seary (1971), Census (1891). ACB

VILLA NOVA ORPHANAGE. See MANUELS; MOR­RIS, MICHAEL; ORPHANAGES.

VILLA VERDE (pop. 1945, 32). An abandoned fishing community, Villa Verde was located just south of Cape Bonavista qv, on the Trinity Bay side. The community appears in official records at various times as Villa Verde, Victoria and Villavert - but was usually known locally as Back Side. Although there is little shelter from the open sea, it would appear that small coves on either side of the Cape were used as summer fishing premises by residents of Bonavista, as they offered the closest access to prime headland fishing grounds. Early Census figures for the nearby commu­nities of Spillars Cove and Lancaster qqv probably include the family of William Hayley, who had moved to Villa Verde from Bonavista by 1876. The commu­nity does not appear separately in the Census until 1891, with a population of 46 in five families. Most of the inhabitants of Villa Verde were descendants of Hayley or members of the Way family, also a common

name ofBonavista. The family ofVineard Fisher were also living there by 1921.

After the completion of the Bonavista branch rail­way in 1911 most of the families of Villa Verde wintered at sidings along the branch line, where the men were employed as loggers. Meanwhile, in the summers some families from Bonavista maintained fishing premises near the Cape. In the 1940s the prac­tice of wintering "on the cars" died out and it would appear that most of the inhabitants of Villa Verde began wintering in Bonavista and were subsequently enumerated as inhabitants of either Bonavista or Lan­caster. But some summer fishing premises were main­tained at Villa Verde until the early 1960s, while one family of Hayleys lived there year-round. After Lan­caster was resettled later in the decade the site of Villa Verde became a community pasture and the town dump for Bonavista. Harry Cuff (interview, Mar. 1994), Robert Cuff (NQ, Fall 1983), H.A. Wood (1952), Census (1891-1945). RHC

VILLAGE VOICE. The first issue of this weekly paper appeared in May 12, 1978, published by the Watchman Publishing Co. and printed by Robinson-Blackmore Printing and Publishing Ltd. Colin Jamieson was the paper's general manager, with contributing editors in­cluding Bas Jamieson, Ron Pumphrey qqv, Jim Phillips and Allan McKinnon. Describing itself as "the people's paper'', the Village Voice was associated with the Q radio network and published local news, interviews, television and radio listings, letters, entertainment news and a personal advice column. Suzanne Ellison (1988), Village Voice (1978-1979, passim). ILB

VINCENT, JOHN ( 1885-1965). Artist; architect. Born Cape Island, son of George and Mary Ann (Sainsbury) Vincent. Educated Wesleyville; St. John's; Boston Technical College. Married Violet May Carter. Vincent's family moved to Wesleyville when he was seven. By the age of 12 he was fishing on the Labrador coast as a shareman.

It was obvious that Vincent's talents lay elsewhere and his father arranged for him to study painting under a Mr. Pittman. He was encouraged to put aside part of his earnings from the fish­ery and the family boat­building business against the day when he would be able to attend college. Meanwhile, he took a corre­spondence course in archi­tecture and designed several homes in the Wesleyville area. At the age of 17 he went away to study architecture. While study-ing at Boston Technical, John Vincent Vincent painted Newfound-land fishing scenes from memory, which he sold to help finance his education. He also visited Europe to study the great cathedrals and produced a lithograph

of Milan cathedral which sold quite well. After gradu­ation he went to work with an architectural firm in Chicago. While on a return visit to Newfoundland he submitted the winning entry in a competition to design a new *Cochrane Street Church qv. He did not see the modified execution of his design until 1961.

By 1926 Vincent was much in demand as a portrait painter and, while in Europe to study the masters, was commissioned to paint portraits of King George V, King George VI and Pope Pius XI. In the 1930s he returned to the United States, establishing a studio in New York, later moving to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Health problems, including paralysis, forced him to stop painting in the 1940s. In 1961 he returned to Newfoundland as a guest of the provincial government during the opening ceremonies of the new campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Clifford An­drews ( 1987), ET (Oct. 25, 1961 ). JAMES WADE

VINCENT, SAMUEL FLETCHER (1907-1981). Del­egate to the National Convention. Born Cape Island, Bonavista Bay; son of Judith (Norris) and Charles Vincent. Educated Cape Island; Memorial University College. Married Nellie Hounsell. After completing teacher training, Ted Vincent worked as a travelling teacher on the Labrador coast. In 1930 he took a posi­tion at Pound Cove, where he subsequently married and went into business in partnership with his wife. The Vincents operated a general fishery supply busi­ness and sent two of their own schooners to the Labra­dor fishery. In 1945 Vincent played a role in the inclusion of Pound Cove in the newly-incorporated town of Wesleyville, and was subsequently elected to the first municipal council. The next year he was nom­inated as delegate to the National Convention for Bonavista North, and was returned by acclamation. During the Convention Vincent supported confedera­tion with Canada, and campaigned for confederation in the Wesleyville area prior to the referenda of 1948. After Confederation, Vincent was appointed a member of the Board of Liquor Control, serving as deputy commissioner of the Board from 1967 until his retire­ment in 1972. M.F. Harrington (letter, Mar. 1989), Roma Paul (interview, Oct. 1993), DNLB. RHC

VINDICATOR AND BRIGUS REPORTER. A weekly newspaper, the Vindicator was founded in the spring of 1898 by Jabez Thompson qv, a former editor of the Twi/lingate Sun who had been appointed magistrate at Brigus. This local paper continued to publish until October of 1903, when its printing plant was sold to a local teacher, H.M. Mosdell qv, who subsequently started the Newfoundland Outlook qv in Bay Roberts. The Vindicator and Brigus Reporter bears no relation­ship to the Newfoundland Vindicator qv, a St. John's newspaper of the 1840s. Suzanne Ellison (1988). RHC

VINICOMBE, JAMES I. (1874-1947). Athlete. Born St. John's. Son of Hannah (McCarthy) and Nicholas Vinicombe. Educated St. Bonaventure's College. "Hooks" Vinicombe was probably the best-known St.

VINLAND 485

John's athlete in the 1890s and early 1900s. He ex­celled in track and field (he had an unofficial time of 9.8 seconds for the 100 yard dash) as well as in hockey, soccer and cricket. He was the star performer for the St. John's teams which challenged the crews of visiting warships in the 1890s, and also boxed against naval opponents. A pioneer in organizing city leagues in hockey and baseball, he was a member of teams asso­ciated with the Benevolent Irish Society and the Star of the Sea Association, and was a member of the hockey team which won the first Boyle Cup in 1904. From the 1920s through to the 1940s he helped to organize and coach amateur athletics in St. John's. He was one of the original inductees when the Newfound­land and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1973. In work, Vinicombe was an agent for the Canadian Life Insurance Co. See also SPORTS. Frank Graham (1988), DNLB (1990), ET (May 16, 1947). ACB

VINICOMBE, NICHOLAS JOSEPH ( 1 8 7 7- 1 9 2 8). Athlete; politician. Born St. John's, son of Hannah (McCarthy) and Nicholas Vinicombe. Educated St. Bonaventure's College. Married Anne Sutton. ''Nix'' Vinicombe and his brother James qv belonged to Be­nevolent Irish Society and Star of the Sea Association championship teams playing hockey, soccer and cricket. Nix was also noted as a goaltender with the Terra Nova and Victoria hockey clubs, and he com­peted in track and fielq and in the annual St. John's regatta.

From 1892 Vinicombe was employed as a clerk by grocer and wine merchant James Stott, but in 1904 established his own wine and grocery business, con­centrating on foodstuffs after prohibition was intro­duced during World War I. From 1916 he was a member of the St. John's municipal council, and in 1920-21 was a member of the municipal commission and deputy mayor. He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1919 as a representative for St. John's East, and was re-elected in 1923, as a supporter of the opposition Liberal-Progressive party. In 1924 Vinicombe was again elected, this time for the victori­ous Liberal-Conservative party of Walter S. Monroe. After the Monroe government repealed prohibition, in 1926 Vinicombe resigned his seat to accept an ap­pointment to the Board of Liquor Control. He was posthumously inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame in 1974. Frank Graham ( 1988), DNLB ( 1990), Who's Who in and from New­foundland 1927 (1927) . ACB

VINLAND. According to the Norse sagas, Vinland (or Wineland) was the name bestowed by Leifr Eiriksson qv on lands he discovered to the west of Greenland. The exact location ofVinland is a matter of debate (see NORSE DISCOVERY). Cartographic evidence, espe­cially Stefansson's map of 1590, suggests that Vinland was on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. In 183 7 Danish scholar C. C. Rafn published Antiquitates Americanae, a work which touched off a search for

486 VIOLET FAMILY

physical evidence of the Vinland colony. Rafn be­lieved Vinland to be in the area of Rhode Island, but hard evidence was not found.

As early as 1914, W.A. Munn qv concluded that the Great Northern Peninsula was the site ofVinland. This theory gained credence with the discovery and excava­tion of a Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows in the 1960s. Critics, however, noted discrepancies between L'Anse aux Meadows and physical descriptions given in the sagas and the absence of wild grapes, for which Vinland was named. Other researchers maintained that the 'grapes' could easily have been wild berries . Per­haps Vinland, like Greenland, was a name chosen to encourage settlement. It seems most likely that Yin­land refers to an extensive stretch of coast and country and not to a specific site. L' Anse aux Meadows was probably considered by the Norse both as part of Yin­land and the entrance to lands further south. Gywn Jones (1986), Birgitta Wallace ( 1982). ACB

VIOLET FAMILY. This family of dainty herbs, of which the garden pansy is a member, comprises 900 species worldwide. Violets are low-growing plants whose flowers have five petals, the base petal often wider, patterned with veins and curving backward. The pistils of violets have distinctive thick head and short beak.

Of species which grow in Newfoundland, Marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata) is a stemless plant whose leaves and flowers grow out of the root stocks. The Latin cucullata (hooded) refers to the young leaves' being rolled inward. This is one of several violets whose leaves and flowers can be eaten. The leaves, rich in vitamins A and C, make a nice salad green, and the purplish flowers, also vitamin-rich, have been can­died and used in syrups taken to ease coughs . This violet grows in swamps, wet meadows and rocky beaches, requiring rich humus and partial shade. Its range is from Newfoundland to British Columbia and south to Georgia.

The small white violet (V. Pal/ens) grows from Lab­rador to Alaska and south to Colorado. Like V. cucullata, its leaves and flowers are high in vitamins A and C. One of the first flowers of spring, this white ,...------......, violet has been used as a spring

tonic. Its dainty white flowers are veined with purple, and its leaves are heart-shaped. The small white violet grows near brooks and in wet woods. The kidney-leaved violet (V.

" renifolia) is a white, runnerless vio­let whose leaves are broader than

• tf~ they are long. Growing in cool ·~ W woods from Alaska to Newfoundland

~, ' and south to Colorado, V. renifolia .._ __ _._ __ -..~ has leaves which, when young, are

Blue Violet pale and downy on both sides. The hooked-spur violet (V. adunca) is a

deeper-blue violet of dry, rocky woods. It has great range, growing from Labrador and Alaska south to Arizona and California. The wild pansy (V. arvensis) is

a transplant from Europe which grows in Newfound­land and south to some of the southern United States. A white violet with a yellow-splashed base leaf, V. arvensis favours soil that has been disturbed. Niering and Olmstead ( 1979), Peterson and McKenny ( 1968), Frank D. Venning (1984). KATHLEEN WINTER

VIOLETTA. In March 1875 the Violetta , a brig sailing out of Granville, France bound for St. Pierre, became stuck in the ice two miles southwest of Cape English. After the crew managed to cross the ice to St. Mary's several local men went to the brig to rescue the ill captain. Intent on salvaging the cargo, local men, in parties of two or three, then walked over the ice to the brig and removed most of the cargo. When they at­tempted to return to shore, a large lead of open water lay between them and the land. There was no choice but to return to the Violetta , although it was now drifting out to sea, and several men drowned. The survivors spent the night on the ice in sub-zero temper­atures. The next day one group of men managed to get back on board the Violetta, but another drifted away on an ice pan. Some of this party died, but others managed to walk 15 miles over the ice to Cape Pine.

The group on the Violetta were carried 100 miles out to sea, and trapped in the ice for 10 days. Their only provisions were flour and some rum. In the meantime, with a change of wind the ship had drifted back to within about 40 miles of land, and rescue operations had begun. They had almost given up hope when, on March 11, the G.S. Fogg (a schooner en route from St. John's to the West Indies) came upon the drifting ship, rescued the men and transferred some of them to the Lady Mary and the Trusty . The men remaining in the Fogg were transferred to the S.S. Nuremburg, taken to Baltimore, and returned to St. John's by the S.S. New­foundland. Of the men who had set out to board the Violetta (accounts vary as to the actual number) 13 either drowned or died from exposure. Galgay and Mc­Carthy (1979), Public Ledger (March 9-23 , 1875). ILB

VIPOND, FRANCIS ELI ( 1900-1972) . Clergyman. Born Hamilton, Ontario. Educated Hamilton; Victoria University, Toronto. Vipond was received into the Methodist ministry as a ''candidate on trial''. On graduation from university in 1925, he was ordained by the Hamilton Conference of the United Church and ap­pointed assistant minister at Hamilton First United Church. During the next 20 years he served a number of charges in Ontario and Sas­katchewan, taking a year's leave in 1946-4 7 for post- Rev. F. E. Vipond graduate study in Toronto. In 1948 he came to Newfoundland as minister of Gower Street United Church, where he served until December 1958, the longest pastorate in that Church's

first century and a half. During this time he also served as Presbytery chairman, and in 1956-57 was president of the Newfoundland Confetence of the United Church. He resigned from Gower Street Church in December 1958 to accept an appointment with the Canadian Council of Churches, which he served from 1959 to 1962. Thereafter he served as a missionary in Jamaica from 1962 to 1970. Retiring in 1970 he re­turned to Toronto, where he died on October 7, 1972. Following his death a Memorial Fund in his memory was established at Gower Street Church. Minutes of the Official Board of Gower Street Circuit (1948-58), Min­utes of the Newfoundland Conference (1956-57), United Church of Canada Year Book (1973). DAVID G. PITT

VIREOS. Vireos are small song birds which constitute the family Vireonidae, and are confined to the Ameri­cas. Although they are easily mistaken for warblers, vireos may be distinguished by their slightly hooked and thicker bills. All are olive or greyish above, while the underparts may be either whitish or lemon in col­our. Some species have conspicuous eye rings and wing bars. All are rather sluggish in their movements. They are woodland birds, mostly of deciduous forests, and they migrate to Central and South America. Eight species occur in Canada, only two of which are known to breed in Newfoundland. Neither species is common in the Province.

The solitary vireo (Vireo solitarius) has conspicu­ous eye rings (or "spectacles") and wing bars. The red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceushas) has neither of these features, but has stripes through and above the eye. Both species are regarded as quite uncommon in Newfoundland. The red-eyed vireo is noted for its almost continuous but rather monotonous song. Three other species have been seen in Newfoundland: the Philadelphia vireo (Vireo philadelphicus), which is very uncommon; the warbling vireo (Vireo gilvus) and the yellow-throated vireo (Vireo jlavifrons), both of which are regarded vagrant. Mactavish, Maunder and Montevecchi (1989). CHARLIE HORWOOD

VIRGIN ARM (pop. 1991, 539). The community of Virgin Arm is located at the head of Friday's Bay, on New World Island qv. Its name probably originated in the fact that the narrow Arm was not settled until the 1870s, although it was used for winter woods work and schooner-building by fishermen from Tizzard's Harb­our and Twillingate from the early 1800s.

The first record of settlement at Virgin Arm is from Lovell's Newfoundland Directory (1871 ), which iden­tifies fisherman John Smith as a resident and notes a population of 10 people. However, Smith does not appear in subsequent records, while Virgin Arm is not enumerated separately in the Census until 1901 (pop. 70). Locally, the first settler is said to have been a Curtis, of Snellings Cove, Twillingate. William Curtis was resident by 1876, and by 1882 had been joined by John Hicks and a family named Nicholas, also of Twillingate. At about the tum of the century several other families settled: Burts (from Tizzard's Harbour),

VIRGIN ROCKS 487

Gleesons, Hanns, Ingses and Prices (from Tilt Cove, now a part of Fairbank qv). As Virgin Arm was quite distant from the best headland fishing grounds, most fishermen were involved in the fisheries on the Labra­dor and French Shore. The most lucrative small-boat fisheries in the area were for bait fishes and lobster, both in Friday's Bay and Dildo Run. New World Is­land is only about 1 km wide at the bottom of Virgin Arm and early in the twentieth century there was a tramway built between the two bodies of water for the transportation of fishing boats and lumber (see PARKVIEW). Virgin Arm had a strong tradition of woods work and, after the decline of the schooner fisheries in the 1920s and 1930s, many people found employment in pulpwood cutting or in supplying local sawmills. The population had grown to 225 by 1945.

In the mid-1960s the completion of a network of roads and causeways connecting the various commu­nities of New World Island with each other and with the mainland saw Virgin Arm South emerging as a service centre of the area, with such facilities as the New World Island Medical Clinic and a regional high school, Coaker Academy. In addition, several busi­nesses serving New World Island have located either in Virgin Arm South or along the Road to the Isles leading towards Summerford qv. Harvey Bulgin (1991 ?), Wil­liam Burt (interview, June 1992), Census (190 1-1991 ), List of Electors ( 1889), Lovell's Newfoundland Direc­tory ( 18 7 1), McAlpine's Newfoundland Directory (1894), Archives (A-7-2/L; VS 88). RHC

VIRGIN COVE (pop. 1891, 10). An abandoned fishing community, Virgin Cove was located on Merasheen Island, Placentia Bay, north of Merasheen harbour. When geologist J .B. Jukes qv visited the settlement about 1840 he described it as being situated on a small space of flat land beneath a high cliff over which fell a waterfall. In 1836 Brule, Tack's Beach and Virgin Cove had a combined population of 62, but it is likely that only one or two families were living at Virgin Cove. There were 42 people in the settlement in 1845, who made a living from small-scale fishing and farm­ing. Of the 30 people in 1857,29 were Roman Catho­lic. A Catholic school operated in Merasheen, but the census taker for that year noted that attendance was poor. Richard McCarthy was granted six acres of land in the community in 1859 and ten years later Virgin Cove consisted of six dwellings. The population de­clined from five families in 1884 to only two in 1891, and it appears that the cove was deserted soon thereaf­ter. J.B. Jukes (1842), JHA (1859), Census (1836-1891). ACB

VIRGIN ROCKS. The Virgin Rocks comprise a series of jagged, underwater ridges on the Grand Banks. They lie at 46"25' latitude and 50"49' longitude and cover several square kilometres in area. In some places the summits of the rocks are only 3.6 m under the surface, and the sea can break over them in bad weather. The first reference to the Virgin Rocks by a cartographer was made by Jorge Reinel qv in about 1520. They were

488 VIRGINIA

noted by mariners as a prominent landmark, and in the days of the banking schooners became a rendezvous point for hook and line fishermen. In I964 the provin­cial government sponsored an expedition to the Rocks. A scientific party under the direction of Memorial University geologist Hugh Lilly qv left for the Grand Banks on board the vessel Bamasteer. Apart from mak­ing numerous biological and geological observations, the team sent divers to affix a plaque to the Rocks themselves. It bore the Newfoundland coat of arms, flanked by the insignia of Memorial University and the Fisheries College, and recorded the date of the expedi­tion. See BANKS, MARINE. Smallwood Files (Virgin Rocks). ACB

VIRGINIA. The Virginia, a 30-ton pinnace, was appar­ently the first commercial vessel built in America (Spears). In I607 the Plymouth Company established a fishing colony on the coast of Maine, and that fall the keel of the Virginia was laid at the mouth of the Kennebec River. It carried a spin sail and jib, as well as oars. The vessel was intended for use in the New­foundland cod fishery, in coastal trade with the Indians and in overseas trade. J .R. Spears ( I9I5), NQ (July I9I6). ILB

VIRGINIA LAKE. Built in 1882 as the Conscript, the Virginia Lake was used in the coastal mail service for 12 years, running from St. John's to St. Anthony. From 1901 to 1908 it was engaged in the seal fishery, har­vesting 158,476 pelts under the command of such noted masters as Job Knee, William C. Winsor, Samuel Blandford and Jacob Kean qqv.

Repaired and outfitted after damage incurred in a January 1908 storm, the Virginia Lake, commanded by Kean, sailed from St. John's on March 10, 1909 with the annual sealing fleet. Near the Funk Islands the entire fleet became jammed in ice, and the Virginia Lake suffered severe damage including a broken pro­peller shaft. The Bellaventure got close enough to pass a towing line, but three times the manila line broke and a steel cable subsequently broke when it snagged under a pan of ice. When the decision was made to abandon the vessel the Bellaventure took aboard II 0 men, while the remaining 50 walked to land over the rafted ice. The Virginia Lake burned for four hours before sinking. Harry Bruce ( I977), H.M. Mosdell (1923), Chafe's Sealing Book (I989), Newfoundland Historical Society (Virginia Lake). ILB

VIRGINIA ROSE. See ROSES, WILD.

VIRGINIA WATERS. Virginia Lake is located north­east of St. John's. In about 1827 Governor Thomas Cochrane purchased a tract of land on the lake as a summer residence, which he named Virginia Waters. In 1869 Robert McCrea wrote of Virginia Waters, "what a site for a house might this be for a man with means at his command to do the thing well.'' At about this time the estate was acquired by George H. Emer­son qv, who retired there. In the late 1800s other

Cottage at Virginia Waters

prominent residents of St. John's built cottages in the area, a few eventually moving there to live, and a small schoolhouse was erected.

In the I960s a residential neighbourhood, Virginia Park, was built nearby, but the lakefront remained in private hands, much of it owned by the Crosbie family. In 1988 the Crosbie Group Ltd. began building exclu­sive homes on a development north of the lake, known as King William Estates. Paul O'Neill (1976; 1977), Newfoundland Historical Society (Thomas Cochrane; Virginia Water). RUTH KONRAD

VIRGINITE. See MINERALS.

VIVIAN, ALBERT (1918- ). Civil servant. Born Port Rexton. Educated Port Rexton; Bishop Feild College; McGill University. Vivian- taught school for four years, followed by service in the Royal Artillery during World War II. He subsequently attended McGill University, obtaining a B.Sc. in agriculture in 1949. Following grad­uation he was appointed regional supervisor for New­foundland of the Veterans' Land Act Administration. In 1953 he joined the Canada Mortgage and Housing Cor­poration (CMHC), where he was Newfoundland man­ager from 1955 to 1966. Vivian then entered the employ of the provincial government as Commissioner of Housing. His work led to the creation of the New­foundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, of which he was chairman and chief executive officer until 1978. Vivian then established a land development consulting company, which he operated until the early 1990s. His other activities include 25 years of service with the Canadian militia (retiring in I978 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel). M.O. MoRGAN

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES. The modern system of vocational/ technical schools and community colleges in New­foundland and Labrador began in the 1960s and 1970s. Before that time, vocational training was provided through commercial schools and an informal system of apprenticeships. The first vocational and technical school in Newfoundland was established in 1946 for war veterans. Known locally as the Ex-Servicemen's

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES 489

Seal Cove campus of Cabot College

School, it held classes in vacant admiralty buildings on the south side of St. John's harbour. By the end of 1948, between 500 and 600 veterans had attended six­month courses in one or more of: diesel engineering, motor mechanics, carpentry and joinery, electrical work, plumbing and pipefitting, machine shop practice or sheet metal work. In 1949 the provincial govern­ment expanded the school's mandate to include civil­ians. Classes in navigation previously conducted by Memorial University College were transferred to the Vocational Institute. After 1953 the Institute became involved in formal apprenticeship training, combining class work with work experience. By the early 1960s it was apparent that the school was operating well beyond capacity and it closed in 1963. The last princi­pal, William May qv, was part of the task force which helped to plan a new vocational education system for the Province.

With monetary assistance from the federal govern­ment, 11 district vocational schools were built. These were located in Corner Brook, Grand Falls, Gander, Burin, Bell Island, Carbonear, Port aux Basques, Ste­phenville Crossing, Lewisporte, Clarenville and Seal Cove, Conception Bay. Admission to the schools was generally granted to students with a minimum of grade eight or grade nine education and tuition was nominal, at $5 per term. Legislation in 1963 gave allowances to unemployed persons undergoing retraining and en­couraged enrolment, which initially had been low. The curriculum varied according to local circumstances. In Gander, for example, a course was developed in air­craft maintenance. Most of the schools offered courses in auto mechanics, drafting, welding, shorthand, typ­ing and clerical work. What was to become the largest technical and vocational centre in the Province -the College of Trades and Technology - was officially opened in St. John's in 1963. Kenneth Duggan qv was the College's first principal and in 1970 became its first president. In the first year the College had 659 full-time students enrolled in 35 courses. A large num­ber of part-time students also attended. Although by 1970 the instructional staff had grown to 126, only a fraction of applicants could be accommodated. In 1972 a number of portable classrooms were placed at

the rear of the main building, and off-campus facilities were also used.

Despite Newfoundland's long association with the fishery, there was little formal training available. The provincial Department of Fisheries had offered some extension services, while short courses in navigation were periodically available. The *College of Fisher­ies, Navigation, Marine Engineering and Electronics qv was established to meet the need and in the hope of attracting federal research money to the Province. De­tailed planning was done by Douglas Cooper qv, a professor at Memorial University, who had set up the so-called fishermen's travelling schools in 1953 while a consultant to government. The equipment and staff of the travelling schools were turned over to the Col­lege and formed the nucleus of its extension services. Other staff were seconded from government depart­ments. The College officially opened in 1964 under the presidency of William Hampton qv. Only 146 stu­dents enrolled in the first term, but the total enrolment (including travelling schools) exceeded 3000 in 1966-67. The first female students were admitted to the College in 1966, when 20 women took courses in net braiding. Because many fishermen lacked the aca­demic background to undertake technical and voca­tional training, a department of Basic Training Upgrading was established at the College. In addition to Fisheries, the other departments were Naval Archi­tecture, Nautical Science, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering and Technology, Food Technology and Extension Services. By 1971, itinerant schools in 60 communities were offering such short courses as engine repair, boat-building and repair and fish processing. The name of the College

Students at the Marine Institute (formerly the College of Fisheries)

490 VOEUX, WILLIAM DES

was changed in 1985 to the Newfoundland and Labra­dor Institute of Fisheries and Marine Technology (the Marine Institute).

By the mid-1970s the College of Trades and Tech­nology was offering four basic types of programs. These were pre-employment certificate courses usu­ally lasting one year, apprentice programs of six to eight weeks, extension service evening courses and post-secondary diploma programs. In 1983 the Col­lege had five three-year programs (petroleum technol­ogy, surveying technology, medical laboratory technology, pharmacy and X-ray technology), 13 two­year diploma courses (in the areas of computer stud­ies, community recreation leadership, accounting, secretarial science, forest resources technology, elec­tronics technology and food administration) and 30 courses lasting one year or less. Renamed in 1986 the Cabot Institute of Applied Arts and Technology, it was the largest non-university post-secondary institution in eastern Canada, with 5000 full-time and part-time students. The number of students had grown to 10,000 by 1992.

In 1986 the Minister of the department of Career Development and Advanced Studies, Charles J. Power qv, announced a restructuring of the Province's post­secondary education system, and in 1988 community colleges served the Avalon, Eastern, Central, Western and Labrador regions. In 1992 Minister of Education Philip J. Warren qv announced that the post-secondary education system was again to be revamped. The Ma­rine Institute became the Fisheries and Marine Insti­tute of Memorial University . The Labrador Community College became the Labrador Regional College, with campuses at Labrador City and Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Extension service courses were of­fered at Northwest River. The Western Community College and the Fisher Institute of Applied Arts and Technology became Westviking College. Campuses were located at Bay St. George (Stephenville and

Stephenville Crossing), St. Anthony, Port aux Basques and Corner Brook. Central Newfoundland Community College became Central Newfoundland College, with campuses at Gander, Baie Verte, Grand Falls, Lewisporte and Springdale. Eastern Community Col­lege became Eastern Regional College, with cam­puses at Burin, Bonavista, Clarenville, Placentia and Carbonear. Finally, the Cabot Institute and the Avalon Community College were amalgamated as the Cabot College of Applied Arts, Technology and Continuing Education. It had campuses at Bell Island, Seal Cove and in St. John's at Prince Philip Drive, Parade Street and Topsail Road. In the early 1990s many academic services were expanded to provide retraining and up­grading to people formerly employed in the fishing industry. Retraining was sponsored by the Atlantic Fisheries Adjustment Program at various vocational and technical schools . See also NAVIGATION SCHOOLS; SCHOOLING. George Anderson (1979), John Loveys (interview, Apr. 1994), R.I. McAllister (1964?), Frederick Rowe (1976), BN IV (1967), NQ (Oct. 1972), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Col­leges of Applied Arts, Technology and Continuing Ed­ucation; Post Secondary Education and Adult Education), Smallwood Files (Institutions, Educa­tional) . ACB

VOEUX, WILLIAM DES. See DES VOEUX, GEORGE WILLIAM.

VOISEYS BAY (pop. 1945, 28). Located approxi­mately 35 km south of Nain on the Labrador coast, Voiseys Bay is a 50 km-long inlet. It was inhabited by several settler families for about 100 years. The Bay takes its name from Amos Voisey, a native of Ply­mouth who came to Labrador in about 1850. After working at Cartwright, presumably for the English firm of Hunt and Henley, Voisey moved north to Ford's Harbour qv, near Nain. There he was outfitted

Kamarsuk

for trapping by John Ford, eventually marrying a local woman and settling at Kamarsuk, on the north side of Voiseys Bay near its entrance.

After the death of Amos Voisey in 1887, his son George moved farther in the Bay, on its south side, to Old Harbour. By the early 1900s there were several families of Voiseys living at various sites in the Bay. The Winter family lived at Kamarsuk and the Ed­munds family 5 km away at Akuliakattak, while a band of Innu had a seasonal camp at Idlavik Brook (at the head of the Bay). These families made their living from a seasonal round of fishing, trapping and hunting - trading furs and fish either to a Moravian mission store at Old Harbour or to independent trader Richard White qv. The settler families were accounted by the Moravian mission as forming a part of the Nain con­gregation and consequently were not recorded sepa­rately in early Census figures. Voiseys Bay first appears in the Census in 1921, with a population of 3 5 people in seven families. By the early 1950s most of the younger people had left to work either at Goose Bay or in the construction of a radar site at Hopedale. Apart from a few people who moved to Postville, the rest of the people relocated to Nain. In the mid-1960s there was only one person living year-round at Voiseys Bay- near the southern entrance, at Anton's Place­while one family lived there in summer for the fishery. A family of Innu wintered there as well. Since that time there have been fishing camps and cabins at Voiseys Bay, most used by residents of Nain. Census (1921-1945), List of Electors (1948), Our Footprints are Everywhere (1977), Them Days (Apr. 1993), Ar­chives (A-7-5/13; MG 8/15/1). RHC

VOKEY, EDWARD HARVEY ( 1920- ). Educator. Born Spaniard's Bay, son of Isaac and Sarah Vokey. Educated Memorial University College; Memorial University of Newfoundland. Married Ellie Hiscock. Vokey spent 40 years as a teacher and administrator in Newfoundland schools. From 1955 to 1969 he regu­larly contributed items on the Spaniard's Bay area to the Daily News. Interested in local history, in 1990 he served on the lOOth anniversary committee ofthe New­foundland Teachers' Association, as well as on the 1 OOth anniversary committee of Holy Redeemer Angli­can church in Spaniard's Bay, which he had served for many years as a layreader and organist. Active in local affairs, he has served as deputy mayor of Spaniard's Bay, as secretary of the local public library board since 1955 and as chairman oflocal branches ofthe Red Cross and the Newfoundland Lung Association. E.H. Vokey (letter, May 1993), DA (Mar.-Apr. 1989), NTA Bulletin (June 1992), Newfoundland Churchman (July 1985; Mar. 1992). JOHN PARSONS

VOKEY, MYRLE ( 1939- ). Educator. Born Bell Island, son of William and Ethel (Gosse) Vokey. Married Marilyn Carter. Educated Memorial University ofNew­foundland; University of New Brunswick; University of Toronto. In 1967, after teaching in several New­foundland communities, Vokey was appointed district

VON ELLERSHAUSEN, FRANCIS 491

school supervisor for Conception Bay North. From 1972 to 1986 he was director of professional develop­ment for the Newfoundland Teachers' Association. He joined the Newfoundland and Labrador School Boards Association as exec­utive director in 1986. Along with his career in ed­ucation, Vokey has become known as an after-dinner speaker on Newfoundland folklore, customs and dia­lect. In recognition of his efforts in this area, he was named Newfoundland "Ambassador of the Year" in 1991 by the Department

Myrle Vokey

of Tourism and Culture. His many community involve­ments include several years on the provincial execu­tive of the Canadian Red Cross Society. In 1993 he was elected national president of the Society. Myrle Vokey (letter/interview, Feb. 1994). JOHN PARSONS

VOLES. See MICE AND VOLES.

VON ELLERSHAUSEN, FRANCIS (1820-1914). Min­ing engineer. Born Saxony (Germany). Francis von Ellershausen left his mark on the history of both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as a daring entrepreneur and industrialist. Well educated in the arts and sci­ences, with patents in metallurgy to his credit, at the age of 42 he went to Nova Scotia as mining engineer. In Nova Scotia he devoted most of his efforts to ambitious industrial projects, ranging from a pulp and paper mill to oil drilling and drainage of land for agricultural usage.

Von Ellershausen first visited Newfoundland in 1874 to inspect a copper claim a German associate, Adolph Guzmann, had staked out for him in Notre Dame Bay in 1872. He optioned the Betts Cove qv site from its owners for a royalty on the mined ore and formed the Betts Cove Mining Company with two Glasgow finan­ciers. Mining operations began in the spring of 1875. During that summer 6000 tons of copper were produced. By 1879 a total of 102,000 tons had been mined. The ore was smelted for shipment to Swansea. In the meantime, Betts Cove had become a thriving town of 1000 New­foundland, German, Canadian, English, French, Califor­nian and Australian miners. Von Ellershausen took a personal interest in the welfare of the community by inspecting the working conditions in the shafts daily and providing for entertainment and cultural activities. Dur­ing the winter season mine officials, "all young gentle­men of good education", as the Rev. Moses Harvey noted, gave concerts, public readings, lectures and even engaged in amateur theatricals. The company built a Presbyterian church and maintained a school, whose teacher was paid by the company. The community had four churches, a school, a hospital, a telegraph station, a customs house, various stores, and even a "clean, cosy and well-kept market place".

492 VOY'S BEACH

In order to reduce his expenses and maximize profits at Betts Cove, von Ellershausen in 1878 pleaded for a rail link between Halls Bay and St. George's Bay, arguing that such a line would be cheaper, easier to build, and more useful than the planned railway between St. John's and Notre Dame Bay. He continued to be involved in Newfoundland railway politics after he sold, at a handsome profit, his Betts Cove Mining Company holdings (which included the copper mine at Little Bay qv) to the Newfoundland Consolidated Copper Mining Com­pany in January 1881. From the summer of 1883 until August 1884 von Ellershausen worked the lead mine at Silver Cliff near Little Placentia (now Argentia). This time, however, success eluded him. At age 64 he left Newfoundland for some prospecting in Spain and subsequent retirement in Germany. He died in Berlin in 1914. Moses Harvey (1879), James Hiller (1980), ET, Harbour Grace Standard, Morning Chronicle, North Star, Royal Gazette, Times, Archives (GN 1/3/A- 1877, 1878). GERHARD P. BASSLER

VOY'S BEACH (pop. 1966, 12). Voy's Beach is lo­cated on the south shore of the Bay oflslands, southeast of Frenchman's Cove, and was probably one of the earliest settled sites in the area. In 1849 Bishop Edward Feild noted two cottages southeast of Frenchman's Cove, while a family named Park (one of the earliest recorded family names in the Bay, dating from the 1830s) was living there by 1866. By the 1880s the other family names associated with Voy's Beach had also been recorded (Bayley, Parsons and Strickland). The community first appeared in the Census in 1901, with a population of 15. The largest number ever recorded was 53 people, in 1945. The tiny fishing community was resettled in the late 1960s, and in 1971 the site was included in the incorporated community of Halfway Point­Benoit's Cove-John's Beach-Frenchman's Cove qv. Since that time the highway behind the beach has been settled, but in 1994 this area (Strickland's Road) was considered a neighbourhood of Frenchman's Cove. There were also summer cabins at Voy's Beach itself. Edward Feild (1851), E.R. Seary (1977), Census (1901-1966). RHC