Rencontre East, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada
Isolated and Loving It

I travelled quite a bit on her during our summer holidays. The cost was quite reasonable; for instance, to travel from my home town, Rencontre East, to Belleoram, was fifty cents. There were three stops before we reached Belleoram. They were Lally Cove. Bay du Norde and Pool's Cove - so for only fifty cents we had an enjoyable trip. The mail boat was launched at each settlement, taking passengers back and forth. I never cared to walk up and down the ladder which hung over the side, as it was quite wobbly. Two mailmen would hold the bottom to steady it until we either stumbled or landed upright in the well curved bottom of the boat. Sometimes the distance to the shore was great but the four or six men rowed rigourously to get the job done. When they reached shore they had to put the bags of mail on their backs and carry them to the Post Office, often far.

We were never certain when the Glencoe wound arrive because after the Post Office closed, we had no way of knowing if she would stay overnight at the settlement last posted on the window. I have often wondered why the Post Mistress didn't use a red coloured pencil to write reports of the boat. We usually had to go inside the fence to get a close look. Sad to say, there were days when the same report we read in the morning would still be there at closing time.

Children at Rencontre would shout out "here comes the Glencoe" as soon as she appeared. We had an advantage there as she crossed a passage way first and then she would be awhile before she came around the island known as Mall Bay Island. This gave us time to carry our suitcases down to the landwash before the mail boat came to shore. We could also see passengers if there were any. They could be seen long before the boat got to shore and the excitement would be great -wondering who was coming. Usually it was someone who had left the week before. It didn't matter though, as it was all in the day's activities.

Once I travelled as far as Ramea to visit relatives, a three to four day trip and the cost of everything was less than ten dollars.

The stewards also wore snow-white, heavily starched jackets and wore their hair combed back and how their hands shone. There was no written menu; they chanted it to us quietly and it was usually the same • "roast beef, corned beef or cold boiled ham, raisin pudding or jam pie, tea or coffee." They remembered each individual order and as for myself I never received an incorrect dish.

I'm not sure about today's system of travel on the coastal boats, but in the thirty's passengers travelled either first or second class. Second class cost half as much as first. The purser would be standing opposite the boarding of the ship from the ladder and as I recall, the ticket was quite long and he would use a clipping machine. I never did study my ticket but I believe he checked the date, place of departure and cost. I remember little dots of paper flying first and second class directions.

I always felt sorry for the passengers who had to travel second class as they were separated by eating and sleeping in the bow of the boat. There was always a strange smell coming from those quarters and the passengers seemed to feel inferior to the ones in first class.

There were two occasions during the year when the Glencoe would be overcrowded with school teachers going to and from their places of employment. I remember being on board on one of these trips when there weren't enough berths for the first class passengers so some were given the option of either sitting up all night or of sleeping in the second class quarters. In those days I was quite a sleepy head, so there was no way that I could sit up all night. Therefore, along with several other passengers we decided to sleep in second class accommodations. Well, it was an experience I shall never forget. As I recall, there was one large wire bed, divided into single compartments. The sheets were white and clean but the blankets were dark grey in colour and when they touched my face it felt like soap pads. Cockroaches were hopping from one passenger to another, never contented enough to settle down for the night. I always heard there were bed bugs and fleas around too, but since the lighting was so poor I couldn't see them so I tried to put it out of my mind. I felt so miserable that it was impossible to sleep that night.

Speaking about second class, I remember a young girl from home who was to go to service with a family in Port-aux-Basques and she received a telegram which read as follows: "Come by Glencoe second class, passage paid at Port-aux-Basques." Needless to say, it was the song of the week. Because it rhymed so well, someone put a tune to it and we had great fun.

Sometimes we would have a bit of entertainment over the boat's arrival. After she was seen crossing the passage we children would get together and play the game of who would see her first. Cries of "There she isn't" could be heard amid laughter.

There was always a stewardess on the Glencoe who kept our berths in order and also to make sure that we were in bed at an early hour. I remember her dressing the berths one morning and when she started doing mine, she looked at me and said, "It's no trouble to know what kind of home you come from." The reason she said this was because my bed clothes had only been lightly disturbed.

I'm not saying she was wrong in her opinion of my clean and tidy home, but what she didn't know was that I was such a sleepy head that as soon as I looked at the berth my sleeping process would begin and by the time I got under the clothes I would be off to sleep and wouldn't move all through the night. It was too bad that passengers were misjudged because of the untidiness of their berths when, probably they tossed and turned all night. Those were the breaks and some people were judged wrongly.

It was the month of August, in the year 1938 that I first saw my husband, Jim and he was sitting in a mail boat coming from the Glencoe. All of us were anxious to see our new teacher. I shall never forget my remark when I saw him. I turned to a friend and said, "Anyone can have him for me." After meeting him a few times, my thoughts of him were private and never spoken to anyone. Two years later we were married and travelled quite a lot on the S.S. Glencoe.

"Here comes the Glencoe," really does give me nostalgic feelings and I hope I shall never lose them.