Between Sea and Sky: Strange and Unique Stories of the Sea

Creative Publishers: St. John's, 2002, 300 pages

To Order Book (Go to site)
Robert Parsons - Newfoundland Author

Between Sea and Sky is a tribute to our forefathers who experienced the strange and unique.

That so many survived is a testament to skill, hard work and knowledge. Often the events and circumstances the seamen and pioneers found themselves in was so unusual that to thave survived them at all was a matter of good luck.

This, the eleventh book by Robert Parsons, is according to the pre-readers/reviewers, "one of the author's best work." Amply illustrated with photos and support images, Between Sea and Sky has, on the cover, a tremendous piece of artwork by renoun Newfoundland artist Lloyd Pretty.

It's one of Robert's longest books and sells for $17.95. There are 10 chapters, 80 stories and many other sub-stories, each with the names of our people. The author spent over two years researching this, his latest work.

Any details required, e-mail Robert at robert.parsons2@nf.sympatico.ca



BETWEEN SEA AND SKY
Stories of the Strange and Unique

CHAPTER ONE - UNUSUAL

1873 Bay Roberts...........Adrift Six Months on an Ice Pan

1888 Placentia..................Wrackers or Salvors at Little Placentia?

1900 St. Shotts/Burin...........A St. Shotts Mystery Solved

1910 Avalon......................Brazilian Pirates and a Newfoundland Ship

1911 St. Jacques...............Reward for Rescue

1918 Burin Peninsula...........Clothes for the Dead on Christmas Day

1922 P. Bay/Carbonear............Unexpected Meeting

1927 Placentia Bay............Miraculous Escape

1928 Jude Island..............Armed Insurrection in Placentia Bay

1935 Elliston....................Swimming in the Middle of Nowhere

1936 St. Anthony.............A Debt Repaid, Forty Years Later

1938 Belleoram...............Struck by Lightning

CHAPTER TWO - WRECK

1895 Grate's Cove.............The Wrecking of S.S. Calitro

1909 Petty Har/Brigus......."Belles" of the Ocean

1928 West Coast...............American Racer On Whale's Back

1948 Fortune....................Fortune Seamen Stranded

1949 Pilley's Is./Belle Isle..Black Joe and the Isle of Demons

1953 Harbour Breton..............Rum Runner - Rum Chaser

1954 Cappahayden............On the Cliffs of Cappahayden

1960 Fogo......................Camperdown Goes Down

1960 Trinity..................Coal in Trinity Harbour

CHAPTER THREE - FATALITIES

1874 Carbonear...........................Only Two Came Home

1877 Frenchman's Cove................. Ortolan: "Naufrage" is Shipwreck

1885 Coley's Point........................The Great Tragedy of Coley's Point

1907 Brunette Island/Fogo..........From an Island to an Island

1913 St. Lawrence......................Unlucky 13 in St. Lawrence Harbour

1916 St. John's and C. Bay.....Fatally Rammed

1926 Port Union/Red Island...........The Long Walk

1950 Catalina/St. John's........Collision at the Narrows

CHAPTER FOUR - DISAPPEARANCE

1874 Fortune......................Fortune Seamen Lost at Sea

1880 Fortune Harbour, N.D.Bay.."Memories" of Success

1887 Carbonear.................Derelict Sighted Twice

1892 Flat Is, P. Bay...........A Tragic Letter

1898 St. John's................Disappearance of Phyllis

1912 General...................The Winter of Discontent

1912 St. John's................Erna: In the Days of the Titanic

1922 St. John's................Sagua La Grande Disappears

1929 Catalina/St. John's...Vanished!

1951 Petites.....................December Storms

1972 Port Union..............The Old Swile, Gone But Not Forgotten

1976 St. John's................What Happened to Port Kerwin?

CHAPTER FIVE - DEBRIS

1877 Cape Race..................Double Tragedy at Cape Race

1894 Carbonear/St. Mary's....The Seaman's Trunk

1901 Trinity Bay................A Puzzling Wreck

1912 Winterton..................A Trinity Bay Mystery

1916 Trepassey/Salmonier....Bonnie Lass: Stranded on the Bar

CHAPTER SIX - SURVIVAL

1881 Trinity Bay.................Don't Give up Hope

1887 Grand Bank................Hiss of Death

1887 Conception Bay...........Rescued by S.S. Eagle

1910 St. Mary's Bay............Captain Singleton, Sole Survivor

1911 Bonavista Bay.............Minerva Turns Turtle off Torbay

1912 Fortune Bay.................Endurance...and Tragedy

1914 Grand Bank..................Memorial Service for the Living

1915 Oderin......................Shipwreck at Oderin

1927 Carbonear.................."Anxiety" As Posted in the Paper

1934 Elliston/Burin...............Elliston to the Rescue

1941 Burin............................Immigration and the Mary O'Hara

1956 Trepassey......................Surviving Hurricane Betsy

CHAPTER SEVEN - ABANDONMENT

1908 Carbonear.......Carbonear Crew, Shipwrecked Twice

1911 St. John's........To Fire a Ship

1914 Avalon............Lusitania, the Rescue Ship

1921 Portugal Cove...No Time to Celebrate

1921 Bay Roberts.....Bay Roberts Seamen on Clintonia

CHAPTER NINE - WAR

1917 Carbonear/Twillingate...........McClure: Victim of an Enemy Sub

1917 Herring Neck........................Sole Survivor

1918 English Harbour West............Peril by Sea; Prison by Land

1940 Grand Bank...........................Seven Days in a Leaky Boat

1943 Belleoram............................"Get Us a Lifeboat"

CHAPTER TEN - PEOPLE

1837 St. Pierre/Grand Bank.....In the St. Pierre Slammer

1852 St. John's................Bound Down for South Australia

1865 St. John's................Capt. John Burke, Balladeer Johnny Burke

1910 Fortune...................Fellow from Fortune in Bella Coola, BC

1912 Fortune...................Captain on Christmas Day, William Ayres

1928 Change Islands..........Mystery of the Poem: Loss of the Loyalty

1932 Belleoram.................Critchell of Patara

1955 Harbour Grace..........The Untimely End of M.V. Seneff

CHAPTER ELEVEN - MURDER

1831 Port aux Basques.............Dastardly Deed at Mouse Island

1912 St. John's........................Murder on Lake Simcoe

1917 Boxey/St. Jacques...........Marion: A Murder Mystery?

1923 Harbour Buffett...............Mutiny in Placentia Bay

1906 Grand Bank....................Mysterious Ritual Brings Death

Index of Towns, People, Ships and Events

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10 Chapters 80 Stories 75 Images or Photos