Against the Wind: Hope Sees the Invisible 2nd Edition

By Tony F. Powell

Tony Powell was born on March 16, 1955 in Charlottetown, Labrador, NL, on the Northeast Coast of Canada, son of the late Benjamin and Effie Powell. Together they had nine children—seven boys and two girls. Six boys become bush pilots. Tony is married to Ida Powell, and they have one child, Ramsey, who is a medical doctor.

Tony will take you on his life's journey. His stories are captivating, inspiring, and heart-wrenching. He never faltered in achieving his dreams and aspirations.

Tony has a great love for family and history. His greatest qualities are his positive attitude and calm nature, never allowing negative thinking to weaken his strengths and defeat his goals.

Tony's early years took him to the rich fishing ground off the shores of Labrador. At the tender age of seven he would accompany his dad and the crew to haul the cod traps in an ol' 10-metre motorboat. At age fourteen he was fishing as a share-man on his dad's longliner in the furry seas of Northern Labrador.

At age seventeen Tony was guiding sports fishermen from all over the world, fishing for trout and Atlantic salmon in our rich Labrador rivers and streams. Their excitement became his enjoyment.

Tony begin his career as a commercial pilot at the age of twenty. His love of flight included seven years with Labrador Airways, coupled with three years flying the mission plane out of North West River, Labrador.

Tony's dream was to have his own flying service. Pursuing his dream, he became owner/chief pilot of Labrador Travel Air, an aircraft charter company. With the newly constructed Trans Labrador Highway along our shores, Labrador Travel Air became history.

He has nearly 50 years of bush flying experience and 27,000 hours of flight time on over 30 different types of single- and multi-engine aircraft on wheels, skis and floats, including a commercial helicopter licence, often logging 1,500 hours in a single year. In Tony's years of flight thus far he is very proud to have a proven record of never having any injuries to his passengers or himself.

Tony continues to fly seasonally on a legendary Beaver seaplane for Portland Creek Aviation, and has his own PA-18 Super Cub C-GTFP.

I invite you to come experience first hand Captain Tony Powell behind the controls of the legendary de Havilland piston-powered Beaver during the seventies without heaters in –50oC temperatures. Watch him perform many lifesaving mercy flights while battling some of nature's most severe weather conditions anywhere on the planet. His described flights will surely capture the attention of the most avid flyer as we witness him survive engine failures and even a crash landing amongst the huge trees in Labrador.

Come live out in real time his heroic shipwreck. Sit on his modified Mach Z Ski-Doo and feel the adrenaline flow through your veins as you race for dear life up the big mountain in the Race on the Rock at Marble Mountain, NL.

At age 48, Tony was diagnosed with fourth- and final-stage cancer. Learn of his prognosis, and his courageous determination to survive. Experience his fight to beat the odds.

Throughout Tony's recollections you will travel by air, water and land, experiencing historic events and fatal airplane crash scenes in Labrador, including the story of his Grandfather Powell sailing onboard the Dorothy Duff while delivering a load of salt cod fish to the Mediterranean Sea during WWI. It will surely chill you to your core.

Tony will welcome you to his childhood family home where you will find pure love overcoming many of life's obstacles. Find out the true meaning of perseverance, courage and strength.

Tony has shown us what life's struggles are all about and how he survived them.

This book is a true reflection of living our lives one day at a time. Each day we all journey Against the Wind and survive the storms of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Feb 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228855927

Tony F. Powell

Tony Powell was born and raised at Charlottetown, Labrador, Newfoundland Labrador, a proud member of NunatuKavut, Southern Inuit of Labrador. He is mixed blood Inuit and European decent, the son of the late Author Benjamin W. Powell of Charlottetown, Labrador, NL. His mom was the late Effie Mary Campbell Powell, born at George's Cove, ten miles south of Square Islands on the southeast coast of Labrador. Married to Ida Powell of Conche, on the great Northern Peninsula of NL, they have a son, Ramsey Powell, who is a medical Doctor.When Tony was a boy the main mode of transportation along the Labrador Coast was by a Team of husky dogs or snowshoes.A travelling doctor and nurse visited our community once during the winter by dog team, and once during the summer by boat. The first scheduled Aircraft passenger service was Labrador Airways by single engine Otter in 1970 winter time only.

Book preview

Against the Wind

Copyright © 2022 by Tony F. Powell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-5591-0 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-7156-9 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-5592-7 (eBook)

Contact

Tony F. Powell

P.O. Box 160

Charlottetown, Labrador, NL. A0K 5Y0

Canada

[e-mail]

www.tonyfpowell.com

Table of Contents

Dedication

About the Author

Note from Benny Powell

Forward

Against the Wind by Tony Powell

A Special Note of Thanks

A Note from a Friend of the Author

Chapter 1 - Early Days

Chapter 2 - We Lose Everything in a House Fire

Chapter 3 - Moving to Square Islands

Chapter 4 - My First Hunting Trip

Chapter 5 - Sad News Arrives

Chapter 6 - Tony Gets His First Boat and Motor.

Chapter 7 - Tall Ships Enter Square Island Harbour

Chapter 8 - First Trip to the Snowmobile Races in 1969

Chapter 9 - First Flight

Chapter 10 - The Easter Snowmobile Races

Chapter 11 - First Hydro Engineer Arrives in Charlottetown

Chapter 12 - Grandfather Herbert W. Powell

Chapter 13 - Port Hope Simpson Sports Day 1974

Chapter 14 - Sailing North on the MV Bonavista

Chapter 15 - Fishing at Ironbound Islands, Northern Labrador

Chapter 16 - Ironbound Islands Heroic Shipwreck.

Chapter 17 - Tony Goes to Flying School

Chapter 18 - Float Endorsement

Chapter 19 - My First Landing Home in the Pilot’s Seat

Chapter 20 - Commercial Pilot Training

Chapter 21 - Hired by Labrador Airways

Chapter 22 - The Fun Has Begun

Chapter 23 - Windbound at Nain

Chapter 24 - Search and Rescue flight North of Nain

Chapter 25 - Blowin’ in the Wind

Chapter 26 - Last of the Ole-Time Bush Pilots

Chapter 27 - Engine Failure in the Piston Otter

Chapter 28 - End of Float Season

Chapter 29 - Mercy Flight in the Mission Plane

Chapter 30 - Historic Aircraft Tragedy 1939

Chapter 31 - Rescue Flight in the Red Wine Mountains.

Chapter 32 - The Ocean Ranger Tragedy

Chapter 33 - Tony Goes IFR, Spring of 1982

Chapter 34 - Checked Out on the DHC-6 Twin Otter Floatplane

Chapter 35 - Overnight Caribou Hunting Adventure

Chapter 36 - Aircraft Seized, Pilot and Hunters landed in Jail.

Chapter 37 - Fun Flying in My Citabria

Chapter 38 - Low-Level Mercy Flight on New Year’s Day

Chapter 39 - The day the Lobsters flew over my head.

Chapter 40 - Trip to Nova Scotia to fly David Hunt’s Piper PA-16 Clipper home to Labrador.

Chapter 41 - My Cessna 185 Adventures.

Chapter 42 - My Worst Aircraft Accident.

Chapter 43 - Search for Missing Boy on the Gilbert River

Chapter 44 - Flying Sport Fisherman

Chapter 45 - 1987 Argo ATV Trip to St. Lewis Falls

Chapter 46 - New State-of-the-Art Robertson Steel Aircraft Hangar

Chapter 47 - Flying Home My First Twin-Engine Aircraft

Chapter 48 - Cool November Bath

Chapter 49 - My Longest and Toughest Ferry Flight

Chapter 50 - Fatal Day

Chapter 51 - Meeting the Love of My Life

Chapter 52 - Fastest ride on Snowmobile from PHS to Home.

Chapter 53 - Search for Missing Boat Over the North Atlantic Ocean

Chapter 54 - Quick Flight to Halifax with a Broken Engine

Chapter 55 - Rescue Mission on a Cool Winter Night

Chapter 56 - Training to Be a Helicopter Pilot

Chapter 57 - Charlottetown’s Worst Accident

Chapter 58 - Hoisted Out of the Trees After Prospecting for Gold!

Chapter 59 - Tony Rides His Snowmobile Five Hundred Kilometres for the Drag Races

Chapter 60 - Tony Diagnosed with Fourth and Final Stage Cancer

Chapter 61 - Tony Crowned King of the Hill

Chapter 62 - Cain’s Quest: World’s Toughest Snowmobile Endurance Race

Chapter 63 - Tony’s Narrow Escape on the Hawke River

Chapter 64 - Another Aircraft Missing in Labrador

Chapter 65 - Summary of Memories

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my mother, Effie Mary Powell,

my wife, Ida, our son, Ramsey, and my sister, Marie.

About the Author

Tony Powell was born and raised in Charlottetown, Labrador, NL. A proud member of the NunatuKavut, Southern Inuit of Labrador, he is of mixed-ancestry Inuit and European descent. He is the son of the late author, Benjamin W. Powell, of Charlottetown, Labrador, and the late Effie Mary Campbell Powell, born at George’s Cove, ten miles south of Square Islands on the southeast coast of Labrador. Married to Ida Powell of Conche, on the Great Northern Peninsula of NL, the Powell’s have one son, Ramsey Powell, who is a medical doctor.

Tony enjoys hunting partridge and sport fishing with a fly rod for large brook trout and Atlantic salmon—something he has been doing all his adult life. He has been a commercial fisherman as well as a licensed hunting and fishing guide for the past forty-eight years.

Also, Tony has a need for speed, racing his snowmobiles at every opportunity since the age of fourteen, and riding and competing in racing events across the province of NL, and as far away as the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and Reno, Nevada, as well as sometimes doing long two-thousand-kilometre- plus adventure-rides across Labrador on his snowmobile by himself.

He was shipwrecked on Ironbound Islands, northern Labrador, in October 1975, in one of the worst hurricanes to strike Labrador in at least 135 years.

A pilot for more than forty-six years, Tony has flown across Canada from the Yukon to Labrador and most places in-between, on single and multi-engine airplanes with wheels, skis and floats. In this book there are many stories of those adventures, including search and rescue missions and lifesaving mercy flights—sometimes in severe weather conditions.

Tony continues to fly a legendary DHC-2 Beaver seasonally, out of his hometown of Charlottetown, Labrador, mostly flying sport fisherman to the rich Atlantic salmon rivers in Labrador where the fish are big and plentiful. He also enjoys flying his own Piper PA-18 Super Cub, C-GTFP, at every opportunity, and plans to do some long adventurous flights in the future.

Throughout Tony’s recollections you will travel by air, water and over land, experiencing historic events and fatal aircraft crash scenes across Labrador. You will read of his grandfather sailing onboard the schooner Dorothy Duff, delivering a load of salt cod fish to the Mediterranean Sea during WW I—it will chill you to the bone.

This book is a true reflection of living one day at a time as we all journey against the wind and survive the storms of life.

Note from Benny Powell

My first and most vivid memories as a little, crippled boy of my older brother Tony are being hauled by him to our new two-classroom United Church school in Charlottetown through the deep, white powered snow on one cold winter morning. I proudly sat on the little sleigh that Uncle Frank Clark had built for me just a few days earlier. I have many fond memories of my older brother that run deep.

We survived a plane crash together in the fall of 1984, and if not for the calm demeanour under extreme pressure and the superior skill from a natural-born pilot, the circumstances would have been much different. We fished together in Iron Bound Island, Labrador.

Tony was a sport fishing guide, an accomplished snowmobile racer, fisherman, businessman, and cancer survivor who did so much for others at his own expense, and now, amongst his many accomplishments, he is an author.

In his new book, Against the Wind, Hope Sees the Invisible, you’ll be riveted by the story of his life’s journey. You will read about the little boy who remembers losing the family house and his brand-new coat in a fire; you will be there with him on the edge of your seat in a shipwreck that the crew survived only by the mercy of God; you will read the emotional and motivating story of Tony’s fight after being told he had little chance of surviving cancer.

Against the Wind is a must-read for anyone who likes adventure, suspense, and the raw truth about a life well-lived. It is the stuff from which movies are made.

Forward

Dear Reader,

Welcome! Thank you for choosing my book. In the following pages I want to take you on a journey—my life’s journey, and in many ways our journey. My goal for this book is for you, the reader, to be encouraged by our own collective strength, determination and humor, in order to overcome the obstacles, we may have to face along life’s path.

I was born and raised in Charlottetown, on the south coast of Labrador. I am a fourth generation Labradorian whose ancestry is a mixture of European settlers and Labrador Inuit.

At the tender age of seven, I was introduced to the fishing boat at Square Islands. By the age of fourteen, I was fishing with my brothers doing a man’s work on Dad’s sixty-five-foot Longliner Blanche Marie for cod and salmon on the north coast of Labrador.

When I was sixteen, I flew to Goose Bay on Labrador Airways’ single-engine Otter floatplane with Capt. Mike Byrne; the fare was twenty-nine dollars. I first worked in the hold stacking logs on the wood ships, later at the USAF base for three months. I was always fascinated with aircraft. Through my work on the US base, I had the pleasure of meeting country music singer-songwriter stars George Jones and Tammy Wynette, who came to Labrador to perform for the US military at the NCO Club.

In May of 1972, I left home with brother Lester in his Cessna 180 CF-KEW. Because of the long mild spell that spring, the snow was all gone at our destination and the ice was too slushy to taxi on wheels in Charlottetown. We made a plan. The aircraft was placed on two komatiks joined together for take-off. We went airborne but the komatiks stayed on the ice, something never seen done before in Labrador. We flew direct to Deer Lake, landing without incident two hours later. The next day we boarded EPA ‘s Boeing 737 flew direct to Toronto, and then on to Sudbury, where Lester bought a Cessna 172 floatplane, CF-JJH, from Frank Welch. We stayed at Frank’s cabin at Lake Wahnapitae. Not too far away were the huge stacks at the Falconbridge Smelter, and at the south end of Sudbury, in Copper Cliff, was the Inco Super Stack, the highest in world when built two years earlier.

One evening while Lester was doing float training for his endorsement with Frank, I went downtown Sudbury to see Stompin’ Tom Connors and Wilf Carter in concert. It was awesome to see these Canadian country and folk singer-songwriters in person, an event I will always cherish along from that trip, along with the memories of flying home in less than desirable weather conditions, with no radios, and just a road map and compass for navigation. Even though I didn’t touch the controls, I learned a lot about bush flying on that trip.

At age seventeen, I was guiding at Powell’s Sports Fishing Lodge on the Gilbert River, sometimes piloting our thirty-three-foot cabin cruiser, Field and Stream, along the Labrador Coast from Square Islands to the Gilbert River area. When our sport fishing lodge closed, I went to Goose Bay on the coastal steamer SS Cabot Strait and worked in the woods with the Labrador linerboard until I was laid off when operations closed four months later.

Over the past forty-five years, I have logged more than twenty-seven thousand flying hours, mostly as a single pilot in both single and multi-engine aircraft. My most prized flights were those piloting the legendary de Havilland Beaver. I loved my work and still do seasonal flying as a commercial bush pilot. I was the owner-operator and chief pilot of my own aircraft charter company, flying the beautiful skies of the Big Land we call Labrador, as well as in numerous other areas, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, Western Arctic, and most places in between. I have encountered the most adverse conditions that nature can offer a pilot. Prior to starting my own company, Labrador Travel Air, I flew for Labrador Airways out of Goose Bay, including three years flying the air ambulance out of North West River, Labrador.

My compositions of true-to-life stories in the following pages will bring you into the many triumphs and setbacks along my life’s journey. My story will show how perseverance can help us overcome all obstacles if we remain positive in times of loss, and how to win with an abundance of gratefulness.

I will share with you my seven-year-long battle against fourth-and-final-stage cancer, the importance of having good people in my life during my time of need, and the large role they played in my recovery.

You will read about how much it meant to be given back my wings after having to do months of painful physiotherapy to build up my leg muscles in order to walk again. Enduring endless hours of speech therapy that gave me back my ability to talk. The agony of throat stretching so I could swallow solids again. Experience the real meaning of gratitude to people who have great faith in your flying abilities and give you back your dream of flight.

I hope you will understand through these stories the importance of our history, our land, our ancestors, family, and friends, and most paramount of all, to believe in the of the power of prayer.

For as long as I can remember, my parents taught me the importance of family, work, respect, gratefulness and prayer. Throughout my life, I have been faced with many challenges and I have overcome these by maintaining a positive attitude coupled with a good sense of humor, never allowing stumbling blocks—or even boulders—to prevent me from achieving my dreams. Always remember when choosing a career to follow your heart because just like me, after more than forty-six years, I hope you will still have the same passion as I do when I climb aboard my airplane, settle in the left seat with my hands at the controls, and call: Ready for take-off!

Thank you all for taking this wonderful journey with me, particularly my loving wife, Ida, who is also a cancer survivor. You have been my anchor over the past thirty years. You have been my greatest supporter, and for your countless hours of help and encouragement on the writing of my book I am grateful. To Ramsey, thank you for being a wonderful son. You made my life worth living! You are more than a son; you are my best friend.

Sincerely,

Tony F. Powell

Against the Wind by Tony Powell

(Comments on the book by Bill Rowe – April 19, 2021)

When Lisa Powell Dempster, Tony Powell’s niece, was elected to the House of Assembly—and resoundingly re-elected—for the district of Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair, she and I would talk of the close friendship that had existed in bygone days between my father, Fred Rowe, and her grandfather, the legendary Ben Powell of Labrador. My father told me that Ben Powell was one of the most interesting and admirable men he’d ever met. I am not surprised that Lisa, while possessing that proud family legacy but strictly on her own merits, has become a prominent cabinet minister in the government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Among Ben Powell’s other remarkable accomplishments, after he’d left Carbonear and ventured to Labrador at the age of fifteen, he became a renowned commercial fisherman and trapper, a highly successful entrepreneur and businessman, a founder of the settlement of Charlottetown, a writer of some nineteen eagerly read books and was justly recognized as a recipient of the Order of Canada.

However, perhaps the most personally fulfilling of his achievements would have been the extraordinary family that Ben and his wife, the highly regarded Effie Mary Campbell, created. Together, they produced nine remarkable children, the middle one, Tony Powell, who has written this book, Against the Wind.

I met Tony in 1977 when he piloted me in his aircraft from Nain, Labrador. And although that chance encounter was the only one we had, I remember him well. The charisma of his personality was such that he remained clear in my memory. When I read Tony’s book, I could see why.

Although he writes with humility, there is no disguising the tremendous courage, energy, and positive thinking he has brought to every challenge in his life—some even heart-wrenching. His decades of piloting many varieties of aircraft in Labrador and across Canada, with narrow escapes and multiple adventures, his participation in breath-taking snowmobile races in Newfoundland and Labrador and other venues in North America, his battle and survival against final-stage cancer, and the sense of history he brings to everything in his life make this a riveting read.

About Tony’s sense of history: His candid speculation about his probable blood relationship through his mother’s side of the family with the famous Donald Smith is an intriguing vignette. Labrador Smith started as a lowly administrator with the Hudson’s Bay Company in Labrador in the mid-1800s and ended as the head of that international corporation, becoming one of the British Empire’s foremost builders and philanthropists as Lord Strathcona.

And that’s only one of the many fascinating stories—historical and personal—in Tony Powell’s must-read book.

Bill Rowe

Lawyer, writer, broadcaster Bill Rowe was born in Newfoundland in 1942. Graduated in English from Memorial University, he studied for a Bachelor of Law at the University of New Brunswick on a Sir James Hamet Dunn Scholarship and went on to become a Rhodes Scholar graduating with an Honours M.A in Law from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He was elected to the Legislature five times, a Minister in the Provincial Government as the youngest Cabinet Minister in Canada, and Leader of the Opposition. He practiced law in St. John’s for many years and has been a long-time public affairs commentator, appearing regularly on national and local television and hosting a daily radio call-in show on VOCM and writing weekly newspaper columns. Rowe has written and published many great books.

A Special Note of Thanks

I want to thank fellow Labradorian Doug Letto for the final editing of my manuscript (Against the Wind, Hope Sees the Invisible) 2nd edition.

On a recent trip to St. John’s, I had the opportunity to present Doug with my book. It is difficult for me to put into words his genuine appreciation to receive it. After he read it, he took the time to send me his synopsis of my story. It was uplifting, positive, and encouraging. He also offered to assist me with the final editing of my manuscript.

I believe it would be fitting to give the reader a short biography of Doug Letto and why his gracious offer in the editing of my manuscript meant the world to me.

Doug is the published author of four wonderful books, including a history of the Labrador Straits titled In Cain’s Footsteps. My keen interest in Labrador history has made this book a fascinating read! It is very educational and a must-read!

Doug Letto grew up in L’Anse au Clair, Labrador. At age seventeen, he left the security of his family, friends, and community to attend Memorial University, earning himself a B.A., B.Ed, and M.A. in political science.

Although he considered teaching as a career and pursuing a Ph.D. to teach at university, he decided instead on a career in journalism. Doug became a reporter for CBC, later co-anchored Here & Now with Debbie Cooper, and finished with CBC in 2013 as a senior producer of Here & Now after a 31-year career. This amazing career choice allowed him to explore every part of our wonderful province and understand its issues directly through the people that lived there.

Most recently, he served on the Board of Regents at Memorial University. Prior to that, he was a member of the Access to Information and Protection Privacy Review Committee (ATIPPA) with former Premier Clyde Wells and Jennifer Stoddart.

Since 2013, Doug has been running his own communication consulting business, working primarily with firms in Labrador.

He and his wife, Joan, have two grown children.

From the above biography of this great man, I trust that you will understand it when I say with all sincerity: Thank You, Doug.

A Note from a Friend of the Author

It is indeed an honour and a privilege for me to pen these words about the author of this book, Tony Powell.

I first met Captain Tony Powell early in the early 1980s in the cockpit of a small airplane. I quickly experienced first-hand his unique character and qualities. I had many flights with him over the years and in my mind, he is simply a legend in his field of aviation. His mastery of the controls was second to none and his love of flight was evident to all who flew with him. His understanding of planes and his uniqueness in flying them is unbelievable.

Tony always had great faith in the planes he flew. I learned the hard way while on charter with him that if you spoke unfavorably about his aircraft, he had a unique way of proving his point. He taught me that lesson on one such charter with him and I soon came to understand any plane that Tony is flying will get us to and from safely. His motto was it’s not the airplane but the pilot at the controls.

I have gotten to know Tony quite well over the years and I have no doubt his life’s journeys in this book will keep the reader enthused. Whether it’s his love of flight, the need for speed as he sits behind the handlebars of his beloved Mach-Z, or living through the fierce seas of northern Labrador, he will amplify the true meaning of self-confidence and the abilities of the man.

Always smiling and enjoying the blessings of life which have come his way, despite the turbulence felt through sickness and sorrow, his strength to survive is commendable.

Tony is a devoted father and husband. I am proud to be associated with such an individual (a true gentleman), and I’m certain you will enjoy reading his book and getting to know this Man of Labrador.

Gilbert Linstead,

General Manager of Labrador Fisherman’s Union Shrimp Company Limited.

A special thank you to my cousin Patty Way from Cartwright, Labrador, for helping me with editing my manuscript. Others who helped include Jean-Jacques Reigneau from Chibougamau, Quebec, my friend James Court from Sept-IIes, Quebec, and so many others. Thank you all.

Chapter 1

Early Days

Tony and Marie with their Father Benjamin W. Powell Sr. In front of his general store in Charlottetown, Labrador 1959.

There was a winter blizzard raging along the Labrador coast on the night of March 15th, 1955. Around midnight, my mom told Dad to go get her mother. Grandmother Lenora Campbell ventured out in the blustery whiteout conditions and waist deep snow, arriving at our house a short time later on her snowshoes. A winter storm was no match for a mom whose daughter needed her. In the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, March 16th, 1955, a healthy eight-pound baby boy arrived. He would be named Tony. That name had great significance for my mom. I was named in honor of the good Doctor Tony Paddon, whom she had seen in Square Islands six months earlier on the Grenfell hospital ship, the Maraval. My middle name, Frederick, was after The Hon. Frederick Rowe, Minister for Labrador in the government who helped my father to get sales for his pulpwood at Grand Falls, Newfoundland, during the early 1950s when my father had his woods operation in Charlottetown, Labrador.

The February 26, 1955 edition of the Evening Telegram was sold with the first-ever paper made from Labrador wood, which was cut by my father Benjamin W. Powell’s woods operation at Charlottetown, St. Michaels Bay, Labrador. Dr. Frederick W. Rowe was Labrador’s provincial member and Minister of Mines and Resources. He had arranged a special deal with the Grand Falls paper mill in central Newfoundland to purchase the pulpwood from Labrador. Fourteen hundred cords were cut and transported to Charlottetown Harbour by Dad’s horses and approximately twenty teams of husky dogs. From there, the paper was loaded onboard the wood-ship Vagabond Prince and shipped to Botwood Harbour. At Botwood, the wood was loaded onto trucks and transported 40 kilometres to the mill, where it was made into rolls of newsprint weighing about 1500 pounds. (Copied from the Evening Telegram dated February 26, 1955, by my grandfather Powell.)

I recall my mom telling this little story,

At this time, my brother Lewis, who was just twelve years old, had his own fifteen-foot rowboat. My mom loved berry picking and since my dad was always busy at our summer home in Square Islands, Lewis would be happy to take her out to the many small Islands in St. Michaels Bay. If the wind was in his favor, Lewis would rig up a sail to give his arms a rest.

In 1957 he bought his first outboard motor—a three-horsepower Evinrude. This was a big deal, since it cut down on travel time. I was just two years old, and since there was no babysitter in those days, mom would take me along on the berry pick. Lewis put a tent over his boat and made it comfortable for our journey to one of the islands.

Mom enjoyed picking blackberries or crowberries in early August. They made for tasty, boiled puddings and jams. This was followed by bakeapples around the middle of the month, which were the cream of the crop when it came to berries. People always paid attention to the weather forecast around bakeapple picking time because these berries had to be picked as soon as they were ripe; bakeapples spoil quickly with the hot sun and are easily beaten from their stalk if there is heavy rain. The bakeapples were used to make pies, bakeapple juice, and were also quite tasty when served as a dessert topped with a pinch of sugar to sweeten the sharp taste.

September was blueberry picking month. Again, these berries made delicious puddings, jams, pies, crumbles, muffins and juice. The blueberry was a real delight when served with a little sugar and cream.

By late September to early October, after the first snap of frost, it was time for partridge berry picking. This berry is quite bitter and needs lots of sweetener. However, it’s the one berry that gets a better flavor when picked the following spring. These berries also made for delicious jams, pies, and juices. Berries were a big part of our food chain. We picked for free and they were all naturally grown.

I was just a year old when Mom took me along with her for the first time, she often found it difficult walking up over the island and then circling around the boggy marshes looking for a good batch of berries while she had a child in her arms. On this outing she picked the most bakeapples ever because she left me behind in the boat with my brother Lewis to babysit. I was fed, cleaned, and fast asleep, so she scurried up over the island and across the boggy marshes. We were always in her sight, but this was one time she could use both hands to do the picking without a baby swinging off her hips.

My mom always did very well with the berries. Once we were at the age that the older children could look after the younger siblings, she would get dropped off on the islands and pick berries until her buckets were filled or until darkness fell —whichever came first. If we did not see her once we arrived at the island to pick her up, we knew she was still picking. Usually though, she was down by the seashore sitting on a rock, smiling and happy with her pickings. She always said wild berries were among the healthiest foods on earth.

There are 365 Islands in St. Michaels Bay—one for every day of the year. One of these islands in the narrows to St. Michaels Bay was my mom’s favorite for berry picking. Today, in honor of my mom, it is referred to as Effie Powell’s Island.

Growing up, we all had our turn taking her to the islands. In her later years, Dad would drop her off on that island named after her on his way to Square Islands and pick her up again on his way back in the bay to Charlottetown. She certainly would enjoy those couple of hours of berry picking. Some things in our lives are etched in our memories forever. Mom’s love of berry picking is one incredibly special memory for me.

My family had just moved to Square Islands for the summer fishing season of 1957, It was mid June I was just two years old at the time and like all little children I was outside playing with my older siblings. A man by the name of Jack Shea, who had fished with my dad for years, was splitting up birch junks for firewood next to our house. Jack used to smoke the pipe sometimes. Like all little children, anything different attracts our attention and our immediate response is, Can I have one like that too?

With good intentions, Jack found a small birch stick and using his pocketknife, carved me a little pipe. I was as happy as could be going about with the pipe in my mouth. A few hours later, everyone was in an uproar. Apparently, I tripped while running down a flat rock between our house and my dad’s fishing stage, falling face down, and the narrow end of the stick went down my throat and broke off. Mom saw me fall and ran down to fetch me. Grabbing me in her arms she immediately knew I was literally choking. She began to call out in a loud and panicked voice, Come, somebody help me, Tony is choking! Within minutes her call was answered. With me in her arms she ran to the house with many others trailing behind her. Opening my mouth, they could see the stick stuck down in my throat, but it was down too deep for the human finger to nip the end of it. After several attempts to remove the stick without success, my face began to turn purple as I fought the swelling and bleeding. My breathing was being choked off. Each attempt to remove the stick would cause me to gag and vomit. Finally, after three hours, the stick loosened up enough that the next big gag pushed it up just far enough to pinch. The stick was removed!

There were no phones, and Dad did not have a working HF radio that summer. He had left for Fishing Ships Harbour in his motorboat with Harry Morris, nearly 20 kilometres away, where Lewis Roach, the manager of the fishing rooms, had access to a working radio. Even getting to Fishing Ships Harbour was tough. The northern ice was pinned on the Cape Shore, and that forced Dad and Harry Morris to land somewhere along the shore and make the exceedingly difficult eight-kilometre trek by foot along the rough terrain to Fishing Ships Harbour. Dad asked Lewis to try and get a message to St. Anthony Hospital and see if the Beaver mission plane was in the area because this was a life-or-death situation. Dad hurried back over the hills to the motorboat, and when he arrived back at Square Islands the next morning, he was relieved to learn the stick was removed and that I was doing okay. He also learned the mission plane, CF-JAT, flew over and circled Square Island Harbour the previous evening but could not land due to icy conditions.

As I grew older, I would ask my mom about that day. She would always choke back the tears and say, God was good to you that day, Tony. After we got the stick out, you were a long time getting better from the damage done to your throat. Thinking back, I am sure that must have been a terrible day for my parents. How terribly helpless they must have felt. You can read the full complete story about that dreadful day in my dad’s book, Labrador by Choice.

A year later, on a beautiful July morning in Square Islands, several huge icebergs were grounded at the entrances to the harbour and the motorboats were coming and going. Dad had three fishing crews that summer. Uncle Frank Clark was skipper of one crew, and my brother Lester, just eleven years old, was the youngest shareman on Frank’s boat. He cut-throat eleven hundred quintals of Cod fish that summer. Jim Hedderson, from Main Brook on the northern peninsula, skippered another crew. My dad’s sharemen were Bobby Hillyard, George Noel, and my oldest brother, Lewis. Dad had the smallest motorboat, and their priority was the salmon nets, followed by cod trapping. The codfish was so plentiful it was load-and-go with boatloads of codfish, each boat bringing in three loads a day when the weather cooperated.

Just a few days earlier the northern ice was moving in on the cape shore as Dad and his crew loaded the little motorboat with almost three hundred salmon from just one fleet of salmon nets at the distinctive Labrador landmark, Hole in the Wall—named after the huge hole through the cliff facing the Atlantic Ocean—at Cape St. Michael, seven kilometres southeast of Square Islands. That morning, my mom, looking out the kitchen window, said, here comes Jim Hedderson and crew, with the motorboat loaded to the gunnels (fully loaded) with cod. Looking at my sister Marie, she added, I’d better get a lunch ready your father, they should be here anytime soon! I was just three years old and thought she said, your father is here. I loved going down to meet my dad, so without notice to Mom or Marie, I booted out the front door and down over the long flat rock to the stage head less than a hundred feet away. Without slowing down, I slipped on the wharf plank and landed in the icy cold water. I cannot remember anything after that. After the motorboat moored, and prior to going up to the house for lunch, they pronged-up the boatload of codfish on the wharf. Just before the boys came up for their dinner, Mom realized I was not in the house, so she headed down to the wharf and asked, Where is Tony? But no one had seen me. In panic mode, everyone started searching. Suddenly, in a concerning voice, Jim Hedderson said, Is that him down there on the bottom among the cod’s heads? He grabbed the bolt hook and snatched me up. I was motionless as they ran with me in their arms toward the house. They rolled me around and patted my back. I began to throw up water. It would be about three hours before I recovered enough to talk. It just goes to show how easily children can slip away from our sight.

Chapter 2

We Lose Everything in a House Fire

The house where the Author was born, and later burned to the ground Losing everything in the Winter of 1961. The old school behind on the hill.

It was a beautiful, bitterly cold and sunny February morning, with a temperature of -37°C. All the older students were required to bring a junk of dry wood to school each day to keep the old pot belly stove burning, as this was our school’s only source of heat. I was just a tiny little fellow and would turn six in March. I remember the day—February 23rd, 1961—like it was yesterday, seeing all my older siblings with their junk of dry wood under their arms as we walked to school.

I was settling into class in our one-room schoolhouse on the hill, just a hundred yards behind our home. It was the first and only school in Charlottetown at the time. I went to school for the first time after Christmas that winter. My belly was beginning to feel like it needed food. I thought to myself it must be getting close to lunch time. Suddenly, our teacher, Edward John Flynn, rang the bell for the one-hour dinner break. Little did I know, it would be more than a year before I would return to school. The sixteen-by-twenty-four-foot schoolhouse could only accommodate forty students and because there