Tsunami: The Newfoundland Tidal Wave Disaster

by Maura Hanrahan

Twenty-seven dead. Staggering property losses.

Triggered by an offshore earthquake on the Grand Banks, a tsunami unleashed its fury on the coastline of the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland, killing twenty-seven people and destroying homes and fishing premises in fifty outports.

Here is the dramatic, incredible story of the South Coast Disaster of 1929, the superhuman efforts of Nurse Dorothy Cherry to save the sick and dying, and Magistrate Malcolm Hollett’s tireless campaign to rebuild shattered lives and devastated communities.

Shortlisted for the 2005 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards - Rogers Cable Non-Fiction Award

Winner of the 2005 Newfoundland and Labrador Historic Sites Heritage and History Award

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada

229 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2004

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story takes place where my ancestors settled: Burin Peninsula. ( my family being the Footes and Collins' of Collins Cove )Its a fascinating account about a tidal wave that no one saw coming. The aftermath in such small, family- connected settlements was heartwrenchingly devastating.

[LibraryCin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1929, Newfoundland was still its own country; it wouldn’t join Canada for another 20 years. In November of that year, under the ocean closeby, there was an earthquake, followed shortly after by a tsunami that hit the small island nation – three successive waves that hit the shores of the Burin Peninsula the worst. Many small fishing communities in that area lost food and fuel that was meant to get them through the upcoming winter, they lost homes, livelihoods, and 27 people’s lives, many women and children. The following day, as communication lines were still down, a blizzard hit the area.

The author describes people and families as they feel the tremor, wonder what’s happened, then relax when it ends... then, as the waves first arrive. Later, she follows one nurse, Nurse Dorothy Cherry, as she travels (with two local men to accompany her) through the blizzard between the small communities to offer help. Later, the word finally gets out to a wider world, and more help arrives in the form of clothes, building supplies, food, coal.

This is a disaster I hadn’t known about. This book is mostly facts, but the author does add in dialogue and even invents some background for some key people when she couldn’t find out enough. There is a note at the end of the book to explain this. Very interesting and heartbreaking, in some cases.

[Foggygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Mom's parents were born and raised on the Burin Pennisula and they rememembered when the tsunami hit, it was a total shock to everyone because they had never seen anything like it and haven't since.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An earthquake hit south of Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula followed by a Tsunami on November 18, 1938. The book tells the stories of the people affected by this fast-moving disaster and gives a little insight into life before and after their life and death struggles.

I found myself having a hard time keeping up with who is who. The book is not a smooth read, felt discounted and disjointed at times. I am giving it four stars because of the rawness of the heartbreaking picture of the survivors and the ones forever lost.

[Island Book Worm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is base on the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland. Growing up in Newfoundland I have a acquired love for books written about real life events. After hearing stories of such events in the past while younger. It was a delight to read the book. Very well done. A must read for everyone

[Katia M. Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had watched a documentary someone had uploaded to YouTube about this disaster a while ago, so when I spotted this book on Amazon I thought I would give it a read. It is quite in-depth with information taken from historical sources, interviews and correspondence. Some dialogue has been extrapolated from these sources but it seems in keeping with the events and actions of the people involved. Overall a well researched and well written book regarding this disastrous event that affected so many families.
As an after thought, I know this an historical overview, but considering the subject matter, it might have been useful to include a brief section on the mechanism behind undersea earthquake tsunamis. This would help readers understand why the waves were so high and caused so much devastation rather than simply three big waves came in after the ground trembled.

[Taylor Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a cool and interesting read

I am residing on the burin peninsula myself and I hear stories and see monuments of the total wave that hit there many years ago
This book fills me in on so many questions I have had
Amazing stories and timelines the author has put together
Can’t go wrong with flanker press

Read while at work on Damia Desgagnes

[Debi Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing on with my Newfoundland history sessions. This is an excellent history of a horrific event. Well written with a little bit of repetition. Sometimes it is difficult keeping the people organized in your mind.

[EP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an accounting from the perspective of the families affected by the 1929 Tsunami of the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland. For my own part, my grandmother and family were in St Kyran's where the water also withdrew but they were spared the killer waves.

[Deanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. So sad and heartbreaking what the people had to go through with the loss of loved ones due to the earthquake and then tsunami.

[Kelly Osmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

My father always talked about this, having lived in Grand Bank. So it was nice to read about it as I wasn't aware of the details.

[wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

a well documented and written book by Maura Hanrahan. heartwrenching in its facts and engaging in the stories of the lives.

a 4.5 metre wave coming in at 105kmph. terrifying!

[Jerry Cranford · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hanrahan engrossingly tells of the tragedy and its aftermath in a fascinating mixture of re-created conversations and intensely researched historical fact." -- Paul O’Neill, Author of The Oldest City: The Story of St. John’s, Newfoundland

"Hanrahan's lively and moving account dramatically recreates the lives of people who survived that fatal day." -- Canadian Book Review Annual

"Using a mix of recreated conversations and historical fact, Hanrahan has crafted an affecting account of a maritime tragedy with a cruel difference." -- Maclean's

"Hanrahan delivers a gripping story in a crisp, straightforward manner." -- The Telegram

"Using a blend of thoroughly researched historical fact, survivor interviews (including Margaret Rennie Saint), and recreated dialogue and scenes (anthropologist Hanrahan is from the region and is familiar with the physical and vernacular landscape), Tsunami takes the reader on an emotional ride covering that fateful day and the days immediately following." -- The Beaver

"The author has a gift of fluency and expression almost as if she experienced the events firsthand." -- The Aurora

"Tsunami is a gripping book as well as a piece of our history." -- The Reader

"Maura Hanrahan's research is painstaking. Her characters, historical figures resurrected, exude authenticity and her interpretations of the loves and times of Newfoundland outports ring hauntingly stark." -- Ian McAllister, Dalhousie University

"Hanrahan immediately draws the reader into the lives of the Peninsula residents . . ." -- Downhome

"By overlapping carefully reconstructed narratives, Maura Hanrahan's Tsunami: The Newfoundland Tidal Wave Disaster offers a poignant account of this singular, sad event." -- Atlantic Books Today

"Author Maura Hanrahan tells this remarkable tale with compassion and power, bringing to us a bit of Atlantic history we may not have known anything about . . ." -- The Chronicle Herald

"Well-written and thoroughly researched, Hanrahan's Tsunami is part intimate family memoir and part maritime history." -- The Evening News

[Gordon Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Until I saw the book, Tsunami: The Newfoundland Tidal Wave Disaster, I had never heard of this disaster. Weeks after the stock market crash that brought in the Great Depression, an earthquake occurred deep in the ocean, 250 miles south of Newfoundland. The quake created a huge tsunami 27 metres high in some places that came roaring into the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland destroying whole communities and taking lives.

Twenty-seven people dies, many in their own homes.

Maura Hanrahan does a great job in telling the story. She recreates some of the conversations and activities that were going on before the earthquake shook the island and the three waves came crashing in, from many interviews with the survivors.

Some of the men had been in the South Pacific during the first world war and had themselves experienced tsunamis, and tried to warn others in their villages, when they saw the water in their harbour sucked out. Some listened to their warnings and took to high ground. Others chose to ignore them as foolishness. Still others never heard them.

It is sad, horrible tragedy but as in all tragedies heroes do step forward such as Dorothy Cherry, a nurse who took to her horse traveling to community after community to tend to the sick and injured. Townspeople had to stand together as the cable, Burin's only link to the rest of the world, was cut by the earthquake. For three days the world did not know of the disaster until the SS Portia came by on a scheduled stop and radioed St. John's for help.

Although not part of Canada at the time, it's great to see that Canada was, by far, the largest contributor to the relief effort.

This book deservedly was shortlisted for the 2005 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards and won the 2005 Newfoundland and Labrador Historic Sites Heritage and History Award.

It is a piece of history, a disaster that the rest of the country should know about. This book is an excellent place to start.

[Noelle Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating tale of the devastating tsunami that happened on the Burin Peninsula in 1929. Being from and living there, this was a price of my local history that is worth reading. I even know someone who was alive at the time, Aunt Maggie Moores. This book was worth the experience of reading.

[Patricia Mccourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

My family is from Newfoundland, my mother introduced me to the story. I understood how isolated they were after the disaster having visited the area. the author did a good job bringing the story to life.

[Vicki Krivak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. The author did a great job of bringing the story to life. Hanrahan immediately drew me into the lives of the residents and the aftermath of the tsunami. A good read.

[Madeleine McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic

My new hero is Nurse Dorothy Cherry, who did all she could for the poor people of But in Inlet after the 1929 tsnami. Great read.

[Chris Briggs]

This was a well written book about the 1922 earthquake and tidal wave that hit Newfoundland. I had never heard about this but since I have been to Newfoundland a couple of times I found this very interesting.