Perished: The 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster

by Jenny Higgins

In March 1914, 132 men from the SS Newfoundland scrambled onto the treacherous North Atlantic ice floes to hunt seals. Lost in a sudden blizzard, the sealers wandered for two days and nights before rescue. Only 55 made it back alive. This disaster had a deep and lasting effect; one hundred years later, the story still resonates.

Perished traces the events leading up to, during, and after the tragedy, revisiting the horrors of those days and nights on the ice and examining its long-term ramifications. It is also a one-of-a-kind backgrounder on the seal hunt, exploring the roots of the industry, the conditions on board the sealing vessels, the cut-throat competitiveness of sealing captains, and the determination of sealers who put their lives on the line every spring as they headed to the ice. Illustrated with more than 200 rarely seen archival photos and documents, including pull-out facsimiles of maps, log book entries, telegrams, a sealer’s ticket for the SS Newfoundland, and more.

72 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2014

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the format which included many photos and historical documents. The author does a great job of explaining what happened and giving background to it as well. A profoundly sad time in Newfoundland’s history. As a reader you will feel both extreme empathy and sadness for these brave and hard working sealers and rage about how they were mistreated by the greedy captains and merchants.

[Shirley Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very readable, small book about a catastrophic historic event. Its format is unique because facsimiles of newspaper logs, personal diaries, photographs and other paper documents are inserted strategically among its pages. It is a lesson we should all learn: when the lives of ordinary working people are ignored or secondary to profit-making, the potential for loss of life is huge. The people of Newfoundland are hard-working souls, and I could hardly keep my tears from soiling the pages of this book as I read first hand accounts by survivors.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, with loads of photos, maps, and pull-out facsimiles of historical documents.

[Debi Robertson]

This is an awesome volume dealing with the greed and corruption of merchants and sea captains and their treatment of the men who work for them. It is a beautifully put together book with excerpts from different voices, journals and court documents. An excellent read. You won't be able to stop shaking your head in disbelief.