Operation SUNAC

1951 – Memories of Cape Chidley – Del Burton

Prior to the fall of 1951 I had worked with different firms on electrical work and although I was not fully qualified I knew quite a bit in the area of theory. In mid September 1951 I learned that a firm called Fraser Brace was hiring men to go north on a government project. I went for an interview and it was determined that my knowledge was sufficient to be hired for the project.

The rules required employees to sign an agreement that kept us with the project for six months or we would have to pay our own fare both to and from the project site. We were advised that we would receive 60 hours of work a week and any thing over 44 hours would be at time-and-a-half. This meant we would get paid for 68 hours for every week on the job whether we worked or not. The cost of the required medical would be paid and our pay would be deposited weekly in the Royal Bank in Saint John, NB. The rate of pay for electricians was $1.75 per hour for regular time. It is interesting to note that my previous job as an electrician had paid less than $1 per hour. This proposition looked very good.

Initially, we were billeted in the Royal Hotel - a very well recognized hotel for food and loging. It was "easy street" for a while but this was not to last very long. Towards the end of September 1951, we were flown to Harmon AFB which was located at Stephenville in Newfoundland. Boy oh boy - those "yanks" sure fed us well. A couple of days later we boarded a scow and a tug took us offshore where we boarded a 10,000 ton of Liberty class freighter with name of Alamo Victory. This freighter had a crew of 37 - mostly black men from Texas - who had never sailed in frozen or snow bound lands before. They were a very nice crew, capable of making fun of what was to be a rather troublesome voyage.

It was explained to us that we would sail north for about three or four days and anchor near an island off Cape Chidley for a week or ten days, depending on the weather. We were given an address in Saint John for our family to send mail to us but we were not to say where we were going except to say a place called "N-30".

Our accomodation on board the freighter consisted of individual beds with three blankets each in the unheated hold of this rather large vessel. We were soon to be introduced to the weather of the Labrador coast which was very cold with north Atlantic winds. This was most uncomfortable to say the least and the Captain of vessel attempted to improve our lot. The ships crew, along with some of us, ran a steam line from a heated area to the hold we occupied but there was not enough pipe to return or dispose of condensate. As a result, our quarters became very damp and soon our blankets were wet and frozen at night and on some days saturated. We improvised the best we could by putting three cots beside one another trying to keep a warm dry bed, but this only lasted for a while.

We arrived and anchored off shore near Cape Chidley in early October 1951. And now for the humourous part of the story.

We had travelled all this distance - and we were at our destination. I would guess we spent close to 20 days at Cape Chidley and yet, we never managed to get ashore - not even once. It seemed as if our vessel was fully loaded with enough equipment to construct a complete radar station but we never managed to see any of it. "Mother Nature" managed to ensure that the weather would not allow for any offloading of men, equipment, or supplies, during our time at Cape Chidley.

While we were anchored off Cape Chidley, we had to go out to sea quite often. When the winds got very high we would haul anchor and go to sea or we would risk being blown ashore onto a very inhospitable beach with cliffs rising about 30 to 80 feet straight up. One morning all hands were awoken and moved onto the deck. We had drifted hazardously close to shore and had to relocate to avoid being beached. While we were close to Cape Chidley a medium sized craft with about eight or so Eskimos came along side and were invited aboard. I am not sure what took place as only one of them could understand our language. I think I still have a picture taken on board with myself and some of our workers and our welcome visitors. To give you a better idea of the hazards involved, I remember a story about another outfit called Drake and Merrit that lost three men trying to get ashore at Cape Chidley in 1952. Apparently the survey for Site N-30 was very poorly done.

After about 15 days on board the vessel there was a break down in the evaporator which made fresh water and we were only allowed to have one drink of water each day. We did have copious amounts of canned juices which we consumed on a large scale but this was not good for our health. We were told that the ships were becoming contaminated with salt water and we would have to return to Cornerbrook (on the west side of Newfoundland) for repairs.

We sailed south but we are not out of "woods" (or should I say "water") yet. The harbour at Cornerbrook was too shallow for our vessel so we had to sail east to St. Johns. Our situation remained unsettled as we were Canadians, on an American freighter, coming in from "international waters". We had to wait and additional day to clear customs.

I have neglected to mention that somewhere along our mis-adventure some of the 85 men working for Fraser Brace become very agitated and wanted to fight with anyone or every one that they saw. The crew was clever and those who participated were put in "irons". We have to remember that "at sea" the Captain is "Lord and Master" and is entittled to do this. All of our crew of 85 were searched and any thing that could be construed to be a weapon was confiscated. Whle we were in harbour at St. Johns the radio station heard that our vessel had a near mutinous crew aboard. Well are finally cleared through Customs - were given five dollars and went up town for hair cuts or what ever was needed. We had to return to our vessel in a couple of hours to get a flight back to Saint John NB. Oh great - or is it?

This was 1951 and weather reports could not be trusted. Our plane was delayed for two days. Our blankets had been sent to cleaners. They still fed us aboard the freighter but there was no place to sleep. Imagine trying to find place for 85 dirty travelers when a vessel only had room for the 37 crew.

It seemed as if we had long ago bid good bye to Cape Chidley never to return.