Port Burwell, Labrador

Assorted Detail - Pre 1910

Navigation Aid for Port Burwell - 1908

In 1908, Captain Bernier of the CGS Arctic, newly arrived from his Northern voyage, requested that a light be established at Port Burwell, Hudson Bay which, with one dissentient the Board saw fit to do; Port Burwell being an isolated post, Captain Bernier was requested to erect the light on his next voyage, which was duly carried out. Owing to the difficulties in providing regular care for isolated lights such as this, the aid approved took the form of a Wigham lamp, an ingenious type from which much was hoped but which never achieved lasting success.

The Wigham lamp burned mineral oil, by now known as kerosene, which was contained in a large drum having sufficient capacity for many weeks. To avoid the problem associated with the trimming of burnt wick, the Wigham lamp had an endless belt of wick, driven by clockwork, which moved at sufficient speed to aid capillary attraction by mechanical immersion. The flame was lit at the top of the wick in a specially designed burner.

Enexpected Company in 1904

On leaving Halifax, the expedition sailed for the west coast of the Hudson Bay, where they wintered at Fullerton near Chesterfield Inlet. In the summer of 1904 the Neptune cruised north up the west coast of Greenland to Cape Herschell on Ellesmere Island. Here they took possession, in the time honoured way, by hoisting the flag and proclaiming the sovereignty of King Edward VII in right of Canada, recording the event by the building of a cairn and the deposit of written proclamation. The return passage was made by way of Lancaster Sound and the approaches to the Barrow Strait.

These waters were then very lonely indeed, and there was no radio or aircraft by which the crews could keep in touch with the outside world. The Neptune had spent nine months fast in the ice the previous winter and, in her passage north had met only the occasional Scots or Yankee whaler, but one encounter remains to be told. An hour after she had come to an anchor at Port Burwell, homeward bound, an auxiliary steam barquentine hove in sight and came alongside. It was the CGS Arctic, Captain Joseph Bernier, on the way north to continue the work of the Arctic patrols.

Moravian Mission - 1904

The Moravians were at Killinek from 1904 to 1924 and originally bought the fishing premises of Job Brothers & Company from St. John's.

As far as I remember, the mission board in Germany authorized the funds to purchase the premises of Job Brothers. According to an earlier report, this included: a two-story dwelling house, a provision store, a large oil house with a total capacity to hold 3,000 gallons of oil, puncheons, boats, and seal nets. I thought that the Moravian location coincided with the location of the Job Bros. premises, because although the Moravians started building their own buildings, they still speak about the old house as if it were next door. Also, the Moravian store brother Goleby bought for $40.00 the house of the former Job Bros. resident trader Julius Lane. Mrs. Clara Lane and her stepdaughter Sofie remained in Killinek while Julius was away with the RCMP on the western side of Cape Fullerton, Hudson Bay. There were very complicated family relationships. Everything in the reports sounds as if it were pretty much the same location. Now, I have never mapped out the Job Bros. premises and their exact relationship to the Moravian buildings. I just assumed on the basis of the preceding that they were initially used and nearby.

This detail was made available Courtesy of Hans Rollmann.

Observing Ice Conditions in 1884-1885

Dr. Robert Bell was a member of the First Canadian Hudson Bay Expedition which carried out field work by the Geological Survey of Canada between 1884 and 1885. He was born in Toronto on 3rd June, 1841 and he was educated at McGill in Montreal where he won a gold medal acquiring doctorates in both medicine and applied science. In 1862 he was made a member of the prestigious Geological Society of London. Between 1863 and 1867 he was employed as assistant professor of chemistry and natural science at Queen's University. In 1869 Bell was employed full-time by the Geological Survey and began a series of northern and western explorations, mapping rivers draining into Hudson Bay and reconnoitering a route for a transcontinental railway. In 1877 Bell was appointed as assistant director for the Geological Survey, and in 1882 he was appointed a member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1884 Bell worked as the medical and science officer aboard the Neptune, part of the First Canadian Hudson Bay Expedition sent to explore Hudson Strait. He returned a year later in the same capacity onboard the Alert. In 1890 he was appointed the chief geologist of the Geological Survey. In 1897 he explored Baffin Island for the GSC and in 1899 Great Slave Lake. In 1901 he was appointed assistant director of the Geological Survey, a position he retained until his retirement in 1906. Bell died at Rathwell, Manitoba on 19th June, 1917.

The First Canadian Hudson Bay Expedition of 1884-1885 was sent to establish stations for observing ice conditions in Hudson Strait by the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries and the Geological Survey of Canada. The purpose of the expedition was to establish six stations with a wintering party of three men at each. The first station was to be established at Port Burwell; the second at Ashe Inlet; the third at Stupart Bay; the fourth at Port de Boucherville; the fifth at Mansel Island and the sixth at Port Laperriere. The fifth station at Mansel Island was not established at that time. The men who were left at the stations made daily observations on ice conditions until the summer of 1885 when they were relieved by members of the Second Canadian Hudson Bay Expedition.

Killinek Island

Killinek Island is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, and between 2 miles (3 km) to 9 miles (14 km) wide. The island is located in the SE Franklin district, NWT, Canada, at at SE entrance of Hudson Strait. It is located off the northern extremity of Labrador. The northeast extremity of Killinek Island is Cape Chidley (60°23'N 64°26'W), and is usually considered to be the northern tip of Labrador. On the west coast of Killinek Island is Port Burwell which has served as a trading post.

The Labrador Boundary

Victory in the Seven Years' War gave Britain control over New France, including Labrador. In 1763 the British government organized these new territories, in part by creating the province of Quebec. The 1763 proclamation also stated that "to the end that the open and free fishery ... may be extended to and carried on upon the Coast of Labrador ... we have thought fit ... to put all that Coast, from the River St. John's to Hudson's Streights ... under the care and inspection of our Governor of Newfoundland." The interior boundary - that is, the boundary between the "Coast of Labrador" and the territory then controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) - was not defined.

The situation was complicated by a series of changes after 1763. Considerable friction between the governments of Newfoundland and Quebec was generated by the complaints of those who had obtained Quebec grants to settle along the coast between the St. John River and Blanc Sablon and conduct sedentary fisheries - the Newfoundland authorities being intent upon encouraging the migratory fishery. One of the provisions of the 1774 Quebec Act (14 Geo III c 83), therefore, was to transfer to Quebec all the "territories, islands and countries" in Labrador that had been placed under Newfoundland jurisdiction in 1763. In addition, the northern boundary of Quebec was now defined as the southern boundary of HBC territory (wherever that might be). However, instructions issued to governors of Newfoundland after 1774 required them to supervise the fisheries at Labrador, and to protect the Moravian mission settlements which had been established at Nain, Okak and Hopedale.

This vague division of responsibility proved unworkable. As a result of lobbying in London, in 1809 the Labrador coast (as defined in 1763) was returned to Newfoundland (49 Geo III c 27). There remained, however, the problem of the proprietors on the North Shore, and this was finally settled by an act of 1825 (6 Geo IV c 59), which moved the southern boundary from the River St. John east to Blanc Sablon, and extended the boundary line inland to the 52nd parallel. From there it ran west to the headwaters of the St. John River.

There was, then, a southern boundary, and it came to be generally accepted that northern boundary lay at Cape Chidley on Killinek Island. But the interior, western boundary remained undefined. Active discussion of the interior boundary issue began in the late 19th century, prompted by two linked developments. First, the former HBC territories were acquired by the Dominion of Canada in 1870. Second, an 1880 order-in-council gave to the Dominion all British territories in North America which were not already included either in Canada or Newfoundland. Not surprisingly, both Ontario and Quebec pressed for a redefinition and extension of their borders.

In 1898, the Canadian government extended the northern boundary of Quebec. The line was to run from the coast of James Bay, along the Eastmain River and the Hamilton (now Churchill) River, and then through the middle of Hamilton Inlet until it reached territory under Newfoundland jurisdiction. In Canada's view, Newfoundland could claim only a coastal strip of land. This legislation ignored the 1825 act.

Quebec soon tried to enforce the new boundary. In 1902 the Newfoundland government granted a timber concession on both sides of the Hamilton River (297 sq miles) to a Nova-Scotia based company, the Grand River Pulp and Lumber Co. Ltd., owned by Alfred Dickie. The Quebec government promptly protested that part of the concession was - by virtue of the 1898 act - in Quebec. The company responded that it was not trespassing on Quebec territory since Newfoundland claimed all lands north of 52 latitude and east of 64 longitude. Quebec appealed to the federal government to intervene.

Canada agreed that the "coast" of Labrador could not include the Hamilton River, and so informed the British government. For its part, Newfoundland repudiated the allegation that the timber concession on the Hamilton River encroached on Canadian territory. It was eventually agreed to submit the dispute to the Privy Council, Newfoundland claiming that the boundary was defined by the height of land.

The fact that the boundary was in dispute did not prevent another significant extension of Quebec territory in 1912, when that province was given jurisdiction over the whole Labrador Peninsula except the territory "over which the Island of Newfoundland has lawful jurisdiction", and the offshore islands, which remained under federal control. As in 1898, the 1912 act assumed that Newfoundland was entitled to no more than a narrow coastal strip.

The case was heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1927. Canada argued that the annexation of the Labrador coast to Newfoundland in 1763 reflected the policy of developing a British migratory fishery there. Newfoundland was not then a colony in any official sense, but a fishing station, and it made sense at the time for all British fisheries in the region to be placed under one government. To carry out and supervise a fishery, all that was needed, and therefore intended, was jurisdiction over a coastal strip. Moreover, the Labrador interior was "Indian territory" as defined in 1763, and never under Newfoundland's control.

In reply Newfoundland emphasized the use of the phrase "coasts and territories" in instructions to various governors, and argued that more than a coastal strip was intended: John Agnew was granted in 1774 the right to search for minerals up to 60 miles inland; the southern boundary ran inland to the headwaters of the River St. John, and later as far as the 52nd parallel. In any event, so Newfoundland held, it was clear from the proclamation that whatever did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Hudson's Bay Company or Quebec, fell within that of Newfoundland, and was not "Indian territory". Moreover, the Newfoundland government had continuously administered Labrador since the late 18th century. Finally, precedent proved that the word "coast" included the entire watershed.

The court upheld the Newfoundland arguments, and declared the Labrador boundary to be

... a line drawn due north from the eastern boundary of the bay or harbour of the Anse au Sablon as far as the fifty-second degree of north latitude, and from thence westward ... until it reaches the Romaine River, and then northward along the left or east bank of that river and its head waters to the source and from thence due northward to the crest of the watershed or height of land there, and from thence westward and northward along the crest of the watershed of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic Ocean until it reaches Cape Chidley.

This decision has always been unpopular in Quebec. Ironically, in 1925, the Newfoundland government had offered to sell Labrador to Quebec in order to pay down the public debt, but the Quebec premier turned the offer down.