Port Aux Basque, Nfld

Gaves in the Area - Assorted Sources

Bomments by Bruce Musson - 20 October 2004.

Why should some of the pipes have gone in to a depth of two feet while others went in as deep as 10 feet?

Some of the poles went through the ground and stopped when they hit rocks at a depth of two feet, while others that did not strike a rock, were driven in to a depth of 10 feet.

There were a number of graves in the area and it appears as if some of the pipes that went to a depth of ten feet managed to go right through some of the graves.

The graves were from the "Lady Sherbrooke" ship which went down in July 1831. The bodies washed ashore and were buried all around where the house is located, by my Great Grandfather and other Mouse Island residents. The property was owned by Morgan Keeping at the time. When I was there in 1963... you could still see grave mounds to the west of the house. When my dad was a child a skull with blonde hair was dug up by a neighbours dog, and reburied. They were very spooked and superstitious in those days. My dad says they had to "move" one house because it was accidently built over some of the old graves and the noise was too much to bear !! Lots of ghost stories on that point of land !!

Additional Detail: - The Lady Sherbrook was a ship of 377 tons with Captain H Gambles at the helm. It was lost with 268 persons near Cape Ray, July 19, 1831. The captain, two seamen and 27 passengers were saved. Preliminary detail indicates that there apparently was a court case and Captain Gambles was found guilty of deliberately wrecking the ship.

LADY SHERBROOK - 1831
Green Book - Underwriters
Master: Captain H Gambles
Rigging: Ship; single deck with beams; sheathed in 1830
Tonnage: 37 tons
Construction: Nova Scotia; vessel 19 years old; good repairs in 1823 and 1829; some repairs in 1831.
Owner: T Loggan
Draught under load: 17 feet
Port of survey: Liverpool
Voyage: Londonderry to Quebec