Petty Harbour Bait Skiff

DESCRIPTION: A bait skiff sails from Petty Harbour to Conception Bay in the spring and encounters a storm on their return in the summer. A rescue party is dispatched, but only a young fisherman named Menshon is saved.
AUTHOR: John Grace
EARLIEST DATE: 1852 (source: Another Time: Songs of Newfoundland); first publication perhaps 1912 (Murphy)
KEYWORDS: wreck ship disaster rescue
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Fowke/MacMillan-PenguinBookOfCanadianFolkSongs 13, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland, "Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune): pp. 48-49 in the 2nd edition, pp. 46-47 in the 3rd, pp. 34-35 in the 4th, pp. 34-35 in the 5th
Lehr/Best-ComeAndIWillSingYou 87, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl-NewfoundlandersSing, pp. 99-101, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mills-FavoriteSongsOfNewfoundland, pp. 29-31, "Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BAITSKIF*
ADDITIONAL: James Murphy, editor, _Old Songs of Newfoundland_, James Murphy Publishing, 1912 (PDF available on the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 4, "Petty Harbor Bait Skiff" (1 text)
James Murphy, _Songs Their Fathers Sung: For Fishermen: Old Time Ditties_, James Murphy Publishing, 1923 (PDF available from the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 8, Petty Harbor Bait Skiff" (1 text)
Roud #4410
RECORDINGS:
Cyril O'Brien, "Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Pat Sullivan, "Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
NOTES [163 words]: Doyle mentions that he received the song from someone who was still alive when the book was compiled and remembered the events fully. However, the recording, "Another Time: Songs of Newfoundland," notes that John Grace wrote the song in 1852, which was almost ninety years before Doyle published it. - SH
The attribution to John Grace is also found in Murphy's book, which seems to be the first actual publication. He says that the name of the sole survivor was "Menchington."
According to G. M. Story, W. J. Kirwin, and J. D. A. Widdowson, editors, Dictionary of Newfoundland English, second edition with supplement, Breakwater Press, 1990, p. 15, a baitskiff is a "large undecked boat with 5 to 7 crewmen, propelled by oar and sail and employed to catch caplin, etc. for use in the cod fishery." These bait fish included herring, lance, squid and others; they were used to bait the lines used to catch cod, Newfoundland's chief food source and export (StoryEtAl, p. 14). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: Doy48

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