Terra Nova Regatta, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the Terra Nova regatta the year the Prince of Wales brought over a picked crew that lost to the local fishermen. Everyone was at the party that followed, with dancing, drink, food, and "rousing fights with some hard cases"
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke (1851-1930)
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (MUNFLA-Leach)
KEYWORDS: fight violence sports dancing drink food music party moniker brawl
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1860 - The Prince of Wales's visit to Newfoundland
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL: Johnny Burke (John White, Editor), _Burke's Ballads_, no printer listed, n.d. (PDF available on Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 34, "The Terra Nova Regatta" (1 text)
Johnny Burke (William J. Kirwin, editor), _John White's Collection of Johnny Burke Songs_, Harry Cuff Publications, St. John's, 1981, #72, pp. 112-113, "The Terra Nova Regatta" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Morris Houlihan, "Regatta" (on MUNFLA-Leach)
NOTES [711 words]: Ben Schwartz's description is based on the MUNFLA-Leach text, not the Johnny Burke original. They are without doubt the same song, but I have not compared them in detail.
The event is now (since 1993) properly titled the "Royal St. John's Regatta," and informally known as "the Races"; according to Thorne, p. 143, it is the biggest sporting event in Newfoundland, attracting tens of thousands per year (although how many come for the races and how many come for the food and drink and side event is an open question). The schedule calls for it to be run on the first Wednesday in August at Quidi Vici lake just north of St. John's. (Because of Newfoundland's weather, it is not rare for it to be delayed a day or two.) Legend has it that the boat races might go back to the early 1700s, but the first formal regatta took place in 1818, and the committee overseeing the event was formed in 1826. It has been held almost every year since, except for a few times during the World Wars. Clearly it is taken very seriously; there is a very large "Royal St John's Regatta Boathouse" on the lake.
According to O'Neill-Oldest, p. 339, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) visited Newfoundland in 1860: "The Prince of Wales... was a guest at the 1860 Regatta and he offered a hundred pounds to the winners of the Fishermen's Race. Pedley writes that the prince 'gratified the fishermen by honouring their regatta with his presence and the wives of some of them still more, by going away from the holiday spectacle to examine the fishing stages in Quidi Vici, so as to learn something of the avocations of ordinary life.' Strangely enough, after this royal visit, there was not another regatta for eleven years." Edward apparently came back in 1870; there were reports that he fathered a child (p. 375).
O'Neill-Seaport, p. 689, reports of the 1860 visit, "The chambers of the Colonial Building were decorated with pink, white, and green bunting for a public ball in his honour," and adds on p. 525, "It was reported in the press that the feast encompassed '...all procurable delicacies from New York and such [sic.] wines including best claret and twelve dozen of champaign.' The cost for a ticket the the prince's dance and supper was fifteen shillings for gentlemen, seven shillings for ladies" -- an incredible price for Newfoundland at the time.
The next royal visit would be in 1919, when the future Edward VIII attended the first regatta staged after the World War I hiatus. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited in 1978 (Thorne, p. 144).
Major, p. 273, says that Protestants and Catholics, who were often in conflict in Newfoundland (sometimes violent), "came together in the summer... on the shores of Quidi Vidi Lake in what is the oldest continuous sporting event in North America -- the annual St. John's Regatta.... The regatta gained increasing prestige, enhanced by a visit from the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) in 1860. Newfoundlanders have always been keen on royalty (Catholics as well as Protestants), and when the prince made a circle of the lake by carriage, he was met with prolonged and lusty cheering from the assembled crowds, capped by the presentation of a Newfoundland dog.... [It] was presented as 'Avalon' [after the Avalon peninsula where St. John's was located?], though the prince chose to rename him 'Cabot' [presumably after the explorer credited with discovering Newfoundland]."
I find no record of Edward racing a crew of Newfoundlanders; merely of him awarding a prize in their race. Colton, p. 24, admits, "Whether Burke may have embellished the facts of the race under the guise of creative license is a matter of conjecture; however, there can be little doubt as to which boat he was cheering for.... Expressions of national identity are pervasive in Burke's more serious songs."
For a brief biography of Burke, see the notes to "The Kelligrew's Soiree." For another song about the Regatta, see "The Nine-Thirteen Men."
There is a sort of unofficial anthem of the event, "The Banks of Newfoundland" or "Up the Pond" (Thorne, p. 144). It's not one of the songs in the Index by that name -- it's not even a song but a tune. It is a march, also used as the quick march of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. - RBW
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