Jack & Jackie's Travels: 29. Labrador

July 27-28, 2011

We drove from St. Anthony to St. Barbe where we stayed over night and took the ferry to Labrador the next morning. Since we were going to be in Labrador only that night and part of the next day we left the motor homes in the parking lot and walked aboard the ferry. There was a bus on the other side that would provide our transportation while we were in Labrador. The ferry station is in Quebec Province.

There were a few trucks loaded before we were allowed to board. Walking on gave a good view of how the bow opens to take the vehicles on board. It looks like the bottom of the bow door is at the water line. There were a few jokes about good seals to keep the water out.

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The first stop was at an ancient burial mound. The picture below plus those in the on-line album explains what is known about the site and who is buried there.

Since we were across the strait from Newfoundland there were ice bergs in the vicinity.

After a short stop at the burial site we went to the Point Amour Lighthouse. Built in 1851 it is the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada at 109 feet. It is now a historic site open to visitors. There are128 steps, which we climbed to get to the top. Between the years of 1879 and 1963, three generations of the Wyatt family were its keepers. It is now fully automated, but back in those days the Wyatt’s had to climb the stairs every four hours to refill the fuel or pressurize the fuel tank. The light was like today’s Coleman Lantern only larger.

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The original lantern light has been replaced with a 100 watt bulb. There are four bulbs, with one being used and three spares that can be rotated to the proper operating position should the one in use fail. The lens is original although some of the elements have bee replaced due to being chipped and broken over time.

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Looking down we saw a strange rock formation, which we were told, was a fossil bed. Our bus looked rather small from the top. The square concrete pads were the remnants of the fog horn

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After lunch we went to Red Bay Labrador where the Basques hunted right and bowhead whales in the 16^th century. This area is a National historic Site. In 1978 a wreck was located in the harbor which was believed to be the San Juan, sunk in 1565. The pieces of the ship were mapped, brought to the surface for study, then returned to their original positions at the wreck site. While exploring the wreck they discovered another smaller, whaling boat known as a chalupa was under the San Juan. It was brought to the surface, preserved and is on display.