Now, folks, if you will listen to what I have to say,
About the S.S. Bar Haven that went ashore in Fortune Bay;
She left Argentia for the Southwest Coast, Port-aux-Basques she was bound,
And making good time despite a storm, in command of Captain Brown.
He covered all ports as far as Grand Banks that cold, winter's day,
To try and leave before the storm to get up in Fortune Bay;
He left Grand Banks on Saturday night for St. Bernard's as we know,
With too much wind and the high sea they likened she had to go.
He came in on his usual course that cold, January night,
With the snowstorm and the high wind he couldn't see the light;
For the light was out upon the point, and to see land was a shock,
Before he had chance to go starboard, he hit the raging rocks.
Captain Brown he did a marvelous job, saving passengers and crew,
When he got assistance from the S.S. Baccalieu;
The Bonavista on her way for Sidney, Mister Healey heard the news:
"We'll have to go back to the Ragged Point to see what we can do."
The Burin was dispatched to the scene with drums and water pumps,
To try and float the Bar Haven that was aground on Ragged Point;
On Tuesday at one p.m. the Bar Haven was afloat,
And under her own power tied up at Bay L'Argent port.
She will be repaired at St. John's, oh time will soon come 'round,
To see her back on the Southwest Coast in command of Captain Brown;
To see her back on the Southwest Coast in command of Captain Brown.
####.... Frank Banfield ....####
Recorded by Frank Banfield (Newfoundland Country Selections, trk#4, 2007, MMS Atlantic, Marystown, NL, recorded at Sim's Studio, Belleoram, NL).
Ragged Point is located approximately 90 km northeast of Grand Bank and west of St. Bernard's-Jacques Fontaine at latitude 47.524736°, longitude -54.966273°.
Excerpted from the book Honour Thy Mother by Thomas C. Badcock, Breakwater Books, 2004: The S.S. Bar Haven was one of several coastal steamers which provided the only contact many coastal Newfoundland communities had with the rest of the world. There were twenty-five cabins and one large lounge on the boat, and it brought mail, food, clothes, machinery and everything else needed to sustain life in the remote villages. Items as necessary as books, fishing gear, lamps, stoves, trousers, winter coats, dresses, and other essentials, could be ordered and delivered by boat. But the biggest bulk of the cargo was, by far, groceries which were delivered to outport general stores to replenish stocks for the communities.
From the Shipping Times database: S.S. Bar Haven - passenger vessel built in 1948 by Fleming & Ferguson, Paisley, Scotland, Yard No. 743, for the Newfoundland Railway Company, registered in the port of St. John's, Newfoundland. Tonnage: 1138 grt; Length: 213 feet 6; Breadth: 34 feet 2; Draught: 16 feet 10; Speed: 11.5 knots; Status: retired in 1973 and sold for scrap.
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