Jun 9 Red Bay and Labrador

 

The ferry crossing of the Straits between Newfoundland and Labrador was a couple hours. It featured icebergs. The Greenland glaciers calf huge chunks of ice. Initially they flow north until they drift into the influence of a southerly current. That dumps them into the North Atlantic heading south. They will have been floating about 2 years by the time they arrive off Newfoundland. Some make their way in the Strait. Most will veer off the east coast of Newfoundland forming what is known as Iceberg Alley. The Titanic sank April 15 1912 about 370 miles off the coast. The icebergs melt fairly quickly as they pass Newfoundland into warmer waters.

Once we had crossed by ferry, we were just over the border in Quebec. This was confusing timewise. At 10am in Quebec it is 11am in Labrador and 11:30am in Newfoundland. On our way to Red Bay, we crossed the Pinware River which tumbled past us in a torrent. Above a side stream enters the river.

There is goes toward the Strait.

Shortly after noon, we arrived in Red Bay and eventually to the Visitors Center. there we heard the story of the Basque fisherman who dominated this region from 1540 to about 1620. Initially, they came for the cod but the whales caught their eyes too. They came seasonally, about 15 ships and 600 men to spend the summer hunting whales and cod. Red Bay is a protected cove for the whaling/fishing operation. Right and Bowhead whales were hunted from small boats known as chalupas. From those boats they would harpoon the whale and eventually subdue it. Whales were processed primarily for the oil which was used by wealthy Europeans to fuel oil lamps. The whale's blubber was processed or rendered into oil, stored in barrels and shipped back to Europe in the fall. 

Red Bay is famous and a UNESCO world heritage site because of the underwater archeology of the former Basque fishing site. In 1565 a Spanish Basque whaling galleon sunk in bad weather as it began a voyage back to Europe laden with 1000 barrels of whale oil. That ship lay in the harbor unseen until 1978 when Parks Canada found it. It was remarkedly well preserved and has been a treasure trove of information and technologies of that time period. Several chapulas have also been discovered. One has been reassembled and is on display. 

Lapland diapensia

The only flowers around this area are small, close to the ground plants. The wind makes sure they don't grove very tall. The azalea below was about 3 inches high. 

Alpine azalea 

Pinware River

The L'Anse Amour burial mound is the oldest known funeral monument in the New World. A 12 year old boy was excavated in a shallow grave, found face down. There were a number of tools and adornments found with him including a harpoon. Those artifacts are on display at The Rooms Museum in St Johns. The burial mound is dated to about 7500 years ago.