Ferries & The Tickle
This page will feature general photos and items about the body of water between Bell Island and Portugal Cove known as The Tickle, and the boats and ferries that have plied it over the years. Items and photos about specific ferries will be featured on off-shoot pages for each ferry. The first item, below, is a history of Bell Island's ferries written by Addison Bown and featured in the St. John's Daily News on August 31, 1960:
Addison Bown (1905-1988): Journalist; Editor; Historian; Secretary of Wabana Safety Committee; Minister of Supply in 1st Provincial Cabinet; Vice-Chair of Board of Public Utilities. Born Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; moved to Bell Island in 1906 when his father, Thomas Bown, became DISCO Assistant Manager there. Educated Bell Island and St. Bonaventure's College, St. John's. The family moved to St. John's in 1915. Bown returned to Bell Island in 1924 as Secretary of the Wabana Safety Committee, holding that position for 20 years. He was the newspaper correspondent for the St. John's Daily News from 1928-34, and editor of The Bell Island Miner from 1939-44. Premier J. R. Smallwood appointed him Minister of Supply in his first Cabinet in April 1949, but he was defeated in the Harbour Main-Bell Island district in the first provincial election a month later. In 1956, he was appointed Member of the Board of Public Utilities and was Vice-Chairman of that board when he retired in 1973.
Volunteer Activity: First president of the Businessmen's Association, 1949; regional VP of the Newfoundland Board of Trade, 1950; President of the Kiwanis Club, 1955; Chief Civil Defence Warden for Bell Island, 1956; member of the Canadian Authors' Association; executive member of the Newfoundland Historical Society. Source: Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador
Between 1957 and 1960, Bown made his most important contribution to Bell Island's history when he searched through 46 years of the St. John's Daily News to compile and edit his "Newspaper History of Bell Island, 1894-1939." These 2 hand-bound volumes are available at the MUN QE II Library, the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre Library, and Bell Island Library. They contain every article of Bell Island news that was published in The Daily News from the beginnings of the Wabana iron-ore mines through to the end of 1939, including social notes, marriages and deaths, and all things sports-related. He probably considered this work a hobby, but the countless hours of research and writing he must have put into it, along with his commentary and annotations based on local knowledge, have greatly benefited succeeding generations of writers of Bell Island's history and will continue to do so indefinitely. He is also the author of Newfoundland Journeys, published in 1971. Source: Encyclopedia of NL.
Addison Bown wrote the following comprehensive history of Bell Island ferries on the arrival of the John Guy in August 1960. Reading about the great advances and changes in ferry service down through the years, the old adage still proves true: "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
Volunteer Activity: First president of the Businessmen's Association, 1949; regional VP of the Newfoundland Board of Trade, 1950; President of the Kiwanis Club, 1955; Chief Civil Defence Warden for Bell Island, 1956; member of the Canadian Authors' Association; executive member of the Newfoundland Historical Society. Source: Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador
Between 1957 and 1960, Bown made his most important contribution to Bell Island's history when he searched through 46 years of the St. John's Daily News to compile and edit his "Newspaper History of Bell Island, 1894-1939." These 2 hand-bound volumes are available at the MUN QE II Library, the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre Library, and Bell Island Library. They contain every article of Bell Island news that was published in The Daily News from the beginnings of the Wabana iron-ore mines through to the end of 1939, including social notes, marriages and deaths, and all things sports-related. He probably considered this work a hobby, but the countless hours of research and writing he must have put into it, along with his commentary and annotations based on local knowledge, have greatly benefited succeeding generations of writers of Bell Island's history and will continue to do so indefinitely. He is also the author of Newfoundland Journeys, published in 1971. Source: Encyclopedia of NL.
Addison Bown wrote the following comprehensive history of Bell Island ferries on the arrival of the John Guy in August 1960. Reading about the great advances and changes in ferry service down through the years, the old adage still proves true: "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
The 1913 and 1915 Directories for Bell Island lists two steamship companies for Bell Island:
The Bell Island Steamship Company
and
The Euphrates Steamship Company
The Bell Island Steamship Company
and
The Euphrates Steamship Company