Trepassey

Trepassey Trépassés (Dead Men)
Town
Nickname(s): Bay of Dead Men, The Golden Grove
Trepassey Location of Trepassey in Newfoundland
Coordinates: 46°44.2′N 53°21.80′W / 46.7367°N 53.36333°WCoordinates: 46°44.2′N 53°21.80′W / 46.7367°N 53.36333°W
Country	Canada
Province	Newfoundland and Labrador
Settled	1617
Area
• Total	55.81 km^2 (21.55 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	570
• Density	10.2/km^2 (26/sq mi)
Time zone	Newfoundland Time (UTC-3:30)
• Summer (DST)	Newfoundland Daylight (UTC-2:30)
Area code(s)	709

Trepassey 46°44.2′N 53°21.80′W / 46.7367°N 53.36333°W, is a small fishing community located in Trepassey Bay on the south eastern corner of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was in Trepassey Harbour where the flight of the Friendship took off, piloted by Amelia Earhart. Amelia became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Trepassey, 1869

U.S. Navy ships Trepassey Bay in May 1919.

History

Trepassey originates from the French word trépassés (dead men), named after Baie des Trépassés on the Brittany coast of France. It is believed that it acquired this name due to the many shipwrecks that have occurred off its coast. Trepassey is the name of the harbour, the bay and the community. Later the translation was used as 'Dead Man's Bay' due to the tragic shipwrecks along the coast. Alternatively, the 'tre' element of the name could come from the Welsh word for 'town', explained by the Welsh influence of the Vaughan family.

French explorer Jacques Cartier passed through Trepassey Bay during his second voyage of exploration in 1536. Later, French, Spanish and Portuguese lived and fished near the area. Early English settlement attempts failed, and it was not until the latter part of the 17th century that the French settled the area. In 1702, during The War of The Spanish Succession, Rear Admiral John Leake of the Royal Navy entered the harbour as part of a large naval expedition aimed at raiding numerous French settlements. Leake engaged and sank many French merchant ships and attacked French fishing stations, destroying them and driving the French from Trepassey. Until the Treaty of Utretch was signed, Trepassey was the sole settlement where English and French borders in Newfoundland met. Later fishermen from the West Country of England arrived, to be followed by large numbers of Irish and by the 1770s the Irish formed the majority of the population.

Sightseeing/Activities

Salmon and trout fishing in the bay, nearby lakes and rivers. Caribou and other wildlife are often sighted near town along the road. Trepassey features a museum with artifacts from Amelia Earhart's flight. Cape Race lighthouse is nearby. Capelin fish beach themselves yearly in mid-July, which is also a good time to spot whales feeding on the capelin. One can also collect capelin on the beach at this time.

Timeline

• 1504, Trepassey first appears on European maps as a supply depot. Trepassey, from the reign of Henry VIII and onward, becomes a port for English fishing fleets on the Grand Banks to resupply before returning across the Atlantic.
• 1500s, several stone foundations were laid for small dwellings where Spanish and Portuguese fishermen supposedly dried their catches.
• 1536, On the return to France from his second voyage of exploration to the New World, Jacques Cartier sails across Trepassey Bay.
• 1600s, Trepassey marks the area where the French and Welsh areas of influence in Newfoundland meet.
• 1617, first attempt to settle Trepassey by Sir William Vaughan, who supposedly established a small plantation on the large island separating the harbour from the bay, on which fortifications and a battery were installed. Vaughn also supposedly wrote his famous publication The Golden Fleece from his manor in Trepassey.
• 1620s, Buccaneer Sam Westover, in an anger at not being able to intercept Spanish Treasure Ships is said to have entered and ransacked the harbour, plundering and murdering it's populace. It is said that he was stuck in the harbour for over a week due to unfavourable tides and winds. When he finally saw his chance to escape the harbour during a storm, the rough seas outside The Reach drove his ship onto the rocks, sinking it.
• 1667, after constantly mounting tension, the French lay siege to the English in Trepassey. The English, however, expected such an attack, and immediately evacuate the settlement.
• 1660s, the French are besieged by the English and order is restored in Trepassey.
• 1675, the French occupy one part of the Trepassey harbour and the English the other side.
• 1670s, King Charles II, attempts to greatly expand the English Empire, both geographically and economically by annexing all of the Dutch East Indian isles. However, his strained relations with parliament costs him both the Second and Third Anglo Dutch War. England nears bankruptcy, prompting many people to set sail for the New World in search of better fortunes. Among these people were the Periman or Perriman brothers from North Devon, who arrived in Trepassey and operated a successful fish plantation. They would later change their name to Pennell.
• 1681, the French, recently after taking control of the harbour for the second time, prohibit the Basques from fishing in or near Trepassey.
• 1702, by order of King William III, Rear Admiral John Leake heads for Trepassey as part a series of English raids along Newfoundland's coast. He sails with a fleet of English warships, including the Man-of-War, HMS Exeter. Leake had learned of several French fishing ships in Trepassey from the English colonists in Bay Bulls. The Exeter enters the harbour with cannons blazing. When the Battle of Trepassey Bay between Leake's fleet and the several French ships ended, Leake had destroyed not just the French ships, but also multiple French fishing stages, effectively driving the French from Trepassey once and for all.
• 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht gives complete control of Newfoundland to England, now known as Britain.
• 1720, on 21 June, the pirate Bartholomew Roberts approaches Trepassey, finding 172 merchant and fishing ships at anchor. He burns 22 of the vessels before departing.
• 1767, Trepassey Bay is surveyed and mapped by the famed British cartographer end explorer, Captain Cook.
• 1779, worried by the presence of Continental privateers just off the coast during the American Revolutionary War, the citizens of Trepassey, who are fiercely loyal to the British, petition the construction of a coastal artillery battery. During the battery's construction, a force of some 15 British redcoats and the condemned British East India Company ship, HMS Proteus, which provides cannons for the battery, temporarily guard the harbour from attack. Other coastal batteries constructed at about the same time along the Southern Shore included St Mary's, Renews, Port Kirwan, Ferryland and Bay Bulls.
• 1784, the Royal Artillery removes the cannons from Trepassey's battery.
• 1796, the citizens of Trepassey are stirred by news coming from St. John's, telling of a considerably large French attack planned for Newfoundland, and make haste in petitioning the British for the rebuilding of the coastal battery.
• 1813, Trepassey's battery is refitted with two 9 pounder cannons.
• 1815, Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars, and Trepassey's battery falls out of use. However, Napoleon's defeat leaves Britain as the world's only superpower, marking the beginning of Britain's "Imperial Century", which sees the population of Trepassey and all of Newfoundland rise significantly.
• 1821, the first lighthouse is built at Cape Pine, the southernmost point in Newfoundland.
• 1836, the population is listed as 247.
• 1863, the postmaster was John Devereaix (variant of D'evreux)
• 1881, the ship Jane Hunter sinks in Trepassey Bay. It's ghost was reportedly seen sailing in and out of the harbour at midnight until the wreck site was blessed by the local priest, supposedly causing the apparitions to cease.
• 1884, population reaches 668.
• 1886, the Way or Post, office closed.
• 1914, the Newfoundland Railway Branch Line is completed, linking Trepassey with St. John’s.
• 1919, United States Navy Curtiss Flying Boats (the NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4) leave Trepassey harbour on May 16; NC-4 flies to Portugal via the Azores, thus completing the first successful (although not non-stop) transatlantic flight.
• 1928 (June 28), after staying in Trepassey for three weeks, Amelia Earhart as a passenger aboard the Friendship, becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1969, the community elects its first town council.
• 1991, the local fish plant closes putting over 600 people out of work.

See also

• List of cities and towns in Newfoundland and Labrador