1901 Season
SS “Hope” while at the ice fields in the Gulf was driven ashore on the Magdalen Islands and lost. (SR).
Nov 4 Last eastbound steamer through the Strait of Belle Isle. (WBB)
Jan 3 In its 25 years Ago column, the Moncton Times reports from its issue of January 5th, 1901: Point du Chene – the steamer “Northumberland” made her last trip from Summerside to this port on the 3rd. This is the latest arrival of any steamer at this port although in the winter of 1899, the Straits were practically open all winter. (Pat 12 Jan 1927 p 8#4)
Feb 12 SS “Minto” is still detained at Pictou by northwest wind and heavy sea ice. SS “Stanley” is still stuck in the ice about five miles outside the Pictou Light. They cannot move till the wind changes to south or north. The “Stanley” had been in the ice since last Tuesday. A large number of passengers are on the “Stanley” (HH 12/02/1901 p1#3)
Feb 14 Yarmouth, steamers Have Difficulty Getting in and Out. Ice had formed in the channel to a depth of four or five inches, and persons have crossed on foot, something that had not occurred for many years. The “Prince Arthur” could not get up to the DAR wharf this morning and had to dock at Law’s wharf, further down. (HH 14/02/1901 p8#6)
Feb 15 City and Provincial – To Walk Across the Gulf: Today four men, who have been waiting at Pictou for a week or more, to cross to the Island, will start walking via Pictou Island and is expect to land at High Bank. (Pat 15 Feb p8#3)
Feb 16 Digby, It is a noteworthy fact that while navigation at the other three principal ports of Western Nova Scotia – Yarmouth, Weymouth and Annapolis – has been about “held up” by the freezing of those harbors, the port of Digby has been as clear of ice as a day in summer. (HH 18/02/1901 p1#4)
Feb 16 Sydney Light, a light close packed ice field reported by incoming steamers to extend thirty miles to the eastward passed outside on Tuesday last. It moved in a southeasterly direction distant from the coast twenty miles and on Wednesday evening disappeared. Northwesterly and westerly winds have prevailed throughout the week. The bays and harbors remain open. (HH 18/02/1901 p6#2)
Feb 17 Pictou, The PE Island steamers are still ice-bound. Nearly all the passengers have left the “Stanley,” and the rest are anxiously waiting for the ice to break up. It is many years since so much ice has been encountered in the strait, and freight is being piled up in the ICR yard here. The mails were sent round by the Cape route on Wednesday. The wind still continues from the north and there is no indication of the steamers being able to get away. (HH 19/02/1901 p1 bottom, last)
Feb 18 Halifax, the government steamer, “Minto” is still at the wharf in Pictou, and that the steamer “Stanley” is still in the ice, five miles outside, with no immediate hope of getting clear. (HH 19/02/1901 p8#4)
Feb 18 Issue: The Strait of Canso was in a dreadful condition from floating icebergs during the last week. Freight was tied up completely and it was with difficulty that passenger trains could be got across. At one crossing, the ice caught the steamer whirled it down the Strait with thirty-one passengers on board and held it six hours. On another occasion the ice again caught the steamer, carried it six miles south and held it all night in the midst of a howling snow storm. Fortunately there were no passengers on board. The crew did not know where they were, whether in the channel or close to shore. They worked the steamer hard all night to keep from being crushed to pieces. The ice in the Strait during the past fortnight was the worst in the history of railway crossing. (Pat 18 Feb p8#2)
Feb 22 Pictou, February 22- The “Stanley” succeeded yesterday in getting out of the ice and has made Georgetown. Both of the Island steamers will likely be able to make regular trips for the rest of the season. (HH 25/02/1901 p8#3)
Mar 14 The Newfoundland Railway Steamship Co. “Bruce” arrived at St. John’s from North Sydney and reported having passed 100m of ice coming out of the Gulf, which would be in the track of shipping within a few days. Ice was also filling the northern bays and icebergs will soon obstruct the steamer route off Cape Race. (NYMR)
Mar 14 SS “Bruce” at St. John’s from Cape Breton Island reports passing 100 miles of ice from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. (HB #603 Mar 20)
Mar 15 St. John’s, Nfld., the steamer “Bruce,” which arrived yesterday from North Sydney, reports having passed one hundred miles of ice coming out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which will be in track of shipping within a few days. Ice is also filling the northern bays, and icebergs will soon obstruct the steamer route off Cape Race. (HH 16/03/1901 p12#4)
Mar 16 45°05’N 57°41’W some field ice. (NYMR)
Mar 18 Light, heavy close packed ice fields are now moving off the coast from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The field extends from Cape North to Scatterie, distant from here fifteen miles, and has moved rapidly southward for two days. (HH 20/03/1901 p6#3)
Mar 20 Heavy close packed ice fields are now moving off the coast of Nova Scotia and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The fields extended from Cape North to Scaterie and are moving rapidly southward. (NYMR)
Mar 20 Heavy close pack ice fields are reported off the coast of Nova Scotia and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence extending from Cape North to Scatari. (HB #604 Mar 27)
Mar 21 SS “Silvia” 45°13’N 58°10’W saw patches of drift ice to northward. (HB #605 Apr 3)
Mar 31 SS “Hope” lost at Byron [Brion] Is., Gulf of St. Lawrence, pushed ashore by ice. (NW).
Apr 10 Fishermen arriving at Gloucester, Mass., report heavy ice, some distance from land, off the W coast of Newfoundland from Pass Island [Pass Rock, Bay of Islands, NF?] to Cape Ray. (HB #607 Apr 17)
Apr 12 Charlottetown, PEI., the schooner “Minnie E F” ran ashore at Savage Harbor at six o’clock last evening; reports having got clear of the ice on Tuesday near Gaspe, and was heading for home when encountered a gale on Wednesday night, lost all sail and yesterday’s gale sent the vessel ashore. One life lost. (HH 13/04/1901 p1#6)
Apr 17 Issue: Since Mar 30 the coast of eastern Nova Scotia, Sydney northward to Cape Ray and eastward to Cape Race has been clear of ice. Cape St. Lawrence and Magdalen Is. report no ice and the Gulf is now open Sydney to Quebec. (NYMR)
Apr 18 A dispatch from Sydney states that a small field of light broken ice which has remained stationary in St. Ann Bay since Mar 20 came out Apr 12 and filled the harbours along the southern side of Spanish Bay. It was then working SE extending 2 miles out from the southern shore but the situation in the harbours was only partly relieved. (HB #608 Apr 24)
Apr 21 Sydney: Steamers unable to get into Sydney, CB. (LL)
Apr 21 Sydney, shipping delayed by ice. There are upwards of fifteen vessels lying at wharves and in the stream waiting for the ice to clear from the harbor. The steamer “Bruce” arrived at North Sydney yesterday. She reports two steamers blowing off the harbor. The fog is very thick and ice crowding in. (HH 22/04/1901 p1#1)
Apr 22 Twenty years ago on 22 April 1901 – first of the season, the schooner Lillian Linwood arrived yesterday in Georgetown from Glace Bay. (Pat 22 Apr 1924 p 4#3)
Apr 24 The port of Pictou, Nova Scotia, has again been opened to navigation and on April 16 there was no ice between that port and the Strait of Belle Isle. (NYMR, p. 9, col. 3)
Apr 25 St. John’s, NF, it is feared that the sealing steamer “Virginia Lake,” with 270 men on board, may be frozen in amid the ice floes in White Bay on the northern coast of Newfoundland for the next six weeks. The Arctic ice fields are now packing in upon the floes which have enclosed here for the past month. A sister ship of the “Virginia Lake,” the “Kite,” with 150 men on board, is similarly situated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The owners are apprehensive that both ships may be driven ashore. (HH 26/04/1901 p1#6)
May 21 First Westbound steamer through the strait of Belle Isle. (WBB)