1769
Feb 21 Halifax: By the extremity of the cold which we had here for some time past, our Harbour is so full of ice which renders it impracticable for vessels to come in or go out, an instance of which has not been known these ten years past. (NSC 14-21 Feb)
1792
Jan 9 Charlottetown 14th. On Monday 9th inst Hon Major Robert Gray had to cut the ship ‘Assistance’ from the ice in Murray Harbour and then sailed for London. (RGM 14 Jan p4 c3)
Apr 11 A fine new whaleboat belonging to his Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor with government dispatches, on board was on Sunday morning last past dispatched by his Excellency for the continent, but unable to approach near there within a league of the land owing to the shore being encompassed with ice, she returned here yesterday. By the unexpected circumstances, the public who are generally on the topic? of expectation at this season of the year will probably be deprived of intelligence for some weeks longer than could be wished. (RGM 11 Apr p4 c3)
Apr 17 Government dispatches were sent off for the continent on Tuesday last in the “Anna Maria Holman” bound for Fanningborough. Two messengers will go through with them to Halifax and return with all possible speed. (RGM 21 Apr p4 c2)
1805
Jan 19 Issue: By late accounts from Tryon, we are informed that the schooner which drove on shore by the ice near that place belonging to Mr. Cowan is now safely laid up inside of the bar. Captain Cowan and the vessel received no other damage, than not arriving at her destined port for which he expresses every sentiment of gratitude to the human and friendly inhabitants of that settlement. (RH 19 Jan p2 c2)
1811
Jan [From 1854]: Shipping News Heavy Disaster in the St. Lawrence – A late Canadian paper says that since the year 1811 there has not been such an unfavorable season as the present. That year there were 74 vessels compelled to winter at Quebec. The weather has again set in cold with easterly wind, which has filled the rivers and harbors with floating ice which is casting many vessels on shore. Property to the value of £60,000 to £70,000 lies a the mercy of the winds, tides and ice about the Brandy Pots. Nine ships are ashore at Hail Island and several below Bic. (NS 04/01/1854 p7 #2)
Jan 6 The messenger who had been sent to Halifax for the Mails arrived in town on Sunday last, after an absence upwards of six weeks. The hardships this man has undergone in his return to this Island, from Pictou, have been difficult in the extreme. Few seasons have been known more severe at their setting in than the present, in which this man has been several times exposed in the gulph in an open boat, encountering every hazard that snow storm and fields of floating ice could oppose to him. (WR 8 Jan p7 c2)
1812
Apr 26 “Duke of Kent” lost in the ice near the Magdalen Is. (LL)