Page 49 - The Martells of Flint Island Light

ISSUE : Issue 45

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1987/6/1

Morien and picked him up, and took him in. There was a period of time before Dad would get in to see how he was. And anoth? er thing. If there were messages to us, they would put them over the radio. (You mean on regular radio, CJCB?) Yes. Like, you know, if they had a message for Flint Island, they could send a message and let you know if everybody was all right. Things like that. It didn't happen often, but if it was an emergency, or something like that, they would do it for you. (Did you feel cut off from the rest of the world?) No. When we were kids we thought it was great. We didn't think anything of it. I suppose there were so many of us there. We played ball. We learned how to skate. Every once in awhile you'd see a great big sheet of ice, which would be an ice clamper. And we used to go off and we'd skate on that. Then eventually they made a rink on the island, and we skated. W • Buy and We Sell and We're as Near as Your Telephone Sids Used Furniture Phone 564-6123 436 Charlotte Street, Sydney BELLE ISLE LINCOLN MERCURY -SENIOR SERVICE ~ Any Make Car Care Plan for Senior Citizens • FREE Leaner Car on Overnight Repairs • FREE Pick Up and Delivery of Your Car • FREE Tow to Our Service Department • FREE 20% Off on Ford Parts • FREE 20% Off on Repairs Done Here • FREE Li fe Insurance on Car Loans • FREE I. D. Card BELLE ISLE LINCOLN MERCURY SALES LTD. 195 Prince St., Sydney "At tho Tracks" 539-9292 1987 MERCURY TOPAZ We had snowbanks outside of the house that we used to coast. And we used to jump over the bank in the snow--anything imaginable we used to do for recreation. We had lots of fun. One year (Dad) made a washer for (Mum). But we could only use it when it was foggy. Because the machines were in the fog sta? tion. He had like a bar, (and) like a puncheon, I suppose, a wooden puncheon-- cut it off, and he made a washer for her. Hooked it up--it was electrical, of course--as long as the engines were run? ning. (Why could you only use it when it was foggy?) Because you were using the en? gine for the foghorn, and it was govern? ment property. Everything out there was government property. If it was foggy. Mum would wash. The rest, she'd do in the tub on the washboard. And another time, he hooked up the house with electricity, and it was run off the same engines that were in the fog station. (So any time you wanted light--) We'd wish it was foggy. (Was there ever a shipwreck?) Yes. A boat, yes. In fact it was a fisherman from Glace Bay. They were out, and it was a storm, I guess, and they drifted out to the island. And they were just washing on the shore, but yet, washing out past the island, when they got a rope to them somehow, and they pulled them in. And they were with us for, I guess, 3 or 4 days before they got ashore. A Mr. Pink, and John Turner, and Mr. Pink's son--they were from Water Street in Glace Bay. MERCURY LINCOLN 1987 MERCURY TRACER The way when it's stormy, the seas are quite far off. And when they get into those seas, it's almost useless to try to do anything, because you go a- long with them. And it just so happened that they were washed to the island. But if they hadn't gotten them at the time they did, they would have washed right past the island and probably capsized in the seas, out further. I don't know if they lost the boat completely or if Dad had to take them in when it was fine. (Is this an island where it's difficult to get from the boat to the shore?) It used to be, but Dad built a slip. And he had an engine that they used to pull the boat up on the slip. In high tides you could jump from the boat to the shore. But he was a handyman, he was a jack-of-all-trades. And if you'd mention it, he'd do it. If he was fixing your engine, and if he didn't have a part, he'd make it. So he could do anything. (What was your mother's daily work, for instance?) The usual

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