Page 68 - Visit with Will Pringle, Richmond County

ISSUE : Issue 63

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/6/1

(Your father, he grew up on this farm?) He was born down in a log cabin. (Down the hill.) Yes. When he was a young man, times were hard he said, to make a dollar. And he used to walk from here over Pringle's Mountain to River Bourgeois to cut hay with a hand scythe, for a dollar a day. The men would be off fishing. And then he --we used to ask him why did he go to the Grand Banks, it was so dangerous. And he used to say, "Well, it was the only place to make a dollar." (Do we know who he went to the Grand Banks with?) Oh, I remember him naming certain captains. Captain Gillie. And Captain Mac? Donald- -they call him Ugly Archie. He was a man of great strength, this Ugly Archie. He could take a horseshoe and give it a twist like that--a new horseshoe. With bare hands. They first noticed his strength on the Grand Banks. He was watch? ing the cook cutting the tongues out, or cutting the heads off. He put his finger and thumb in the eyeball and yanked the head right off. So someone said to him, "Boy, you're strong." And he said, "You go down and get some dory rood"--that's strong. And he put (dory rood) around his hands like that and gave it a snap and broke it. A type of rope--they call it do? ry rood or dory rod.... He sailed with Captain.... I remember some of the vessels that he--I had them in Prin CafeBrekn for your complimentary copy of "Retiring to Cape Breton," send name & address to: Cape Breton Connections P. 0. Box 627, Sydney, N. S. BIP 6H7 (902) 567-0165 gle's Mountain. The Jessie T. Matheson and the Ryder and the Willie L. Swift. These were, I suppose, named after the company that they were sailing from, or with. (Now, he wasn't a married man yet, when he went.) No. But after he was married, he still went.... Oh, he said they liked the Cape Breton fishermen, so they'd come into St. Peters Bay and they would pick up the crew. Mother said she remembered going in with a horse and wagon and taking him in to St. Peters so he could ship out from there. And on my mother's side, they went to--I guess it was the only place they could make a dollar--they went to sea. She lost three brothers at sea--Johnny, and Alex, and An? gus was a captain--Captain Angus Ross. Studied navigation down here in the Roberta School--imagine! Some teacher--he was go? ing to sea for a number of years, but he didn't have enough education to become a captain. So my mother said he went to school in Roberta and the teacher taught him navigation. Something that I couldn't do as a teacher. And he became a captain. And he was the third brother to be lost at sea. They were coming from Newfoundland with a load of herring in a snowstorm, and the flying jib stuck. And there were two men trying to get it clear. Like my mother said, he didn't need to go. He was a big man. He didn't need to go out there. But she said Angus wouldn't send the men where he wouldn't go himself. So he went out to help. And when he stood on the footrope-- he was a big heavy man, and the footrope broke, and he was lost. Snowstorm. (How were the other two brothers lost?) One was lost--he was found in the harbour --I forget was it Gloucester or Province- town. And the other was lost, ship and all. They think one of them fell over? board, and the other fellow, the ship and all went down--the schooner. George Morris Fly-Tying Material "Fly Fishing Specialty Shop" Full line of Fishing Supplies & Fly-Tying Material Drop in and see us at either location: 269 Townsend St SYDNEY • NORTHEAST MARGAREE The mission of Cape Breton Connectioi?? Is to enhance the ties be? tween resident and non-resident Cape Bretoners, so as to have a positive impact on the culture and economy of Cape Breton Island. Cape Breton Connections is part of Sydney & Area Community Futures • a not-for-profit economic development agency. '>fCr?ixc.dtd. Computerized Wheel Balancing > Complete Road Service 539-5670 265 PRINCE ST. • SYDNEY BRUNSWICK-

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