Thursday 27th September 2012 ­ St. John¹s Newfoundland, Canada ­ 3.5hrs BST

After a day at sea and a time adjustment of 30 minutes forward we arrived on another sunny morning in the harbour of St. John’s Newfoundland and not to be confused with Saint John Cape Breton.  St. John’s is so named because is was discovered by the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) in 1497 on Saint John’s Day during a voyage commissioned by Henry VIII of England.  Cabot described “a sea so full of fish that a basket thrown overboard is hauled back brimming with cod”. 

St. John’s was claimed to be the British Empire’s first permanent settlement in North America by Sir Humphrey Gilbert and has remained an important commercial and fishing centre until last 20 years or so when amoratorium on cod fishing decimated this industry.  There are still fishing vessels to be seen in the port but by far the most important economic activity today is support and servicing of the offshore oilrigs and of course tourism – St. John’s is a popular destination for cruise ships.

For one Russian cruise ship earlier this year it marked the last port of call.  After inspection by the Canadian authorities it was condemned and the passengers it had arrived to pick up were turned away.  It makes a forlorn site moored in the harbour waiting for its final fate.

St John’s is also where Marconi received the world’s first transatlantic wireless message in December 1901 at Signal Hill (See below) and from where the first non-stop transatlantic flight, piloted by Alcock and Brown, took off in 1919.

Our shore excursion this morning was to Signal Hill and Cape Spear – the most easterly point of North America.

The building of Cabot Tower at the top of Signal Hill began in 1897 to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Cabot’s arrival. The Tower offers commanding views over the harbour entrance known as “The Narrows” (See photo), the open Atlantic and the city of St. John’s.

Cape Spear lies some 6 miles to the southeast of St. John’s and boasts an iconic lighthouse perched high on the majestic cliffs at thismost easterly point of North America.  In fact there are two lighthouses here, the original built in 1836, the oldest in Newfoundland and now a museum and a new automated lighthouse added in 1955.  A breezy but sunny climb up 200 steps – sensibly not tackled by Peg – was rewarded with magnificent views back towards Signal Hill and the town.

Our last visit this morning was to the pretty fishing community of Petty-Harbour set in a small cove around the headland from Cape Spear.  It reminded me very much of Peggy’s Cove near Halifax – Nova Scotia and not Halifax England! – with its working fishing boats and piles of lobster traps (Again see a later photo posting).

I ventured out for a further exploration of St John’s after lunch.  With its very steep roads it reminded me of Ushuaia.  What it must be like to walk in the winter I shudder to think although the gulf stream combining with the Labrador Current give St. John’s a ‘slushy form of snow and a rather grey damp climate’ according our morning Guide.  The town is characterised by Queen Anne style wooden houses set on the steep hills with gaily-coloured facades.  The story is that fisherman painted the houses the same colour as their boats so that they could find them when returning home drunk!  Well I have heard that said of many other places including Burano in the Venice Lagoon!!

With knees aching from the steep pavements Imade my way back to the ship for a sail away from our last port of call – only one problem someone had forgotten to tell the pilot we were leaving at 5.00pm!!