Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited

Adventure, storms, shipwrecks, sixty-mile walks, working in the woods, tragic drownings, combined with happy and fun-filled humorous events make up the lives of a courageous, tough, and loving coup

Adventure, storms, shipwrecks, sixty-mile walks, working in the woods, tragic drownings, combined with happy and fun-filled humorous events make up the lives of a courageous, tough, and loving couple who raised their family in Pool’s Island, an island off the coast of northeastern Newfoundland in the North Atlantic during difficult times. Nearby communities like Wesleyville, Valleyfiled, Newtown, and Badgers Quay, which have since been combined to form New-Wes-Valley and which were always known for their involvement in the fishing industry, are within driving distance of Central Newfoundland towns such as Gander and Grand Falls.

Captain Chesley Dyke understood rejection, having been deserted by his mother when he was just two. However, he made his way through the obstacles and became a man when he was still a boy, taking part in the Labrador fishery at the young age of nine. Elsie Dyke (née Stansford from Grates Cove) was no stranger to work. While in her early teenaged years, she carried 100-pound sacks of flour and potatoes on her back.

After Skipper Ches was rescued from near-death on the ice after the ship Stella Marris was crushed by ice and sank while participating in the annual seal hunt, he sought fortune on ocean steamships. The Silvia and the Nerissa took him to Halifax, Montreal, and James Bay at the base of Hudson Bay. Between voyages, he met the love of his life in Bannerman Park in St. John’s. The two, who shared common values and work ethic, married on June 26, 1929, at St. Mary’s Church in St. John’s just three days before Ches began a four-year career with Furness Withy. Ships such as the Rosalind out of Hamilton, Bermuda, and the cruise ship Monarch of Bermuda took him from St. John’s to New York, Bermuda, and other ports. Ches then tried his hand at rum-running during the Al Capone days of prohibition and depression. Big mistake—lessen learned.

Moving back home to Pool’s Island, Bonavista Bay, with his wife and two young sons, Ches began a new career as captain of local schooners such as the W and the Tidal Wave, until he became a self-employed captain of his own schooner, the James Jones, which he used in the Labrador fishery and for moving general cargo and coal between Nova Scotia and ports around Newfoundland.

Tragedy hit with the drowning of their first-born within one year after the move.  Life went on for the resourceful couple as Ches made a remarkable reputation for himself as a sea captain, boat builder, mechanic, and more. He was well-acquainted with heroes of the day such as the Spurrells, the Keans, the Bowns (Captain Gideon and sons Wilfred and Herb), the Hoyleses, the Wickses, the Daltons, the Whites, and the Hunts. He was sought after by many as a result of his many skills, including his ability to splice cable and make various metal parts with his own built-in forge in his “store.”

The early days of Newfoundland joining Confederation with Canada brought on blessings as well as their share of headaches as the demand for fishing schooners was replaced by federal jobs.

Ches bought the Uptop and was contracted by Bowaters, where he spent ten years moving pulpwood to Indian Bay from river mouths near Hare Bay and Trinity. His many trips to these places and others, including Gambo, enabled him to meet well-known Newfoundlanders such as Tom Curran, Joseph R. Smallwood, and even movie stars like Raymond Burr.

The infamous forest fire of 1961 gutted million of cords of wood. Once again, Ches was involved, putting his life in danger evacuating families from their homes under the direction of the RCMP.

The Dykes were generous, loving, and highly respected. They made sure to distribute meals of moose and other food to the needy and took time to provide for the local school and St. James Anglican Church. Ches was not only known for physical strength and imposing figure but also for his successful voyages. His crew knew they would be greatly rewarded despite the risk they took. Moving a house, building punts, speedboats, and motorboats, making nets and sails, and rigging ships kept him busy.

Elsie and Ches raised their children providing what they could, teaching them good values while enduring the ruggedness that was simply accepted as the way it was. Losing more loved ones, and a serious car accident, did not interfere with their persistence to carry on.

The tales herein, as seen through the eyes of all those who knew Elsie and Ches, capture an amazing lifestyle from an era and location that should not be forgotten. People recognized their “hearts of gold” and “wonderful sense of humour” but stayed out of Skipper Ches’s way when his temper was roused.

This book talks about sod cellars, outhouses, henhouses, chopping blocks, clotheslines, wharves, slips, an encounter with a bear, “a time in the hall,” and more.