Sunshine & Crosses

Chambers Cove, Newfoundland

August 26, 2009

I gazed through binoculars at the 300’ cliffs of Chambers Cove, sunlight glinting off the cross at the cliff’s edge. Giant windmill blades moved lazily in the summer breeze. It’s a far different scene than the early morning of February 18, 1942. With the cliffs obscured by blinding sleet, the U.S. Navy destroyer Truxtun smashed onto the rocks. Farther down the coast at Lawn Point the supply ship USS Pollux, traveling in convoy, came to grief. The lead ship, USS Wilkes hit the rocks but was able to back off.

Then the nightmare really began. The men could see the cliffs, almost touch them. But frigid water, roiling currents and a growing mass of oil slickened debris filled Chambers cove. The water temperature was 30 degrees Fahrenheit. After several harrowing attempts, a small group made it ashore. From there one sailor, blackened by oil, clawed his way up the cliff face and began to follow a barbed wire fence, hoping it would lead to a settlement.

Eventually he came to the local mine and told his tale. The men went to the clifftops and looked down at the scene. By this time, men had begun to jump into the water only to be smashed into the cliffs, carried out to sea, drowned under debris or frozen into immobility. A few made it ashore.

The men from the local community of Lawn began to haul the sailors up, one at a time. Literally dragging them up the cliff. A small fire was built and the growing number of survivors tried to stay alive.

After realizing another ship was in distress, rescuers from the small community of St. Lawrence made their way to Chambers Cove. The men were taken into homes in the local communities and nursed throughout the night by the women. First order of business was to scrub the oil from them. One woman kept scrubbing and was muttering that she couldn’t seem to get the black off. The man came to enough to mumble, “Ma’am, I’m black. It won’t come off.” That man was Lanier Phillips a cook. Later he said the way he was treated by the Newfoundlanders changed his outlook on life. “I wish the world could go to St. Lawrence and take a lesson on love and humanity.” This American Life did an episode about the tragedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJkbkBbTaYI&feature=related

In all 203 perished and 168 survived.

It’s a gripping story and “Standing into Danger" by Cassie Brown tells it well. Over the years, survivors came back to visit their rescuers and the U.S. Navy donated a hospital in appreciation. The local economy was mining and a lot of the rescuers suffered from black lung. Now the mines have shut down and the communities are scraping by.