The first of these was an area first settled by the early natives about 7,000 years ago; these were the ancestors of the Innu of today. Then came the group which would become the Inuit, out of the North. And the two groups lived an uneasy truce for many centuries until the 1500's, when the Basques began to arrive in search of whales.
The whale hunt was seasonal (nobody stayed over the winter except if there was a freak early winter storm). They set up their camps on Saddle Island, and proceeded to hunt, kill, and process the whales for their oil. Primarily, it was the Right Whale and the Blue Whale which were hunted, and it is estimated they killed tens of thousands during the fifty years or so they were at it. The whales would be pulled by the shore, then their blubber stripped and put in large copper casks which had been transported from the old country. Much of the whale was discarded as not needed or wanted, but the oil was valuable, serving most of Europe in its day. The industry was so valuable that the were insurance policies which covered it, and it was mentioned in wills. This was fortunate for archeologists, who used these documents to find the settlement and some of the artifacts. There is a sunken ship just off the coast of the island which has been well-preserved over time.
Some pictures were taken.
As you can see, the day was cloudy and a bit cold, appropriate for Labrador, I guess. So we decided to not go on the afternoon part of the program, which was at L'Anse Lamour, known for its lighthouse (the tallest in Canada and for some strange reason built out of stone but covered in wooden shingles which need to be painted every few years); and a large native burial ground from the early natives.
The evening was an on-board music night, with Daniel Payne talking about the types of music in old Newfoundland, and demonstrating each with his own playing.
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Location:Red Bay
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