Danny MacDonald, better known as Danny White Roderick, was born in Glencorradale, Kings County. When Danny was growing up he was noted for his execptional strength and many the bully, although he didn't know it, was courtin' disaster if he attempted to clutter up Danny's easy going way of life.

GLOUCESTER POPULAR SPOT

Way back in those long gone days there wasn't any inducement for young men to hang around ..the Glen', especially after finishing school. Gloucester, Mass. was one of the best fishing ports along the east coast and due to the fact many young men from all along the north side, especially in Kings County, went to Gloucester, small wonder then that Danny would choose to go there when he was old enough. This was all the more true after listening to the tales of exciting adventure at the little country store from some of the neighbors who had already been there. Finally there came the day when Danny packed his suitcase and was gone in company with a couple of other young men, one from the Baltic, the other from Souris Line Road. His two friends were only in Gloucester a few days when they shipped out.

One can easily imagine how lonely he felt, stranger in a strange land. This certain day he watched a fine big able looking schooner coming in the harbor and he decided to go down to where she docked and ask for a berth. Now Danny was a rugged young man and looked the part, but he didn't look like a Grand Bank fisherman; in fact, he resembled a farm boy with a sort of hayseedy look.

So, as a result of his appearance, the captain replied in answer to his request for a berth. "Y'know in order ship out on this schooner the first thing you have to do is go down to the end of the street and go into the bar room shut the door and ask the bartender if he can fight? "Now it must be remembered that there were a lot of hard men around Gloucester in those days and in order to be a bartender you had to be as hard as they come, if not you wouldn't be a bartender too long, neither would you die of old age!

SULLIVAN IN HIS PRIME

John L. Sullivan, heavyweight champion, was in his prime then and was the idol of many aspiring pugilists, including thousands who were not. Now then, if this story is correct, this bartender was one of the hardest men in Gloucester at that time. He was formerly from Cardigan, P.E.I. and his name was Dan Morrison. So when Danny asked him if he could fight, he replied "lock the door boy and we will soon find out." Naturally he did not know Danny or where he was from.

A half hour later Danny arrived back down at the dock, quite proud of the cuts and bruises he had as proof of his encounter.

"Well", said the Captain, "did he beat you?"

"Well no," said Danny, "but he come pretty gol darn near, but do you know h-e-e-s-ss a pretty darn nice fella and he comes from P.E.I. and that's where I come from."

"Well," said the captain, "now it's my turn to be surprised and what do you know I'm from P.E.I. So now you got yourself a berth aboard my schooner and glad to have you aboard. Now then, let me tell you that I always send a new man up to that barroom and mostly they are too scared to ask Dan Morrison if he can fight, then I know that they are not the type of men required aboard this ship. Last, but by no means least, let me tell you that it witb lots of guts to fish on the Grand Banks, in the wintertime."

BANKS' FISH PLENTIFUL

A few weeks later they are back on the banks fishing and the fish are plentiful, probably migrating their way south. Danny is dory mate with one or the older members of the crew and is learning fast. But the winds are merciless, the weather is bitter cold and 'ol man winter is after crawlin' aboard over the weather rail. The! captain remarked "one more day and we'll move farther south, maybe it'll be a little warmer."

The next day Danny and his dory mate are away down to leeward, the last dory down; the schooner is anchored and the wind is after hauling into the Nor West and turning much colder. The wind is picking up by the minute and along comes the big black snow squalls. It's impossible now to get the anchor, due to the fact that the chain is frozen solid in ice in the hawse pipes. The schooner is supposed to drop down to leew'rd of the last dory but cannot do so now. So the next best thing to do is to drop a small barrel over the stern with a rope tied to it and it drifts away down wind, the dories row over close and catch a hold of the rope and haul themselves back on board.

Danny and his dory mate cannot row hard enough to get to the keg, so Danny feels pretty bad. His mate said don't feel bad, we may be better off in the dory if we can only keep from freezing. Y'know a dory is a pretty safe boat if you know how to handle one. Maybe through the light it may get a little warmer as we get clolser to the Gulf Stream. "So away they went, the wind blew harder, the waves got bigger and the dory got smaller. The storm intensified into a real winter storm, but come daylight it actually was warmer, especially the water.

GLORIOUS SIGHT

About noon time the most glorious sight that any mian could hope to see in answer to his prayer, was a big ocean liner on her way to Europe. Her captain stopped and rescued the two men who were more dead than alive. They both declared that no drink was ever warmer, no meal was ever tastier and no bed was ever cozier. Apparently, they didn't need any coaxing to stay on board such a nice friendly ship - everyone made such a fuss over them, including the passengers. The captain declared he thought he was doing really good to keep on going at a reduced speed. When the lookout reported "small craft dead ahead" no one believed that there was anyone alive. Anyway, to their great delight, the captain agreed to take them back to New York on his return trip. Arriving back in America they bid a tearful farewell to the many friends among the crew on this friendly French liner.

Later that same day they boarded a train for Boston and then transferred to another train for Gloucester. Arriving there they learned that they were the only two survivors of the schooner. Seemingly it is hard to believe that a large able vessel with a good captain and crew would founder and a small dory would survive. However, it must be remembered that the schooner could not get her anchors and she kept on icing up as the huge seas washed over the bow until finally the weight of the ice was just too much; with one final plunge she kept on going down. They could not unshackle the anchor chain due to the ice. In later years Danny became a captain himself and one morning he was going out of Boston harbor and a Coast Guard cutter was going in. As a sudden snow squal swept across the harbor the cutter crashed them, the schooner rolled over and all hands perished instantly.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard