William Gilkie:

William Gilkie remembered the song "Madam, You Came Courting" over the time of two visits from Helen Creighton, each a year apart! (September, 1949 and September 1950)

William’s songs came from his father by way of English soldiers stationed at Sambro many years ago. The soldiers would help to pass their long hours by going out with the fishermen in their boats. When William’s mother was living, she often hummed along with him, enjoying his singing so much that she would crawl down a steep ladder and curl up in the bow of his boat, that they might sing together. Usually with great dexterity, William managed to keep a wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek whenever he sang. He would sit and sing with his eyes cast down or looking straight ahead, often with a child on his knee. Friends walked into his house without need of knocking. William kept the Sambro light with his wife and also fished.

Sambro:

Sambro has the finest small boat harbour on the east coast and after more than 300 years, fishing remains the most important economic activity.

Edward Deal and Otis Hubley:

Eddie Deal was a fisherman and gardener from Seabright, Nova Scotia. He was of German, Scotch and English descent. He was also a veteran of the Great War, in which he was gassed. His friend Otis Hubley (who was one of the Eight Famous Fishermen in Edward Deal’s song, and was the singer of Let Go Your Bowline) also had a lung affliction. Both men found it difficult to get their breath properly when it was moist and foggy and the wind was from the sea. When Helen Creighton visited to collect songs from these two fishermen, it was often requested that she come back when the wind was ‘off’ meaning off the land and dry.

Although Otis Hubley was well known for his songs, few people knew that Edward Deal also sang, and Helen Creighton originally went to visit him for ghost stories rather than songs. Although a shy man, Edward surprised Helen one day, and sang a long song for her that he had composed in her honour. He presented it as a surprise to everyone, family and friends alike! No one had heard it before, and Edward admitted that he had been working on it for weeks and had practiced it in front of the squirrels. His voice took on new strength and excitement when he came to the verses that brought Helen into the story.

Edward’s only son, John, still lives in Seabright on his family’s land. He was a bachelor until his forties, when he married a woman from Bridgewater. They had no children. John’s wife has since passed away and John once again lives on his own.

Drumlin has gone to visit John. He is now in his eighties and also has a lung affliction (silicosis from working at a cement plant). He says the world has changed a lot and also comments that he didn’t know his father well. Every time Drumlin has phoned, John has requested the complete lyrics for songs that he has running through his head, no doubt from hanging out and fishing as a boy with The Eight Famous Fishermen of Seabright.

Seabright - a little fishermen history:

"Tom Hubley's house is just across the road from my property. He and his wife Blanche raised 9 children in this little house not much bigger than an average living room. He used to keep his boat, an old one lunger, down in front of my house. I used to go out fishing with him in my one lunger, after he sold his boat. His bright blue eyes would sparkle and he would get a grin every time he hooked a fish. He always took a small flask of rum in his back pocket to keep away the chill. I found out that Harold Redmond was Wayne Redmond's father and they lived down on Redmonds road in Glen Margaret. Byron McDonald lived on MacDonald Road which was named after him here in Seabright. Edward Deal looked after the Brookfield Property six days a week, a summer place on Hubley Cove, just across the cove from my place.”
-James Darley, a local sculpture

Devil’s Island:

When Helen Creighton worked along the Eastern Shore, people would say time and time again, “You should go to Devil’s Island and get Ben Henneberry to sing. That’s where you’d get the songs.” Helen was told that all she had to do to get there was, “Just go to the end of the land and holler.”

The song, "Silvy", was collected from Ben Henneberry, in 1943, on Devil’s Island, Nova Scotia.

Ben sang while he mended his nets or fished. He was also a coxswain for a government lifeboat, which was left on the island for him. Ben learnt many songs from shipwrecked sailors and the few inhabitants of Devil’s Island built their homes with the rare and beautiful wood from ship wrecks. Because the homes were made out of wood from wrecks, they allegedly had great trouble with hauntings.

Devil’s Island is very exposed at the entrance to Halifax Harbour, on the Dartmouth side, near the community of Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. This island was granted to Captain John Rous in July 1752 and became known as Rous' Island. Later it was known as Wood Island, until a fire destroyed the forest growing on it. Finally it was called Devil's Island because shepherds (The Horn's pastured sheep on the island) and sailors saw ghosts there.

The first settler is said to have been Andrew Henneberry, in 1824, whose lease on McNabs Island had just expired. Andrew Henneberry moved to Devil’s Island, taking with him a large family. Henneberry, his wife, and a son, were later drowned off Devils Island.

After the Henneberrys came Thomas Edwards, who was later joined by several brothers. By 1850 there were three houses and a school. By 1901, the settlement had grown to 18 houses, but most of the residents were moved to the mainland during World War II. The last permanent resident, a Norwegian artist, moved off in 2000. The island is currently owned by Halifax entrepreneur Bill Mont. A lighthouse built in 1877, replacing an earlier tower build in 1852, is still in operation today.

Prior to 1848, a beacon or some distinguishing mark on the island was used for navigational purposes. About 1848, a catoptric light was erected on the southwest side of the island. This was replaced in 1877 by a new lighthouse. A life boat station was established on the island about 1883 to rescue ships' crews that had wandered too close to the island or surrounding shores. Some of the recorded shipwrecks on Devils Island included the following:

Ship Date Deaths

• Southampton(brig) 1849, 1 death
• Unknown, 1860, four vessels left Prince Edwards Island with produce, etc. Having left about the same time they kept rather close together, so that a calm day near the end of October found all four off Jeddore, so near to one another that the skippers spoke to one another asking the opinions of the other as to the advisability of making the port of Jeddore before night. They decided to keep on for Halifax. A light breeze sprang up towards evening which increased till at 8 o'clock it had attained the velocity of a great gale. The wind was accompanied by a blinding snowstorm. Meanwhile the vessels had reached the mouth of Halifax Harbour where, in the snow storm, they lost sight of one another. One of the vessels in coming about too soon, ran ashore on the south west of Devil's Island. She was loaded with hides, tallow, etc. All hands were lost. Three brothers drifted over to the shore of South East Passage where their bodies were recovered.
• Unknown, 1864, all hands
• Unknown, 1864, none
• Breamish (barge), 1871, 2 deaths
• Union (schooner), 1874, unknown
• Henry Fenwick, 1875, unknown
• John Wesley (schooner) 1884, The crew was rescued by the lifeboat. She carried a small cargo. The Islander’s made good use of the wood from the wreck.

From the sailors on one of these ship wrecks, Ben Henneberry, learnt the song Silvy.

An automatic lighthouse on the uninhabited island presently guides ships into the safety of Halifax Harbour.