Closing the Newfoundland Circles: The Wreck of the Avalon Voyager
Patric Ryan
Sarawak Studios Press M.L. Ryan Publishing
2013
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Gale warnings were up for Northern Lake Huron: Book One of "Closing the Newfoundland Circles" begins with the Wreck of the Avalon Voyager at Cape Hurd, Tobermory. The old wooden cargo ship was at sea again, attempting one last voyage from Kincardine to Owen Sound before winter set in. She came to grief heartbreakingly close to the entrance to Georgian Bay and the protective arms of the Bruce Peninsula. The unlucky Voyager left Kincardine only hours before meeting her untimely end, one of many ships to come to grief on the limestone ledges of Northern Bruce Peninsula. The passengers aboard the sinking Newfoundland freighter were rescued by the crew of the W. A. Spears, a local fish tug, herself running for the safety of Tobermory Harbour. Artist and author, Patric Ryan, was a crew member onboard the Spear; working to make a few extra bucks before he and his new bride settle into their drafty old farmhouse, looking forward to a quiet winter. The events of that day would alter the future for the newlyweds. By February they found themselves in Newfoundland, the proud owners of a derelict fishing schooner. How an artist happened to be aboard a fish tug in a fall gale in 1980, is revealed in "Closing Circles". Nothing was planned or anticipated. Patric managed life one painting and one book at a time, taking brief runs at a normal life; but Georgian Bay beckoned and opportunities presented themselves; a cottage on a pristine cove, The Islands to explore. Then Dorie swam into his life one luscious summer day in 1979. Marriage should have meant more conventional ways to consummate a relationship, but Patric was never content to settle for the ordinary. He and Dorie talked of plans to have their own boat for work. To travel. To sell art. So it was not unusual that they accepted the invitation to go to Newfoundland to work on a replacement for the lost Avalon Voyager. Book Two takes Patric and Dorie to fog-shrouded Newfoundland, awash in icebergs and derelict schooners. They had been actively looking for a boat on the East Coast, or any coast, having already made a tentative deal to buy a big wooden herring carrier in Nova Scotia. "Closing Circles" tells many tales of boats found and almost bought, introducing the characters who make the stories come alive because boats are just inanimate things that can't be relied on. Can people? Well, that question is answered in the Book Two as Patric and Dorie discover the warmth and friendship of the folks who inhabit that cold foggy place and that makes up for the ice, the cold and the hardships. "Closing the Newfoundland Circles" is a voyage of discovery as Patric and Dorie travel East in the dead of winter, in an old van with one fur coat, two dogs and cat for warmth, and sail home with their questionable prize, the Naaman J Humby their own Newfoundland fishing schooner saved from derelict row. There are many problems, frustrations and endless hard work, but there are many Newfy feasts to compensate, as they meet and make friends with the locals who help and guide them every step of the way. Book Three: The tale is filled with humour as well as hardship and the voyage home to the Great Lakes contains many antidotes and histories as Patric recounts more of his childhood adventures on the waters and reveals some of the close calls he experiences as he picks up his professional career on the Muskoka Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway after they return home, rebuild their Newfy boat for the second time and begin having children. They returned often to Newfoundland to show off their babies, something Newfies like even more than boats and fish'n'bruise. Patric likes to say that they went to Newfoundland to buy a boat and acquired many friends. They sold the boat but kept the friends, and that's what made the whole adventure worth the hardships. It's the people of the outports like Durrell and Tobermory that make Newfoundland and Northern Georgian Bay a place apart.
