Archive for the ‘Legends’ Category

Saint Madeleine

January 13th, 2012 GimmeADream

Long before the islands were inhabited, the European fishermen came to the Gulf. The Basques, the Normands, and the Bretons (the English were probably here too but kept there presence a secret because fishermen traditionally don’t tell where their fishing holes are) came to fish.

The crew of one of these ships, passed within view of the islands on July 22nd, the feast of Saint Madeleine, and the gave the name after their saint that day.

note: This is probably not valid since Saint Madeleine (Sophie Barat – December 12, 1779 – May 25, 1865) was canonized after the islands were settled. But she was recognized before the islands might have been named.

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Madeleine

January 13th, 2012 GimmeADream

It is said that the Islands name came from a girl named Madeleine, who had been kidnapped by pirates and burned on one of the hills of the islands.

Another version said that the girl was burned in this way on the Amherst hills and that is how the name of Demoiselles was given to the hills.

It is possible that these two are the same legend.

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A Story of Heroism – 1918

August 7th, 2011 GimmeADream

Two men, Paul Chenell and Rubin Welsh set out in a fishing boat from Entry Island, on January 16th, 1918. A gale blew in from the west and pushed the boat out to sea. The winds changed direction and forced the vessel toward Grand Entry. By this time the men were wet and freezing and unable to bring the boat ashore because of the pack ice along the shore line. The wind pushed more ice in behind and trapped them.

Their predicament was noticed from shore. Allen Clark, Jack Keaton and Daniel Dunn went out on the thin ice to try to rescue the men. Allen Clark crawled along the jagged ice pack, balancing himself with two dory oars and a coil of rope slung over his shoulder. He finally reached the fishing vessel after crawling on ice for almost eight hours. He tied the rope to the boat, through the painter He then returned the line to the other two men, Jack and Daniel who hauled him and the boat almost to the shore. Jack and Daniel hitched the rope to a horse and hauled the fishing boat high up on the beach.

Allen’s cloths had become wet, ripped and frozen stiff. He collapsed after he realized that the two Entry Islanders were safe.

The three men, Allen Clark and Daniel Dunn from Old Harry and Jack Keaton from Grosse Isle were awarded bronze medals from the Canadian Humane Society.

Allen Clark was my grandfather. He was born in Old Harry, October 20, 1884 and died in 1969.

Daniel Dunn was born August 15, 1883 in Old Harry and died May 25, 1977.

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Samuel de Champlain Named Ile Madeleine

February 6th, 2011 GimmeADream

Famous cartographer Samuel de Champlain drew up a map of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Ile Magdalene was clearly

Samuel de Champlain

wrote on the southern islands which is now named Amherst or Havre-Aubert. Ramées was the named he coined for all of the islands.

This map was published in 1632, more than thirty-one years before François Doublet came into the picture and before his wife Madeleine Fountain was even born.

So did the famous explorer name the islands? How did the islands come to be named Magdalen or Madeleine?

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Christopher Columbus Named the Iles de la Madeleine

February 6th, 2011 GimmeADream

Generally speaking it is considered by historians that the Magdalen Islands or Iles de la Madeleine was named by François Doublet, who in 1663, obtained the islands in concession from the Compagnie des Cent Associés (Hundred Associates Company). He supposedly gave them the name in honour of his wife, Madeleine Fontaine. But often legends tell a different story….

Christopher Columbus

The first of the legends says that Christopher Columbus named the islands in 1492. One of his daughters was kidnapped by pirates and headed for the Quebec region. Columbus, who wasn’t sufficiently armed for an assault, had to follow the pirates at a distance and wait for the chance to rescue his young daughter.

The Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Niáa

The pirates stopped at the marshes between Grosse Ile and Wolf Point (Pointe-aux-Loups) and there they left the girl guarded by several of their own, while they went off to anchor their ship. Columbus took advantage of their absence and went to the islands by row boat from the other side of the island. He managed to get his daughter back. Then he fled to his ship all the while hoping to be able to escape the pirates.  But he had only four rowers with him and one was a maverick sharp-shooter named John.

When the pirates realized they had lost the girl, they used an eight man dory and rowed after them. Seeing the pirates coming closer Columbus told John, the maverick, “Shoot two of them.” Bang! Bang! And two of the bad guys fell. A little further, “Shoot another one!” No sooner said than done. This enabled him to get to his ship and flee with her daughter. Now this girl was named Madeleine and the name was given to the Islands where the events took place.

Now this piece of information didn’t get into the history books because Christopher Columbus, being the smart navigator that he was, didn’t think that his sponsors would continue to support him if they thought he was careless enough to lose his own daughter and be swung so far off course, and away from his final destination –  the Orient. He didn’t put this in his report but his ships personnel talk and as we know, sailors from all eras have always told tall tales.

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