Person:George Welsh (1)

Newfoundland 1921 Census Grand Bank

WELSH; Emma J. F Head Widow 1865 Aug 56 Grand Bank WELSH; Dinah F Dau Single 1900 Oct 21 Grand Bank WELSH; George S. M Son Single 1902 Dec 19 Grand Bank WELSH; Annie F Dau Single 1905 Jun 16 Grand Bank

[Keating.FTW]

1921 census birth: dec 1902

Excerpts from Robert Parsons Book, Lost at Sea Administratrix - On the evening of April 28, 1948, the Administratrix cruised slowly through the dense fog off Cape Race. She had loaded a cargo of 427 drums of oil at St. John's two days before and was now headed for her home port of Grand Bank. Owned by a group of Grand Bank businessmen which included her captain, Chesley Forsey, the 130-ton vessel had been built twelve years before at Metategen, Nova Scotia. In Grand Bank, perhaps due to the excessive length of her name, the small coaster was usually called the 'Trix'. As the Administratrix reduced her speed in the dense fog that often surrounds Cape Race, the men in the wheelhouse, Captain Forsey, mate George Barnes, and seaman Robert Lee, listed to what they believed was the fog alarm on Cape Race. Before a check of the timing of the alarm could be completed to determine if indeed it was the Cape Race Horn, the freighter loomed up out of fog only sixty feet away. The Norwegian freighter Lovdal, bound for Botwood, Notre Dame Bay, appeared to be headed straight for admidships on the Administratrix's starboard side at a slight angle. Although Forsey threw the wheel over to avoid a collision, it was too late. The three men in the wheelhouse rushed out on deck to save their lives and, if possible, warn the other four crewmen. Without any apparent variation in course or change in the speed, the Lovdal sliced the Administratrix apart near the engine room. The stern section of the schooner sank almost immediately, carrying the two engineers, Arch Rose and George Welsh, down with it. Three others, Captain Forsey, Robert Lee, and Harvey Keating, disappeared with the Administratrix that night. Mate George Barnes, who was in the wheelhouse when the Lovdal collided, found himself clinging to wreckage in the freezing water. In his report to the newspapers later, he stated: The captain was standing near me on the head of an oil barrel. When the ship started to sink I caught hold of the wire stay as did the captain. Not one of the crew could swim. The captain and myself were thrown into the icy water with oil barrels pitching and tossing all around us. 1 think the captain must have been knocked unconscious shortly after being thrown overboard. I let go the wire stay which was pulled down with the ship and clung to an oil barrel. The water was freezing and fuel oil caked my face and was into my eyes. Later I caught hold of a portion of the wheelhouse as it swept by, and I was still clinging to this when I was picked up an hour later by the Lovdal's men in a lifeboat. Charles Fizzard, the cook, was in the forecastle washing supper dishes with another seaman, Harvey Keating. He thought at first the administratrix had hit an iceberg. He and Keating rushed on deck and stood for a brief moment on the forehatch. As Fizzard saw that the stem was sinking, an oil drum hit him in the back throwing him overboard. He didn't see Keating again. When he surfaced, covered with oil and numb with cold, and regained his senses, he saw Captain Forsey. The captain was clinging to an oil drum, but spoke to Fizzard saying, 'You'll see your wife again, cook, but I won't.' Fizzard believed the captain sank shortly after that. With everything happening so quickly, with the fright and shock of being plunged into the dark and icy sea, both survivors found it difficult to recount the exact circumstances. Fizzard clung to wreckage for one and a half hours in freezing seawater before he was picked up by the lifeboats. For Bames, it was his fourth misadventure at sea. he and his shipmates abandoned the Nobility in March, 1920; and the Nordica in October, 1920; he had also been a crewman on the Saganaga days before she was torpedoed in Bell Island Tickle during World War II. In a subsequent report to Marine Radio, Cape Race, the Lovdal stated: Searching in vain for other survivors. Still Moving through rough debris. Using searchlights. Darkness and dense fog. After a fruitless two day search for the five missing seamen, the Lovdal returned to St. John's with two mariners snatched from the icy waters off Cape Race. All members of the crew were married and from Grand Bank, some leaving large families. On May 1, 1948, two days after the 'Trix' sank, flags at the South Coast town flew at half mast.

More About George Samuel Welsh: Burial: 1948, Salvation Army Cemetery Grand Bank Nl New

1. ↑ Pat Fairfield.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Keating.FTW.

   Date of Import: Jan 1, 2003