Brig Bay

History

Jacques Cartier mentions the hills behind Brig Bay in his log of 1534. He referred to the two dominant hills lying to the south-west of the bay as the "granges" (barns in English). Today, these hills are known as "Doctor's Hills." Cook first mapped Brig Bay in September 1764. He referred to Old Ferrole when describing the terrain around the geographical coordinates for modern day Brig Bay. Cook's log indicates European fishermen were using the small bay at the time of his mapping. In his log, he mentions "fishing stages" along the shoreline but does not specify whether they were owned and occupied by French or Basque fishermen. The fishermen were likely French, as a French-owned lobster cannery (factory) was still operating at Brig Bay in the latter part of the 19th century. In his book "A History of Newfoundland", D.W. Prowse refers to the French-owned lobster factory at Brig Bay operated by a Mr. Belin in 1892. The cannery was last operated by Louis Gar(r)eau, a native of St. Malo, France. Brig Bay was shared by the French and English/Newfoundland fishermen after the Treaty of Paris and until the turn of the 20th century. Though the mother countries were frequently warring, their subjects were sometimes living together peacefully in Newfoundland. For instance, many of the present population of Brig Bay are the descendants of an English/Newfoundland lady, Judith House of Daniel's Harbour and Pierre (Peter) Samson of Dinan, France, who met and married at Daniel's Harbour in 1886. When Newfoundland fishermen arrived to displace the French in the late 1890s and early 20th century they originated from the east coast of Newfoundland, some via the Bay of Islands (Wells) on the West coast. Surnames of some of the earlier settlers were Jackman, Wells, Sheppard,…

Geography

Brig Bay is in Newfoundland within Subdivision C of Division No. 9. ;Geology Brig Bay village is built on a very thin layer of soil that overlies deep-water gray limestones. The limestones formed from silt deposited nearly 500 million years ago at the coast of the Iapetus Ocean, the precursor of today's Atlantic Ocean. Ordovician period gastropod fossils can be found in the limestones. Evidence of the last ice age that ended less than 10,000 years ago is abundant in the glacial striations found in the bedrock and the erratic granite boulders lying on the limestones. The raised beaches indicate that the land continues to rebound from the sea as a result of reducing pressure from the melted massive ice sheet that covered the land during the glacial period.

Most-observed species

• American herring gull, Smithsonian Gull

  Larus smithsonianus Coues, 1862 · Aves
  390
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  380
• Great Black-backed Gull

  Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  366
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  317
• Common Eider

  Somateria mollissima (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  284
• Fox Sparrow

  Passerella iliaca (Merrem, 1786) · Aves
  238
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  230
• Greater Yellowlegs

  Tringa melanoleuca (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  215