Port History

The view of the harbour from the peak of Signal Hill is a proper spot from which to reflect upon the history of the Port of St. John’s. Standing at a great height above the town, one can appreciate each of the unique geographical features of the port as well as visualize the small town as it was in the days of its bare beginnings. Stripping away the modern harbour-front architecture, one can picture sixteenth century visitors to St. John’s veering their vessels into a series of uninhabited coves. Beyond these coves and onto the land, lay an elevating expanse of meadows later known as “The Barrens.” As settlement grew in the town, these coves would eventually acquire names - Beck’s Cove, Ayre’s Cove, Steer’s Cove-each reflecting the early merchant firms that established businesses there.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives

Slyly secluded behind dangerous curtains of rock and fog, the harbour might easily be overlooked by vessels passing by. The entrance to the harbour is narrow, shallow and treacherous, easily navigable by local fisherman and sailors, but posing a demanding obstacle for foreign-going vessels, one that proved a valuable asset during the numerous military contests to claim ownership of the port. Once inside The Narrows, the scene changes dramatically. In contrast to the final approach towards the harbour, the port is calm, and bitter winds are blunted considerably by the Southside Hills, a military defense in their own right. Over the years the port has proven small enough to provide shelter and security, yet large enough to accommodate some of the world’s largest vessels, becoming a major hub for the province’s most prominent and busiest industries.

Photo Credit: St. John’s Port Authority

In the fifty years since the port’s incorporation under the National Harbours Board of Canada, the Port of St. John’s has undergone remarkable change. Within the past three decades, the port has managed to reinvent itself as a major base for the oil industry, a remarkable transformation for a port that credited its existence to the salt fish trade for five centuries. The gradual decline of various fisheries around the island saw the replacement of annual traditions with new ones. For years the port had hosted the arrival and departure of the spring seal fishery, which brought men from all over the island to the harbour-front in hopes of securing a berth at sea. Fishermen from all over the world relied upon the Port of St. John’s as the only safe haven in the North Atlantic, and many foreign sailors became intimately acquainted with the people and geography of St. John’s. In particular, the annual visit of the Portuguese White Fleet helped strengthen a special cultural relationship that is still nurtured today. For centuries of seaman who worked on these frigid waters, the port was their St. John’s.

Photo Credit: J.P Andrieux

Certainly, for the first centuries of settlement in St. John’s, the harbour was the undisputed focal point of the town. The harbour was the means by which the town’s first wealth was attained, providing an access point to the salt cod fishery. Given that the first paved road across the island was not completed until 1965, this port served as the only transportation link to the outside world for many Newfoundlanders. Today, the Port of St. John’s has reinvented itself into more than just a shipping terminal supplying the entire island, but also as a major oil supply base in the north Atlantic.

Photo Credit: St. John’s Port Authority

Many of the infrastructural upgrades made to the Port of St. John’s ushered in a new era of innovation and efficiency in the world of trans-continental shipping. Before Harbour Drive was completed in 1965, the north side of the harbour was lined with finger piers jutting out into the harbour. These wharves were privately owned by the numerous merchant firms that were lucky enough to claim what little waterfront property existed. These firms exported codfish internationally, and received imported goods to be shipped around the island or sold through retail stores on Water Street. Goods were loaded and unloaded using a gang system of longshoremen, with cargo moved by hand to and from storage sheds located on the waterfront.

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives

The outbreak of WWII in 1939 helped illuminate the inefficiency of the archaic finger pier system, when the harbour quickly became a haven for convoys of massive warships that crowded the harbour alongside the traditional schooners. The arrival of American and Canadian servicemen created an unprecedented level of bustle in the tiny port. Wartime activity meant that a wider range of consumer goods was available and thus in demand. As in other centres, the Port of St. John’s gradually adopted the use of standardized shipping containers to send and receive goods. Containerization had a tremendous impact on the nature of the work done by longshoremen at the port.