Letter from Halifax, N.S., January 15, 1918 — opening sheet, 'Dear Louisa' (John McCready FitzSimons to his sister Louisa de Berniere FitzSimons)
Book 1, Page 445 ·1918
Transcription
A single leaf written in dark brown ink, headed in the upper-right corner with the dateline and addressed to Louisa at the left margin.
Halifax, N. S. Jan. 15th. 1918.
Dear Louisa:—
Just returned from Labra- dor, after an eight day cruise in which we encountered gales blizzards and both combined. One night we were in a gale with tempera- ture 25° below zero, and the ship was a solid mass of ice. We rescued the crew of a schooner and ourselves battered around almost helpless for three nights. Sent you a note which if it ever reaches you will have traveled over 400 miles on a sleigh drawn by dogs —
AI Notes
A single sheet of letter paper (recto), written in dark brown ink in a confident looping hand, headed ‘Halifax, N. S. / Jan. 15th. 1918.’ The salutation is ‘Dear Louisa:—’. The writer reports having just returned to Halifax after an eight-day cruise to Labrador during which the ship encountered gales and blizzards with temperatures of 25° below zero, the vessel becoming a solid mass of ice; the crew of a wrecked schooner was rescued. The writer mentions sending a previous note that, if it reached Louisa, will have travelled over 400 miles by dog sled. The page ends mid-paragraph; the letter continues on page 446 (second sheet plus verso of this leaf). The signature ‘your brother John’ on the verso (page 446) identifies the writer as John McCready FitzSimons (b. 1890, USN), son of Theodore Stoney FitzSimons, and the recipient as his sister Louisa de Berniere FitzSimons (b. 1891). The Halifax dateline and the U. S. Navy or Coast Guard winter patrol off Labrador fit the 1917–1918 wartime context.
Letter continues on page 446. Writer is John McCready FitzSimons (b. 1890, USN); recipient is his sister Louisa de Berniere FitzSimons (b. 1891) — both children of Theodore Stoney FitzSimons (“Tote”/“Toto”, 1858-1944). The Halifax base and Labrador patrol are consistent with U. S. Navy winter convoy / rescue operations off the North Atlantic coast in January 1918, the first wartime winter for the U. S. after entering World War I in April 1917. Halifax was the principal North Atlantic convoy assembly port and had been devastated only six weeks earlier by the Halifax Explosion of 6 December 1917, when the munitions ship Mont-Blanc detonated in the harbour, killing roughly 2,000 people.