Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/222

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
196
THE NEW BRUNSWICK MAGAZINE.

As a leader of the little colony at St. John and a man of ability and good education, James Simonds played a not unimportant part in the organization of the new county, and he went to Halifax several times to attend <o matters of public interest as well as his own private affairs. The journey in those days was no trifling matter. He very nearly lost his life on one occasion while proceeding across the Bay to Windsor in an open boat. His experience is thus described in a letter to Samuel Blodget, written from Halifax the 1st day of October, 1764.

"Last night arrived here after four days' passage from St. John's—the first 24 hours at sea in a severe storm, the second passed a place called the Masquerades, where there was seas and whirlpools enough to have foundered the largest ships, but were providentially saved with only the loss of all our road chain and anchor by endeavoring to ride at anchor till the tide slacked, (in vain). It was unlucky for us that we happened to fall in with that tremendous place in the strength of the flood tide in the highest spring tide that has been this year. Gentlemen here say it is presumptuous to attempt to return that way at this season of the year in an open boat, but as the boat and men is at Pisiquit,[1] and I have no other way to get to St. Johns in season for my business this fall; shall get our business done here as soon as may be and return there the same way I came, where I hope to meet some of our vessels. The plea of the above difficulty will have a greater weight than any other to have business finished here immediately. This morning I waited on the Governor, Secretary and all other officers concerned in granting license, &c, who assure me that my request respecting license shall be granted directly, so that I hope to be on my way to St. Johns tomorrow."

We cannot but admire the enterprise and courage of a man who after so fatiguing and perilous a journey, was ready, on the second day after his arrival in Halifax, to remount his horse and travel some forty-five miles over a rough road to Windsor and face once more the the perils of the Bay of Fundy in an open boat.

Mr. Simonds revisited Halifax early the next spring, and on his arrival wrote a letter to Wm. Hazen, dated March 18, 1765, in which he says, "I am just arrived here on the business of the inhabitants of

  1. ↑ Now called Windsor.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.