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Date: December 11, 1901
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Location: Portugal Cove
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Easting: 360500
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Northing: 5276400
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Latitude: 47° 37' 30" N
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Longitude: 52° 50' 00" W
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Fatalities: 0
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Injuries: 1
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Source: Dec 21 1901 Daily News; Portugal Cove-St.
Phillip's This Month, #18, Oct 1997, Page 18.
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From the Daily News: Facts and Fancies, a letter correcting
details of an earlier story. The rock fall hit the property of
Jacob Hibbs, 3 furlongs from the wharf on the side of a steep
hill. "At 2-3 am on Monday a great mass of rock broke away. One
great rock bounded down into the sea, and can be seen lying in
5' of water. A second rock weighing around 2 tons on its 3rd or
4th bounce crashed through the house, knocking away a partition
and then exited to lay on other side of road. The rock struck the
foot of the bed and crushed Mrs. Hibbs' foot. Her leg was
amputated halfway up her calf" The report was by Warwick Smith of
Portugal Cove.
"The rock fall took place according to the doctor who amputated
her leg, on Dec 16, 1901. Emma and Jacob Hibbs lived at the
northmost area of Portugal Cove, past what is now called North
Point Road. If you look in the Newfoundland Encyclopedia, Vol.4,
page 408, you will see a photo of the Cove taken in 1908 (not
1920's as it says). It was in one of those houses to the far left
on the far side of the harbour that Jacob and Emma lived. That
area is what we call the Geeze from the old word for Gaze or
lookout. There are no houses out that far today but you can still
see old foundations if you walk along the path. A resident of
North Point tells me that there is a house at the end of North
Point Road that is directly in front of a large boulder and he
believes an earth berm or something should be built to deflect it
if it ever broke loose, but the situation is not taken seriously
by the owners". From Robin McGrath
Emma Hibbs, who survived a rockfall; thanks to Robin McGrath for the photograph
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