Heroic Rescue at Sea

With courage, ingenuity, and the help of a loyal Newfoundland dog, Ann Harvey and her family saved over 160 lives from the sea off Isle aux Morts.

Ann Harvey (1811–1860) lived with her father, George Harvey, near the tiny fishing settlement of Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland. She was the eldest of eight children. The town itself bore a grim name, ‘Isle aux Morts’ means Island of the Dead, a reference to the many shipwrecks that occurred along this dangerous stretch of coast.

Shipwrecks were so common that locals often found bits of wreckage drifting ashore. One day in July 1828, while Ann and her father were fishing, they spotted a keg and a straw bed floating in the waves. They knew at once that a ship must have gone down nearby. With Ann’s brother Tom and their large Newfoundland dog, Hairy Man, they set out to look for survivors.

They first came across six men stranded on a beach. Then, three miles offshore, they discovered a desperate group clinging to a large rock barely big enough to hold them. It would thereafter be called Wreck Rock. Heavy seas made it impossible for George to get close, so he threw the men a pallet of wood tied to a rope. Then Hairy Man swam the line back to shore. One by one, the survivors were hauled off the rock.

From Sunday morning to Tuesday morning, the Harveys rescued 163 people from the brig Despatch. The ship had sailed from Ireland carrying entire families in search of a new life. About 200 people had been on board; tragically, ten died even after being rescued.

The tiny community, barely able to feed themselves, shared what little they had with the survivors. Some survivors had to build makeshift lean-tos for shelter.

Eight days later, Captain Grant of HMS Tyne arrived. He found the Harveys’ winter supplies completely gone, no bread, flour, or tea remained. He restocked their provisions and transported the survivors to Halifax. Word of the Harvey family’s heroism spread. Lloyd’s of London presented them with a reward of £100, and a medal was struck in their honour.

But the sea’s toll continued. In 1838, another ship, the Rankin, wrecked in nearly the same place. Again, Ann was there to save lives, this time twenty-five people.

Ann eventually married Charles Gillam and had eight children. She died in Port aux Basques in 1860 at the age of 49, only a year after her father.

Ann Harvey’s bravery has been remembered in many ways across Newfoundland. In 1987, the Canadian Coast Guard commissioned the ship Ann Harvey in her honour. A hiking trail and an annual summer festival, Ann Harvey Days, also commemorate her deeds. In 2008, she was nominated to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as a woman of national historic significance but regrettably, the nomination was not approved due to what was deemed ‘insufficient documentation.’