The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The month of April 1936 brought devastating news to the community of Garnish, Newfoundland, when word came that the schooner Partanna was lost with all hands. The Partana left the Town of Grand Bank on the Newfoundland Burin Peninsula on March 16, 1936 with a crew of 25 men for the fishing grounds on the Grand Banks. Although the Partanna was one of the best equipped vessels of her day with electric lights and a radio receiver, the 120-ton schooner and her crew were never seen by their relatives again. After finishing fishing on the Grand Banks, the Partana left for her home port. No one is sure whether she was run down by another vessel (there have been unsubstantiated rumors to that effect) or whether her compass was defective. At any rate, late in April, wreckage began drifting ashore. The first was found at Trepassey Bay. Parts of her eleven dories were found on the shore between Drook and Portugal Cove South on the Southern Avalon Peninsula. One dory was found at St. Vincent's in St. Mary's Bay. The #10 dory had a fisherman's mitt inside it with the initials "J C", probably for Joseph Cluett. No bodies or major sections of the schooner were ever located. The broken nameplate of the Partanna was found at Cross Island and can now be seen at the Seamen's Museum in Grand Bank. Ê Something to Ponder: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!
