Rogues & Waves: A Northern Bay Disaster- John W. Goodland

It's September 1775, and the greatest hurricane to ever pummel eastern Newfoundland has forced a massive rogue wave into Northern Bay, a quiet inlet on the western side of Conception Bay, Newfoundland. The wave destroys everything and everyone in its path except for one boy who barely survives, tied to the mast of a small boat. That's where the history ends. This is the story of that boy.

Before the wave, Cormac Mullally had an idyllic life growing up with his family in Northern Bay. The Mullallys made a meagre living from fishing cod and squid in the waters of Conception Bay and picked blueberries in the hills above their shoreside home. As Irish Catholics living in an English Protestant world, with all the prejudices and penal laws that came with it, the Mullallys kept themselves to themselves except when life required they set sail for St. John’s Town to sell their catch and barter for goods with the fish merchants.

Discovered days later still tied to the beached boat, hungry and dehydrated, Cormac is ‘rescued’ and taken to St. John’s by William English, a fish merchant out from Town. Ever the opportunist, William, or Ol’ Billy as he is known to most, presses Cormac into a contract of servitude to satisfy the debts of his father. But trouble plagues Cormac, and his contract is bartered away to end up in the hands of the Mullally family in Limerick, back in the Old Country. Ireland holds little comfort for Cormac, and he quickly understands why his parents left in the first place. Not all family is good family. Combined with the discovery that Catholic prejudice is not limited to the New World but is ripe and aged in the Old World as well, Cormac struggles to find the one thing he desires most – a place to belong.

LOCAL AUTHOR: John W. Goodland lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, with his wife and three teenage children. An avid reader of westerns and historical fiction since he was a young lad, the rich history of his home Province provided the inspiration to launch his own story telling journey.