2145 Tuesday, July 19
I spend as much time as I can upon the sea; I have always loved it. Sometimes it is astonishing to think of what happens underneath the sea. Today was a reminder of just that.
Above is a view of the very dramatic Bell Island in Conception Bay, just offshore from where Tazzarin is now berthed. Today Annie and I took a ferry out to Bell Island to learn more about the island's past; there are no harbors on Bell Island for a vessel like Tazzarin. In the 1890s mining for iron ore began on Bell Island. It was producing the finest iron ore in the world, the iron content of the veins was over 50%, exceptionally high. The ore was highly prized.
As time passed, the number of mines on the island grew. Astonishingly, the majority of the six mines on the island actually descended at about a 10% grade, stretching off the island and under the waters of Conception Bay. The mines reached down to over 1,800 feet below the surface - 1,200 feet of rock and 500-600 feet of the water of Conception Bay above that. Miles and miles of tunnels in an astonishing maze covering over 40 square miles!
During World War II the iron from Bell Island's mines was of strategic importance for shipbuilding and weapons. It was of such high strategic value that Germany sent U-Boats into Conception Bay in September and November of 1942 to try and stop the supply of iron ore. The U-Boats succeeded in sinking four freighters at the island with the loss of 70 men and destruction of a vital iron shipping pier. WWII and the U-Boats had struck in North America. Read on for how Annie and I experienced the mines of Bell Island, under the sea...
