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her in 1994. The bookshelves in her living room held an array of good books, many of them recent publications, as well as several current magazines.
    Violet Blanche Hannam was born on January 25, 1890, and married James Horwood, a merchant. When her husband died, Violet was left with five children and everything was tied up in the Horwood estate, from which she received nothing. In desperate straits, she came with her children to live with Simeon Butt of Harbour Le Cou as a housekeeper. In those days Simeon was fishing in “skiffs, two-masters with no boom, a little bigger than a snapper.” They married on December 8, 1931, though Violet was 14 years his senior. Violet did all the work in the home and she spread the fish and ensured that it was dried (cured) properly. She had a better education than Simeon so she looked after all the money and “all the trade.” But they consulted on all decisions. “One didn’t do anything without clearing it with the other, without asking.” On January 14, 1935, Simeon bought the 15-ton
Agnes R
from the merchant Robert Newman. This was an old vessel. It was built by Frank Strickland of North Arm, La Poile, in 1916 and rebuilt in 1934. As testimony to the successful fishery of that time, in less than three months Simeon had the vessel paid for, and on April 1, 1935, he had it registered in the name of Violet Blanche Butt, his wife. At the same time he had his house put in his wife’s name. When I asked him why he did this, he replied: “I did it in recognition of her contribution, and I never wanted her to know poverty again.” She died in 1977; Simeon was still living in 1994.
    On this same visit I met and briefly interviewed Debbie Petite, Manager of J. Petite & Sons Ltd. at English Harbour West. Debbie is the daughter of Gordon Petite and the granddaughter of Ada Annie Petite, who operated the family business in Mose Ambrose for several years after her husband Harry was lost at sea. I have corresponded with Debbie Petite since that visit. As manager of the business, she is now a shipowner also.
    These brief stories give some indication that women were involved with ships and the fishing business in a substantial way. But they represent only the tip of the iceberg. Women were involved in the ship business in even more substantial ways, as we shall see later.
    In the almost 20 places I visited in 1994, I was in search of information on 114 women who were involved in the ship business from 1823 to 1983: 7 women in Channel-Port aux Basques, 17 in Rose Blanche, 6 in Harbour Le Cou, 6 in Harbour Breton, 4 in Mose Ambrose, 1 in English Harbour West, 6 in Belleoram, 2 in Glovertown, 12 in Burin, 21 in Grand Bank, 5 in Fortune, 17 in Carbonear, 2 in Spaniard’s Bay, and 8 in Harbour Grace. These were the areas with the largest concentrations of women ship-owners and it was convenient for the travel time available. I feel fortunate to have been able to visit many of the last people to be involved in the merchant/fishermen salt-cod business.
    Women in about 130 places in Newfoundland were designated shipowners in the ship registers. I sent letters and questionnaires to people in several of these communities in an effort to gather information about these women and combed through the records in local libraries for elusive biographical data. It was impossible to gather all the material one would desire.
Women as Shipowners
    So few hard data are available on women for the period covered in this study, roughly 1675 to 1975, that we can only guess at the details in many instances. In this 300-year period I have been able to identify approximately 1200 to 1500 women who were involved substantially in the ship business in the four Atlantic provinces and Quebec. In Newfoundland I have gone back to the earliest census (1675), and I have consulted court records and a variety of other sources in order to get a clearer idea of the durable woman who emerges from that