ST JOHN'S : CANADA'S OLDEST CITY

There is very little level ground in downtown St John's, so when fishermen wanted to live close to their work, they had to build houses and fishing stages balanced on the rocks, on stilts over the water, and sometimes guyed with cables. The result is a fascinating jumble of shapes and colours, with galleries, stairways and ladders everywhere. This gives the St John's waterfront a unique appearance that attracts tourists with their cameras from all over the world.

The house above right is a good example of such multilevel construction: it almost literally cascades down the mountainside!

Scarcely wide enough for one vehicle, let alone for two to pass, steep, narrow, winding streets are the order of the day in this neighbourhood of Canada's oldest and most eastern city. There is probably nowhere else in North America where you can see streets like these, whose dimensions are reminiscent of European cities which have managed to preserve to modern times a few medieval streets. In the distance a car is seen slowly negotiating this steep winding lane that leads from the Outer Battery back to the city centre. Parking space is at a premium here, and people have made use of every little nook and cranny big enough to hold a vehicle, because parking is impossible on the street itself. The unfamiliar tourist is well advised to park elsewhere and, like the people seen here, to use the mode of transportation that prevailed when these lanes first came into existence! It's congested now, but imagine the problems in winter when there has been a major snowfall!

High above the jumble of houses and fishing stages is the great mass of rock which is Signal Hill. From this vantage point the magnificent enclosed Harbour of St John's has been defended for over 400 years. Cannon of various shapes and sizes point their muzzles out over The Narrows, the entrance to the Harbour, as did these dating from the time of the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s. Visible on the far side is Fort Amherst, with its concrete bunkers and gun emplacements from World War Two. In the far distance also can be seen Cape Spear, the easternmost point of North America, another heavily defended point and now a national historic site. In the old concrete emplacements there, visitors can see two huge cannon left there from World War Two.

Located on the south side of The Narrows, Fort Amherst consists today of a lighthouse, a couple of houses, and a collection of concrete gun emplacements from World War Two. The lighthouse is now automated, but the houses, empty since the keepers left, have recently been renovated by family members. The concete bunkers are in a dilapidated state, but are interesting relics of the war, as one can still explore them and imagine what it must have been like for the gun crews posted there.

Even today, more than half a century after the end of hostilities of World War Two, the remains of a gun can still be seen on its stand overlooking The Narrows, the only entrance for ships in to the Harbour of St John's. This gun emplacement was one of several at Fort Amherst, from where a battery of guns could effectively dominate any enemy attempt to enter The Narrows.

Lights are just coming on all around the Harbour. This view is from the Cabot Tower, and The Narrows, the Harbour's only entrance from the open sea, is to the left. There are few other places on the entire east coast of North America that offer a harbour comparable to this for both shelter from weather and protection from hostile enemies marauding the Atlantic Ocean. Although St John's was far from the main action of the war, it made an immeasurable contribution to ensuring the supply of essential goods to the beleaguered British Isles and the Allied Forces in Europe during the early war years (1940-1943). St John's, Newfoundland, is approximately the halfway point from New York to Europe, and here were marshalled many of the convoys of dozens of ships that carried essential supplies across the Atlantic when, as Winston Churchill so aptly put it, "the lights had gone out all over Europe" and Hitler's Nazis had gained control. At this time the North Atlantic became a dangerous area where German U-boats and warships roamed freely. Ships were organised in St John's Harbour to proceed, with air and naval protection, to the ports of Europe. Even so, many Allied ships and men were lost to German air and naval attack, but many also made successful crossings, establishing and maintaining a lifeline for vital supplies of food and war equipment.

From this rock across to the South Side was suspended a large chain and antisubmarine net as a means of preventing the entry of unwanted vessels, in particular enemy submarines, during World War Two. The end anchors of the chain can still be seen embedded in the rock down by the water.

Cape Spear, visible from Signal Hill, is the easternmost point of North America. There is a nineteenth century lighthouse and keeper's residence here, now a museum and part of the National Historic Site which commemorates the important work of lighthouse keepers in maritime Canada. This modern automated light presently marks the point of land. It is a strange experience to stand below the lighhouse after dusk on a foggy night, to hear the rhythmic crash of the breakers punctuated by the note of the fog horn, and to see the triple beam of the light as it sweeps through the fog above your head. Frequently you may also see some of the local wild foxes slipping quietly by as they make their nightly rounds in search of food. The idea that there is nothing more than two thousand miles of ocean between this solitary spot and the western isles of Europe adds to the impression of desolation. It certainly feels like the end of the world.