Ann Harvey

Ann Harvey (1811–1860) was a fisher and rescuer born near the small fishing community of Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland. Harvey, called the "Grace Darling of Newfoundland", is known for her bravery at the age of seventeen for rescuing, along with her father, younger brother and their Newfoundland dog, 163 shipwrecked people from the brig Despatch between July 12–15, 1828. Despatch had departed from Derry in late May, carrying nearly 200 Irish immigrants (and 11 crew members) bound for Quebec City, but on July 10, a fierce storm wrecked the brig on the rocks near Isle aux Morts.

Biography The Harveys lived, along with one or two other families, on a small, bare, rocky island near Isle aux Morts. Ann's father, George, was born in Jersey, and moved to Newfoundland with his wife, where they had eight children, of whom Ann was the eldest. Ann married Charles Gillam and together they had eight children.

1828 rescue Ann and her father were fishing as usual one early July morning in 1828 when she sighted a keg and a straw bed floating in the turbulent seas.

Fourteen people died on the rock, two aboard the boats, and ten more expired on land after their dramatic rescue. The waves remained merciless the entire time; two babies were swept from their mothers' arms. But from Sunday morning to Tuesday morning, 163 people were saved.

For a time, Ann was known as the 'Grace Darling of Newfoundland', after the Englishwoman who, with her father, saved seamen wrecked on the Northumberland coast in 1838.

On July 17, 1987, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Ann Harvey was commissioned in memory of Ann's heroic deeds. There is a hiking trail and an annual festival, Ann Harvey Days, named for her. In 2006, composer Stephen Hatfield wrote a chamber opera about Harvey, Ann and Séamus, based on a novel of the same name by Kevin Major.