Cabot Island: The Alex Gill Story
Gary Collins

Genre: Non-fiction Format: Paperback, 152 pages, b&w photos and illustrations Pub Date: February 2007 ISBN 10: 1-897317-03-4 ISBN 13: 9781897317037 Price: CDN$15.95 Qty:

Book Description In the nineteenth century, the Newfoundland government, under constant pressure from fish merchants, began installing lighthouses in some of the more treacherous places around the island. In the 1950s, Cabot Island boasted a large lighthouse, with a steady, brilliant light and a bellowing foghorn to warn seafarers away from its inviting shoreline. This sentinel of the sea was manned by brothers Alex and Bertram Gill, who hailed from Newtown, a nearby community in Bonavista Bay. In November of 1954, a terrible storm darkened the skies above Cabot Island and battered its solitary lighthouse with a single-minded fury. The keepers of the Cabot Island light were no strangers to sea weather, but when tragedy struck the brothers Gill, the younger of the two was left to fend for himself amid one of the worst storms in Newfoundland’s history. This is a true story of the love between two brothers, a love that perseveres in the face of death, loss, and greatest personal challenge. About the Author Born in a small, two-storey house in Hare Bay, Bonavista Bay, Gary Collins finished school at Brown Memorial High School in the same town. He spent forty years in the tree harvesting/sawmilling business along with his father, Theophilus, and son Clint. His writing career began when he was asked to write eulogies for deceased friends and family. Currently he is a freelance writer who contributes feature articles to the Newfoundland Herald under the pseudonym Nicholas C. In his spare time he likes to play the guitar. Also by Gary Collins: The Last Farewell: The Loss of the Collett