Notes from interview by Robin McGrath with Patrick McGrath
July 1994
Interview

7/1994

Patrick McGrath is a 71 year old resident of Patrick’s Cove. He is one of the few people to have seen a piece of the metal supposed to have come from the White Bird which was believed to have crashed at the Gull Pond on the Cape Shore.

One of the pieces Patrick saw was the one obtained by himself, Mr. Hubert McGrath , and Fr. McCarthy, the parish priest at the time. Patrick said what they found was a small piece of metal that was blue in colour. This piece, he says, Fr. McCarthy took home and was supposedly thrown away with the garbage when Fr. McCarthy left the parish.

Another piece Patrick saw was the one found by Mr. Patsy Judge. This piece, said Patrick, had rivets in it and was light in weight. According to what he heard, the piece was destroyed in a fire at Patsy’s stable in Gooseberry Cove.

Patrick says he can also remember a Major Cotton who had a plane stationed in Southeast, Placentia, flying over the area in search of the White Bird. He says Major Cotton was joined by a man from St. Mary’s Bay who claimed to have seen a fire in the country that looked to be like an explosion. Apparently the two men found nothing that would show evidence of a plane crash.

Patrick says that there were several men who spent time in the country hunting caribou who may have taken pieces of the metal long before he began his search of the pond. He said he has heard of pieces being found by hunters from St. Mary’s, who often frequented the country in search of caribou. He does add however, that he does not know of anyone in particular from the area claiming to have recovered a piece of the wreck.


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