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MYSTERIOUS ICEBERG OFF ST. JOHN'S HARBOUR
“Our Lady of the Fjords”
On this day on June 24, 1905 T.B. Hayward a St. John’s artist and photographer pointed his camera in the direction of a mysterious iceberg off the Narrows of St. John's, Newfoundland and snapped a picture of what is likely the oldest known photograph believed to be a depiction of a supernatural Christian presence.
This was approximately five years after the first mass marketed camera, the “Brownie,” was introduced by the Eastman Kodak Company.
The photograph in question depicts what many people believe is a clear picture of a wondrous iceberg showing the figure of the Virgin Mary in the narrows off St. John’s, Newfoundland. How similar to a statue the original iceberg looked is unknown. The photographer (T.B. Hayward) was really a painter of Newfoundland scenes, particularly marine scenes. His method was to photograph a scene and then paint the photograph.
However the favorable reaction to the frozen statue by Archbishop Michael Francis Howley, Archbishop of St. John’s at the time, indicates that Hayward's photograph is probably a close representation of the event.
In fact, the Archbishop was so impressed by the extraordinary iceberg, that he wrote an article published in The Tablet, the Catholic Diocesan newspaper for Boston describing the iceberg that he refers to as the “Crystal Lady.” He also endorsed the sale of postcards and photographs that were produced by Hayward for mass production. This would suggest that the image conforms to what he saw.
Archbishop Howley was so impressed by the extraordinary iceberg, something he undoubtedly perceived to be a sacred sign, that he composed a sonnet in honour of the frozen statue entitled “Our Lady of the Fjords.” In the poem, he refers to the glistening ice figure that mysteriously appeared in 1905 as “a shimmering shrine – our bright Atlantic Lourdes.
The timing of this wondrous iceberg, this Marian apparition appearing in the St. John’s Narrows was quite significant.
June 24, is the anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland, and the feast day of the patron saint of the Basilica Cathedral St. John the Baptist from where the public could look into the Narrows and see the ‘Our Lady in the iceberg’
For more information on this or for a copy of Archbishop Howley’s sonnet contact the Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese.
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