Freemasons Never Revulge

Freemasons Never Revulge

Submitted by: billwhelan@btinternet.com

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FREEMASONS NEVER REVULGE

Bill Whelan

2024 04 16

Moses Bursey went to the Seal Hunt and became a Freemason. He vowed to Never Revulge!

Moses Bursey went to Carbonear from his home in Old Perlican to join the sealing fleet. The year was probably 1873, or thereabouts. He was 18 years of age. He wanted to go sealing again. Amongst the fine fleet in Carbonear harbor was the brig Thomas Ridley, a pure sailing vessel, not a steamship. Bursey saw Captain William Taylor at his home and asked to be taken on for the trip. Captain Taylor gave him breakfast and signed him on. Moses Bursey was a very promising young man, it seems. He carried all before him.

Then he went to the ship’s owners for his crop. This was a pair of deck boots, an oil-skin jacket, 3 yards of canvas to make a jumper, and a pair of eye-goggles to prevent snow-blindness. Moses Bursey had himself seen men in great pain from snow-blindness. The goggles were necessary.

They sailed from Carbonear on the 5^th of March with a favorable southwest breeze. Crowds alongshore waved goodbye. There was much to eat that first day out, lots of bread and coffee. There was also the preparation of salt pork and duff for next day’s dinner. Young Bursey was cheered by this. Three Master Watches picked men in turn that first day. Bursey was proud to be picked early, in preference to others.

The Ridley brig had fine weather for the first week but then became beset in the ice when the wind came up from the ENE and pushed the ice onto the shore. The ship drifted south with the ice, helpless, in stormy weather. The men soon realized that it was a gone spring. They had missed their chance at the seals, who had by now taken to the water. It was then they decided to form a secret society. They asked Bursey whether he would like to join the Freemasons. He says he replied: “No, I never intend to.” He was told then that he would be compelled to join and must be prepared to be initiated that night.

He and others were kept waiting in the galley. After a while Bursey was ordered to the fo’c’sle by a tall man in a policeman’s coat, a high hat, and a mask. Bursey was taken to a small box and made to stand on it. This was the box that supported the stove in normal times. And so, of course, it was directly under the place where the stovepipe ran through the decking. The stove had been removed.

Then they forced Bursey’s arms up through the stovepipe gap. His wrists were grabbed swiftly and held by the captain, a very strong man. Then there was improvised music and a chorus of all the men singing: “Never revulge….Never revulge…”

Never Revulge is apparently a combination of Masonic pledges: Never Reveal and Never Divulge.

Moses Bursey’s position was not comfortable. He stood on a box with his arms held well above his head by a man he could not see. Then someone tipped icy seawater down his upstretched arms, down his sleeves, slowly at first but then more rapidly until he was wet from head to toe and his boots were full. Meanwhile the lunatic chorus continued: “Never revulge… Never revulge…. Never ….”

At last they let him go, gave him a hot drink and called him Brother. He shook hands with various brothers and changed his clothes. Then he helped initiate others, twenty in all.

Ridley had various adventures at the ice that spring but took no seals. They were back in Carbonear by the middle of April. When Bursey left the Ridley brig, he had no money but carried bread and butter wrapped in a pocket handkerchief, a packet of tea, and a bag of dirty clothes. With these he set out to walk the 30 miles to his home. Although the trip to the ice had been a failure in monetary terms, he was happy.

“And was I not a Freemason?”

Moses Bursey wrote up his recollections of that earlier seal hunt in 1904 in Old Perlican. They were published in the Christmas edition of the Free Press. FP1904 12 13

Moses Bursey met some setbacks in his Old Perlican efforts. In 1903 came fire:

Free Press 1903 07 21

Daily News, 1903-07-14

Misfortunes never come alone.

Mr. Moses Bursey, of Old Perlican, whose factory was recently destroyed, set to work to erect another, and ordered his boilers to be carried by the SS. Ethie. Whilst hoisting them aboard his boat, they fell from the slings, went overboard and sunk in 40 feet of water. The fishermen went out and with drags succeeded in recovering them after lying two days on the bottom. In the fall they came in contact with the gunwale of a boat, and were badly bulged, being rendered thereby almost useless. The loss to Mr. Bursey is a serious one. Fortunately he is a man with abundance of pluck and energy, all of which he will require after two such misfortunes. We understand that he intends to sue the Reid-Newfoundland Company for the damages and loss occasioned. FP1903 08 04

Nevertheless, Moses Bursey planned to enter the lobster industry at Otterbury, near Old Perlican, where lobsters were plentiful. According to the Free Press, he was very likely to succeed because he has already had considerable experience in the lobster business. FP 1905 05 09

Moses Bursey went on in Old Perlican as a fisherman and businessman. A St John’s newspaper reported his presence in the city on business in May,1909

And in time he was made a Justice of the Peace

Evening Telegram, 1913-09-03

By 1915 he contributed to the wartime Patriotic Fund.

Moses Bursey took his graphophone to a picnic near Old Perlican in August of 1905.The day’s pleasure was very personal, fittingly ended with the entertainment. The old folks looked as if they were getting voung again, while the younger ones were full of fun and enjoyment. The place selected for the picnic was soon crowded, and the first thing, of course. was the preparation of a bountiful repast, of which all partook heartily. We noticed several strangers amongst us, and we were also pleased to see in our midst the Rev S Matthew, our esteemed pastor. After the inner man had been satisfied, everybody settled down fur a real jolly time, engaging in games of various kinds until the shades of evening began to fall, when all were invited to the new West End schoolroom, where an enjoyable entertainment was given. Several selections were given by Mr. Moses Bursey on his graphaphone.

FP 1905 08 29 (The graphophone was an improved version of the phonograph of the time. It was invented by Alexander Graham Bell and others.)

It appears that Moses conducted business in company with his wife:

By yesterday’s express.

Mr. and Mrs. Moses Bursey arrived in town by Tuesday’s train, returning home on Friday. During their stay they purchased the fall’s stock for their thriving business in Old Perlican. FP 1905 10 24 Perhaps this was a retail business?

FP 1907 12 17 In which Moses Bursey tells of……….. This article also showed a photograph of Moses Bursey but the online scan inadequate.

After many years of success came scandal:

PUBLIC NOTICE I will not be responsible for any debts contracted by Mrs. Moses Bursey in my name. c (Sgd.) Moses Bursey. ET1930 05 28 He was about 76 years of age then. We know nothing of his difficulties with his wife.

MOSES BURSEY I There passed away at Old Perlcan recently, a well- known and respected resident in the person of Moses Bursey in his 88th year, having been bom in 1854. He was a man who was ready to bear any of the usual hardships, for the fishery and as a sailor on foreign voyages in some of our fine sailing fleet of by-gone days, for a crowd of young men to walk from 0ld Perliican in the Spring of the year to Harbour Grace and St John’s to get berths in sealing vessels or steamers. He enjoyed relating many good yarns about the “good old days.’’ He was well known in business circles and was most upright in all his doings. He had an appointment of Deputy Sheriff and Justice of The Peace for many years. He was a member of the United Church in which he dearly loved to worship, and nothing was a trouble to him as long as it helped. He leaves to mourn his wife Amelia Ann (Strong), his partner since 1882 Observers Weekly 1942 08 18

In 1962 Gus Bursey, nephew of Moses, happened to find an old newspaper clipping of a story sent by Moses to the Daily News years ago. The Daily News reprinted the story. It appears that Moses Bursey was fond of music and owned a concertina, the first in Old Perlican. One evening, not long after he returned from a successful Labrador voyage, he began to play some old tunes on the concertina. This drew a considerable crowd, with some participating on improvised instruments. Someone in authority was alarmed by this riot. Bursey was arrested and brought before an old magistrate on the charge of marching through the harbour and being the ring leader of a mob. Moses knew what it meant to be a ringleader of a mob, no less than 2 or 3 years in the penitentiary. His friends supported him and the Magistrate told him to go home and be a good boy. That is the story as reprinted in the Daily News.

DN1962 08 07

It is likely that Moses Bursey visited the Masonic Hall on his visits to St John’s. This majestic structure, opened in 1894, marked the place and power of the Freemasons in the society of the time. Now, in the first quarter of the 21^st century, it seems the Freemasons are much diminished. The Masonic Hall on Cathedral Street is still much in evidence, though it was used for entertainment and fine dining for a time, rather than Masonic mysteries, and may now perhaps become a cultural centre.

Ends

1709 words

Blank 17,1882	Old Perlican	BURSEY, Moses	27	B.	Fisherman	Old Perlican	George Paine	Wm. Warren Bursey
		STRONG, Amelia Ann	20	S.	No Entry	Old Perlican		Emily Ann Strong

This is a Methodist wedding record. Is this our man who was 18 when he went on his seal hunt? This man was 27 in 1882 and so was born in 1882 – 27 = 1855 approx.

And 1855 + 18 = 1873 as approx. year of his never revulge seal hunt.