station n Cp OED ~ sb 13 'place where men are stationed and apparatus set up for some kind of work' (1823-); DC Nfld (1892-); Shetland Truck System, p. 5 for sense 1.
1 A cove or harbour with space on the foreshore for the erection of facilities for the conduct of the fishery in adjacent coastal waters; FISHING STATION; cp ROOM.
[1786] 1975 Evening Telegram 22 Dec, p. 6 Five shallops arriving in 1786 from the station of Noble, Kingsworth and Company on the coast of Labrador. 1864 Times [London] 2 Jan, p. 1 [Ballard Bank, near Cape Race] will, no doubt, prove good fishing-ground and be of much advantage to the different stations along the coast, where, mostly, punt-fishing prevails close to the shore. 1870 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 8 On an island in the mouth of Gaultois is a station for cutting up and trying out whales. 1895 GRENFELL 68 In one case, after the best berths had thus been taken, the nets to complete the traps did not turn up till after the prescribed four days... Again, some men were landed with 'leaders' on one station late at night. 1907 Tribune Christmas No 8 The firm have branches in Trinity, King's Cove, Elliston, Greens[pond], and at [Batteaux], Webber's, Orleans, Hawk's Harbor, and other stations on the Labrador. [1946] 1976 Evening Telegram 12 Jan, p. 6 She sailed from Queen's Lakes on July 4 and soon after reaching her station [in Northern Labrador] the crews began fishing. 1954 INNIS 184 The number of stations reported in the fishery increased from 20 in 1704 to 28 in 1768. T 178-65 And he had his canoe now up to the station, and now he come out down to the norrard of it. 1980 Evening Telegram 20 Sep, p. 1 [He] said the fishery [on the Labrador], both salmon and cod, was exceptionally good and many of the stations had a record year for catching cod.
2 A coastal settlement and adjacent inhabited coves and harbours forming an ecclesiastical parish or mission.
[1825] 1866 WILSON 319 The following is the list of stations as appears in the minutes for 1825: St John's. Carbonear, Harbor Grace, Black Head and Western Bay, Island Cove and Perlican ... Indian Mission ... on the Labrador Coast. 1849 [FEILD] 30 The winters are long ... on the Moravian stations. 1900 Tribune Christmas No 3 Like Archdeacon Forristal, and other priests of his day, it was Father Kyran Walsh's lot to labor on almost every station in the island, from St Mary's Bay to the Far North. 1926 HARVEY [3] It was my pleasure to work on various stations where the Rev Thomas Fox had labored.
