Snooks Arm: Located further south, at the end of Route 416, one finds the community with this somewhat "odd name". So, what is a "snook"? Is it a "thing? is it a "person"? Of course, the first place the research team turned to was the ENL - but there was no information on the community.

The second place the team looked was the DNLE but there was no listing for a "snook". However, one quotation regarding a "funnel" (i.c., a "Jocular term for a top hat") led the investigation in a different direction - that maybe "Snook" referred to a person, in this case Betsey Snook:

[c1904] 1927 DOYLE (ed) 67 "The Kelligrews Soiree": Oh, when I arrived at Betsey Snook's /That night at half past eight, / The place was blocked with carriages/Stood waiting at the gate. / With Cluney's funnel on my pate, / The first words Betsey said: / 'Here comes a local preacher / With the pulpit on his head.'

Heading to the Ancestry.com website, some interesting information was found regarding the Sumame "Snook": English: topographic name for someone who lived on a projecting piece of land, from Middle English snoke 'projection'. It is possible that this term was also used as a nickname for someone with a long nose.

Similar surnames: Hook, Nock, Stoop, Stock, Brook, Stork, Crook, Smock, Shock, Rook. The CNL website provided a fair amount of history on the community (but nothing about the derivation of the town's name:

Settled by fishermen and their families from England in the mid 1800's, Snook's Arm was a fishing settlement. Besides the usual cod and salmon fishery though, a whale factory was established in June 1898 and operated until 1912.

The first manager was Adolph Nielson, a Norwegian, who also became Newfoundland's first Fisheries Department head in 1986 [sic probably should be 1886). Mainly fin whales were hunted, but some humpbacks were also taken.

The hunt began in June and ended in September. Whaling boats, owned by a Norwegian Company, killed whales which were brought to Snook's Arm to be processed for oil.

The harbour must have been a busy place even without the whaling ships. Steamers would "lay up" there while waiting for ore from Tilt Cove.

Also, as with many communities on the Baie Verte Peninsula, sailing ships and schooners would visit the harbour on their way to and from the prosperous fishery "on the Labrador."

It is said that often there were so many schooners that one could walk from one side of the harbour to the other on their decks.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/SnooksArm