William Waterman & Co.

The firm of William Waterman & Co. operated as general fish merchants in Fogo, Twillingate, Change Islands, and Nipper's Harbour in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland from the 1860s to the 1890s. It purchased fish, cod oil, and seal pelts, and provided supplies through its general stores. During the 1870s, Waterman paid more duties than any other merchant operating in the Fogo-Twillingate area, an indication of the extent of its operations. The company equipped 46 schooners for the Labrador fishery in 1880, and 41 in 1890.

William Waterman was an agent and partner in the Twillingate firm of William Cox & Co., which was a successor to the firm originally established by John Slade of Poole in the eighteenth century. In the 1860s, Waterman purchased the firm, which was renamed William Waterman & Co. by 1867. The headquarters of the firm appear to have been at Fogo in the 1870s, but may have been moved to Twillingate around 1887. During the 1870s, the firm was owned in partnership by Thomas Dorman Hodge, Richard Dorman Hodge, William Waterman, and William Edward Waterman.

The Waterman firm may not have survived the 1894 bank crash, for by 1900, much of its property at Fogo and Twillingate was in the hands of J. W. Hodge, who had previously been Waterman's agent at Tilting.

Created - May 12, 2013

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