The Reid family would not be without a Fife, this one a yacht. In the summer of 1906, a Fife (II) visited Green Bay. Owned by a wealthy Montreal man, this Fife fell under the affections of W. D. (William Duff) Reid, the son of Robert Reid. The Reids purchased it.
It was a wooden yacht-type vessel, much smaller, at 108 feet long and ninety-six gross ton, than their previous Fife. Built in New York City in 1886, it was equipped with a steam engine and sails. It was a beautiful piece of work, as photos of this second Fife show it moored in Goose Cove, Trinity Bay.
By 1915, Reids had completed a branch railway line to Heart’s Content, and the Fife was used in around that area for a while. Perhaps the outside coasts were too boisterous for yachting. Not long after, the Fife fell into disrepair and was taken to the St. John’s dry dock basin. However, it fell to ruin or was used as a barge or scow. It was eventually taken out to sea and sunk. Its official closure year shows 1931.
In 1917, William was forced out of the Reid Newfoundland Company. He subsequently moved to Montreal and died there in 1924.
Believe it or not, the stranglehold the Reids had on Newfoundland in terms of its ownership of forests, the railway, the coastal boats, and land tracts became the subject of Robert Ripley’s September 1932 cartoon “Believe It or Not.” In his sketch he had the image of Robert G. Reid with the words: “Robert Reid was the largest landowner on the North American Continent. He owned 5,000,000 acres in Newfoundland.”
Newfoundland’s sketch artists also capitalized on the Reid Newfoundland Railway Company, showing an octopus-like stranglehold of its holdings on the island.