At the age of fourteen circumstances led to Coaker’s departure from school and the securing of clerical employment at McDougall and Templeton, of St. John’s. Following two years with the firm in St. John’s he accepted the position of manager of its branch store in Pike’s Arm, Notre Dame Bay. Four years later he took over the ownership of the store, but was left bankrupt after the *Bank Crash qv of 1894. Coaker then began farming on a relatively large scale on an island in Dildo Run, Notre Dame Bay, which he called Coakerville. His knowledge of farming was gained at a short course of study in Macdonald College, Quebec. As well as tending the farm, he also began work as a telegraph operator, customs employee and post master in 1902. Again active in organizing, he formed a telegraph operators’ union in 1903 and began editing a small union periodical. One year later, however, he quite his three positions and left the union. Moving back to Coakerville, Coaker apparently spent many winter evenings reading and contemplating. His adult years up to this time had been spent primarily in Notre Dame Bay, amongst the fishermen of the area. For a long time he had been aware of the problems of the fishermen and during his stay in Coakerville he had much time to think about these problems and their solution.

The reasons for these, as he saw them, were many. In general the fishery was being very poorly managed. Many exporters shipped on consignment dried cod at about the same time each fall, creating gluts in overseas markets and forcing the prices for cod down. As well, much of the fish from the Colony, particularly from Labrador, was of poor quality, largely because of the practice of “tal qual” qv buying. Furthermore, when fish was culled, it was done so by individual cullers employed by the merchants. Standard grades, however, did not exist because of the absence of any colony-wide regulatory system. As the end result the price for cod from Newfoundland and Labrador in overseas markets was usually low. In the meantime the fisherman spent his entire life in subservience to the merchant-exporter under the credit or truck system of the fishery. Under this system the fisherman acquired his supplies in the spring on credit from the merchant who would be repaid in the fall in fish. Owing to the state of marketing and the need on the merchant’s part to make a profit the value assigned by the merchant in the fall for the fish was often seen to be quite low. As a result fishermen, particularly in the years of poor catches, often could not repay the debt created by purchasing goods in the spring. As well as being poverty stricken, the fisherman was also powerless. Uneducated because of his poverty, the need to start working at an early age, and the poor educational system, the fisherman was rarely a successful candidate for the House of Assembly. The affairs of the country were consequently controlled usually by moneyed and educated men who were by and large from St. John’s and who understood little of the needs of fishermen.

Coaker’s solution, as it evolved over those winter nights, was the formation of a union of fishermen which would be powerful enough to change the unfair treatment of the fisherman. This would requite the reorganization or reform of the fisheries, government, the educational system and just about every other facet of life in the Colony. By the fall of 1908 Coaker was ready to present his proposals to the fishermen of the area where he lived, and on November 2 and 3, 1908 he held public meetings at Herring Neck to announce his intentions of and reasons for forming a union. At the end of the meeting of November 3 nineteen fishermen stayed behind to join with Coaker in forming the first local council of the new organization which was to be called the Fishermen’s Protective Union (FPU); Coaker became the president of the new Union. Throughout the rest of that winter Coaker travelled around Notre Dame Bay speaking to the fishermen and organizing those who were interested. In the spring he went back to Coakerville to farm, but word of the union and its objectives spread throughout the district and by the fall of 1909 fifty local councils of the FPU, with thousands of members, had been formed on the northeast coast of the Island. During the following four winters Coaker repeated his travels around the coast, moving farther north and south each time until by 1914, though his efforts, approximately 20,000 fishermen from Conception Bay to the northern district of St. Barbe had enlisted in the Union.

The task of uniting these men was an arduous and difficult one. The fishermen were scattered about in isolated villages along the coast, and travelling to them in winter was extremely hard. Moreover, to convince these men who were traditionally individualistic, that they should unite was an accomplishment of great magnitude. That it was accomplished is in no small way due to Coaker himself. An amazingly hard worker, Coaker was a strong man and easily able to withstand the rigours of those winter travels around Newfoundland, some of which he did on foot. His powerful way of speaking was an effective tool; he was described as “one of the most forceful speakers [the fishermen] had ever heard. A man in his early thirties, short, very thick-built, strong as an ox, eyes flashing, dressed in the kinds of clothes that would be worn by a farmer who have lived all but alone on an island for fifteen years, Coaker appeared . . . every inch one of the people. The fishermen were quick to know him for one of themselves. Nor was his speech suave, polished, like that of the professional politician to which they were accustomed to listen each four years. He paid them no oily compliments, which was a novelty to them. Had they not recognized the rugged simplicity and sincerity of every word he uttered they would most surely have resented the taunts and gibes he threw passionately at them for what he termed their slavish acquiescence in the conditions imposed for centuries upon their forefathers and themselves” (J.R. Smallwood: 1927, p. 21).

In addition to enlisting fishermen in this period Coaker was also building up the various parts within the Union organization. By 1909 his plans for the Union had taken a well-defined form. It was organized according to democratic principles; Local Councils were formed by members of an area; these Local Councils met weekly to discuss issues of importance, and to conduct the business of the Local. Each Local elected an executive which in addition to administering the affairs of the Local, also represented it in a larger District Council. Each District Council in turn was represented in the Supreme Council, which acted as the organizing body for the whole union. Recommendations made at the local level which were of general importance could therefore be passed up through the hierarchy to the Supreme Council. Fund for running the councils and conducting their activities were provided by the members themselves in the form of membership fees. Special funds, set up for loans or disability payments, were also fed by membership contributions.

In order to free the fishermen from their ties to the merchants, while at the same time decreasing the fishermen’s costs, the Union was to enter the commercial field. Through a company or a number of companies the Union was to buy goods at wholesale prices and distribute the goods to the various locals, where they could then be sold for cash at cost. To this end, in 1911, Coaker formed the Union Trading Company, which was incorporated the following year and which was designed to import goods and sell them at cost to members of the FPU. The company, the shares of which were held only by FPU members, secured premises in St. John’s to serve as headquarters and built or purchased buildings in various outports where the goods were to be sent and sold. As this company progressed, Coaker saw the need to establish other enterprises, including an export company and a ship-building company. At first Coaker thought of establishing these companies in St. John’s, but costs there proved to be prohibitive. After some searching he decided to erect these companies’ headquarters in a place near Catalina, and work at the site, which was later called Port Union, began in the winter of 1916. By 1918 the site was completed. Not only did it contain premises for the Union Export Company and the Union Ship-building Company, but also heardquarters for the Union Trading Company and a company called the Union Electric Light and Power (which was established in 1916 and which produced hydro-electric power, distributing it to the other companies’ premises and houses in Port Union and to various outports on the Bonavista Peninsula). Coaker also established a shipping company, the Port Union Shipping Company, and a company known as the Union Cold Storage Company, which was located in Patras, Greece.

To keep all members informed of the Union’s activities and local political events Coaker began the publication of a newspaper, known usually as The Fishermen’s Advocate qv. In 1910 during its first year the newspaper was printed by various interests. In the following year, however, Coaker started the Union Publishing Company (shares were sold only to members of the Union) to take over the publication. From then to 1924 the paper was published in St. John’s, but the company then moved its premises to Port Union, where it was still being published in 1981. In addition, Coaker wrote and distributed circular letters to member of the Union to keep them informed on fish prices and markets and to explain his stands on various issues.

As well as forming a commercial empire and communications network, Coaker felt that the Union should also become involved in political affairs in order to further its aims of changing the fishery and other aspects of Newfoundland life. As he planned it, the Union would work towards an almost complete reformation of society itself. The Union was to see to it that a system of night schools for the use of fishermen and other workers was established, that a widespread, effective educational system which would make education free and compulsory for all children was begun, that old age pensions for needy men over the age of seventy were instituted, that referenda and the recall of members of the House of Assembly were introduced and that conflict of interest laws and provision for increased salaries for Members of the House of Assembly were passed. “Tal qual” buying of salt cod was to be abolished, a standard cull of fish, administered by government employees, was to be established, and trade agents in actual and potential codfish markets were to be hired by the Government to keep Newfoundlanders informed about markets and to create new ones. Prices for the various grades of fish were to be set by Government, tinned lobster was to be inspected and graded by government personnel, and cold storage bait depots were to be erected by Government for the use of the fishermen.

At first the Union, under Coaker’s direction, lobbied for such improvements. But as early as 1909 Coaker had it in mind to set up a political wing of the FPU. In that year, at the Union’s first convention, Coaker announced that he wished the Union to run eight to ten candidates to act as an opposition body, fighting for the rights of the fishermen and supporting only those measures which upheld these rights. By the fall of 1911, largely as a result of Coaker’s endeavours, plans were made to select thirteen candidates for the 1913 election to run under the banner of the Union Party. The new Union Party’s election manifesto drafted the following year, soon became know as the Bonavista Platform and included twenty-three important reforms, for which the Union had been fighting. Some of the more notable were a standardized cull of fish, administered by the Government; the hiring of trade agents and the establishment of cold storage bait depots, owned and operated by the Government; the weekly publication of overseas prices for fish; educational reforms, introduction of old age pensions; measures to protect the forest resources of the Colony; the reduction of duties on certain necessary items; reform in the Civil Service; the establishment of a colony-wide telephone system; and anti-combines legislation.

Although Coaker’s original plan had been to confine the political activities of the Union to a small number of nonaligned Union opposition members of the House of Assembly, it became apparent to Coaker that the joining of the Union’s candidates with one of the two major parties was better for two reasons. First, joined with another party, the Union Party stood the chance of forming part of a new administration, thereby increasing its power to make reforms; secondly, neither Coaker (who was to run for election) nor the other Union candidates had any parliamentary experience and therefore could benefit from close association with other, more experienced members in the House. Of the two major political parties then in existence, Coaker was drawn more towards the Liberal Party, under the leadership of Sir Robert Bond. Bond certainly appeared more amenable to incorporating into his politics the ideas and programmes proposed by Coaker. Edward Morris’s People’s Party, on the other hand, which had been in power in the House of Assembly since 1909, had consistently shown indifference towards the demands of the Union. The Liberals realized the necessity of joining with the Unionists, who had built up most of their power in the northern districts of the Island and who thereby threatened the traditional Liberal stronghold there, and negotiations were therefore started and the terms of a coalition between the two parties were eventually worked out whereby the Union were to run nine members in the coming election under the leadership of Bond; Bond agreed to incorporate fifteen of the Union’s Party’s election proposals in his own election platform. In the election of 1913 eight of the Union candidates, including Coaker (who had contested a seat in the district of Bonavista) won, but only seven of Bond’s Liberals were elected. Morris’s Peoples’s Party took twenty-one seats and thus placed the alliance in opposition. Bond, perhaps embarrassed by the poor showing of his own Liberal Party and feeling eclipsed by the success of Coaker and his colleagues, resigned from the House of Assembly soon after. In the vacuum thus created Coaker emerged as the leader of the opposition, in fact though not in name, and his colleagues in the Union Party supported him energetically. For the fist time the fishermen of the country were represented by their peers.

In opposition the Union Party was quite successful. Its power, which came from representing so much of the Newfoundland population, was recognized by all parties, and the People’s Party, under Morris, realized that some compromise would have to be made with the Union Party; consequently two important bills, the Sealing Bill and the Logging Bill, which contained reforms proposed by the Union Party, were passed in the House of Assembly. Although these bills lost much of their effectiveness because of amendments made in the Legislative Council, a victory had been secured by the Union in the House.

In July 1917 an end came to the Union Party’s opposition role when a war-time National Government, composed of all political parties in the Legislature, was formed, first under the leadership of Edward Morris and then under that of W.F. Lloyd. Certainly the most pressing problem that faced the new administration was the need to find replacements for the declining ranks of the Newfoundland Regiment. Recruiting campaigns had been successful earlier in the war, and as late as the winter of 1916-1917 Coaker himself had been responsible for finding sixty-eight recruits for war services, men who were popularly know as “Coaker Recruits.” Despite such attempts to bolster the forces, voluntary enlistments were not numerous enough and losses in the ranks of the Regiment were threatening its existence. Conscription seemed to be the only method of keeping the Regiment alive. At the same time, however, Coaker was being pressed by vast numbers of the Union to vote against conscription. In response to this, Coaker announced that he would not agree to conscription, unless a referendum were held and its results showed that the majority approved of taking this measure. In the end, however, Coaker did vote for conscription without a referendum. In his own defense he claimed to have voted for this measure, without waiting for a referendum, because no time could be wasted in strengthening the Regiment, and Coaker felt that he could not stand in the way. One historian (Ian MacDonald; 1976) has claimed that Coaker was forced to vote for conscription because if he had done otherwise he would have alienated the Union Party from the Government and therefore from its powerful position to push for reforms. Moreover, according to the same writer, to have voted against conscription and thereby to assign the Union Party to opposition seats, Coaker and his party would have been forced to face the electorate without the aid of experienced colleagues in an alliance, and in Coaker’s mind the Union Party was unable to form a government without such aid. Whatever Coaker’s reasons for voting for conscription, his decision to do so weakened his appeal amongst some of this supporters.

The phenomenal growth of the FPU in the pre-war years now began to slacken. At the peak of its strength the Union had locals from St. Barbe District, across the Northeast Coast, to Conception Bay and a small number on the Burin Peninsula. That it did so well on the east coast, as opposed to the other coasts, has been attributed by some historians to the social conditions prevalent there. Men from these areas mixed annually with others from the same areas in the spring and summer at the seal hunt and in Labrador, and in the winter at logging camps. Not only did this lead to the realization amongst fishermen that their problems were common ones and were shared by most fishermen on the northeast coast, but this situation also allowed for a rapid spread of news about the Union.

The Union was unable to make gains in the southeast area of the Island, mainly because of the overt opposition of the Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland. One local at Ferryland, was instituted but was then quashed by the Archbishop, M.F. Howley qv.

Now, with the question of conscription, Coaker found new opposition to the growth of the Union. At the same time prohibition became an issue. Before it became law Coaker had been a strong supporter of the measure, as had many others in the Union. Nevertheless, the measure was unpopular amongst many in the Roman Catholic districts of Newfoundland and it was felt that Coaker’s approval of prohibition hampered the growth of the Union in these areas.

If conscription and prohibition had been important reasons for the weakening of the FPU during the war, the issue of reform in the cod fisheries became, for a short while, an important one in strengthening it during the post-war years. After the war the National Government Coalition had been disbanded and an election called. Coaker’s fist move was the formation of an alliance with R.A. Squires qv, the leader of the new Liberal Reform Party. From the point of view of both leaders the alliance was necessary to fight Sir Michael Cashin qv, who had emerged as Premier after the disbanding of the National Government. Coaker thought that the alliance, if successful, would give him the opportunity to introduce reforms in the fishery. He foresaw great troubles in the fishery in the post-war period, for he realized that a fall in fish prices always occurred following a major war, with the re-introduction of foreign competition in the fish markets of the world. An arrangement was worked out between Squires and Coaker whereby Coaker was to direct the affairs of the fisheries and Squires was to become leader of the new Administration if the alliance was successful at the polls.

The new arrangement with Squires proved to be fruitful, for in the election of November 1919 the coalition carried twenty-four seats, while Cashin’s party won only twelve. Desertion from the ranks of the Liberal Reform Party later added one more seat to Sir Michael’s party’s standing in the House.

In the new Administration Coaker became the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, a position he held until 1923. In his first year in office Coaker soon become engrossed in setting up the fisheries reforms he had worked so long to accomplish. Before Coaker assumed office new problems in the fishery had already surfaced. In 1918 the Italian government had established an agency know as the Consorzio to act as the sole buyer for all foreign imports, in an effort to keep prices as low as possible. Agreements had been made before this, however, between Newfoundland fish exporters and Italian importers, and substantial amounts of fish for this market had been bought from the fishermen at suitable prices. But the Consorzio had announced that previous agreements with Italian importers were not binding. This had presented the prospect of not being able to sell any fish to the Italians; if this happened, gluts and decreases in the price for fish could occur in other markets. In short, the Newfoundland fishery was facing the possibility of a catastrophic year. To avert this, the National Government, then under the leadership of Lloyd, had established a commission of exporters, including Sir John Crosbie qv, a minister of the government, to control the marketing of all Newfoundland fish. It had been given powers to direct fish exports to any markets at any time, depending on market conditions. Although the commission had no success in the Italian markets, it did in other major markets, thereby proving its worth.

In the following year similar controls had been placed on marketing and an agent for Newfoundland exporters appointed to negotiate prices with the Italian agency. The arrangement had not worked, however, because it failed to receive the support of all Newfoundland’s exporters. A small number of these exporters sold fish to the Italian market at relatively low prices upsetting the negotiations and making it seem that further shipments of Newfoundland cod at similar prices would follow in other markets. Other buyers, therefore, had slowed down their buying, while awaiting Newfoundland shipments. In November 1919, when Coaker assumed the office of Minister of Marine and Fisheries, he reached to the situation in the fisheries by establishing minimum market prices for cod and penalties for exports who did not comply with them. The negotiator was also instructed to continue talks with the Italians. The Talks ended well and marketing in Europe turned out to be relatively profitable.

Coaker followed this action by introducing new legislation to reform the fisheries at home. “Tal qual” buying was made illegal and was replaced by a new government-controlled fish culling system; trade agents in foreign markets were provided for, as was an Exportation Board with powers to control marketing, particularly market prices. During the winter of 1920-1921, however, the regulations providing for controlled marketing at agreed-upon prices were disregarded by a number of exporters who sold at lower prices in European markets. Other exporters, fearful that by following the Government’s regulations, they would lose their markets, followed the example of those exporters and sold at whatever prices they could get. According to some (S.J.R. Noel: 1971; Ian Feltham: 1959) this was an understandable reaction amongst the exporters, since the fixing of overseas prices in markets which fluctuated constantly could not have stopped foreign cod sellers (such as the Norwegians) from selling at lower prices, thereby weakening Newfoundland’s position. At the same time an imbalance in the rates of exchange among currencies made Newfoundland regulations unworkable as well. The end result was the repeal of Coaker’s regulations later in 1921.

It has been claimed that the failure of these regulations (which have been generally praised by students of Newfoundland history) in which Coaker had placed all his hopes, was a terrible blow to the man, and because of its impact on him he lost the zeal with which he had run his Union and his Department. Coaker’s influence in the political arena waned in the following years, though he continued to hold his ministerial portfolio until the resignation of R.A. Squires in July 1923. Coaker was then appointed minister without portfolio in William Warren’s Administration, a post he held until May 1924.

Later in 1924, following the general elections of that year, he ran unsuccessfully in a by-election against M.S. Monroe in Bonavista Bay. This was perhaps a sign not only of Coaker’s waning interest in politics, but also of a corresponding decline in his support in an area that was once solidly behind him. From then to 1928 Coaker stayed out of politics. In that year, apparently in a final attempt to reform the fisheries, he ran again with Squires, and was elected in Bonavista East. Nevertheless, once elected he assumed the position of Minister without portfolio, rather than that of Minister of Marine and Fisheries, which was held by H.B.C. Lake, and his role in the direction of the fisheries was not a strong one. He retired from politics in 1932.

During the 1920s Coaker had became more and more involved in the commercial affairs of the FPU. He resigned in 1926 from his position as President of the FPU, which he had held uninterruptedly since 1909. More and more he came to conduct his commercial empire as merchants had done traditionally for decades. The ideal of dealing in cash was forsaken, and by 1926 was actively being discouraged by Coaker.

Up to his death he retained the position of Honorary President of the FPU, and President of the Union Trading Company Limited, the Union Electric Light and Power Company Limited, the Union Shipbuilding Company, Limited, the Union Cold Storage Company and the Port Union Shipbuilding Company. In later years, apparently for his health, Coaker spent much of his time at a dwelling which he owned in Jamaica. He died in Boston in 1938.

Coaker was made a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in June, 1923. M.L. Bouzane (1974), W.F. Coaker (1930), Ian Feltham (1959), Ian McDonald (1976; 1976a), Peter Neary (1973), S.J.R. Noel (1971), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Coaker Papers; Fishermen’s Protective Union Circular Letters), NQ (Summer 1923), Who’s Who in and from Newfoundland 1937 (1937?). CFH

Source Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador