It is amazing how well-known and well-documented historical information gets skewed by people who do not take the time to enhance their work with the correct data. The new website relating to the “Smart Bay Project” is yet another example of that practice.

When one clicks on the section “SmartBay: Placentia Bay Demonstration Project — Technology Solutions for Integrated Management,” he/she is led through a series of information pages.

The fact that the name “Atlantic Charter” appears on that information page probably relates to the fact that someone used it to help stress the importance of Placentia Bay. In reality, the Atlantic Meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill has absolutely no bearing on the Smart Bay Project. However, since someone went to the trouble to draw attention to that important part of Placentia Bay 's history, the least he/she could have done was get it right.

The Atlantic Charter was an eight-point Anglo-American agreement formulated by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill in Argentia outer harbour, which was the mouth of Ship Harbour. It was the result of the Atlantic Meeting, which took place in 1941, NOT 1942. There is quite a historical difference in the two years!

The photo for which they did not bother to provide a caption is that of Prime Minister Winston Churchill standing at the rail on the fantail of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales. It was taken by a Paramount Pictures photographer at 1700 hours on Tuesday, August 12, 1941.