He was born in Fortune , the son of Philip E. Lake and Edith Purchase , and was educated in Fortune and in St. John 's . He worked as a deck hand , later becoming master of his own schooner and later went into business . Lake married Sarah V. Spencer . Elected as a Liberal-Conservative in 1924 , he changed allegiance to the Liberal-Progressive party in 1926 . Lake served as Minister of Marine and Fishery in the Newfoundland cabinet . Following the Burin tsunami in 1929 , he became chair of the Earthquake Relief Committee . Lake also served on the committee charged with investigating the explosion of the SS Viking and served as president of the Permanent Marine Disaster Fund . By 1948 , his company was the largest exporter of salt fish in Newfoundland . Lake died in St. John 's in 1965
Burin tsunami
1929 Grand Banks earthquake
H. B. C. Lake