As a child I spent some time in Burin during the early 1950's.I have memories of stories told around the kitchen table of a great wave that rose up and engulfed the coast years previously.One tale recounted survivors being cast ashore and the rescuers,believing them to be covered by the spillage of the ship's oil,took them home and scrubbed them vigorously,but unsucessfully.The residents of the Burin peninsula had never encountered people of color,and were bewildered by the failure of good old soap and water to clean these unfortunate sailors.
Whether this is fact or folklore,we'll not know.It is conceivable that the isolated outports would be unaware of the outside world,and perhaps the seamen would have been Portugese or Spanish natives unable to verbally communicate as well!!!
Enjoy!