Daily BrewAtlantic Charger’s sinking a reminder of Newfoundland’s long history of danger at sea
Monday’s rescue of nine fishermen from the Atlantic Charger near Iqaluit is one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s good news stories of marine distress. But the province has had its share of maritime tragedies and near-misses going back hundreds of years.
Though less tragic than losses, the near-misses can also be harrowing. About 12 hours passed between the first contact the nine-man crew of the Atlantic Charger made with marine rescue on Monday and when they were safely aboard the Paamiut, a Danish fishing vessel, Rear-Admiral John Newton, commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic and the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, tells Yahoo Canada News.
“The seas were rolling high and the wind was blowing strong,” Newton says of Monday’s conditions near Frobisher Bay, where the crew — who couldn’t be reached at press time — disembarked onto a life boat and the Atlantic Charger later sunk. “It shows how dangerous the sea is.”
Newfoundland and Labrador’s history of sea disasters is as long as its history of seafaring in the rough North Atlantic. For example John Cabot, whose tales of cod thick enough to walk across in first opened up the North West Atlantic Fishery to Europe, is believed to have been lost at sea in 1498 or 1499 — perhaps off Newfoundland’s coast, according to Historica Canada. And in 1775 the Independence Hurricane hit the eastern coast of what was then the colony of Newfoundland and killed an estimated 4,000 sailors (mostly British and Irish) when their boats were wrecked.
Larger losses of life at sea continued for the province into the 20th century. The steamer the Florizel went aground on Newfoundland’s southern shore in 1918, and while 44 passengers and crew were rescued another 93 died.
In March 1914, the sealing vessel the Southern Cross was lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, killing all 173 people on board. In the same storm, 78 sealers from the Newfoundland died when they were trapped on the ice. The province’s longstanding sealing industry was a frequent cause of loss of life at sea. An estimated 1,000 sailors and 400 vessels were lost in the Newfoundland seal fishery between 1810 and 1870, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
The province’s strategic location for military as the most eastern spot in North America made 1942 a particularly tragic year in its history. At least three U-boats and one British submarine sank within 250 nautical miles off St. John’s that year. The USS Truxton and Pollax, both American navy ships, ran aground in Newfoundland and 203 sailors were lost. And the passenger ferry the Caribou was hit by a U-boat in October of that year, killing 147 passengers and crew, according to Discover St. Lawrence.
Some ocean tragedies led to changes that likely saved lives down the line. The Titanic famously sank after hitting an iceberg about 650 miles off St. John’s and the wireless station at Cape Race received distress messages from the vessel. In response to the tragedy, in which more than 1,500 passengers and crew were lost, the International Ice Patrol was founded to track icebergs.
A commission was held after the 1914 sealing disaster, and two years later the Newfoundland government passed regulations banning sealers from being on the ice after dark and requiring all sealing ships to carry wireless equipment and flares, according to Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador. And the 1982 sinking of the oil rig the Ocean Ranger, which killed all 84 crew aboard, led to changes in rig design, safety equipment and training and operational procedures.
Today, marine losses are less common in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the province now benefits from a search-and-rescue infrastructure that involves multiple provinces and territories and several different government departments.
For example, Monday’s effort involved many different moving parts, says Newton. That includes marine radio stations, Canadian Forces aircraft and vessels, private fishing ships, research vessels and Coast Guard boats and staff.
When there was confirmation that the Atlantic Charger crew members had abandoned their ship and were in a life boat, the nearest vessels were eight hours away, Newton says. Several boats — including an iron ore carrier, other fishing vessels, a research ship, Canadian Coast Guard boats, and Canadian Navy warships — all began to make way towards the crew, and two were involved in their rescue.
“It all comes together in a really tightly orchestrated procedure,” he says. “It’s practised a lot, and it all came together properly yesterday.”
The changes in technology that made it possible for the Atlantic Charger fishermen to communicate their situation to rescue officials, even from their far-north position, also benefitted them on the boat and in the water. The boat itself was modern, Newton said, and the equipment they had on board — a life raft, survival suits, radios, and GPS beacons — contributed to their rescue, Newton says.
But at the end of the day, it was the knowledge and quick action of the crew itself that may have really mattered — perhaps not so unchanged from the difference between life and death on the ocean even hundreds of years ago.
“They did all the right things,” Newton says of the crew, who he called intelligent and well-trained. “I have the sense that they had put some time and effort into their own survival.”
