It seems that dad’s return to Heriot Bay was uneventful and he was well on his way home with the family and luggage, when he realized the Nor’wester coming down Hoskyn Channel had risen considerably to the point of causing him to cut his speed to a craw. Even by quartering the waves the small boat was taking quite a beating as it floundered its way across the inlet, causing dad considerable concern. The only thing to do was to maintain the same slow speed until they reached Viner Point, the southern most tip of Read Island, which would then give them shelter, as they would then be in the lee of Read Island.
Things were going well enough and dad feeling the wind and waves easing off a bit opened up the throttle as they neared Viner Point. All seemed fine when suddenly a larger then average wave appeared without warning and catching the boats bow it flipped it over. Everyone was thrown violently into the frigid water of Hoskyn Channel. Mom’s purse sank immediately to the bottom of the inlet as she had amassed quite a few US silver dollars, as they were quite common in the 50’s. Most of the luggage along with the boat floated. The boat however floated with only its bow showing.
What kept my little sister Karen and mothers from drowning was a new law that had just been passed requiring a life jacket for everyone in a boat. Karen had insisted she wear hers as it was a new thing, but of course no one else would wear one or at least try one on. Having the lifejackets in the boat was sufficient, why would you actually wear one?
As it was, my mother survived by hanging on to a life jacket and Dawna was doing fine as she could swim. Remember we had taught ourselves to swim. Dad was an excellent swimmer as well and urged them all to hang onto the bow rope so they would not get separated.
In the meantime an old fisherman who was trolling for fish near by saw the accident happen. Old and befuddled he didn’t know what to do as the accident happened not far from shore and he was afraid his lines might run afoul of the bottom. His pondering on what he should do increased the severity of the situation even more as the waters of the straight, even in summer never get out of the 40’s. This meant life jacket or not, a person would only survive upwards of 20 minutes to a half hour in such frigid waters.
Dawna in the mean time had taken things into her own hands and at the urging of dad had swam over to the old fisherman’s boat and with his help, launched his skiff. She then rowed over to where dad was helping mom and Karen stay afloat. It was more then impossible for them to get into such a small boat, so Dawna towed them over to the old fisherman’s boat while they hung on. Once they were safe on board and with the luggage salvaged, the old fisherman was going to abandon the speedboat to the waves. Dad not willing to lose the boat got into a big discussion with the old fisherman. The problem however was resolved when who should come by but the Captain and Crew of a tug that towed dad’s logs to town. They kindly pulled the speedboat up on the tug’s deck, after loading everyone on board. Dad thanked the old fisherman for his part in the rescue, then, off they went. Once under way the captain gave them some hot coffee to drink and wrapped them all in warm blankets as they were all shaking uncontrollably from the frigid waters.
Do angels really exist? For those that see the hand of God in such a marked way the reality of angels is very close. To argue otherwise is left to those that would not believe if God Himself were to appear.
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