The Blue Wave and Blue Mist sank more than 50 years ago. But Grand Bank never forgets

The vicious storms of February with gale-force winds and mountainous waves are a constant reminder to Grand Bank of the price its people have paid to earn a living from the sea.

For more than 200 years the men of this Burin Peninsula town, and other south coast communities, have challenged the North Atlantic in dories, longliners, schooners and draggers. But too often the sea, from which we wrench a living, turns from afriendinto an enemy and master.

The names of men from this town lost at sea,and the ships that have gone to the bottom. would fill pages and pages of a book.

From 1862 to 1936 during the offshore schooner bank fishery our ancestors recorded the names of 197 fishermen who died when the 25 banking vessels they were crewing sank. During that time, there were 110 vessels from Grand Bank lost. In total, there have been more than 300 men lost on ships sailing out of Grand Bank.

February was and always will be a very hard month for our family. Even though it is 61 years ago, we never forget.- Betty Stringer

Many of us still have painful memories of the loss of the schooner Mabel Dorothyin 1955, along with her six-man crew. This tragedy was followed less than four years later when the steel side trawler Blue Wave capsized and sank, carrying her 16-man crew with her. Just seven years after that in 1966, a similarly designed ship from the local fishing fleet, the Blue Mist, met the same fate, taking the lives of the 13 men onboard.

The Bonavista Cold Storage Co. (BCS) fish plant opened in Grand Bank in the early 1950s, just as the days of the wooden schooner deep-sea fishery were coming to an end. The first two steel side trawlers purchased by the company, the Blue Waveand Blue Mist, came from the U.K. and were designed for the North Sea fishery.

It wasn't long before it became painfully obvious that the small 40-metrevessels couldn't stand up to the ferocious winter storms of the North Atlantic.

The two trawlers weren't sister ships but they were very similar in design.Lying low in the water, they were susceptibleto icing upas gale-force winds whipped up heavy seas, sending tonnesof freezing salt water crashing over them on the fishing grounds and as they butted their way to and from port.

The 29 menlost on the Blue Waveand Blue Mist left behind 98 dependents, includingwidows and children under 17. Any child 17 or older was not considered a dependent.

Every winteremotions and painful memories resurface in the people left behind. Betty Stringer (ne Barnes) lost her father, Abraham J. Barnes, on the Blue Wave. He left behind his wife and four dependent children as well as a son, George, 22, and Betty, 20.

"February was and always will be a very hard month for our family. Even though it is 61 years ago, we never forget," Betty told me.

At the time, George was working at the fish plant in Bonavista and she was teaching at the Salvation Army school in Grand Bank.

"When Dad was leaving on that last trip, he told my sister, Meta, that he would be back for her birthday on Feb. 10. He said, 'I will make ice cream for you because it will be your 13th birthday and you will then be a teenager.'"

On the morning of Feb. 9, 1959, a Monday, George and the other workers including myself at the BCS plant reported for workas the Wavewas scheduled to land with a load of fish for processing. But as employees arrived they were greeted with the devastating news that the ship was missing.

The 40-metre steel side trawler, under command of 34-year-old Capt. Charles Walters, had left the fishing grounds the day before with an estimated 120,000 pounds aboard. About 100 kilometres southeast of Cape St. Mary's the vessel ran into a savage Atlantic gale with 95 km/h winds whipping up eight-metre waves, coupled with sub-zero temperatures that caused heavy ice to form on the Wave's hull and superstructure.

Even in fair weatherthe Blue Wave had been known to "go over on her beam's end" completely on its side. When that happened the engine would have to be immediately stopped to allow the shipto right itself. But adding a furious North Atlantic winter storm and a buildup of tonnes of ice proved to be disastrous.

At 3:45 a.m. Walters told Capt. Bill Vardy of the Burgeo trawler Triton that the Wavewas taking on ice, and the shipwould have to slow down or stop, so his men could get out on deck and beat off the ice.

Fifteen minutes laterWalters sent out an SOStellingthe Tritonto speed toward them because the Wave was overon her beam's end.The Tritonimmediately made its way to the positionWalters gave, but because of the blinding snowstorm and gale-force winds, nothing could be seen.

Boats and planes searched the area day and night but found no sign of the Blue Wave. Thenearly onTuesday morningan aircraft spotted what appeared to be an overturned lifeboat or dory.

All hope vanished onWednesdaywhen the company trawler Fortune Starrecovered one of the Wave's dories, which was bottom-up, as well as a hatch cover and a flagstaff. Another BCS trawler, the Luckimee, picked up a lifeboat and a dory.

The towns of Grand Bank and nearby Fortunelost a total of 16men.

For three days the towns were in mourning and all social activities were cancelled. Businesses, dwellings and ships flew flags at half-mast. Memorial services were held in all churches.

Similar fate

It was on Feb. 18, 1966that the Mist, while fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, met the same fate as the Wave,another victim of savage wintry weather. The vessel,carrying a crew of 13 men and captained by 29-year-old Stuart Price, radioed that they were fighting a severe storm and would probably be delayed in returning to Grand Bank with their 200,000 pounds of fish aboard.

Price had last reportedbetween 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that the ship was near the Port au Port Peninsula and hewould be a day late arriving back in port.

The next afternoon, search and rescue crews were alerted.

We saw some rough times, and I was on her when she went over on her beam's end.- Allister Stone

For the next two daysfive aircraft and many ships searched the area, hindered by poor visibility, strong winds, snow flurries and freezing spray. Finallyon Feb. 22, three dories belonging to the ill-fated trawler were found about 16 kilometresaway from the ship's last-known position.

According to the report into the loss of the trawler published late in 1966: "The storm had commenced on Feb. 17 and is recorded as one of the worst storms for many years in the gulf area. Three other trawlers all reported severe icing and had to cut loose their trawls from deck."

The raging storm bitterly cold with fierce winds increased in intensity the night of Feb. 18 and raged unabated until Feb. 22.

Of the 13 men who drowned, 11 were from Grand Bank and two were from Creston. An emotional interdenominational memorial service for the crew members was held on Feb. 27with more than 1,200 people attending.

At the time, deep-sea fishermen were still not covered under workers' compensation, so within days the Grand Bank-Fortune Lions Club launched a disaster appeal, which raised more than $170,000. In 1959 the club had also spearheaded a fundraiser for the families of the men lost on the Blue Wave, collecting $114,000.

Retired trawler skipper Allister Stone is now 88 years old and lives in Marystown.

He was very familiar with both trawlers,describing themas "not very good sea boats." He served for five years as bosun (second mate) on the Blue Mistwith Capt. Frank Thornhill when the ship first came to Grand Bank.

"We saw some rough times," he said.

"And I was on her when she went over on her beam's end. She fell out to port near Green Island when we had to change course and go broadside to the wind. We had to stop the engine and let her come back."

The veteran skipper added the crew said they wouldn't be going back out on the Blue Mist.

"But they all did,because back then it was a job to get a job.Jobs were hard to come by," he said. When the Blue Wave sank, Stone was on the Blue Mist, fishing farther south where the weather wasn't so bad.

Followingdays of mourning andchurch services in Grand Bank, the Mistput to sea again with 16 wreaths onboard, one for each of the missing seamen.

The boat steamed out to the position Waltersgavewhen he sent out his SOS. Thornhill stopped the Mist, assembled the crew on deck, and dropped the wreaths overboard.

Even todayStone gets emotional as he remembers. "It was heart-wrenching to watch all the wreaths float away in different directions," he said.

The annual Seamen's Memorial Service will be held on Sunday at the United Church in Grand Bank.

To thesound of a tolling bell,family members will be invited to light a candle in memory of loved ones who were lost at sea and to honour those who still challenge the ocean to provide for their families.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador