Theft of ferry captain's uniform from Wood Islands Lighthouse Museum 'very upsetting'

A theft at the Wood Islands Lighthouse Museum has P.E.I. RCMP searching for a stolen ferry captain's uniform. The gold-trimmed black jacket and matching white cap were stolen July 27.

Interim manager of the non-profit gift shop and museum Gloria Shaw said thieves must have broken in through the kitchen window in the middle of the night.

She and the other employees discovered the break-in Sunday morning when they noticed a marble ashtray, along with an old lamp and the uniform were missing.

'Disappointed'

The case it hung in was torn off the wall and the uniform was gone. The thieves also packed a number of other items from the gift shop into bags, but left them there. They left anote in the guest book in scratchy handwriting that read, "You've been robbed."

The uniform had been hanging in a glass display case inside the museum since it opened nine years ago. It was on loan from retired ferry captain Malcolm MacLean. The 86-year-old still lives just down the road, in Little Sands.

"I was kind of disappointed to hear that it was stolen or missing," said MacLean.

"It'll likely not ever show up again either, I don't imagine."

MacLeansaidthe uniform is special to him. He wore it during his 41-year career crossing the Northumberland Strait on a ferry called the Charles A. Dunning starting as a dockhand in 1957 and eventually working his way up to captain.

Afterfourdecades, he hung up his hat, and loaned it to the Wood Islands Lighthouse Museum.

'No one's ever touched the place before'

The uniform hung in the museumuntouched for nine years.

"It was very, very upsetting," said Shaw.

"I'm going to get teary. We're very attached to this place, it's like our second home, and it made us really feel violated."

Lighthouse staff are left wondering why. They say the items stolen are of no value to anyone else.

"It's worth a lot to this lighthouse, to this museum, to the people who come visit here," said Shaw.

"The value would be priceless," she said, speaking of the uniform.

The uniform is priceless, but not one of a kind. MacLean has another uniform just like it from his years on the boats.

He said he'll think long and hard before he lends it out.

"Somebody would likely steal them," said MacLean. "I wouldn't want to lose them all."

RCMPareasking the public to call Crime Stoppers if they have any information about the crime or if they spot the uniform.

In the meantime, Shaw said the lighthouse is shelling out hundreds of dollars to install security cameras, so that a crime like this onedoesn't happen again.

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