The Maritime Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said late Wednesday afternoon that it is suspending the search for five missing fishermen in the Bay of Fundy.
The news comes after 36 hours of searching for the crew of the Chief Williams Saulis, a scallop vessel based out of Yarmouth, N.S. The RCMP will now handle the investigation as a missing persons case.
The JRCC said the search covered 260 nautical miles by sea and air. One body was recovered on Tuesday night, but had not yet been publicly identified.
A news release from the Nova Scotia RCMP said their ground search will be conducted during daylight hours and spans a 55-kilometre stretch of coast between Delaps Cove and Margaretsville in Annapolis County.
The Transportation Safety Board said it will be sending a team to the area to investigate.
CBC News has learned that Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Dan Forbes, Michael Drake and Geno Francis, along with captain Charles Roberts, were the six men on board the boat.
The Chief William Saulis scallop fishing vessel is seen in November 2020. (Katherine Bickford)
‘The province just lost six great people’
Lori Phillips said earlier Wednesday afternoon her son, Aaron Cogswell, 29, had been fishing with the captain of the vessel for seven years. She said his body was not the one recovered on Tuesday evening.
“I know he’s not coming back alive, but I want him to come back home,” she said in an interview.
“The province just lost six great people. Even though I don’t know them, they had to be good. They’re someone’s family. Someone’s missing them and I hope they all come home.”
Before he went out on his last fishing trip, Cogswell went to do his Christmas shopping, taking his nephew along and wrapping his gifts in preparation for the holidays.
A Cormorant helicopter from CFB Greenwood is seen in the air above the Point Prim Lighthouse on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the search was suspended. (John McCrossan)
Her son had high-functioning autism, Phillips said, and Roberts, the captain, took him under his wing.
“He was always there for him. He was his protector,” she said, adding that her son “had his daily struggles, but he loved fishing and that’s what he did.”
Phillips said the Chief William Saulis was a newer boat. She said she’s been waiting by the phone for news, but so far knows almost nothing about what happened.
The Chief William Saulis sent out an emergency beacon signal around 5:51 a.m. AT on Tuesday near Delaps Cove, N.S.
Search crews comb the icy, rocky beach near Delaps Cove, N.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. (CBC)
Debris was spotted from the air later that morning and two life rafts washed ashore, but no one was on board.
Jacob Jacquard, a fisherman in Yarmouth, N.S., told the CBC’s As It Happens on Tuesday that the crew would have had survival suits and life jackets on board. He said he believes most of the men would have been sleeping in their bunks when the boat ran into trouble early Tuesday morning.
“If the guys were in their bunk, and a wave hit them and they rolled, they wouldn’t have had time to put on anything really. They wouldn’t have had time to even get on deck,” he said.
“Even with the immersion suits … With how cold the water is, it would be very slim chances to find anybody alive.”
Father of 12 among missing
A distraught Stella Marie McAuley, the girlfriend of 55-year-old Leonard Gabriel, was wearing one of his sweaters when she told CBC News he will be missed by his 12 children.
She said Gabriel had been fishing for over 30 years and described him as kindhearted and giving.
“He was always giving the kids next door treats,” she said.
Gabriel loved to cook, she said, and was always “joking around.”
Michael Drake’s oldest sister, Sandra Drake, said her family is devastated by the news. Her brother has two adult children and splits his time between Nova Scotia and his home in Fortune, N.L.
Michael Drake is from Fortune, N.L., and was a crew member aboard the Chief William Saulis, which sent out an emergency beacon off Delaps Cove in the Bay of Fundy on Dec. 15, 2020. This photo was posted to Facebook by his cousin, Ashley Pittman. (Ashley Pittman/Facebook)
“He was so good. He was a good boy. Would help anybody,” she said, describing her brother as very tough, and a good worker who always supported his kids.
Sandra Drake said their father was also a fisherman and that her brother began fishing as a young boy.
“He loved the ocean … he lived on the water … He was always so busy, you could never catch him and talk to him, because he was always on the boats or down the wharf working on the boats,” she said.
“Now he’s gone.”
‘I just kind of put my head down and just prayed’
Alyjah Ritchie, a fisherman from Yarmouth, N.S., said Charles Roberts, the captain, is a family friend and carries the nickname Hot Dog around the wharf.
Ritchie said he spoke to Roberts just a few days ago and didn’t want to believe it when he heard the boat was missing.
“But when I heard about it and I knew it was true, I just kind of put my head down and just prayed and hoped he was going to come home.”
Alyjah Ritchie is a fisherman from Yarmouth who knows the captain of the Chief William Saulis, Charles Roberts. (CBC)
Ritchie said Roberts is a good man and an experienced fisherman. “Whatever happened, it had to have happened quick.”
Ritchie was heading out to fish for lobster on Wednesday morning. He said while conditions are much better than they were Tuesday, the dangerous nature of the job sits in the back of his mind.
“But like everybody else, you’ve got to keep going forward.”
One of Canada’s deadliest industries
The Nova Scotia fishing community has had its share of tragedies, and the industry remains one of the most dangerous occupations in Canada.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said 2018 was the deadliest year in over a decade, with 17 people dying aboard fishing vessels — seven of them in Nova Scotia waters. Between 2011 and 2017, there were 63 fishing vessel deaths across the country.
Search and rescue crews have been searching the area of Delaps Cove for over a day now. Late Tuesday evening, the Maritime Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre announced that the body of one of the six crew members had been found. (Eric Woolliscroft/CBC)
In February 2013, five young Nova Scotian fishermen were killed when a wall of water crashed into the Miss Ally during a storm, capsizing the boat and rocking the small communities of Cape Sable Island and Woods Harbour.
The bodies of crew members Billy Jack Hatfield, Joel Hopkins, Katlin Nickerson, Steven Cole Nickerson and Tyson Townsend were never recovered.
The RJL scallop dragger also made headlines in 2010, when its four crew members were killed in the Bay of Fundy.
‘Trying to make sense out of something so tragic’
People living in the communities along the Fundy Shore are waiting anxiously as the search unfolds.
Susan Robinson-Bernie is a resident of Parks Cove. She has two fishermen in her family who have been helping with the search.
“If you’re not close to a fisher on the boat, you certainly know of these individuals around the wharves and in the other communities. Everybody knows somebody in the industry,” Robinson-Bernie told CBC’s Information Morning.
“So they’re coming together, talking to each other, just trying to make sense out of something so tragic.”
She said many families of fishermen, both past and present, are at the makeshift command centre at the Hillsburn United Baptist Church on Wednesday to show their compassion and support.
“This comes close to home, hearts are extremely heavy,” Robinson-Bernie said.
The Chief William Saulis is owned by one of southwest Nova Scotia’s larger shellfish companies, Yarmouth Sea Products Ltd. In addition to scallops, Yarmouth Sea Products is a major buyer of lobsters.
A news release from the company on Wednesday said “all required maintenance and inspection of safety equipment was current and up to date.”
Many of the crew members are from the Yarmouth area.
“Fishing is not a job here, it’s a way of life,” the town’s mayor, Pam Mood, told CBC’s Maritime Noon.
“We line the shores just praying as the vessels go out with our friends, our family members on board. This is absolutely the worst news that you could ever get. Ever.”
TORONTO – MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley and Toronto FC’s top officials have promised change at the ailing MLS club, which is sitting out the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
Pelley says while the franchise’s entire organizational structure is under review, it is going to take some time to find the right answers.
Coach John Herdman says he is looking for young, athletic and durable talent to help turn around a club which he said started the season strongly but finished weakly.
Toronto (11-19-4) was eliminated from playoff contention in a 1-0 loss Oct. 5 to visiting Inter Miami. It will watch the regular season finale from the sidelines, with a bye the final weekend.
Toronto has not made the playoffs since 2020, when it exited at the first hurdle in an upset loss to expansion Nashville. Its regular-season record since then is 30-75-21, with coaches Chris Armas and Bob Bradley fired along the way.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024
HAMILTON – There’ll be no playoff games this year for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but head coach Scott Milanovich feels the club can get a head start on changing that narrative in 2025.
Hamilton hosts Calgary on Friday night in a battle between two non-playoff teams. The Ticats will finish fourth in the East Division while the Stampeders remain fifth in the West, three points behind idle Edmonton with two regular-season games remaining.
“There’s momentum that can be built at the end of the season,” said Milanovich, who’s completing his first season as Hamilton’s head coach/offensive coordinator. “I’ve been part of situations where momentum was built and then the following season it took off.
“What I don’t want to have happen is have a lull where you lose what we’ve kind of started building over the last six weeks. I want to take that into the off-season and training camp.”
Hamilton (6-10) played itself back into playoff contention with four straight victories before suffering a 31-10 home loss to Winnipeg on Oct. 4. The Toronto Argonauts (9-7) eliminated the Ticats from post-season contention with a 14-11 road win over the Blue Bombers last Friday.
For some coaches, that would present an opportunity to audition new players under game conditions. But Milanovich said his priority is to field the best team possible in order to secure the victory, although he did leave the door open to getting backup quarterback Taylor Powell some reps down the stretch.
“He may not play, I’m not making any promises,” Milanovich said. “But other than him we’re playing the best guys available.”
With that in mind, rookie Greg Bell will start at running back ahead of veteran James Butler, who’ll come off the roster. Cornerback Jamal Peters (neck) is out while defensive lineman Nick Usher (ankle) returns.
For Calgary (4-11-1), receiver Cam Echols (head) comes into the lineup while receiver Cam Tucker (hamstring) goes off.
Hamilton starter Bo Levi Mitchell will get a second shot at earning his first win over his former team. Mitchell, who spent his first 10 CFL seasons with Calgary before joining the Ticats in 2023, completed 27-of-38 passes for 300 yards with a TD and interception in a 32-24 season-opening road loss to the Stampeders on June 7.
Mitchell leads the CFL in passing yards (4,576), touchdowns (26) and interceptions (16). The 34-year-old Texan, a two-time Grey Cup champion and twice the league’s outstanding player, is closing in on his third 5,000-yard passing campaign.
The contest is Hamilton’s last this season at Tim Hortons Field, where it is 3-5. But the Ticats have won three of their last four home games against Calgary.
Life on the road has been miserable for the Stampeders, who’re 0-7 this season away from McMahon Stadium. In fact, they’re just 1-12 in their last 13 games away from home.
Having said that, though, Calgary is looking for its first season sweep of Hamilton since 2018.
“We’re trying to win, that’s the first priority and will always be,” Dave Dickenson, Calgary’s head coach/GM, told reporters in the Alberta city this week. “We’ll probably rotate more, for sure we will … but we still expect the same performance and the same execution no matter who plays.”
American Matt Shiltz will start at quarterback for Calgary. He was 18-of-33 passing for 215 yards with a TD an interception in the Stamps’ 23-18 home loss to Edmonton (6-11) last week while rushing five times for 64 yards.
Shiltz spent two seasons in Hamilton (2022-23) before joining the Stampeders in free agency.
“I think he did some good things for us (versus Edmonton),” Dickenson said of Shiltz. “He’s going up against his former team and probably has some familiarity there but different coaches.
“Hopefully he feels good with how our offence is structured and can make plays.”
Calgary is riding an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) and sports a 2-4-1 record against East Division teams. Hamilton is 2-7 versus the West Division.
Both teams will finish their season on the road. Hamilton travels to Ottawa on Oct. 25 while Calgary visits Saskatchewan the following night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
TORONTO – Immanuel Quickley is questionable for the Toronto Raptors final pre-season game.
The guard has missed Toronto’s first four tune-up games with a sprained thumb.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic says that Quickley has been cleared for all practice and team activities but that the team would be cautious about putting him into an actual game.
Toronto visits the Brooklyn Nets on Friday to close out its pre-season, then hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday in its home opener.
Quickley moved over to point guard after the Raptors acquired him on Dec. 30 in a trade with the New York Knicks.
He averaged 18.6 points, 6.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 38 games for Toronto in that new role last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
