Canadian Coast Guard
<% else %>A History of the Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Services
by Thomas E. Appleton
The Loss of the Simcoe
1917 was a tragic year. In April, 11,000 Canadian soldiers died on Vimy Ridge; in October and November, for a gain of two square miles of mud at Paschendaele, a further 16,000 comrades-in-arms were killed. On December 6, as a result of a collision between two ships in Halifax harbour, a cargo of ammunition exploded and 1,630 people lost their lives in the ensuring holocaust, thousands more being injured. Numb from the casualties on the western front, which affected families in all parts of the Dominion, and then reeling from the aftermath of the unexpected explosion at home, people barely noticed another tragedy, which in a poignant exit to that terrible year, was the worst disaster in the history of Marine and Fisheries.
CGS Simcoe
The Simcoe was lost with all hands in 1917 when on passage from the Upper Lakes to the Bay of Fundy to relieve the CGS Dollard.
On the day following the Halifax explosion, the radio operator at Grindstone in the Magdalen Islands picked up a hurried message from the lighthouse tender Simcoe:
SOS SINKING CONDITION SW MAGDALEN ISLANDS OR BY FEW MILES EXACT POSITION NOT OBTAINABLE SHOULD JUDGE ABOUT TEN MILES SOUTHWEST MAGDALEN ISLANDS NOW CLEARING AWAY BOATS HEAVY SEA RUNNING SOS
From the time of receipt of this message, 8:10 p.m. on Saturday December 7, 1917, nothing was heard from the vessel which foundered with the loss of all 44 souls on board. Records of this sinking, sparse in the immediate details of the event, which are still unknown, are illustrative of the period. The steamer Seal and a naval patrol vessel attempted to search, but both were many miles from the estimated position and could make no progress in mountainous seas. Alerted by the radio stations at Grindstone and Fame Point, local communities were unable to help as small craft could not put out against the gale and blinding snow. From Pictou, the Aranmore was sailed the following morning as soon as word got through but, no trace having been found by the 11th., the search was abandoned.
The Simcoe was a twin screw steamer, 180 feet in length and then only eight years old, which had safely crossed the Atlantic from Wallsend-on-Tyne where she had been built. Normally stationed at Parry Sound, the first Marine and Fisheries ship for permanent service in the Great Lakes, the Simcoe handled the lighthouse and buoy work above Montreal with the Lambton, which was also commissioned in 1909. In the season of 1917 the steamer Dollard was found to be underpowered for the exposed conditions of the Bay of Fundy work, and the Simcoe was transferred to the Saint John, N.B. agency and was on passage there when the accident happened. Under the command of Captain W. J. Dalton and with Mr. W. T. Pitt as chief engineer, both of whom had come from Saint John to take over the ship, the Simcoe worked her way down from the Lakes, operating from Quebec for a few weeks on the way, until she was free to lend a hand in the lower Gulf before proceeding to her new station. At the time of her loss she had left Sydney with coal and supplies for Bird Rocks, which were delivered, after which she had intended to pick up the Magdalen buoys. It is thought that she had buoys on board on the night of the 7th. Captain Dalton was an experienced shipmaster who had previously commanded the Lansdowne and the Aberdeen on similar work.
CGS Dollard
Lighthouse and buoy tender at Saint John, N.B.
Looking back from the vantage point of half a century, it is interesting to follow to aftermath in the light of present day conditions. In 1917 the crews of government ships had no death benefits, no workmen compensation and no superannuation. In this case Parliament was asked to vote funds to cover the dependents of those who lost their lives and, by Treasury Board minute of July 6, 1918, compassionate allowances were authorized. These were in the from of lump sums, $2,000 for the master and officers, $1,500 for petty officers, and $1,000 for seamen and equivalents. As seamen were then earning rather less than $40 per month, with masters no more than $150, the payments represented between one and two years salary. Where children were involved the amounts were split and, in one case where it had been represented that the beneficiary was likely to have squandered the money to the detriment of other dependents, a trusteeship was established with local town councillors.
If this relief was modest by modern standards, it was reasonable enough in the prevailing conditions and downright generous compared to the meagre compensations allowed to merchant seamen who, in most cases, would have got nothing. It was, however, long in coming and ponderous in execution. In the seven months which elapsed before payment was made, distressed relatives and their representatives wrote dozens of pitiful letters to the Department. One mother wrote that she had lost three sons in the war and now one at sea.
In a comparable situation today, substantial death benefits would be paid within a week, workmen compensation for both widows and children would follow and would be payable for life in some cases and superannuation would be paid in proportion to the contributions made. Even in cases where unexpected legal formalities might delay or impede relief, arrangements are in force which would ensure immediate interim payments to those in need.
Three echoes later recalled the ill-fated ship. In January 1922 the Lady Laurier landed a lifebuoy from the Simcoe, which had been found on a beach at Sable Island and, in February, fishermen from the Magdalen Islands reported sighting the wreck when working in calm weather off Old Harry Point; this position was never confirmed. In October of the same year a bottle with a farewell message, ostensibly from the Simcoe, was recovered near Pictou. As the name of the sender, C. H. MacDonald "of Scotland", does not appear in the crew list of the ship, it can only be concluded that the message was a cruel hoax.
As for the Dollard, apart from a season at Parry Sound in 1918, she gave good service on the Bay of Fundy station until the vessel was sold in 1961.
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