1910: Rescue on the Fundy Bay

Intimate with the Bay of Fundy, even the most experienced of able seamen could not always predict the turn of events that would place their lives in jeopardy once they had left the safe hven of the mainland.

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 30, 1910, Henry Dickey and his son, James Dickey, were out in their open boat on the Bay of Fundy near their home of Canady Creek when the fair day began to suddenly turn threatening. With such a storm brewing, the two men would have normally been making their way back to the mainland long beforehand, and obviously they were having some difficulty. The very worried friends and relatives on the shore knew the men were in danger, but were completely helpless, as there was not a boat in Canady Creek available capable of battling the now surmounting storm. If unable to reach them, James and Henry had little chance for survival.

An urgent message was sent over the Farmer’s Telephone Line to Harbourville, where it was hoped someone might be able to save the two men, in grave danger of drowning.

Moored at the Harbourville wharf and with a “hole stove in her bottom,” the 21-ton schooner, Aggie Curry, was undergoing repairs. Without taking any consideration for their own safety, or the condition of the ship, the Aggie Curry’s owner, Captain Eddie L. Curry, and crew of Captain L. Bloomfield Morris, Ingram Connors and Freeman Marshall; immediately sailed off and out of sight, into the storm.

Distressed with worry, the residents in Canady Creek and Harbourville could only pray and wait but, finally, as the storm cleared for a short time around 6 p.m. that evening, the Aggie Curry could be seen from the hill of the Sea Side Park hotel taking something on board; then, she was lost from sight again.

It was not until the next morning the Aggie Curry entered the Harbourville wharf on the incoming tide and story of the rescue unfolded. When the ship’s crew finally located Henry and James, their boat was only moments from sinking and, although very shaken, the two men were alive and well. A message was sent to Canady Creek by telephone to confirm the safe return of all the men involved, a great relief to all after a very long night of uncertainty.

It can only be imagined what kind of night the men had endured for all those hours in the storm. Extremely tired, they all headed home to get some rest. As is often the case with heroes, the crew of the Aggie Curry did not regard themselved as such, and felt they had only done what any man would do when duty calls.