The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) 25 Mar 1974, Mon Page 2
Tug sinks, brothers believed drowned

PORT DOVER, Ont. (CP) -Two Port Dover brothers were presumed drowned Sunday when their , fishing trawler capsized and sank in 10-foot waves on wind-blown Lake Erie as men on another vessel looked on helplessly. Missing are Dale Perry, 29, and his brother Wayne, 20, commercial fishermen trawling for smelt in the 45-foot tug Aletha B, out of this town about 10 miles southeast of Simcoe.

Two men aboard a larger trawler, the Trimac II, answered a distress call and arrived only to watch the Aletha B capsize in about 90 feet of water in stormy Long Point Bay, about 10 miles southeast of here. Provincial police said the Trimac II, skippered by Terry Hagen of Port Dover, remained at the scene for 50 minutes in hope of rescuing the men. The Trimac II marked the spot with a buoy and headed for port as seas became rougher, police said. A spokesman for the Canadian Forces air-sea rescue centre said a Twin Otter air craft from CFB Trenton Joined a United States Coast Guard helicopter from Detroit in a search for the missing men. The search was discontinued because of extremely bad flying weather in the area, the spokesman said.

Constable Darrell Broughton of the Cayuga provincial police detachment said divers will attempt to reach the sunken craft today. If the bodies are not found in the vessel, strong westerly winds on the lake may make recovery difficult, police said. Police said Dale Perry was the owner of the trawler which sent out a distress signal at about 3 p.m., Sunday, after netting smelt most of the day. Mr. Hagan, 40, accompanied on the Trimac II by Jim Lindsay, 36, also of Port Dover, said he was in radio contact with the Aletha B and told the Perry brothers to holler if they ran into difficulties. As the storm came up, a distress call was heard. Mr. Hagan said he circled back and saw the trawler overturned in the water with no signs of life. He said he is sure no one got out of the stricken trawler.

The Leader-Post, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada 25 Mar 1974, Mon Page 2
Ont. weather freakish; two lost in trawler

TORONTO (CP) Freakish spring weather brought record seasonal low temperatures to many parts of Ontario overnight after blowing snowstorms caused scores of minor accidents in sudden whiteouts on some provincial highways Sunday. One whiteout lasting 45 minutes resulted in a series of minor accidents involving about 100 vehicles as visibility dropped to zero on a two-mile stretch of Highway 400 near the northwestern boundary of Metropolitan Toronto. There were no serious injuries. A similar condition on the same highway south of Barrie March 18, 1973, caused a 32-vehicle pileup that claimed 12 lives.

Provincial police described Sunday's accidents as "mostly fender-benders". With high winds gusting over the province, a fishing trawler capsized in 10-foot waves and sank in Lake Erie's Long Point Bay 10 miles southeast of Port Dover. The two men aboard are presumed drowned. Two men aboard a larger trawler, the Trimac II, answered the distress call and arrived only to watch the Aletha B capsize in about 90 feet of water in stormy Lake Erie. Provincial police said the Tri-mac II, skippered by Jim Lindsay, 36, of Port Dover, remained at the scene for 50 minutes in hope of rescuing the men. Another tug, the Playfair, left Port Dover early today to attempt to locate the sunken tug.

Temperatures dropped across the province and today the weather bureau in Toronto reported overnight record lows for the date at several points. The Muskoka area was the coldest spot outside the far north of the province with the mercury touching 18 below zero, eight degrees colder than the previous record in 1970. Windsor s low of two above outdid the record eight degrees above that had stood in the province's banana belt since 1885. Toronto International Airport also had a record low of four - the old mark of five was set in 1960 - but neither the cold nor the snow affected flights. However, abnormally neavy traffic had flights running 20 minutes late part of Sunday night.

Edmonton Journal Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 25 Mar 1974, Mon Page 17
Trawler arrives too late to aid crew of sunken boat

PORT DOVER, Ont. (CP) Two Port Dover brothers were presumed drowned Sunday when their fishing trawler capsized and sank in 10-foot waves on wind-blown Lake Erie, as men on an other vessel looked on helplessly. Missing are Dale Perry, 29, and his brother Wayne, 20, commercial fishermen trawling for smelt in the 45-foot tug Aletha B, out of this town about 10 miles southeast of Simcoe.

Two men aboard a larger trawler, the Trimac II, arrived only to watch the Aletha B capsize in about 90 feet of water in stormy Long Point Bay. Provincial police said the Trimac II, skippered by Terry Hagen of Port Dover, remained at the scene for 50 minutes in hope of rescuing the men. The Trimac II marked the spot with a buoy and headed for port as the water became rougher, police said.

A spokesman for the Canadian Forces air-sea rescue centre said a Twin Otter aircraft from CFB Trenton joined a United States Coast Guard helicopter from Detroit in a search for the missing men. The search was discontinued because of extremely bad flying weather in the area, the spokesman said. Constable Darrell Broughton of the Cayuga provincial police detachment said divers will attempt to reach the sunken craft today. The parents of the missing brothers said the boys must have been trapped because Dale was considered a strong swimmer. Wayne Perry was married last July and Dale was single, they added.

Mike Misner comments (April 19, 2020): "We took the 8-71 out of the tug Merganser and swapped it with the 6-71 that was in the Aleatha B. in the mid 80's."

 

1987. Photo by Bill Breaker. Gerry Ouderkirk Collection.

ENLARGE to 1024 pixels wide

 

1987. Photo by Bill Breaker. Gerry Ouderkirk Collection.

 

Paul Capel notes: "Photo taken at Penetang Tugfest c. 1990.
Deckhouse configuration has since changed". Photo courtesy Paul Capel.

 

June 26, 2001. Al Hart Photo sent in by Gerry Ouderkirk and Rob. B. Farrow.

Oct. 27th, 2007     From the Parry Sound Press
source http://www.parrysound.com/press/1193257382/
Man dies after tug capsizes

10/27 - Byng Inlet - A Port Hope man died Sunday morning after the tugboat he was on capsized off the shore of Byng Inlet. Around 8 a.m. Sunday, Donald Orange, 65, of Port Hope, along with Bryan Hogg, 58, of Thornhill, Ronald Orange, 62, and Shawn Orange, 23, both of Penetanguishene, started to drive the 45-foot tugboat to Midland from where is was moored near the Sawmill Lodge. About four miles out, the tugboat started to take on water and eventually capsized after being struck by a wave that put the nose under water, said Britt and area fire chief Larry Olds. All four men were wearing lifejackets and swam for the aluminum boat they were towing, police reported. By the time Donald Orange was pulled into the boat he had no vital signs, said Mr. Olds.

An autopsy to determine the cause of death was completed Monday, but results weren't released that afternoon pending notification of next of kin, said Kristine Dawson, West Parry Sound OPP community services officer. The men headed for the Sawmill Lodge where firefighters worked to revive Donald Orange for 90 minutes. The Britt and Area Fire Department were called to the scene at 11 a.m. The father of two was a member of the Newcastle Yacht Club and his sail boat was scheduled to come out of the water for the winter this past weekend, said Richard Christensen, commodore of the club. "He's kind and generous and always (willing) to help," said Mr. Christensen.

Editor's note - This same tug sank while trawling off of Port Dover, Ontario on March 24, 1974. Her crew of two were both lost. Aletha B. was built as a fish tug by Russel Bros in Owen Sound in 1945.

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The Aletha B's at rest again after taking another life

The Aletha B, seen above in 2001, had a second life on Georgian Bay after being raised from the bottom of Lake Erie.

John Burman The Hamilton Spectator (Nov 1, 2007)

When the Port Dover fishing tug Aletha B was first raised after sinking and drowning two young men a month before, the lifting crane buckled. The 14-ton tug gave out a loud groan and fell, banging off a salvage barge before turning over and plunging once more to the bottom of the lake. It was April 25, 1974, and old-timers on the pier were quick to pronounce the second sudden sinking a bad omen: "She's down and she don't want to come back. She'll take someone again, sure." They were right.

Thirty-three years later, the Aletha B has sunk again -- this time Oct. 21. She went down off Byng Inlet, a ghost town in the Parry Sound District on the east side of Georgian Bay. And she took another life.

Donald Orange, 65, of Port Hope, was one of four men including the owner aboard the tug headed for Midland, 170 kilometres south, when she began to take on water and eventually put her bow under after being hit by a wave. Constable Kristine Dawson of the West Parry Sound OPP, says all four crew were wearing life-jackets and three of them made it to a 14-foot aluminum boat they were towing. They eventually pulled Orange aboard. Firefighters' efforts to revive him failed.

Doug Mummery, 77, who fished Lake Erie for 50 years before hanging up his nets to repair them for other boats, was on the pier in 1974 when the Aletha B was hauled back to port half-submerged so police divers could search her hull for the bodies of owner Allan "Dale" Perry, 29, and his younger brother Wayne, 20. Their tug had sunk suddenly as she ran for home in a violent storm 16 kilometres southeast of Port Dover a month earlier. Mummery, who says most fishermen are only reluctant about using a salvaged boat if the name has been changed, understands how folks felt the night the Aletha B tried to stay down. Old fishermen believed "... if it comes up the first time, it will stay up, or it will stay down if it wants to go down."

If a boat wants to stay down, they believe one should "leave her be," he added. The Aletha B didn't stay down after suddenly turning over in the first sinking. She was raised, searched by OPP divers and then hauled into Port Dover to be rebuilt and renamed the Glen L. She went back to work on the lake. The Perry brothers' bodies were recovered some time later, farther down the lake. Witnesses nearby on the larger trawler Trimac II said the Aletha B went down so fast no one got out.

Nevertheless, Trimac skipper Terry Hagen searched the area for 90 minutes before reluctantly turning for home. At the time, fishermen speculated the Perrys' new plastic nets had floated free inside the hull when the boat went down, tangling the men and preventing their escape. It made sense to put the Aletha B back into service. Sale of the boat helped offset the Perry family's loss.

Built by Russel Brothers Ltd. in Owen Sound in 1945, the steel-hulled Aletha B was a strong boat 41 feet long, 12 feet wide and a little more than three-foot draft. Originally registered in St. Catharines, the tug came to Port Dover in 1970 and was still working Lake Erie in the mid 1980s. Her registration shows up at Penetang and photos from a "tugfest" in 1990 show her covered deck removed and a single pilothouse added, making her look more like a traditional tug- boat, not a trawler.

Transport Canada is investigating the sinking but department spokesman Trina Bouchard said preliminary indications are that it probably will not be raised. Because the Aletha B died as a pleasure craft, there won't be an inquest as there might be with a commercial vessel. jburman@thespec.com 905-526-2469 source: http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/275363

 

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