In Recognition of:

The Lives of Fishermen and their Families on the 40th Anniversary of the Lockeport Disaster of 1961.

    On Monday evening 20 March 1961, three Lockeport longliners, the Jimmie and Sisters, the Marjorie Beryl and the Muriel Eileen, were fishing on the Emerald Banks about 120 miles south-east of Halifax.  A vicious Atlantic storm suddenly struck and radio contact was lost.  Search parties made up of aircraft, RCN ships and a whole flotilla of shipping vessels combed the area in a further attempt to turn up some trace of the missing longliners.  (Excerpt from the front page of the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Thursday, 23 March, 1961.)

     A total of 17 men were lost, none of their bodies were ever recovered.  They were survived by 17 widows and 65 children left fatherless.  In a fishing community of 1000 souls, where families have lived for generations, such a great loss of life touches everyone.  The core of experienced fishermen, fathers, husbands, brothers and sons were gone! 

     The year 2001 was the 40th anniversary of the disaster.  Lockeport Crescent Beach Centre and the Ragged Islands Historical Society undertook in partnership with artist Laurie Swim, in cooperation with surviving family members of the victims and the Lockeport community, a memorial to commemorate the fishing disaster of 1961.

     The centrepiece of the community arts project was the creation of an art quilt with volunteer participation at the Lockeport Crescent Beach Centre during the summer months of the year 2000.  The commemorative art quilt, "Lost at Sea", was designed and coordinated by visual artist, Laurie Swim, and unveiled at a reception during the South Shore Festival of the Arts, September 14, 2000.

     The central image of the art quilt accurately represents the longliners on the high seas and their method of fishing using "long lines" of coiled, baited hooks.  These lines were unfurled from the stern of the fast-moving vessel at dangerous risk to their handler being pulled overboard.  Similar methods are still in use by local fishermen.  Portraits of the 17 men who lost their lives in their treamendous winter storm of March 23, 1961 have been included in the quilt.

    This memorial serves as a meeting place for local residents to exchange stories and information on fishermen's lives and how it effects their families and reverberates throughout the community.  John Chetwynd (lost father, Arnold Chetwynd of the Muriel Eileen), his wife, Linda (lost father, Mitchell Taylor, Captain of the Marjoire Beryl and 2 uncles James Harlow and Captain Lawrence Taylor of the Muriel Eileen) and Bonnie MacKenzie (lost father, Captain Emanuel Currie of the Jimmie and Sisters) were actively involved in the project, contributing first-hand information and contacting the widows and survivors to the disaster, for their input and perspective. 

    This millenium project opened up a dialog in the community to discuss the realities of going to sea and therefore promotes respect for the unpredictable dangerous nature of the job that fishermen and their families face.  The information gathered from oral histories in interviews with the remaining widows and older fishermen whose boats made it through the storm and lived to tell first-hand accounts was documented and recorded.  This collective knowledge has been combined with existing historical data and visuals to make a video as a companion piece to the memorial quilt, "Lost at Sea".  Local filmmaker, Dan Swim, coordinated and made the video that also contains footage on the process of the making of the quilt.

     Community volunteers and the general public visiting the seaside community centre were encouraged to contribute to the creation of the quilt by directly working on a quilted piece or through the fundraiser.  The fundraiser to support the project took the form of selling space for names of donors on quilted fabric representations of "split cod" on racks, a traditional method of drying and preserving fish.  The split cod fish racks accompany the memorial art quilt when it is displayed at the Lockeport Crescent Beach Centre in the coming years.  This provides a venue for directly involving all those who wish to contribute to the project and in turn recognize them for their support. 

     The finished art quilt and it's video companion piece is used to inform future generations of their harsh but rich heritage, particularly school children in the area, some who never knew their grandfathers, who were "Lost at Sea".

     Visit the Lockeport Crescent Beach Centre to see the completed mural quilt!