Page 5 - Capt. Walter Boudreau's Story: Louisbourg Rescue, 1943, & The Sinking of the Angelus

ISSUE : Issue 64

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/8/1

boat, I believe when they came back the fishermen had got there just as they were leaving, and I don't think there was anything for them to go back for. I think there was a motor boat was there, capable of taking larger groups. So they said, "Well, so we've got eight off and the other boat is taking the rest." And we ; were not too anxious to row out there again because my arms were just breaking, then, by this time, you know. It was hard rowing. (So where did you go from there?) We ' took them to the same place (where we had launched the dories) . Right Two of the Louisbourg men who rescued sailors from the SC709 • Charles Bagnell here on the edge just by this big, and Ed Levy. The other Louisbourg rescuers in the motorboat l/Vl G. were Nelson snowy field. And we had to knock Bagnell, Joseph Bagnell, and Wilberl Goyetche. r M down somebody's barbed wire fence. There was a road out there. So when we reached the beach there was somebody there that took them over and we don't know what hap? pened to them because we turned around in? stantly and went back out. (After your second trip out and back, did you come into town with them?) No. We didn't see anything of them at all. (You didn't go to the party or the gathering?) Other than the gathering, it seems to me it was in the evening from what I recall. We went back to our boat and I guess Captain Jensen was pleased with us, and we were pretty proud of ourselves--pretty happy that we saved the men. And that evening, I think it was, we went (to) one of those military places or some kind of a building. We were not taken there in a truck or given any transportation. We walked out...in the snow. And when we got there the Royal Cana? dian Navy was standing around; you know, tipping glasses. And we stood in the corner with our fur hats and ear muffs and mittens and rubber boots like dodos, and nobody paid any attention to us at all. I think somebody later came and gave us a drink, I seem to recall--or maybe it was coffee. And we said, "Well, we may as well go home." Which is what we did. Now that was the last of the rescue as far as I was concerned. I never saw anything in print. A few days after that we were on our way.... (And you never actually saw the Louisbourg fishermen.) Never--never saw them. (So per? haps they never saw you either, and these are two separate rescues. Do you think that's the case?) Exactly. I think that's the case. And I don't think there's any de? liberate effort by the fishermen to belittle us or push us out of this and get any credit that might be coming. I think they simply didn't know much about what took place way out here (at Cemetery Point.) Just as we knew nothing.... It was two distant points far apart. We didn't see each other. (Isn't that extraordinary? So two separate rescues were made and both cases, I think, still sound like two courageous rescues. Do you think it was? Courageous rescues?) Yes, I do. Because we could have lost our lives. I mean if that's what you call "courage." Or, in my case, I just loved adventures,; I've been in so many damn things--wrecks and experiences--and I loved it all. So, I mean, maybe half the time I was moved just because I like to be involved in situations. Part 2: The Angelus Shipwreck Disaster, 1943 (And a couple of days later, you had your load of lumber in the hold of the Angelus, plus a deck load of lumber?) Big deck load. Eleven feet high strapped onto the deck-- lumber. (And let me understand, the Angelus was not a steamboat.) She's a square- rigger. The French fleet had been coming to North Sydney for years with these big four- Wbrld -wide Working together we give you more flights to more cities in Atlantic Canada, across the country, and around the world. AirCanada

Cape Breton's Magazine