Page 19 - John Angus Fraser and the Wreck of the Kismet II

ISSUE : Issue 70

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1996/6/1

John Angus Fraser and the Wreck of the Kismet II INTRODUCTION: The Kismet Hwas a 2,848-ton freighter that wrecked on the northern Cape Breton shore in Novem? ber 1955. It was driven ashore in fierce winds, the hull ripped open by rocks, and 20-foot waves made rescue by boat impossible. A convoy of rescue vehicles headed out for the wreck. It took them 7 hours from Sydney to Meat Cove, with a snowplow leading the way. After a long, hungry wait for the 70 mile-an-hour winds to die down, the sailors were finally lifted off by a helicopter from Canadian Forces Base Shearwater. It was an heroic rescue close alongside that cliff wall, and it earned the George Medal for the heli? copter's pilot and crew. After the Kismet //was abandoned and the crew were safe at the Navy League Seamen's Home in Whitney Pier, Sydney, John Angus Fraser of Meat Cove went on board. Aboard the Kismet II written by John Angus Fraser Here's another chapter of my life with my beautiful wife Ronie. It was on the 27th of November, one real cold morning--and that time of the year you can get some pretty bad storms. And on this said morning at 6 a.m. I woke Ronie and told her that I heard a moose bawling. You can just imagine how much Ro? nie loved me that morning to wake her, and I wanted her to come out of bed just be? cause I heard a moose bawling. But I heard it again, and I got a feeling that she heard it, as she did come out on the ve? randah with me. We both stood on the ve? randah- -looking so stupid at 6 a.m. in the morning, approximately 50-mile-an-hour gale and snowing. I know the way Ronie was looking at me she didn't like the idea. But sure enough, there it went again. I looked at Ronie and said, "Now, Honey, wasn't I right? Isn't that a moose bawling?" "Well," Ronie said, "if it is a moose bawl? ing, he is firing rockets out of his nose." Bird Island Tours RESERVATIONS 1-800-661-6680 ClHiMI'Hi'M'MJI TOURS 7 DAYS A WEEK July 1 - August 28: 9 AM & 10 AM & 1:30 PM August 29 - September 25: Seal & Eagle Tours 10 AM September 26 - October 15: Fall Colour Tours 10 AM ist, see the fall colours reflected in the Bras d'Or Channel A 2 1/2 HOUR CRUISE FROM MOUNTAIN VIEW BY THE SEA Camping and Cabins 4 miles off Trans-Canada Hwy. (Route 105) BIG BRAS D'OR • (902) 674-2384

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