In 1583, the Delight, one of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's ships, ran aground and was lost at Sable Island, drowning 85 people, in one of Canada's first marine disasters. Gilbert was an early advocate for the search of a Northwest Passage. He was experienced in colonizing Ireland and received letters patent in June, 1578 from Queen Elizabeth authorizing him to colonize the coast of North America.
His first attempt was frustrated by poor organization, desertion and bad weather. He set out again in June, 1583 with five vessels. One ship turned back but the other four, including "Delight," arrived in St. John's, Nfld. in August. Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland after arriving -- the first English possession in the New World. On Sept. 9th, Gilbert went down with the "Squirrel," another of the ships on the expedition.
In the light of hurricane Irene, we have come a long way in surviving hardship.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, hospitals are assessing how they fared from the hurricane. Still stinging from the lessons learned after Katrina, public officials took precautions in anticipation of Hurricane Irene, particularly in New York, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered hospitals, senior centers and nursing homes located in low-lying coastal areas to evacuate patients.
I've noticed more reports of near misses on our waters. They, as much as drownings statistics, require reporting. These are lessons that must be learned if we want to travel safely on Ontario and Canadian waters.
I've seen my share of near misses: young kids driving powerful jetskis, people following closely BESIDE boats and waterskiers on jetskis, as well as unnecessary speed on Ontario lakes. People treat lakes and the roads as their own personal Nascar track, ignoring their fellow citizens who similarly travel.
Our safety laws are totally inadequate, not so much ignorance but willfull speed on open waters, as well as on frozen lakes in winter. With the thousands of lakes in Ontario's cottage country*, our OPP Marine Patrols cannot enforce laws. When a patrol boat approaches, negligent boaters scatter.
Former neighbours, on 2km-long Long Lake, would allow what looked to be a 12-year-old to use the jetski all alone. I have asked the Marine Patrol to speak to this family. They had a couple of violations when the OPP visited the lakefront. I had to. I feared for myself as much as others.
The family, new to cottaging, disrespect the Muskoka and cottaging etiquette of days gone by. With the powerful jetskis, the danger is much worse than it used to be. For, in the old days you knew cottaging neighbours and were aware of who was swimming, in fact would take your neighbour's kids waterskiing, too.
Now with the number of families renting out cottages to pay taxes, or having up friends who can now travel the highway quickly and be visiting with friends in a short drive, the lakes are crowded with citiots. (Imagine urinating off the side of a boat near cottages on the lake! I happened to have camera in hand, so-to-speak.)
"A pair of newly released drowning trend reports, compiling 10 years of research by the Canadian Red Cross, show that boating fatalities make up 39 per cent of drowning victims, and alcohol is a factor in about half of the cases."
It is up to family members and/or neighbours to give some free advice. If necessary, call the OPP.
Awhile back I wrote about all the drownings and incidents and the lack of safe drinking, boating and driving habits in Muskoka and Cottage Country. We are all responsible. We have to convince young and old to respect marine, snowmobile and traffic laws regarding speed on water and highways.
For more info: click here=> Canadian Marine Laws. Most people around wear them in canoes. Many fishermen do not.
– An increased police presence on the Rideau Canal has led to more than 30 charges against boaters this summer, Parks Canada said Thursday, August 11th, 2011.
Gravenhurst Bay, July 3, 2011
He said another vessel collided with a stationary vessel, operated by Jason Sutcliffe, T-boning it and running up over top of it. Police said alcohol was reported as a factor in the incident.
Sunday evening, a young 8-year-old girl, Emma Sutcliffe, of Gravenhurst, was airlifted to Sick Kids hospital after her dad's ski boat was “T-boned”.
In the boat, glass and debris were everywhere. There were cracks in its sides from the first impact of the collision. The prop of the other boat was sitting in Jason’s passenger seat. The water-ski tower had shot several feet into the lake, he said.
Emma’s wounds: only recently did doctors take out the 45 stitches in her face from pan-facial fractures.
With her grandpa at her side, she was airlifted from South Muskoka Memorial Hospital to Sick Kids Hospital where a team was waiting with three plastic surgeons.
She had suffered a broken collarbone, orbital bone and right clavicle, and both hinges of her jaw were broken, as well as her chin. Her palate had been broken in half and her six front teeth knocked out. She had multiple lacerations on her face and soft tissue damage on one side of her neck.
Emma underwent an operation for her injuries and spent five days at Sick Kids. She has been back for re-examinations twice.
The family is hoping she will no longer have to wear a neck brace after her next appointment Aug. 18.
Emma is slowly able to chew again after following a no-chew diet, but shards of glass are still coming out of her head, her family said.
Oakville Beaver Editorial: Not wearing your lifejacket could cost you your life. His kids saved him.
*The number of lakes larger than three square kilometres is estimated at close to 31,752 by the Atlas of Canada, with 561 lakes with a surface area larger than 100 km2. There are 3,899 lakes in Ontario greater than 3 square KM (32,000 in Canada). There are over 3 million lakes in Canada of any size.
Ontario boats more than 400,000 lakes, rivers and streams. (www.duenorth.net/lodgeguide/lodgeguide.pdf)
This is fair warning. While the Ottawa River is more likely to thaw faster than local, slower moving lakes, there have been several deaths over there.
I have seen snowmobiles out on melting ice, and their tracks show the evidence.
There are two stories...
"All of a sudden, the ice let go in front of them, the nose buckled in, and it started to sink," said David Inglis, a family friend of 37-year-old Lee Bourdon, who was driving the truck at the time.
Bourdon managed to open his door and get out but wasn't able to free his girlfriend, identified by Inglis as 38-year-old Rachel Taylor.
22 Feb 2010 ... the Ottawa River was anything but for Lee Bourdon and his family. ... divers searched the depths of the river beneath the dark ice.
This video shows what happens to the ice, from March 25th, 2009. It melts so quickly. This year, this past month of February has been very wet. There is a solid layer of ice under puddling melted snow water. You really must know the ice before venturing out.
However, there is more news today. Three more: 1 drowns, man on life support after boating accidents, the Toronto Star reports.
Two more boating accidents on Saturday. A boat flipped just south of Muskoka Lakes, on Lake Simcoe, in Simcoe County.
One man is in hospital on life support as of Sat. night, Aug. 8, 2009, after a high speed boat flipped near Walker's Point, very near Torrance (where a plane crashed last week killing two people). He was resuscitated and transported to Toronto hospital.
OPP Website says:
(MuskokaLAKESTwp, ON) –On August 8, 2009 at 6:05 p.m.MuskokaLakes Fire, Ambulance and the OPP responded to the shores of Lake Muskoka - off Renley Rd.
Witnesses at the scene indicated that a racing boat operated by 33 year old Phillip Morden of Milford Bay was traveling south at a high rate of speed. The boat, a 19 foot STV, flipped over and the lone operator was thrown from the boat.
Local residents who witnessed the incident rushed to his aid and pulled MORDEN out of the water unconscious. He was transported to SouthMuskokaMemorialHospital by air ambulance in critical condition. He has been transferred to St.MICHAELSHospital in Toronto for further treatment.
The OPP Marine Unit is conducting an investigation into the incident. An OPP Marine Reconstructionist will be involved when the boat is recovered from the lake bottom.
The man who drowned on August 8, 2009, was wearing a life jacket but he was speeding in a high powered boat. Phillip Morden, 33, of Milford Bay, was retrieved from Lake Muskoka with no vitals after his tunnel hull boat flipped end-over-end. OPP Insp. Ed Medved said that this man was driving a fast, powerful boat, and he knew what he was doing, except he hit a wave and flipped. Muskoka Lakes fire chief, Jim Sawkins, told the newspaper about how this type of boat can porpoise. It is on-line:
This man was dead due to high speed, not the lack of a life jacket. Let's not get ridiculous about this! I think the answer lies in taking responsibility for friends and family. If they are too drunk to be on the water, or fish and then drink they will drown. If they perceive the waterways as a Nascar track, and if they insist on drinking and boating, or swimming in deep and treacherous water, inexperienced canoists on Georgian Bay, we will lose them. You must speak up. Talk sense into these people. Their loved ones will thank you.
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And in Arrowhead Provincial Park, north of Huntsville. From The Star: A man is presumed drowned after a canoe tipped in Arrowhead Provincial Park at 1 a.m. today – following a fatal boating accident yesterday and another that has left a man clinging to life – bringing the death toll on Ontario waterways to eight in just over a week.
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It is so dangerous out there. I was listening to ABC.net.au, and heard that they are having issues with tourists rock climbing.
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I watched a PWC yesterday, thrill seekers bouncing on waves, jumping over their wake, skooting around trying to create a wake for a family tubing. I presume they knew them, otherwise I'd be upset!
The tubing family were going around and around, trying to bounce the children out of the tube. The effect on the kids, as they bounce so hard, would make an interesting study. They bounce so hard. I worry over 'shaken baby' syndrome, with the impact.
It is no surprise, as boats are getting bigger and faster. Canoes, float planes and sailboats compete for open water. Our kids went out in the canoe, but had to be very careful with the wake from this PWC. They went across the lake, where they encountered two other boats.
They are speed demons. I wonder why they make such powerful boats? Especially, why they bring them onto a small lake. Many have problems in the Rideau Canal, where boat wash destroys the wildlife habitat. It washes out the nests of sunfish in shallow water.
The video below was taken a hear ago on the August long weekend.
Boat Traffic, July 25, 2008
Boat wash on the shore shows how high and powerful the waves are.
Here we are swimming at Bala Falls in 1995. Now, we know it isn't a safe place to swim.
These are now signs of the times.
"Danger - fast water", as well as memorials to a man who died on the train track - drunk, passed out, he didn't hear the train coming.
I am dreading more sirens. Uh oh, I hear them. It is noon and off they go.
Families having a nice picnic at Bala Falls - who now have grief and mourning with which to cope.
The 44-year old father of the 9-year old girl drowned. His brother is on life support in hospital after being revived.
CTV News has more information. Update: Aug. 7, last night the uncle of the child rescued passed away.
The water is rushing furiously, although the dam had been closed to permit OPP Rescue to retrieve the bodies of those who drowned downstream on Sunday.
Tourists sit and watch the rescue attempts
Volunteers control traffic. One is the wife of a volunteer firefighter
When will they learn? When will they ever learn?
A family swimming in the Bala Falls. The 9-year old child, with a life jacket, floats out with the current. The two men were trying to save her, which they did.
I walked into town, the EMS crew sirens always scream the worst news. The ambulance zoomed by, sirens blaring with the first victim. One is in hospital on life support.
And I saw much grief and shock in many faces as I walked along when the 2nd victim was taken out of the water.
"Two Men pulled from Bala Falls, " reports the Gravenhurst Banner.
I saw a firefighter walk over to his wife (who was directing traffic) and, with tears in his eyes, got a hug from her and went back to finishing up the job. What a man to be proud of. Who can imagine doing such a job? Our volunteer firefighters are always there at the scene, as well as the paid professionals. I bow to all in honour.
The impact on family members of those who die is profound. No question.
The impact on our incredible First Responders cannot go unrecognised. Incredible men and women who do the unthinkable. Pulling dead bodies from the water. How difficult a job. I know that the ambulance attendant who helped take my failing mother to hospital the day before she died felt grief.
I look at our wee granddaughter, and understand how much she can be loved. How they can put themselves, and the EMS crews at risk? Why do people insist on taking risks?
There have been extreme warnings. Yes, in the 'good old days' people went swimming in rapids. But these are NOT the good old days. With Climate Change and a cool, rainy July, the waterways are high, flooded and fast-moving.
One of the crew told the spectators to move on and off the bridge. "This isn't a spectator sport." I don't think it is so much a sense of gawking, as much as relief it is not OUR family. We are concerned. We want to hope that there is a chance of a rescue. We respect what the men and women in blue do. And those who risk their lives to recover those who perish.
AND I am so proud of our crews.
It is a comfort to know what a good job they do. It is relief to know that whatever happens, they are there and treating those who choose to participate in dangerous activities with dignity and respect. They treat the victim's families with dignity, too.
They are not accidents when you know there is a risk involved.
And if they did not know about the danger, they they haven't listened to every media report over the past part-week, as well as the ads on TV warning people about fast water and hydro dams.
"They were jumping off some rocks located above a fall," said Ontario Provincial Police Insp. Ed Medved. "There was foamy, aerated water - so they were swimming in bubbles which is virtually impossible, plus very strong currents in very turbulent water. This was a very dangerous and deadly spot to be swimming in and it was unfortunate they chose to do that."
One dead Friday, no lifejacket, bouncing on a wave and thrown. Boating causes more accidents, especially fishing.
Then 3 drowned Sunday on the Moon River Falls. They found the first body 24 hours later, the 2nd the next day, and finally found the third body today, Wednesday. It is a marvel to watch the video of crews at work. They have guts.How can they do this?
There was a plane crash in which two died. I read somewhere that his friend told him that at age 75 he ought not to be driving a plane. How much danger do seniors put themselves in, as much as 20-somethings? Is there a test for those driving a highly dangerous transporation medium as this?
Their plane did not clear the trees. This looks like wind or pilot error. What a risk he takes. We have seen planes on our lake that barely clear the trees. The wind is unpredictable.
In March we lost a mother and daughter through the ice. Bodies recovered from Muskoka lake 15 Mar 2009 ... Police have recovered the bodies of a mother and daughter from the cold waters of Lake Rosseau in Muskoka Lakes Township.
Be safe. Remember someone out there loves you. Stay out of fast-moving water.
OPP officials say that they received the distress call for the missing swimmers at around 1:30 p.m. in Moon River Falls near MacTier, about 25 km west of Lake Muskoka.
These foolish visitors from the GTA were cottaging at the MoonBasinMarina, red pin on the map, when they travelled by boat earlier in the day to the Moon River Falls.
Several were injured, two nearly drowned, when they went swimming in the falls in pools form between the higher and lower falls. They say that the water is 9 feet higher than normal what with the July rains we have been getting from the Lake Effect winds and moisture. They were airlifted to the Parry Sound Hospital. But, three did not survive an afternoon swim in high currents in a pooled area. The water is very high. The Bala Falls is moving quite quickly.
Can you imagine the impact of near-by civilians who tried to assist with the search of the water? What shock and horror they must have felt.
A search for the missing swimmers was begun by the OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit and the OPP helicopter.They had to stop searching due to the high waters. You can see from satellite photos that the waters, scoured by ancient glaciers, has much water that collects and flow quickly into Georgian Bay.
The Winnipeg Free Press says, "The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ontario Hydro are shutting off the water flow upstream, but it could take more than 24 hours for torrents of water to stop pouring over the falls because the dam is kilometres away."Despite Police reminding the public to exercise caution around waterfalls and encourage that they are best enjoyed from a safe distance.No names are being released pending identification of those involved and notification of next of kin. The investigation by Bracebridge OPP is continuing.
Toronto Sun - excellent photos showing the area, EMS crews and grieving friends from the Greater Toronto Area(GTA).
Thank goodness for our EMS crews. Our first responders are the best.
We have had the ambulance here several times when my parents were ill. But the addition of the Air Trauma teams are a great idea for the summer. Muskoka Magazine published a great article in the August issue. with so many accidents, and being far from a road limits response times.
Ornge is an independent non-profit service that has a staff of 300 and helps 18,000 patients each year. What a shame that we need these services up here. And last w/e we had another accident.What a creepy way to go. From CrimeAlerts, Bracebridge. And so unnecessary!
(BRACEBRIDGE, ON) –On 31 July 2009, members of the Bracebridge OPP were called to Gravenhurst in response to a complaint that a male had gone missing in LoonLake while operating his motorboat. Investigation has revealed that the male driver and two occupants were ejected from the boat as a result of striking a wave while pulling two riders on tubes. The two occupants of the boat as well as the two on the tubes made it safely to shore.
Members of Bracebridge OPP Marine Units, ambulance, the OPP Helicopter, and concerned citizens undertook a search of the bay, but were unable to find the missing 46-year-old male.
The search has been discontinued for the night, however, will be resumed in the morning, with additional assistance from the OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit. ~~~~~~~~~~
On 01 August 2009 members of Bracebridge OPP Marine Unit and the OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit located the missing man in LoonLake.
Deceased is a 46 year old John-Paul Farrell of Stouffville, Ontario.
Investigation has revealed that John-Paul Farrell and the two occupants were ejected from their vessel. The two occupants were wearing lifejackets while operator was not. Alcohol is not a factor in this event.
Police are reminding the public to exercise caution and wear their life jackets. This is an unfortunate incident that happened quickly and ended in tragedy. Be careful out there! There is a lot of lake traffic: human, and wild, boats and PWCs.
And then there are the tea party advocates...
