January 8, 1924
Dobson Lost Life During
Heavy Blizzard
Concerning the drowning of George
Dobson, formerly of this port, who perished in a recent gale, the Shelburne
Gazette says:
The blizzard that visited this section last
Friday is responsible for the taking of one life. On that day the Lockeport fleet
went out to the fishing grounds as usual, and early in the afternoon, when the storm set
in there was a hurried preparation for making port. Many of the men cut their trawls
and hastened back to their vessels. But George Dobson, one of the
crew of the Nellie Viola, failed to return.
The vessel searched for the missing man for
some time and failing to find him, made for port and notified the Government steamer
Arras at Shelburne, and she left here Saturday morning. After
searching about in the vicinity where the Nellie Viola had been
fishing, she returned to port with no tidings of the missing man.
On Sunday afternoon word reached Shelburne
that a dory had been picked up on DeMinga Island. The Gazette called up
Jordan Bay and learned that Berton Pierce and Mark Pierce
had discovered a dory carrying the name of "Nellie Viola"
on the northern part of the island and also found a pair of rubber boots and a cap nearby
on the beach. There is no doubt that the dory was the one which contained Dobson.
The fact that the rubber boots were found leads to the belief that in making shore he
pulled them off thinking that he would be thrown out in the surf and that he would have to
swim.
The unfortunate man was 58 years of age and
belonged to Guysboro, but had been fishing out of Lockeport for several years. He
was a widower and leaves a grown-up family residing in the United States. |
