''Marc Guylaine'' was a Canadian herring seiner built in 1969, along with its two
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s, the ''Lady Dorianne'' and ''Lady Audette''. After its two sister ships both mysteriously sank in the
Acadian peninsula
The Acadian Peninsula (french: Péninsule acadienne) is situated in the northeastern corner of New Brunswick, Canada, encompassing portions of Gloucester and Northumberland Counties. It derives its name from the large Acadian population locate ...
, drowning nine men, and the only two other ships built to the same specifications met identical fates, the ''Marc Guylaine'' became the subject of great fear that it would meet a similar end.
The government eventually agreed to purchase the "cursed" ship from its captain, and subsequently renamed it and moved it out of
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
, selling it to a fishing corporation on the
Pacific Coast
Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Geography Americas
Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
where it remains in service today as the ''Freeport''.
Construction
In 1969,
Saint John Shipbuilding
Saint John Shipbuilding was a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Saint John, New Brunswick. The shipyard was active from 1923 to 2003.
History
Numerous shipyards were located on the shores of Courtney Bay in the east end of Saint John Ha ...
built three identical 126-tonne fishing trawlers named the ''Lady Audette II'', the ''Marc Guylaine II'' and the ''Lady Dorianne II''.Miramar Ship IndexLady Audette IIMarc Guylaine IILady Dorianne II /ref> The original engineering records for the Dorianne and Audette were obtained by the ''Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston'' for their records-collection.
The ''Marc Guylaine'' was sold to Gélas Haché, and the ''Lady Audette'' was sold to A. Chaisson.
Sinkings
On November 23, 1970, the ''Lady Dorianne'' departed from Havre-Aubert en route to
Shippagan
Shippagan is a Canadian town within Shippegan Parish, Gloucester County, New Brunswick.
The parish retains the original English spelling, while the town officially adopted the colloquial French spelling on 1 July 1981.
Shippagan was great ...
following a storm. It was alternatively reported as having five or six men aboard, including the captain Sylvio Noël, when it disappeared off the coast of
Miscou Island
Miscou Island (french: Île Miscou) is a Canadian island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the northeastern tip of Gloucester County, New Brunswick.
It is separated from neighbouring Lamèque Island to the southwest by the Miscou Channel with both ...
. Everybody aboard was presumed killed, although the ship and bodies were never found. In December, the
Ministry of Transportation
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...
was urged to not give up its search for the ship, since the previous sinkings of two identical ships were still unexplained and it was hoped that the wreckage might provide a clue to its fate.Bourque, Claude. L'Evangeline Sea Tragedy April 26, 1971 It was never found, although searches turned up an uninflated
life raft
A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts (raft, liferafts) are also used. In t ...
from the ship.
On April 23, 1971 the ''Lady Audette'' radioed the trawler ''Apollo III'', addressing its captain Roméo Michon: "Roméo, come quickly to us, we are sinking."Rapport du capitaine Michon à la compagnie d'assurances. The ''Lady Audette'' is believed to have inexplicably sunk near the Rochers aux Oiseaux off
Magdalen Islands
The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland th ...
, and could not be found. Three men drowned but, unlike the sinking of her sister ship, there were also four or five survivors. Two years later, the wreckage was discovered.
Aftermath
In May 1971, an anxious
Acadian
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
fishing population demanded a public hearing into the safety of the ''Marc Guylaine'', and 400 people met at the Ste-Marie-St-Raphaël
community centre
Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...
where an "action group" was commissioned to study the issue. Ultimately the last of the sister ships was found to be unseaworthy.
Federal official Bernard M. Deschênes was appointed as Commission Counsel to study both the Audette and Dorianne sinkings. In 1973, the
Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...
released its report entitled ''In the Matter of a Formal Investigation Into the Circumstances Attending the Loss of the M.F.V. "Lady Dorianne II" and the M.F.V. "Lady Audette II" in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Nov. 23, 1970 and Apr. 22, 1971 Resp.''
Haché, the captain of the ''Marc Guylaine'', subsequently found he could not hire any local fishermen to man his ship, and petitioned the provincial
Ministry of Fisheries
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
to offset his financial losses incurred. The resulting battle took a year to wind its way through bureaucracy, as
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
s ruled that the ''Marc Guylaine'' was perfectly seaworthy. In May 1972, at the urging of the local population to consider Haché an "innocent victim", the Ministry agreed to purchase the boat from him.Bourque, Claude. L'Evangeline Le Marc Guylaine enfin vendu May 31, 1972
Rather than scrap the ship, the ministry simply renamed the vessel to ''Jean Marc IV'' and re-sold it within the year. It was renamed the '' F/V Freeport'' in 1974, and registered in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
on the
Pacific coast
Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Geography Americas
Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
three years later.
In 1992, it was one of two Pacific vessels to cooperate with the
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
research study "Decision Dynamics at Sea: An Application of Foraging Theory to the Study of Fishing Effort".
In 2005, it was cited by
authorities for failing to have an Automatic Identification System aboard.
It remains in use today, registered through 2009, by the ''Kanata Fishing Company'' in
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 12, ...
Stompin' Tom Connors
Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has rele ...
wrote ''The Curse of the Marc Guylain'', referring to the three sister ships as "three floating coffins on the sea". Calixte Duguay, a French Acadian songwriter and performer also wrote the song "La Complainte du Lady Dorianne" on the same subject.
The ''Lady Dorianne'' was also the subject of a song entitled ''The Tempest'' in 2005.
In 2008, Lighthouse Productions contracted filmmaker
Paul-Émile d'Entremont
Paul Émile d'Entremont is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, best known for his 2012 film about LGBT refugees, '' Last Chance''.documentary seeking the wreckage of the ''Lady Dorianne'', which was theorised to be sitting 240 feet beneath sea level, as the only known shipwreck in the area. The film is scheduled for completion in late 2009.Mousseau, Sylvie Paul Emile d'Entremont to follow in the footsteps of Lady Dorianne July 14, 2008