FV Silver King

History
Canada
Name	Silver King
Port of registry	Wedgeport, Nova Scotia
Fate	Collision with Ocean Rockswift on August 22, 1967
General characteristics
Length	55 ft (17 m) [1]
Sail plan	Seiner

The FV Silver King was a Canadian herring seiner based out of Wedgeport, Nova Scotia.

Collision and sinking

On August 22, 1967, the 233-ton tugboat Ocean Rockswift was heading back to its home port of Saint John, New Brunswick. Silver King was out at sea on a herring fishing trip. ^[2] Around midnight, the tugboat struck Silver King about nine miles off the coast of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. ^[3] Silver King immediately flipped on its side and took on water. ^[2] Crew members from the seiner Dunville boarded the submerged vessel and cut a hole in the bow to rescue the lone survivor. ^{[4] [3]} Less than 24 hours later, two scuba divers, Andy Wallace and Jack Hatfield, entered the submerged vessel through the hole and recovered six bodies. ^{[5] [2]}

Casualties

Six crew members died in the incident, all were from Wedgeport. ^[5] The lone survivor was 27 year-old Robert Bruce "Bobby" McDowell of Hackensack, New Jersey who was vacationing in Wedgeport with his family. ^{[3] [5]} His uncle, Captain Roderick Boudreau died in the accident. ^{[3] [6] [7]}

Name	Age	Notes
Captain Roderick Boudreau		[5]
Edgar Boudreau		[5]
Vernon Boudreau		[5]
Stanis Bourque		[5]
Camille LeBlanc		[5]
Raymond LeBlanc		[5]

Inquiry

An inquiry was held before Justice L. Ritchie of the New Brunswick Supreme Court. ^[8]

References

1. "Death boat". Ottawa Citizen. August 24, 1967. p. 11.
2. Sinking of the Herring Seiner, 'Silver King' Archived 2016-10-05 at the Wayback Machine Lost to the Sea Memorial
3. "6 Fisherman Die in Collision Off Nova Scotia Port". Toledo Blade. Toledo, Ohio. August 23, 1967. p. 3.
4. "Six Die as Boats Collide". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa Citizen. August 23, 1967. p. 1.
5. "Un accident de mer fair six victimes". Le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse (in French). August 24, 1967. p. 1.
6. "6 Fishermen Die In Boat Collision". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August 24, 1967. p. 1.
7. d'Entremont, Laurent (March 16, 2013). "The unforgiving sea". Kings County Advertiser. Kentville, Nova Scotia. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
8. "Tug Captain Recalls Fatal Collision". Montreal Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. November 1, 1967. p. 21.