The Flight of Bear Canada

Extra Stories from the Road:

These are little stories that I've read while on my trip so I decided to repeat them here:

The Phantom Piper of Kincardine

Back in 1856, on a cold, October day, a small vessel left the Port of Goderich carrying a family from the Isle of Skye, Scotland. It was the final leg of a journey for the immigrant family which intended to farm at Penetangore (now Kincardine).

The weather was cloudy with a light breeze out of the southwest when the vessel left Goderich, goes the story. But as the boat approached Point Clark, the sky turned black and a cold wind started to blow out of the west, making for heavier and heavier seas.

As the vessel slowly beat it's way north, late afternoon turned to dusk and the captain feared he would not find Penetangore in the dark.

Donald Sinclaire, fearing for his family, went down into the hold and fetched his pipes. He prayed for safe passage then played a lament. The sound of the pipes carried across the water to Penetangore where another piper heard the rich sound. The settler on the shore retrieved his pies and played another lament in return., just as the sky suddenly cleared in the west and the sun set beneath the cold waters.

The captain, knowing he had to be near Penetangore, headed for the drone of the bagpipes and eventually made his way into the harbor.

For many years after the narrow escape, Donald Sinclaire often went down the harbor to play the pipes at dusk. The say it was a way to remember his good fortune and to remind others of the power of the pipes.

Scotty

Canadian actor, James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, "Scotty" on Star Trek, landed on Juno Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944, as a lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Artillery, and suffered multiple later that day. One bullet missed his heart by centimeter, ricocheting off a cigarette case in his pocket. Another hit his left leg, while a third cost him a finger. In early episodes of Star trek, skillful camera work camouflaged the missing digit.

The Phantom Weather Station.

During WWII, in October 1943, the crew of a German U-Boat, U-537 dropped off a crew of technicians off the coast of Labrador near the northern tip, at Martin's Bay. Their aim was to install a weather station. In order to disguise the automated facility, the Germans marked the equipment with the words "Canadian Meteorlogical Service". The site stopped transmitting after a few days, but remained undiscovered until 1981 when a German researcher notified the Canadian government of the station and the Coast Guard was sent to retrieve it.


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Contents Copyright (C) Michael Fodor 2012.