Exploring the tragedy of the Miss Ally and loss of her five-man crew
It’s a story that has been played out far too often in Atlantic Canada, where so many make their living from the sea. On February 17, 2013, during a particularly vicious spell of winter weather, the 12-metre (40-foot) Cape Island fishing boat, Miss Ally, helmed by the 21-year-old captain, Katlin Nickerson, sank off the coast of Nova Scotia while the crew had been longlining for halibut. All five fishermen on board the vessel– Skipper Katlin Nickerson, Billy Jack Hatfield (33), Joel Hopkins (27), Cole Nickerson (28) and Tyson Townsend (25)–were drowned, and their bodies were never located. The loss of so many young men rocked the small and tightly knit communities around Woods Harbour, on the south-west edge of Nova Scotia, not far from Cape Sable Island. Everyone knew the five men, and everyone had an opinion about what happened.
One of the questions Quentin Casey wanted to examine in his book is, just who goes 200 kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia to fish for halibut in the middle of winter? As suggested by the title, the sea was in their blood, although for some, it was more of a well-paid job than a calling. Several of them, including the captain, only ever wanted to fish; and all knew the risks.
In a perhaps unusual departure from other books detailing tragedies at sea, the author devotes a chapter to each of the five crew of the Miss Ally, and this brings the loss home more fully to the reader. While all five shared similar characteristics, by virtue of having been born in a seacoast community where the majority earn their living as fishermen or in related industries, each was very much a unique individual. Several had wives, children, or were planning for them; all had parents still living who always dreaded that they might one day bury one of their children due to a sea tragedy. One of the fishermen’s families declined to speak with the author at all, so Casey spoke with a few of Tyson Townsend’s friends to construct his profile. One comment from an acquaintance sums up how it is in a small community: “I’m scared about what they might think about me talking about it. Are they going to be mad because I said some good things about Tyson…I see these people everyday. I don’t want to upset anybody.”
Many in the communities put the blame for the loss of the Miss Ally and her crew on the head of the young captain Katlin Nickerson, feeling he shouldn’t have stayed out to haul his gear and bring in a big payday. But one of the fishermen interviewed by the author had something to say about that. “Don’t let people go around saying, ‘He shouldn’t have been there,’” Sandy says firmly. “Katlin didn’t do anything different than all the rest of us have ever done. We’ve all done it—every skipper. He just didn’t make it. Simple as that.”
During the original search, there was great frustration in the community that after the air search was called off because there was no chance of survival, no effort was initially made to recover the vessel, which had been sighted floating upside down. It took the local people mobilizing a flotilla of fishing vessels and someone who could dive the wreckage to search for possible bodies to get the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) back looking for the boat. The hoped-for recovery of the lost men didn’t take place, but the community drew some comfort in knowing they had done everything they could to “bring our boys home.”
This was a tough book to read, so it had to be even more difficult to write. Excellently researched, it is compassionately written with a sympathetic portrait of the community and the lost young men. You will possibly shed tears. This reader did.
The Sea was in their Blood is published by Nimbus.