A mass will be held this evening marking the 50th anniversary of a tragedy that rocked the community of Wedgeport.
On August 23rd, 1967, the six-man crew of aboard the fishing vessel Silver King died in an at-sea collision.
The seiner was fishing off Yarmouth when it was struck by a tugboat.
The six Silver King crew members were:
Captain Roderick Boudreau, Edgar Boudreau, Stanis Bourque, Camille LeBlanc, Vernon Boudreau and Ray LeBlanc.
For Cyrille LeBlanc of Wedgeport, the tragedy is very personal.
“My father Camille and my uncle Roderick were among the crew of the Silver King that drowned 50 years ago. I was 23 years old, so I remember it quite well. A priest and a nun had come to the house at 7 o’clock in the morning and my mother came to wake me up to say that there was somebody downstairs with bad news and I came downstairs and they told me at that time, but they had already told my mother that the six crew members were all drowned.
The lone survivor, Bob McDowell of New Jersey, was vacationing in Wedgeport at the time and was a passenger aboard the boat.
He was Cyrille LeBlanc’s cousin.
“He was saved by the crew of other herring seiners. They made a hole in the hull and saved him. He died in 2003.”
McDowell’s ashes will be buried with the Silver King crew before tonight’s mass. It was a request of his family.
The commemorative mass will begin at 7 p.m. in Saint Michael’s Church followed by a reception at the Wedgeport Legion hall.
