Prime Minister's remarks at a ceremony to honour Captain, crew and rescuers of the FV Nautical Legacy

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Good afternoon. Minister Hearn, thank you for your introduction. Thank you, Roland, for the kind greetings and for getting us started today. Thank you, Pastor Bess, for allowing to use your facility today as well, and thank you, residents of Port-de-Grave, for your warm Newfoundland welcome and for so many, coming out to this event this afternoon. This is my first visit to this particular part of Newfoundland and Labrador. I had heard that Port-de-Grave is beautiful, but I have to say seeing really is believing. It is tremendously picturesque.

I want to thank all of you, as well as Loyola, for the warm introduction. I also want to thank your Member of Parliament who brought me down here as well today, Fabian Manning. Both Loyola and Fabian are ably representing Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in Parliament. They are fine parliamentarians. They are the reason I am here and I want you to all give them a big hand for the work they are doing.

Now when they told me about the rescue of the crew of the fishing vessel, The Nautical Legacy, I said I wanted to meet them and their rescuers. So I'm very pleased to have that opportunity.

The history of Atlantic Canada is inevitably bound up with a long and proud tradition of fishermen and women earning their livelihood from the sea. People who come from away tend to romanticise life in the fishing communities out here. They don't appreciate how hard the work is or how dangerous it can be. The North Atlantic has served up a generous bounty that has sustained the economy of this region for centuries but she doesn't yield her riches easily. And when things go wrong out there, sailors can face life-threatening perils. It is one such tale, of course, that brings us together today.

On May 30th of this year, The Nautical Legacy was fishing for crab off the east coast of Newfoundland north of St. John's. Just past noon, a fire of unknown origin erupted on board and started spreading rapidly. When it was clear it could not be contained, Captain Stokes had no alternative. Giving the order to abandon ship is one of the hardest decisions the skipper will ever have to make. His impossible choice was between the hot, raging flames on the vessel and the frigid roiling waters of the Atlantic. Without hesitation, Captain Stokes made the only decision he could. He ordered his five-man crew into their survival suits and into the water.

Then he went back to the wheel house, which was filled with choking black smoke, and before joining his shipmates in the water, issued the mayday call seconds before communications were lost. One crew member didn't have time to get into his survival suit. The others kept him afloat even as he drifted into unconsciousness. Together they bobbed on the swells, trying to boost each other's spirits and praying that Captain Stokes' SOS had been heard. Thankfully, it had.

The transmission was garbled, but the radio operator and Search and Rescue Coordinator were able to pinpoint the Legacy’s position and give the location to the response team. The team included a Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter from Gander as well as a Hercules aircraft; the Coast Guard ships Sir Wilfred Grenfell and Leonard J. Cowley and Auxiliary vessels Brittany Christina and Ashley’s Request; a Fisheries and Oceans surveillance plane and finally, the Arctic Prowler, a private fishing vessel in the area.

The fisheries plane was the first to spot the fishermen in the water. They told the search and rescue squad exactly where to go and what to expect when they arrived minutes later. Braving high winds, stinging sea spray and cresting waves, the rescuer lowered from the belly of the Cormorant and lifted the fishermen from the water one by one.

Amazingly, it took only eighteen minutes to get all six crew members into the chopper and on their way to safety. And not a moment too soon: two men were suffering from hypothermia. All were swiftly transported from St. John’s airport to the hospital where they recovered from their ordeal.

Everybody involved in this harrowing incident applied their training exceptionally well that day. Captain Stokes and his crew followed emergency procedures by-the-book. Having completed the Marine Emergency Duties course, the Captain knew exactly what to do to ensure the survival of his crew, as did the Search and Rescue team.

I especially want to highlight the professionalism of radio operator Carl Snow, search and rescue coordinator Chris Fitzgerald, the team on the surveillance plane who were first on the scene, and the crew of the Cormorant, especially sergeant David Payne who went down in the rescue basket to pluck the fishermen out of the frigid water. Thanks to the professionalism and bravery of all these folks – supported by many others who played roles in the rescue – everyone got home safely.

Although what's left of The Nautical Legacy is now on the ocean floor, her legacy is to serve as a reminder that emergency training programs and search and rescue operations are there to keep seafaring Newfoundlanders and Labradorians safe. As it says in your famous song, The Little Boats of Newfoundland, and I quote: Brave men, she said, is what they are. Those who face the icy wind, knowing as they leave their sheltered coves, they may never return again.

This incident will serve as an example. Survival at sea is a shared responsibility, and when both the rescuers and the rescued know their jobs and do them properly, everybody comes home safely.

I want to thank you all very much for coming out today. I think we all want to thank the Lord for bringing these men home safe and sound to us.

Once again, I appreciate your attendance.

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