Tag Archives: Michelle Nickerson-Forbes
TSB report on sinking that killed 6 says fishing boat needed stability test
The report released Wednesday says the F/V Chief William Saulis should have been tested for stability, given the fact that major changes had been made to the boat by its owners. They had added a heavy, A-frame structure for scallop dragging, a protective plate to the boat’s stern, and covers to close drainage holes. On Dec. 15, 2020, the modified vessel capsized in the Bay of Fundy during a gale as it returned to its home port in Digby, N.S. All six crew on board died. The independent agency says Transport Canada inspectors during a 2017 visit didn’t tell Yarmouth Sea Products Ltd. that the modifications to the boat were stability “risk factors,” which were defined in a federal safety bulletin and questionnaire. However, the board made clear in its report and during Wednesday’s news conference that it has long urged a stricter law on stability assessments and that Transport Canada hasn’t complied. >click to read< 14:23
‘We’re not going to stop fighting’: Families of F/V Chief William Saulis crew to keep pushing for safety in fishing industry
Michelle Nickerson-Forbes had worried that the longer it took for the Transportation Safety Board to come out with its report about the December 2020 fatal sinking of the Chief William Saulis scallop vessel, that people would forget about the six-member crew whose lives were lost. Initially, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) had said the investigation and report would take up to 450 days. Instead, it took over two years. Lori Cogswell Phillips, a resident of Cambridge in the Annapolis Valley, is also never going to give up. She’s been fighting for answers on behalf of her son Aaron Cogswell and the rest of the Chief William Saulis crew for the past two-plus years. She says the TSB report – which took too long to come out – still leaves more questions unanswered than answered. Photos, >click to read< 09:51
F/V Chief William Saulis: Families say everything possible should be done to recover bodies from sunken boat
Laura Smith, the sister and next of kin of Gabriel, says it would give her family closure to have her brother’s body back home, and she favours raising the boat for further investigation if it can be done without endangering lives. “We all would like to see the boat raised and the bodies returned for closure and to have a proper burial,”,,, “As long as I know they have done everything in their power, until they can’t do more, I’ll be happy with that.” Lori Phillips, Cogswell’s mother, said she continues to expect a federal agency, whether it’s the RCMP or the Transportation Safety Board, to inspect the sunken boat with the ROV, and she believes it should be raised. “We need the final ritual. . . . I’d like to have him home,” she said. >click to read< 11:18
