The CGGS M. Perley searches the waters of the Bay of Fundy in Hillsburn, N.S. on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020 as they continue to look for five fishermen missing after the scallop dragger Chief William Saulis sank in the Bay of Fundy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
HALIFAX – The Transportation Board of Canada is to release a report today on its investigation into the sinking of a scallop dragger off Nova Scotia more than two years ago.
The Chief William Saulis capsized off Delaps Cove, about 50 kilometres north of Digby, N.S., on Dec. 15, 2020, with the loss of its six-man crew.
The bodies of Eugene (Geno) Michael Francis, Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Dan Forbes and captain Charles Roberts were never recovered.
The body of crew member Michael Drake was swept up on the rocky shoreline.
The safety board report is expected to examine why there was no stability assessment required for the 17-metre vessel, whose operators had added a steel A-frame for trawling and made other structural changes.
Transport Canada has said a stability assessment wasn’t required when it conducted an inspection in April 2017 – three months before regulations requiring assessments for vessels with major modifications came into effect.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2023.
