A Sea of Mothers' Tears
by Frank Galgay and Michael McCarthy

“An Unsolved Mystery of the Sea”

Michael McCarthy 

On the morning of Saturday, September 28, 1839, a westerly gale was raging along the south coast of Newfoundland. The brigantine Thule, on a homeward voyage from Quebec, Canada to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, was caught in the storm and buffeted by the wind and waves and was driven in onshore near Port aux Basques. The inhabitants of the town saw her come in, and about half a mile from land she dropped her anchors, hoping to ride out the gale. However, the anchors failed to hold and the ship continued her drift toward shore.

When the ship was about a quarter-mile from land, she got into heavy breaking seas and heeled over on her beam ends. The crew, in a vain attempt to save themselves, climbed into the rigging. The watchers onshore could do nothing to help, as it was impossible to launch a boat in such heavy seas. The ship heeled over again, and this time the deck load she was carrying and her masts went over her side, carrying the men in the rigging to their deaths. Then, with her masts and deck cargo gone, the brigantine righted herself again, parted her anchor chain, and drifted ashore.

As soon as the weather conditions improved, the men from the area boarded the wreck. To their surprise, they found the mutilated body of a man lying in a berth in the ship’s cabin. From the appearance of the body, they believed it to be that of Captain Fordyc.

On examining the body they found that the right shoulder of the man had been cloven off with what they assumed was the blow of a hatchet. As well, there were several contusions about the head. Because the man had been placed in his bunk after these injuries, they believed that this pointed to foul play.

During the next few days, the bodies of the sailors who had drowned drifted ashore, and the citizens of Port aux Basques gave them decent burial as they had done for the man in the cabin. The logbook of the Thule was also located. The last entry in the log had been on the evening of September 25, but there was nothing to indicate any trouble with the crew or accident on board the ship.

The matter was reported to the proper authorities, but as there was no evidence of what might have happened on the ship, after September 25, the last entry in the logbook, the investigation into the matter was inconclusive.

The wreck of the Thule and the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the mutilated.body in the cabin were reported to the brigantine’s owners in the Shetland Islands. However, the Shetland Islands people refused to believe that Captain Fordyc had been the victim of an attack by members of his crew. They all maintained that Captain Fordyc had been on excellent terms with all the crew members, who were fellow citizens of Lerwick. They suggested the Captain must have been killed by a falling spar. The fact that the Captain’s body had been placed in his berth rather than thrown overboard at sea would seem to indicate that the injuries had been the result of an accident rather than a direct attack.

However, to the people of Port aux Basques the reasons for the Captain’s death always remained an unsolved mystery of the sea, with foul play suspected.