THE REGISTER
JANUARY 29, 1930
BAY OF FUNDY TAKES HEAVY TOLL
Capt. Sinclair Baker of Margaretsville and Three Others perish
When Steamers Ruby L. and Grace Hankinson Founder Off Digby.
Plunging into seas which were crushing his steamer, the Grace
Hankinson, on the rock-fanged reefs off Tiverton, Digby County,
Captain Sinclair Baker, of Margaretsville, on Saturday night
added his name to that list of heroic sons of this ocean bound
province who have sacrificed their lives for others. Three
companions perished when Captain Baker's attempt to carry a
life-line to shore failed. They were swept away when a
giant comber tore the pilot house from the hull of the Hankinson
and hurled it toward the rocky shore, scarcely two hundred yards
away. Two others on the steamer Ruby L., which the
Hankinson had been towing, escaped and made their way to safety
in a row-boat while the engineer and firemen on Captain Baker's
vessel were saved by fishermen who rigged a line from the shore.
The two little coastal craft were fighting their way through a
blinding snow storm and mountainous seas when they piled up on
the reef. They had had a stiff battle with the elements
from the time they left Saint John in the morning. The
Hankinson struck first, bow on, followed by the Ruby L., whose
side was crushed as she hit the rocks. Capt. Baker,
realizing that his vessel was breaking up, seized a lifeboat and
a line. Leaping overboard he struggled toward shore but the
icy seas were too much for him and those on board who had pinned
their hopes on their gallant commander saw him disappear and the
line swing back and forth in the tumbling waters, gradually
slipping under the bow of the vessel where it snapped.
Later the seas tossed up the body of Captain Baker.
Three other members of the crew of the ill-fated Hankinson were
washed overboard by a giant comber which threatened to engulf the
craft. These were Captain Bayard Powell, of Plympton and
Charles Kennedy and Fred Hill of St. John.
Captain Baker was widely known in Nova Scotia, and particularly
along the Bay Shore. His vessel, the Ruby L., which is the
second to bear that name, was built in 1921 at Margaretsville for
the Margaretsville Steamship Company. She was owned by the
Eastern Canada Coastal Steamship Company, Saint John, at the time
of the tragedy, and in the summer months, while plying between
St. John and Margaretsville, made regular stops at Harborville,
where his tragic death will be learned with much regret by
Captain Baker's many friends.