In earlier days there were several bad mishaps. The first of which •e is any record was in 1831. The last serious mishap occurred in 1885. the morning of January 27th, three boats with a crew of fifteen mem- 3 and seven passengers left the Island shore. The weather was very I, below zero. Shortly after leaving the shore a fierce storm came up after trying to make headway all day, it was decided to camp on ice over night. Two boats were turned over, making an improvised .ter. The storm continued all night and up to about noon the next . About 3 p.m. shore was sighted, and late that night a landing was 1 J ft; le some distance north of DeSable . After considerable difficulty they , m; laged to make shelter in a house about two miles from the shore, ' ajf' x spending 36 hours in the elements. Of the twenty-two men, four lo: fingers and toes, six others were more or less exhausted by the cold w ither, one crew member became delirious during the trip and died si rtly afterwards. There were numerous occasions when difficulties oc- ci red, and many anxious hours would be spent before shore would be f re ched. I it This service was in operation each winter, and even continued for he tt t of the winter of 1917-18 although the car-ferry service was in oper- « at n. The iceboats were discontinued after that winter. r0 As Augustine Cove is only about two or three miles distance from C >e Traverse, many men from this community worked on the iceboats. F i ' this laborious and dangerous work they received from $50. to $100. hf P ■ month. ;1 The men from this district were: Gordon MacWilliams , Harry In- '■ m i, Donald MacFadyen , Thomas Carruthers , Ollie Cameron , George s; L- ird, John MacWilliams , Frank Murphy , Albert Sherren , Elmer Daw- 11 sc , Eliphalet Clark , Bruce Campbell and Harry Dawson . The last four id itioned still live in the Cove , and they can relate many interesting he tf -'s about these perilous journeys. 41