Campobello Man Lost at Sea

Wade Gallagher of Campobello was killed in a tragic accident on the Bay of Fundy on the night of August 18th, 2006.

The following articles were published over a period of several days in the Saint John Telegraph Journal, The Saint Croix Courier and the Quoddy Tides Newspapers. Permission to reprint has been granted by all 3 publications. (Thank You.)

Telegraph-Journal | News - As published on page B1 on August 21, 2006 Captain feared drowned in sinking By Bruce Bartlett Telegraph-Journal SAINT JOHN -

The captain of the scallop dragger Braiden G., registered at Wilson's Beach, Campobello, is missing and believed drowned after the vessel went down late Friday night in the Bay of Fundy between Blacks Harbour and the Wolves Islands. A crew member, the only other person on board, was rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter out of Eastport Me., which reached the scene about an hour after being assigned to the rescue. The call from the stricken vessel first went to the Coast Guard radio station in Saint John and was patched through to the rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax at 11:21 p.m. Friday, said a spokesman on Sunday. No names have been released.

The survivor was interviewed by the Coast Guard Saturday afternoon by telephone. He was asleep in the cabin when the captain woke him to say the boat was taking on water, told to put on his life jacket and to try to launch a small boat they had on board. The survivor told the Coast Guard he went forward to cut the lines to get the boat ready when the dragger rolled to starboard and pitched him overboard. The survivor said the stern of the dragger was underwater when he came out of the cabin but they still had power and the captain was at the wheel, in contact with the Coast Guard. "When she took that roll and he was tossed in the water, she went down by the stern and it seemed that the captain was trapped as she started to sink," said the Coast Guard spokesman.

The survivor lost sight of the boat he was trying to launch but found a small tote box, which he held onto for additional flotation. The search for the missing man was reduced Saturday morning after a fixed wing aircraft with spotters on board made several passes over the area as well as a Cormorant helicopter from Greenwood, N.S. They saw nothing but debris. The helicopter had been there the night before about half an hour after the U.S. Coast Guard because it was out on another call. Once the Coast Guard had the eyewitness report, indicating he had called for the captain for an hour with no response before the rescue ship arrived, the search was reduced.

The case has been handed over to the RCMP as a report of a person lost at sea. It is expected the Transportation Safety Board will do an investigation into the cause of the sinking. The Coast Guard spokesman said the radio contact from the captain where he gave an accurate position of the boat made the rescue of the crew member possible. "The survivor was picked up within half a mile of the position given by the captain as the distress position," he said. "That was key in the rescue." The U.S. Coast Guard reported that once they were on scene around 12:30 a.m. Saturday they could hear the survivor calling out for help. They plucked him from the bay around 12:47 a.m. and continued to look for the other man.

Telegraph-Journal | News - As published on page B2 on August 22, 2006 Captain lost in Bay of Fundy identified Telegraph-Journal

CAMPOBELLO - Sources have confirmed the identity of the missing fishing boat captain at the centre of a Coast Guard search. Wade Elmer Bernard Gallagher of Wilsons Beach, Campobello Island, is the captain of the vessel that went down late Friday night.

The first mayday call was received at 11:21 p.m. Friday night. The scallop dragger, called the Braiden G., went down in the Bay of Fundy between Blacks Harbour and Wolves Island. The only other crewman onboard was rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter out of Eastport, Me. The crewman, who has not been identified, told the Coast Guard that he was woke by the captain and told to abandon ship. When the crewman made it out onto deck, the stern of the boat was already underwater, but the vessel still had power. Before he could release the Braiden G's lifeboat, the vessel rolled to starboard and the man was pitched overboard. The survivor, who spent at least an hour in the waters of the Bay of Fundy, said he last saw Gallagher, still at the wheel talking on the radio and giving the vessel's position to would-be rescuers.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Gallagher's heroic actions made the rescue of the other crewman possible. He was plucked from the Bay of Fundy at approximately 12:47 a.m., but the captain was nowhere to be found - only wreckage was visible. The search for Gallagher has been scaled back by the Coast Guard and he is presumed lost at sea. The boat, built in Nova Scotia in 2000, was a 10.6 metre, 11 gross tonne, single-propeller vessel that had its home port registered as St. Andrews. The boat's registered owner is Gallagher.

Telegraph-Journal | News - As published on page B1 on August 23, 2006 Friends, family continue search By Candice MacLean Telegraph-Journal (Candice MacLean/Telegraph-Journal)

Tommy Newman describes his fishing buddy Wade Gallagher as a good natured man who always had a smile on his face. Gallagher was lost at sea Friday.

CAMPOBELLO - In a corner of Head Harbour Wharf on Campobello Island, the wood platform cast a dark shadow on an empty piece of water in the Bay of Fundy. There, Tommy Newman said, is where his friend Wade Gallagher used to tie his boat. The 35-foot scallop dragger sank Friday night and left Gallagher, the captain of the vessel, lost iat sea. The only other occupant of the boat survived.

Tuesday, an unofficial search continued for Gallagher, the man whose absence has left Campobello Island residents suffering in a sorrow as deep as the water the boat left behind. Gallagher and his family are from Wilsons Beach. "He was a real hard fisherman," said Newman, who has known Gallagher for more than 30 years. "It's some hard to think of Wade not being here anymore." Newman, 56, leaned against the landing at Head Harbour Wharf, swaying his glance back and fourth from the empty space of water where Gallagher tied his boat, the Braiden G.

He motioned toward the ground when he described the age Gallagher was when he first saw him playing on the wharf. "He was only about this high," he said, his hand to his knee. He wasn't sure of Gallagher's age now, but said he is about 36 years old with a young son, who his boat was named after. "His boat always sat right there," Newman said, describing the vessel as grey-coloured. "Just that empty spot of water right there is where his boat always laid. Everybody always kind of ties up in the same spot and I tied up right behind him right there."

Gallagher's sister-in-law was also on the wharf Tuesday, but refused to comment on the sinking. She said her sister, Gallagher's wife, was not ready to speak about the accident publicly. Braiden G. went down late Friday night between Blacks Harbour and Wolves Island. The first mayday call was received at 11:21 p.m. The only other crewman onboard was rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter out of Eastport, Me. The crewman, who has not been identified, told the Coast Guard that he was woke by the captain and told to abandon ship. When the crewman made it out onto deck, the stern of the boat was already underwater, but the vessel still had power. Before he could release the vessel's lifeboat, the boat rolled to starboard and the man was pitched overboard. The survivor, who spent at least an hour in the waters of the Bay of Fundy, said he last saw Gallagher still at the wheel, talking on the radio and giving the vessel's position to would-be rescuers.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Gallagher's heroic actions made the rescue of the other crewman possible. He was drawn from the Bay of Fundy at approximately 12:47 a.m., but the captain was nowhere to be found. Only debris from the boat was visible. Newman said he doesn't think he'll ever know the true tale of what happened to Gallagher, but said he'll continue to think of his own theories. "It goes (around in my mind) over and over and over again," he said.

The search for Gallagher has been scaled back by the Coast Guard and he is presumed lost at sea, but Gallagher's family and fellow fishermen have not given up. Tuesday afternoon, Newman was the only fisherman at Head Harbour Wharf. The others, along with some members of Gallagher's family, he said, were out on the Bay of Fundy, searching through the water with hopes of bringing Gallagher home.

Newman described his fishing buddy as a good natured man who always had a smile on his face. As he squinted in the sun, Newman breathed in the cool air from the bay, adjusting his baseball hat and his torn, plaid shirt. He's been a fisherman all his life, he said, and although he hasn't been out in his boat since Gallagher's disappearance, he won't quit his job now. "(Fishing) isn't something you do, it's who you are," he said. "It's in your blood."

Telegraph-Journal | News - As published on page B1 on August 25, 2006

Response time "Unacceptable" By Sandra Davis Telegraph-Journal

A Campobello man hopes to gather area fishermen together over the next couple of weeks to talk about organizing a volunteer auxiliary arm of the Canadian Coast Guard to respond to emergencies within a 40 to 50-square-kilometre area in the Bay of Fundy that, he believes, is not being sufficiently covered.

The theory is simple enough, says Mac Greene, who runs whale-watching tours out of Campobello.

Anyone who owns a boat can become a member. All it takes is a willingness to share contact information with the Coast Guard, who will call if there's an emergency on the water.

"It's up to you whether you actually go or not, but at least you get the call," said Greene. The Coast Guard pays boaters who decide to join in search and rescue missions. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary is in place right across Canada and has about 450 volunteer vessels in the Maritimes with about 800 crew members.

Greene is despondent at the loss of his childhood friend and school-mate, Wade Gallagher of Wilsons Beach, Campobello, who is believed to have gone down with his scallop dragger late Friday night between Blacks Harbour and Wolves Island in the Bay of Fundy. "It takes something like this to hit home," said Green. "Something's got to be done. It's the quickest solution."

The Braiden G. is the third boat to go down in the area since 2004 when four people died after the Lo-Da-Kash went down near St. George. Four months later, a lobster fisherman died after his boat capsized soon after setting sail from the Back Bay wharf.

Greene believes the Saint John-based search and rescue vessel, the Courtenay Bay, is too far away from these fishing areas to be effective - areas northeast of the American border to Point Lepreau and off-shore to mid-bay, including Grand Manan and Campobello.

Saint John is about 65 kilometres by water, from where the Braiden G. went down.

The Canadian Coast Guard just can't get to those fishing areas in time to save lives, he said.

"Once they get here, they do a great job, but they're only on board from 8 to 4 and on call after that. So, by the time they get called, it takes two hours to get here.

"That's no good in the Bay of Fundy. The cold water can kill you in minutes. That's unacceptable."

The first responder at the scene Friday night was a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. It took one hour and seven minutes for the U.S. vessel to travel about 32 kilometres from Eastport to the area where the boat went down and its three-member crew was successful in plucking one of the dragger's two crew members from the water.

A fishing vessel arrived after the U.S. cutter, followed by a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter, confirmed Mark Corbishley, the chief officer in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard at Eastport, Me. The Canadian Coast Guard could not say on Thursday what time the Cormorant arrived on scene.

As much as Greene appreciates the Americans' help, it irks him that the Canadian Coast Guard did not arrive first.

"We shouldn't be dependent on the Americans," said Greene.

"It's great they're there and it's great to be working together and that's the way it should be, but we should have a boat here and be ready to help them like they help us."

Crew members man U.S. search and rescue vessels around the clock while the Canadian Coast Guard often operates on an on-call basis and Greene sees that as a problem.

Mark Voigt, superintendent search and rescue, Canadian Coast Guard, Maritimes region, doesn't believe having crew members on call creates a problem. He says it's very seldom that a boat is not deployed within a half-hour of an emergency, which is the Coast Guard's national standard.

"It addresses the normal risk in Canada, meaning that people, when they go out to, have to be prepared with PFDs (personal flotation devices), warm clothes and a boat that is capable," he said. "To me, that standard serves mariners and Canadians well. It works."

He said the Coast Guard believes Saint John is the most effective place from which to launch the Courtenay Bay. "Placing it in Saint John allows the overall, quickest response to the most areas of the Bay of Fundy," said Voigt.

The U.S. Coast Guard out of Eastport is called out to search and rescue missions in Canadian waters three or four times a year, said Corbishley, adding that it's difficult to say how many times his crews would be first responders on the scene.

"When it comes to something like that, we dispatch who we can and whoever gets there, first," he said. "We don't think about any boundaries. We think about saving the person's life.

Voigt agrees that's the way it should work.

"The standard around the world is that countries co-operate completely with their neighbours," he said.

The Transportation Safety Board has not decided if it will investigate the sinking of the Braiden G. Corbishley said his crew was told by the survivor that the boat was overloaded with scallops when it sunk.

"What happened exactly to cause it to go down I don't think anybody knows. And they may not know unless they refloat the boat," he said.

The search for Gallagher has been scaled back by the Coast Guard and he is presumed lost at sea.

Family and friends are still searching.

Saint Croix Courier August 22, 2006   Front page news, con't. on A3.

Man missing after boat sinks  (by Barb Rayner)

BLACKS HARBOUR- The quick action of the captain of a scallop dragger in giving the vessel's exact location just before it sank near The Wolves Islands late Friday night is the reason his crew member was located and survived the ordeal, according to Coast Guard officals.

Mike Voight, superintendent for Search and Rescue for the Canadian Coast Guard in the Maritime region, said Monday the captain, Wade Gallagher, from Wilson's Beach, stayed on the radio to give the location of the Braiden G. and there was no doubt that this was key in the rescue of the crew member.

Gallagher is still missing and believed drowned.

The captain of the 35 foot vessel put out a "Mayday" call at 11:21 p.m., said Voight, saying that the vessel was sinking with two people on board about seven-and-a-half nautical miles off Blacks Harbour near The Wolves.

The call was immediately relayed, he said, and as soon as the joint rescue centre in Halifax was advised, they commenced a full-scale search-and-rescue operation.

A Canadian forces Cormorant helicopter from 413 Squadron, which was only about an hour away from the location and was returning from another search and rescue mission, was sent to the scene along with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter from Eastport, Me., a Canadian Coast Guard cutter out of Westport, N.S., and the Canadian Coast Guard cutter Courtney Bay out of Saint John.

Six local fishing boats also responded to the call, said Voight, as well as a Canadian Forces Arcturus, a six-winged aircraft out of CFB Greenwood.

The first vessel on the scene was the U.S. Coast Guard cutter and when they arrived about an hour and four minutes after receiving the call they found the crew member floating in the water in his life jacket and were able to rescue him.

"That was pretty good for the middle of the night in the Bay of Fundy. He was taken to hospital in the U.S. and treated for hypothermia, but was otherwise okay."

Voight said they continued to make a full-scale search of the area where debris from the vessel could be seen, but could find no sign of the captain.

"The survivor who was rescued said the last he saw of the captain he was still in the wheelhouse of the vessel. He said when it sank, he saw the captain still on the radio as it went down."

"In talking to the guys at the rescue centre, it was key he got his position out and that was key to saving this guy's life. The rescue centre praised him for making a Mayday call with the right position."

"With the high tides and the cold water, the fact that the U.S. Coast Guard went to the scene and found him right away was because of the position given by the captain."

Voight said the crew member had climbed on to the forward deck to unstrap the vessel's rescue boat, but he was unable to get it free before the vessel tipped over, because it happened so quickly.

The search for the missing captain continued all night, he said, and it was very concentrated because debris from the boat was right there on the water.

The helicopter made three separate searches, said Voight, while other resources also made a complete and thorough search of the area but there was no sign of the captain.

"The search was continued until 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning at which time, due to the intensity of the search and the survivability based on the water temperature and the fact the captain was last seen going down with the vessel, the Canadian Forces search and rescue was reduced and handed over to the RCMP as a missing person."

The Quoddy Tides  Published Aug. 25, 2006

Front page and con't on page 43

by Chessie Johnson

Crew saved, captain lost as dragger sinks

Sadness descended over the Campobello Island fishing community as the Bay of Fundy claimed a local captain and his boat late on Friday night, August 18. Wade Gallagher, captain of the Braiden G. was lost when his boat capsized near The Wolves. Crewman Andre Mallette was rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard boat out of Eastport after nearly an hour in the water. Gallagher is survived by his wife Connie and young son Braiden.

Gallagher and Mallette had been dragging for scallops and finished at about 9 p.m. with 35 totes of scallops in the shell waiting to be shucked. Mallette went to the cabin and fell asleep as Gallagher headed home from the Saint John area.

"Wade woke me up," explained Mallette. " The whole stern was in the water. He gave me a life jacket to put on, and I headed back to the dinghy. He had already sent out a mayday when the boat shifted to the right, and I knew we were going under. There were too many ropes on the dinghy to get it loose, so I climbed onto the top of the wheelhouse and jumped into the water as the boat turned. After that, survival-instinct just took over."

The U.S. Coast Guard received the distress call at 10:20 p.m. and was under way to the scene within 20 minutes. They arrived at the site at 11:45 p.m., according to Officer in Charge Mark Corbishley, and fired four illumination flares. "When our boat arrived, there was about two feet of the boat (the Braiden G ) showing in the water. We rescued Andre Mallette, and at that point the boat was gone. Mallette was suffering from severe hypothermia," says Corbishley. "We had seen him go completely under several times as we approached. I don't think he could have lasted much longer in the cold water. The entire crew is saddened that we were not able to save the captain."

Mallette says the boat didn't sink right away after it turned over. Once in the water, he started turning around his wedding ring on his finger. "My wife just suffered a loss in the family," he says. "And I wasn't bound to die right now. It would be another blow to her. I survived for my wife." He says he kept moving his arms and legs in the water trying to stay warm. " I didn't lose consciousness. I saw a light and thought it was the North Star. But then I thought, 'How can it be the North Star?' It was the Coast Guard Boat."

According to family members, the Canadian Coast Guard called a halt to the search on Saturday morning, August 19. Canadian officials were not available to confirm this at press time. Family members and other fishermen from Campobello Island have been searching the area where the boat was lost with grapnels and sonar, but without results so far. Local fishermen fear the boat may have fallen into a deep crevasse in the ocean floor, too deep to recover.

An investigation will attempt to determine what caused the Braiden G, named after Gallagher's young son, to sink so quickly. Many draggers carry a "black box" to record information, which would be helpful in the investigation.

In the harbour on Campobello, one fisherman who knew Wade Gallagher said, "What Wade did was, he saved Andre's life. By waking him up, getting him a flotation device and putting out a mayday, he gave him a chance." As to why Gallagher could not be saved, he said, "Often, when a boat rolls and goes down, there is air trapped in the wheelhouse. You can be pulled into the wheelhouse and trapped by your flotation device or get tangled up on deck."

As to what caused the sinking, Mallette has several thoughts. "We were loaded. It might have been a freak wave. When I got up, the whole stern was already in the water. Only Wade knows for sure what happened. We may never know."

Mallette, safe at home after leaving hospital, said, " I have nothing but good things to say about the U.S. Coast Guard. Without them, I might not have made it."

Corbishley comments, "When we receive a distress call, we don't think about borders. We just respond. Our main concern is search and rescue, and saving lives."

--

The following was added in January 2007:

The Saint Croix Courier  August 29, 2006

Family looking for answers

By Kathy Bockus

CAMPOBELLO- The family of the missing Head Harbour scallop fisherman says it wants a local search and rescue unit established on the island to prevent any future tragedies like the one they believe has claimed the life of 34-year-old Wade Gallagher.

Della Malloch, Gallagher's mother-in-law, believes if local fishermen had been alerted when the Coast Guard first received Gallagher's "Mayday" call, the outcome of the incident might have been different.

Instead, Malloch said, it was hours before the family even knew that Gallagher's scallop dragger, named the Braiden G after his young son, was missing and Gallagher was presumed to have gone down with his boat.

"We know Wade's gone," said Malloch on the weekend. "Now we want closure. We want to know why the Coast Guard couldn't locate his boat. They had the coordinates."

Malloch said what she, her daughter Connie, and the rest of the family now wants to see is a local search and rescue unit formed, with members who could respond perhaps more quickly than Coast Guard members from Nova Scotia in case this ever happens again.

"There's no one here on this island who wouldn't take $20 to donate for fuel for a rescue boat," said Malloch.

Malloch said the first mate, whom she said was on just his second trip out with Gallagher, was rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, thanks to the coordinates radioed in by Gallagher as the boat sank about 11 miles offshore in the Bay of Fundy between the Wolves Islands and Blacks Harbour.

Malloch said she feels the Canadian coast guard called off its search much too early.

The distress call came in a 11:33 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18. At 9:50 a.m. Saturday, the next day, Malloch said the family was told by the Coast Guard the search was being called off based on information provided by the survivor that Gallagher was last seen in the boat's wheelhouse and had gone down with his boat.

But that doesn't mean no one is searching for the boat and the missing fisherman.

RCMP Sergeant Greg MacAvoy said, although it's now like looking for a needle in a haystack, the RCMP is continuing to search for boat debris. The force's helicopter will try another shoreline search either Tuesday or Wednesday this week depending on the weather and talks are ongoing with the Charlotte County Search and Rescue team to come up with a search plan.

Sgt. MacAvoy said he believes the search and rescue team will start by searching the shores of the Wolves islands. He said the RCMP boat joined at least a dozen fishermen Saturday searching the area where a buoy marks the last know location of the Braiden G.  Sgt. MacAvoy said one of the fishing boats had sensitive sonar, used to locate schools of fish, but still couldn't locate the missing vessel. The water where the boat went down is over 180 feet deep, too dangerous for divers to attempt. Now the RCMP is waiting to hear from the Navy's diving unit in Halifax to see whether their divers or equipment can penetrate these depths or if they can even get involved in this type of a mission, which Sgt. MacAvoy now says has been deemed as more of a search and recovery than a search and rescue.

Sgt. MacAvoy said that the RCMP is operating on the premise that Gallagher was last seen in the boat's wheelhouse, and since they have nothing to contradict those findings, believe his body may still be inside the boat.

"The real dilemma is to find the hull of the ship," said Sgt. MacAvoy. "Did it go directly to the bottom or drift? Is it in a deep hole, hidden behind a rock?"

He said someone found a floater suit and jacket along the shore, but that it was so old and in such bad shape searchers don't believe it came from Gallagher's boat.

Sgt. MacAvoy defends the coast guard's response and performance during the search.

He said that there was an aircraft out of Greenwood, N.S. in the air within an hour of the call, and three aircraft over the last known coordinates by sunup. The U.S. Coast Guard from Eastport was on the site within 40 minutes, and rescued the first mate.

Meanwhile, Malloch said the local fishermen would continue to search for Gallagher on weekends, like they did this past Saturday. "They said they'd be back Saturday to do it again," said Malloch. She said the family appreciated their efforts and knows that the fishermen will continue to search "for a while." She said Gallagher was "a missing person that nobody can find."

Malloch said the family will definitely have a memorial service for Gallagher, but just hasn't decided when. She said her daughter "wants to give it some more time in case they find something." "But we will sit down, talk it over with his mother, and have some sort of memorial service," said Malloch. He had too many friends just to let it go."

The Saint Croix Courier  August 29, 2006

by Barb Rayner

Efforts to form Coast Guard Auxiliary

CAMPOBELLO- Following the recent loss of one of their own fishermen at sea, efforts are under way to form a Coast Guard Auxiliary on the island.

The captain of the scallop dragger Braiden G., Wade Gallagher of Wilson's Beach, is missing and believed drowned after the vessel sank near The Wolves Islands late Friday, Aug. 18. Local fishermen have been helping in the efforts to locate the sunken boat.

Mackie Green, who runs Island Cruises and is also in charge of the island whale rescue operations, said that right now there is nobody in the Auxiliary from the island although he believes there was an Auxiliary there at one time.

He said he has been in touch with Joe Murphy, the Coast Guard Auxiliary coordinator in Halifax, and is hoping they can set up a meeting on the island so those who are interested can find out more about what is involved.

The whale rescue team had permission from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to use the Zodiac they were supplied with for whale rescue operations in search and rescue operations as well, said Green. "It is a Coast Guard FAC (fast action craft) so it is designed to go in a lot of weathers. Also the International Fund For Animal Welfare just bought us a new radar so that is a big asset for things after dark or when it's foggy."

Green feels the Zodiac would have been able to get to the Braiden G probably within about half-an-hour of the captain making the Mayday call had there been an Auxiliary on the island to call upon. He said the waters from Point Lepreau to the American border are so cold that no one can survive in them for long.

"What I am trying to do is get a meeting set up on Campobello so fishermen can come and the Coast Guard Auxiliary representative can explain to everyone what is involved."

If there is an Auxiliary in the area he said they would be alerted as soon as the Coast Guard receives an emergency call. It is then up to volunteers whether they go or not, said Green, and people would not be expected to go if they were putting themselves in jeopardy.

In the case of the Braiden G, he said he received a call around 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning and by 4 a.m. a number of the local fishermen were on their way to help in the search for the missing man. "There was a big response and they were all there within 10 - 15 minutes. There were between five and eight boats which went out of Head Harbour. Everyone we called was right there.

"It would have been nice to have got the call when the Coast Guard got the call. Hopefully, in the future, we will get the call. If it is not fit for the Zodiac to go out I am sure there will be other, bigger boats that can go. Everybody helps out everybody on the water anyway.

"None of them even thought about not going. To un these boats out there takes hundreds of gallons of fuel and there are people out there still trying to find the vessel. What they are hoping is if they can locate it with sonar they would like to try to lift it up."

The water where the Braiden G went down is between 180 and 200 feet deep, said Green, so they could not put divers down. He said they know the general area where it sank because of the debris on the surface, and there has been a lot of effort put in to trying to locate it.

Green said GAllagher was a friend of his and the two went to school together, so the loss is very close to home for him.

"I will be surprised if we don't have at least half a dozen boats join up. It is certainly needed in this area because DFO has cut this Coast Guard until they are ineffective.

"You hear about boats going down but when it is one of your own... He (Gallagher) had been up in the bay scalloping and was on his way home for the weekend. He had left Saint John at 6 p.m."

If they form a local Auxiliary, Green said, there will be some training and boats will have to be checked out. He said he understood even though it is voluntary there would be a fee per hour plus the vessel and crew would be covered by insurance would they were out on a search.

"We have to have more coverage in this area. I still think the Coast Guard should station a boat in this area. Right now we are depending on the Americans, but I think we should have a boat here to give a little help back."

NB Telegraph-Journal | News - As published on page B3
on September 7, 2006

Board won't issue final report on boat sinking.

By Jeff Ducharme
Telegraph-Journal


SAINT JOHN - The Transportation Safety Board will not issue a final report on what sent the Braiden G. to the bottom of the Bay of Fundy on Aug. 18 taking her
captain with her, but the federal body that investigates transportation accidents will issue safety bulletins should investigators feel the safety of mariners can be improved.

Wade Elmer Bernard Gallagher of Wilsons Beach,Campobello Island, was the captain of the fishing boat. The vessel's only other passenger was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The safety board classes investigations from 1 to 5 - the Braiden G. has been classified a Class 5. By comparison, the 1998 Swissair disaster that occurred
after an aircraft slammed into St. Margaret's Bay, N.S., killing all 229 onboard was termed a Class 2. There has never been a Class 1, which requires a public inquiry, investigation in the safety board's history.

Pierre Murray, manager of marine investigations with the safety board in Dartmouth, N.S., said investigators are now compiling the collected data so a picture of what happened that night can be drawn.

"It's still active," said Murray.

"What is important is to address the problem."

But Murray and his team don't believe what happened to the Braiden G. was out of the ordinary. However, he wouldn't release any preliminary findings.

"It's too early. The board will decide what the findings will be."

The investigation could be finished within months, but if safety concerns come to light while the investigation is continuing, the safety board will immediately issue safety bulletins to stakeholders.

"If there is a problem with whoever is the agent of change - we know most of the time it could be Transport Canada which is the regulator - but it could
also be other departments or other entities, other bodies."

Transport Canada is the federal body that enforces marine regulations.

There is the chance there could be no bulletins released, said Murray.

"If the following accident happened before, well what's the point to address it again if it's already being addressed by the regulator or whoever is there?"

Wade's Obituary's was published November 30 2006 in the Bangor Daily News as follows:

WILSONS BEACH, New Brunswick - Wade E. B. Gallagher, 33, was lost at
sea, Aug. 18, 2006. He was born Nov. 30, 1972, at Charlotte County
Hospital. He attended Campobello Island Consolidated School. He was a
lifelong fisherman and loved being out on the water. He had many, many
friends and will be sadly missed by the community of Campobello. He was
a good husband, the "best dad" and someone you would be proud to call
your son. He was predeceased by his two grandfathers, Elmer Duren of
Pembroke and Bernard Gallagher of Wilsons Beach, New Brunswick; and one
niece, Abby. He is survived by his parents, Dawn (Duren) Gallagher and
Gregory Gallagher; stepfather, Burton Flynn; wife, Constance; and son,
Braiden Wade; one sister, Peggy Flynn, all of Wilsons Beach, New
Brunswick; two grandmothers, Eleta Duren of Lubec and Rose Gallagher of
Moncton, New Brunswick; two aunts, Karen Cooke of Baileyville and
Roseleta Smith of Robbinston; two uncles, Edward Duren of Calais and
Elliot Gallagher of Moncton, New Brunswick; several nieces, nephews,
cousins and siblings from the blended family. A memorial service will be
held 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Pentecostal Church, Wilsons Beach,
New Brunswick.

 

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