Widget (I)

Mason Proske (Email 29/10/2019) stated "The story was that this vessel was built in Vancouver and shipped by rail to a lake somewhere up-county. This vessel was later shipped back to the saltwater ." Greg Lang (British Columbia Nautical History Facebook Group 30/01/2018) states that "On that event full day the weather was calm and sunny. We left John’s house (John Farley) with the tow . The tow consisted of three components behind the Widget. John’s barge, an old log float camp and a bunch of fish farm equipment (walkways and empty pens. We headed north through Beasley Pass (Surge Narrows) and proceeded to Hole in the Wall. We had to tie up and wait for the tide change to ebb so we could proceed. So we played many hands of crib to pass the time. John won every game. When it was time we headed out on slack tide for Dent Rapids. Proceeded through and headed for Fredrick Arm. It was a Four knot ebb tide that day. John decided to go below for a nap. After passing Devils Hole l was hanging on closer to the mainland shore all was going smooth. John had just got up and we chatting about him winning all the crib games and laughing, just then the boat came to a stop and started to roll to the port. There was a strong back eddy coming off rock bluffs on the starboard side causing us to roll onto the port side. The water came over the port stern onto the back deck. It started to flood into an open hatch midship. It had a very ornate hatch cover, so it could have lots of fresh air going to the engine. So when the boat rolled it didn’t stop any of the water from coming in and the Boat began to fill up very,very fast at an alarming rate!! The next we knew the cabin was full of water and I pushed John up through the back door and I swam up and out after him. There was still an air pocket keeping the bow floating out of the water. We scrambled to the tip of the bow. Widget was going down fast, but the engine was still running. We sat there for a few seconds, I turned and looked a John and said “ looks like our tugboat days are over, there’s the beach we better start swimming “. At that point the Boat slipped under and we were in the water. The water was moving at four knots. We were only 150 ft off shore and very near Horn Point. I (thought) if you don't start to swim immediately you won't make land and won't survive !! I tried to save John , it was his time. I will see him again on the other side. This happened on November 17, 1987 4:00 pm". Greg Lang (Email to Nauticapedia 17/12/2022) stated "The power of the widget was a 1960 Gardner, 6LX, 110 hp diesel. The gearbox was a Twin Disc 509.The length of the vessel was 38 feet and the width was 10 feet. It used to cruise at eight knots and burned 1 gallon of fuel per hour. This boat was a pure pleasure to operate . I owned the boat for 10 years and had many wonderful memories."