Shipwreck

One of the challenges of any ancient mystery is finding accurate information about a particular event. Accurate being the key word, as much of history has been changed or tainted by the reporters and officials of the time, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Take for example the story of the sailing schooner, the Hurryon, from Nova Scotia, or thereabouts. I have it on very good authority, that the ship was a rum runner in the days of alcohol prohibition in the United States, which happened circa 1920's and 1930's. The captain of the ship, a scottish fellow, by the name of Captain Gardiner, or perhaps Gardener, boarded with my grandparents, and is remembered well by my mother to this day. Although, she doesn't know much about him.

His ship, The Hurryon was remembered by her as a schooner, but I am not so sure it wasn't a freighter of some sort. Long story short, according to my mother, who was there when the call came in, the ship which was loaded with casks of rum, covered with grain to hide it, floundered and sank when the ship encountered a storm off of Cape Breton. This is supposed to have happened somewhere near Judique.

I thought this to be an interesting story, one that would be nice to know more about, especially given the family connection. The captain apparently died, choosing to go down with his ship, while the crew, save a few, got off safely in a lifeboat.

Searching the internet for information about this ship proved a little more difficult than I would have imagined, but I finally found something from a newspaper account dated January 20, 1935 which puts it just in the right time frame to match my mother's account. However, the newspaper doesn't report that the captain or anyone else was lost, and claims that the ship, bound for New York, was driven ashore off Grady's Island, loaded with herring....which is a far cry from rum....

My point is, you cannot believe or take at face value everything you find as you embark on a search or investigation into an ancient mystery. Records are sketchy, and written for the times. Of course, some of what was reported was an innocent lie, only because the reporters had no way to verify the facts. The ship sunk taking with it the records and any information about the actual cargo.

The same holds for much of what we write about here. So much water under the bridge, so much history rewritten for the sake of church or state, and in some cases for the benefit of those involved. That is why I encourage you to take things at face value, and to not immediately believe what you are told or read. That, is one of the reasons for the success of the mysterious and secret societies.....