Le Retour
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Le Retour made Cape St. Mary
December 23, 1927, was a foggy, foggy day at Cape St. Mary, and a dead calm. At 10 p.m. that evening, persons returning from a card game heard the sound of an old diesel engine in the Bay.
The kerosene powered foghorn was blowing. Ben Robicheau was the light keeper. At that time, there was no light buoy at the Cape, just the kerosene lantern on the wharf.
December 24th dawned clear, and a few inches of snow were on the ground. Tommy Doucet was preparing to feed the cows, it was 7 a.m. Six strange men were walking along the road, in oil skins, and his mother said, "There must be a shipwreck".
Taking a look around, they saw a strange dory behind Moses Doucette's boat shop. Then, they saw the two masted fishing vessel, the "Retour" beached on the sand between the dykes and the present location of the "Cape View Diner".
The tide was halfway up. Tommy Doucet was tending the light on the wharf, and at that time, there was a small shop on the wharf. In it, were the belongings of the crew of the "Retour", including a dog. A dory was inside the wharf, and Tommy and a companion decided to row over to the "Retour" to have a look. However, Tommy's companion fell overboard, and after bing rescued had to go home to change. In the meantime, the captain of the "Retour" had walked to "Fred Deveau's Store". This was the location of the only phone in the area. He telephoned the Customs, and reported his misfortune, and what his cargo was.
Two men rowed out to the "Retour". While on board, the rope their dory was secured with chafed, and then parted, and the dory drifted out. They were then stranded on the "Retour", and dropped her anchor. No one else was on board. Soon the Customs Officials arrived and seized the vessel, and Arthur Doucet and Denis Thimot were empowered as watchmen on board the unfortunate "Rum Runner".
A brand new 38-foot lobster boat had been launched the day before from Moses Doucette's boat shop. This was the boat that took the Customs Officials and the two watchmen out to the "Retour". (This boat is still in good shape, and owned by a man in Florida.)
The Excise Men were known as "Raiders" then. When the tide went down on Christmas Eve, they hired local men to unload the "Retour". There were 15 to 20 teams of oxen arriving from the Cape, Mavillette and Salmon River to commence the project. The cargo was to be stored in the nearest available buildings. It had not been a bad winter. The sand in the dunes was not frozen. With a bumpy old ox cart, some of the bottles may have fallen off. The wind was blowing the sand and snow around, and perhaps a few bottles here and there were buried under the drifting sand and/or snow. The unloading continued until the tide was too high. On December 25th, only a few teams of oxen arrived to continue the unloading. Perhaps the ox drivers were feeling unwell from the exertions of previous day?
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