About 200 people crowded around six men hauling a large dinghy to water’s edge.
Those men, Alf Groom, 30, Kin Merriam, 36, Richard Allen, 20, Robert Waugh, 20, Ken Judson, 35, and Edward Arsenault, 36, had signed up to carry a package of letters and a bag of potatoes safely across the Northumberland Strait. They were re-enacting a scene that 50 years earlier, had been a common sight during P.E.I. winters.
In 1829 the government issued a contract to pay for the ice boat service, which had crew and some passengers row and haul small boats from Cape Traverse, P.E.I., to Cape Tormentine, N.B. It was the only way to get people and mail in or out of the province for decades and the service continued until reliable winter ferry service made it obsolete in 1917.
The re-enactment event was billed as one of the most unique events set to help mark Canada’s 1967 centennial year, which also happened to be the 50th anniversary of the last crossing of the P.E.I. ice boat service.
Groom, who co-captained the reenactment expedition with Merriam, still remembers the phone call from the event’s sponsor, Summerside area businessman Arthur Clark.
“I thought it was a great idea and it was a great challenge. We were into challenges at the time, so we said sure,” said Groom.
Lacking a proper ice boat the men retrofitted a large rowboat to do the job, fitting it with sheet of metal to protect its wooden hull and runners to help slide it over the ice.
On board they had survival gear, provisions and their cargo.
They were even sworn in as official letter carriers for the trip. The correspondence they carried included letters from Premier Alex B. Campbell addressed to the premiers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, reportedly discussing the need for Maritime union.
The sack of potatoes was addressed to the federal minister of Agriculture of the time, along with a letter demanding more rail capacity to move Island spuds to market.
Media reports from the day put the craft’s weight at 700 pounds.
In its coverage, the Journal Pioneer noted that the men carried “the well-wishes of every Islander, whether at the scene or at home.”
The event was well covered by local, regional and national press.
Maybe even a little too well covered, recalled Groom.
“The newspaper – and I won’t say which one – had a couple of guys covering it and Art Clark had a couple of bottles of very expensive Champagne we were going to drink when we finished. But when we got to the other side about 10 hours later, the guy that was covering the story drank all the Champagne on us,” he laughed.
Looking back 50 years later, Groom said he’s glad to have been a part of the re-enactment and what was potentially the last crossing of an official P.E.I. ice boat.
“It was a good experience. All of us were glad that we did that.”
