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Nova Scotia fishing captain Blaine Hamilton was on his way back to shore on Thursday morning when he got a phone call from an old friend — and fellow skipper — who was in deep trouble.
His friend’s scallop dragger, the Ocean Otter, had caught fire in the Bay of Fundy, and the crew needed help — fast.
Hamilton immediately changed course, steaming in the Otter’s direction, about seven nautical miles away.
When he arrived with his vessel, the Laure O, he found the crew of the Otter clinging to the stern of the boat, the one spot untouched by smoke.
Not long after they climbed to safety, “she just burst straight into flames,” Hamilton said.
“I was pretty glad I was there,” he said. “I don’t think the coast guard could have got to them in time because when I picked them up it was only about 45 minutes.”
As a career fisherman, Hamilton’s been here before.
Eight years ago, however, he was the one in need of rescue.
In 2018, Hamilton was one of three men pulled from the water after their boat caught fire in the Cabot Strait, about 90 kilometres northeast of Sydney.
On Thursday, he had a chance to repay that favour, something he says any other fisherman in his shoes would have done.
“All the fishermen are the same,” he said. “If anybody’s in immediate danger, you gotta go help ’em out, right? I mean, that’s the law.”
In a release Friday, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada confirmed an investigation into the incident is ongoing and that a team has been dispatched to the area.
According to the TSB, the boat was reported to have sunk at around 6 p.m. Thursday, about 22 kilometres from Parkers Cove, N.S.
In an email, the Canadian Coast Guard said it was notified of the rescue by the Laure O at around 11:13 a.m. Thursday.
The CCGS Shediac Bay in Saint John, N.B., was later assigned to conduct an environmental assessment of the area, where a “minor non-recoverable sheen” was spotted.
The coast guard says it will continue to monitor the site for pollution over the next week.
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