It wasn’t the trip he expected after purchasing a 53-foot cabin cruiser and sailing down Lake Ontario on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
The man who lives in eastern Ontario was taking the used Carver 53-foot ship that he’d bought for $300,000 home traveling from near Port Dalhousie in St. Catharines heading to the Montreal area when he grounded the ship on an area known as Peter’s Rock just east of Port Hope at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the man spoke to Today’s Northumberland and said there should be markers or buoy’s out on the lake warning people of the shallow depth approximately one kilometre from shore.
Asked if there was a sandbar out that far – the man replied, “no – rocks!”
The owner was traveling approximately 20-knots when he suddenly came upon a depth of two-feet.
“The transmission is in smithereens – there are gears everywhere.”
“I was doing 20-knots, try to imagine the shock when I hit two-feet of water and rocks.”
The owner was able to bring the ship to Cobourg harbour, but it was taking on water through a four inch hole.
The Coast Guard from Cobourg helped the owner with booms around his boat and a pump for the water coming in.
The owner was heading back to Hawkesbury, north of Montreal.
Late Wednesday afternoon, after temporarily fixing what could be done, the ship sailed out of Cobourg on its way to Belleville where it will be taken out of the water.
It’s unknown for how long, or how much the repair bill will be.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
