Big Haul

Halifax fishermen were in luck the moment the tow line snapped. Driven by the wind, the disabled U.S. Liberty ship drifted helplessly away from the tug which was towing her into port. She slid past the islands which ring Halifax's outer harbor, grounded firmly on Lobster Claw Ledge. Rocks under the sea smashed her hull. She lay broken near the land, her mid decks awash.

Within a few hours fishermen and country folk, from the 40-mile stretch between Tancook Island and Herring Cove, flocked on foot or in dories, motor boats and schooners to the scene of one of the biggest salvage "takes" in Nova Scotia's wreck-strewn history.

For the Taking. In the hold of the smashed ship were 350,000 cases of canned goods, dehydrated potatoes, cigarets, soap, matches, flour. Lashed to the decks or stored below were locomotives, armored cars, jeeps, trucks, tires. The cargo of U.S. Government material consigned to the Army in Europe was worth more than $3,000,000. It was there for the taking.

Box after box was manhandled up to the deck, passed to the small boats, nosing against the big hull like a prodigious litter of hungry pigs. Office workers, off-duty firemen, taxi drivers jolted out from Halifax, 18 miles away, to share in the bonanza. Cases of field rations were broken open on the shore, their cigarets and candy snatched out, the rest of the contents scattered over the rocks.

Early last week Halifax officers of the U.S. War Shipping Administration decided to try to save what cargo was still aboard and recover what had been removed. Newspaper advertisements asked salvagers to bring in their "take," accept U.S. cash awards. Salvaging firms and stevedoring companies went to work.

Heavy Seas at Zero. All the heavy deck cargo and 50,000 cases from below deck were salvaged. Even when stiff winds blew the temperature down to zero, the men swarmed over the ice-covered wreck, which threatened to break up.

At week's end cargo valued at $1,000,000 had been landed. How much salvage money the U.S. would eventually pay was anybody's guess, but fishermen thought it would come close to $100,000. Meanwhile, police searched the countryside, seized thousands of dollars worth of material hidden in homes and fish sheds. No one was arrested at once, but Canadian officials considered prosecution under customs laws.

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