Today we live in a time of celebrity prominence, famous people and people famous for being famous. In the days of “iron men and wooden ships,” captains were often celebrated for their intrepid and romantic travelling of the oceans of the world.
Captain Edward LeBlanc of Arichat was owner and Master of the schooner Florrie V. This ship was engaged in the coastal trade, and for some time, was used to convey stone from Pugwash to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for the construction of the Catholic Basilica there.
At the end of its life expectancy it was retired to the shore below LeBlanc’s residence. He continued his seafaring ways as Master of Ships out of Cape Breton ports in the employ of W.N. MacDonald.
Captain Alfred Boudreau, a native of Poulamon, was active in the coastal trade out of the Port of Arichat as owner and Master of the schooner Diamond.
During the First World War, Boudreau joined the Royal Canadian Navy where he served for some time. He later served on ships in service of Canadian Customs out of the Port of Sydney. In his retirement, Boudreau was employed by the Isle Madame Telephone Company at Arichat.
Captain Frank Young was owner and Master of the schooner Active which was involved in the coastal trade and later sword fishing. From late fall to the Christmas season, the Active was engaged as a fishing schooner out of Petit de Grat. During the war years, Young served in the Merchant Marines overseas and later as a pilot on the eastern Atlantic seaboard.
The Rivera was a large two-masted schooner whose owner and master was Captain Thomas Gagnon. It operated in the coastal trade of the Maritime provinces. In later years, Gagnon turned over captaincy of the Rivera to his son Wilfred. Wilfred went into the service of a company laying cable in the Pacific on the cable ship MacKay Bennett. His last command was the cable ship Restorer where he served with distinction and was later loaned to the United States Navy as a consultant during the Second World War.
One of the most prominent seafaring families in the Strait area was that of the Forgerons of West Arichat. The family patriarch was Jeffrey Forgeron whose sons, Edward, Wilfred, Edmund, Clarence, Abraham, and Hubert served on their father’s ships and eventually became ship owners and masters in their own right.
The brothers Forgeron all earned their Master’s Certificates and all rose to the rank of captain. Edward, Edmund, and Clarence, at various times in their careers, were employed by Foundation Maritime Ltd. of Halifax. Edmund and Clarence also commanded ships on the Great Lakes and at Bagotville, Quebec. Clarence served for several years out of the Port of Montreal. Edmund Forgeron was among the last to operate schooners along the Atlantic seaboard, and like his brother Hubert, was a tugboat captain.
Wilfred Forgeron commanded steamships which were in the service connecting Arichat, Mulgrave, and Canso. Later, Wilfred was a pilot in the Cape Breton Pilotage Service, in eastern Atlantic waters, on the Bras d’Or Lake, and at the Strait of Canso. Wilfred holds the distinction of piloting the first supertanker entering Chedabucto Bay en route to the super port at Point Tupper.