The 1937 Thebaud Expedition to Arctic Canada

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The 1937 Thebaud Expedition to Arctic Canada
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The Gertrude L. Thebaud

• Built in 1930, the Gertrude L. Thebaud was the
  last of the Gloucester-built Grand Banks fishing
  and racing schooners. Although the era of the
  sailing fisheries was in its twilight, the
  impetus for building Thebaud was the prospect of
  capturing the International Fisherman's Trophy
  from the Nova Scotia fleet. She sailed in two
  racing series against Gloucester's archrival,
  Bluenose. In 1931, under Captain Ben Pine, she
  lost in two straight races. Seven years later, in
  what proved to be the last contest for the
  trophy, she won two out of five races held
  between October 9 and 26.
• Chartered to the U.S. Coast Guard during World
  War II, she served as flagship of their coastal
  defense fleet. She ended her days as a cargo
  vessel in the Caribbean and in February 1948, she
  hit a breakwater at La Guaira, Venezuela, and
  broke up.

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North to Frobisher Bay

• When not racing, the Thebaud still had to earn
  her keep. In the summer of 1937, explorer Donald
  Macmillan chartered the vessel for his 16th
  annual Arctic expedition and sailed as far north
  as Frobisher Bay with thirty-seven University
  professors, including V. C. Wynne-Edwards,
  students, and a professional crew under the
  command of Captain John T. Crowell.
• In Frobisher Bay a sudden 28-foot drop in tide
  left the vessel hanging high and dry in a frozen
  canyon. Unable to radio out, the crew could only
  hope that the vessel would be lifted by the
  incoming tide. Pumping, bailing and engine power
  finally freed her. After having been stranded,
  with her planking crushed and distorted and
  leaking profusely, she made an amazing escape,
  saving thirty-five men from an almost certain
  Arctic death.
• Soggy from a deluge of Arctic water filling her
  to her decks, her hull, machinery, accommodation
  and valuable scientific material near ruin,
  Thebaud miraculously sailed home to Gloucester
  Harbour and the awaiting crowds.                  
           

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The morning of July 31
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High and dry