- True North II
"True North II" was a small, ten foot glass-bottom tour boat that sank in 15 m (49 ft) of water off of Tobermory,
Ontario , Canada, inGeorgian Bay , while transporting a class of 13 students from an overnight field trip toFlowerpot Island back to the mainland. Two of the students, 12-year-olds Wade Simmons and Henricke Foerster, were killed in the sinking. The ship sank suddenly in rain and nearly gale-force winds, causing the parents of the deceased to question the captain's decision to travel in such bad weather.The remaining 18 people on board (11 of whom were classmates of the victims) managed to survive by swimming approximately 350 metres to shore. None of the passengers were wearing
lifejacket s, as it was not officially required by law at the time to don them unless the captain ordered a ship evacuation. This rule came under some scrutiny after the accident.An
inquest into the events was in fact later launched and ended in the jury calling for safer school field trips and boating standards in Ontario. One issue that was pointed out was that there were 22 lifejackets on board, but that only two were child-sized despite the fact that there were 13 children on board. The sinking of the "True North II" on a whole, however, was ruled to be an accident.External links
* [http://www.community-focus.com/archive/arc_article2.asp?Section=&Author=&KeyWords=&StartDate=&EndDate=&ARID=1495 Community-focus.com]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2001/05/14/boatinquest_lk_010514.html CBC]
* [http://www.bst.gc.ca/en/media/communiques/marine/2001/m00c0033_truenorth_II.asp?print_view=1 Transportation Safety Board of Canada]
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