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We are now closed for the season. The museum will reopen June 1, 2024.

AGM: Friday, October 27, 2-4 pm

Museum Hall


Jack Hilton Black Rock Mount Temple August Gales April 18th, 1893
1926 1927

In 1926, two vessels were lost in a storm on August 7th; the Sadie A. Knickle and the Sylvia Mosher. These two wrecks had a huge toll on local families, with a large number of men from the LaHave area lost and between the two vessels taking a total of 48 men. In the 1926 fishing season, the wrecks of these two vessels brought the toll of men from the LaHave area to 52.


Sadie A. Knickle


The Sadie A. Knickle was built in Liverpool, NS in 1918 by Nova Scotia Shipbuilding and Transportation Co. Ltd. The original owner was Captain Roland Knickle, but in 1925 the vessel was purchased by Captain Charles Corkum of Mount Pleasant. At the time of the wreck, with a crew of 23, there were 3 men on board from the LaHave Islands (Simon, Robert and Harvey Busch) and 9 from the surrounding areas. The ship was lost off the East side of Sable Island, with wreckage recovered in the following days on Sable Island’s shore labeled the Sadie A. Knickle. An example of this was a flour barrel, which would have been below deck, proving the vessel had in fact been wrecked in the storm.


Sylvia Mosher


The Sylvia Mosher was built in Mahone Bay, NS by John McLean and Sons Ltd. For the cost of $2,496. The owners were John D. Mosher, Samuel E. Mack and Christian Iverson, all from Lunenburg. John D. Mosher became Captain and managing owner of the vessel and it was named after his infant daughter, Sylvia Mosher. At the time of the wreck there were 25 men on board, with all but one of them from Lunenburg County and 8 of them from the LaHave Islands. These men were Caleb Baker, Guy Baker, Carman Baker, Arthur Baker, Melvin Richards, Frank Walfield, John Bell, Hastings Himmelman. The ship was found on the North side of Sable Island, on the outer sand bar, laying on its side but there was no sign of the crew. Following the tragedy 6 empty dories from the vessel were found washed up on shore, disbanding any hope the crew may have survived.


In the November following the tragedy, a small wooden box belonging to Freeman Corkum, one of the crew on the Sylvia Mosher, was found on Sable Island. It contained personal articles, including a memorandum book, a jack knife and papers identifying it as property of Mr. Corkum (from Feltzen South, Lunenburg Co., NS).