M.S. Hibou - Owen Sound, ON
Posted by: 
jiggs11
N 44° 34.271 W 080° 56.671
17T E 504405 N 4935317
Anchor memorial to the crew of the M.S. Hibou, which sank in 1936.
Waymark Code: WMMHFV
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 09/22/2014
Views: 9
The M.S. Hibou had her keel laid in Toronto in 1906. Classified as a small passenger and freight propeller, she was named "Alice", registered to the Federal Government in Quebec City, and delivered to the Ministry of Agriculture in Ottawa. For a time she served as a quarantine ship in Quebec City, then plied the waters of the St Lawrence til the mid 1920's when she was purchased and moved to Owen Sound.
The ship was sold to Dominion Shipping who renamed her Hibou, in keeping with the naming conventions of other boats in the fleet, namely Caribou and Manitou. Hibou is French for Owl.
The boat made her last ferry run in late November, 1936. The skipper wanted to check the entrance ways to Owen Sound on the trip, but misjudged the lack of draft due to a top-heavy freight and minimal ballast. As a result, the boat went over sideways to starboard, marooning the port lifeboat. 7 crew members died; 10 escaped.
The Hibou sat at the bottom of Owen Sound until 1942, when it was salvaged and reloated. It was reflagged to Honduras. Records end in the early 1950's.
A reprint of the newspaper article about the incident may be found here:
(
visit link)