ip; f H ■" 4 H Hr ' t ^ f ' ' ^rf / M^fl i ' • v i « ^^^ .^Bm A Hi j2£z jt^jrfy ::***"™M ■IK. ^^M :: **%**;3wi ■■£?% ~.^3I IPife ' .-, Schoiner 'Victory Chimes '. avoided had the tides been followed more closely. The cheers that had followed the ship down the way suddenly died. I remember that, while men were considering how best to get the ship out of the mud, a gentleman noted for his superstitious beliefs said to my mother, "I wouldn't sail in that ship for all the tea in China". He sincerely believed that a bad launching portended a bad ending for the ship. In the meantime two stout hawsers from the ship had been taken ashore and every able-bodied man present at this function got on the ropes and tried to pull the ship off the flats, but to no avail. A tractor, belonging to the late Allan Shaw , was next employed along with the men, but it got nowhere. Finally, the tide turned and as the river began to rise, the ship floated off the mud and was drawn into its docks where the finishing touches upon its construction were completed. On two known occasions captains from this area were sent to the Victory Chimes ' aid. At one time Captain Jack MacDonald was sent to the to clear the ship with the port officials there. A similar incident occurred in a Spanish port and Captain Dan MacDonald ( Captain Jack MacDonald 's brother) was sent to her rescue. On June 7, 1924 she became the property of a retired sea captain in Parsboro, Nova Scotia . Majestically the Victory Chimes stood in the harbor and as the tide went out of the Bay of Fundy she would rest on the "bed" beside the dock. Her final day came when she did not rest properly on her "bed" and capsized. She was then broken up. The story of the Barbara MacDonald was originally related in the December 26,1919 issue of the Patriot. The following is a summary of the write up in the Charlottetown Guardian on October 25,1941, as Navy Week recalls the exploits of the old wooden ships of P.E.I. 17