1852: An Acadia Tragedy Unfolds (Part 8, Jun 7/25)

Witnesses to the accident of 7 June 1852

At least three people witnessed the accident on the Minas Basin, although it is unclear if two of the witnesses came forward at the time. Kings County inquest documents for 1852 no longer exist for the month of June, hampering research efforts to uncover what happened. Presumably an inquest was held each time the bodies were recovered, but this is speculation. Archivist Wendy Robicheau uncovered written evidence of three testimonies.

One proclaimed witness to the accident was Breton Haliburton Eaton (Acadia B.A. 1859, M.A. 1864, D.C.L. 1899). Eaton was a tutor of Classics at Acadia between 1860-1861 and admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1864. He sat on the College’s Board of Governor’s between 1877 and 1907 and held the position of President of the Maritime Baptist Convention in 1886. He authored “Record of Graduates of Acadia College” (1878) and “Memorials of Founders of Acadia College and Deceased Alumni” (1889), in which his account of the accident can be found. Within the book entitled, Jubilee of Acadia College and Memorial Exercises, Eaton recalled:

...let me speak for a moment of Professor Isaac Chipman, to whose sudden decease I have already alluded. I was a witness of his sad departure. From the point between the Habitant and Canard Rivers, my Father and I watched the little boat in which Prof. Chipman, Rev. E.D. Very of St. John, and four of the college students—Benjamin Rand, Anthony Phalen, W.H. King and W.E. Grant, were returning from Blomidon with the two men who had charge of the craft. It was the afternoon of Monday June 7, 1852. The south east wind blew a gale. The little sail became unsteady. There was confusion as of men quickly moving from place to place in the boat. A few moments more of anxious suspense and the boat disappeared. All perished except one of the boatmen who gained the shore with difficulty. The news spread rapidly and cast deep gloom every where. Thus Dr. Cramp wrote to the Messenger: “I cannot attempt reflections, for I can scarcely think. It is a stunning stroke. God have mercy on the widow and the fatherless, on sorrowing friends, on our Churches and institutions so sorely bereft.” (56)

A second account of the accident appeared in the July 1942 Acadia Bulletin under the title “A Note of the Blomidon Tragedy, 7 June 1852”.¹ The article attributes its information to Mrs. (Dr.) Kendall, whose mother was a daughter of Dr. Lewis Johnstone. It says,

Miss Johnstone’s brother, Henry, was eager to accompany the party on the trip to Blomidon. I quote from Mrs. Kendall’s letter: “Henry (my mother’s brother), was eager to accompany the party, but his father said he always felt uneasy about the treacherous winds of the basin, and since Henry had been to Blomidon several times, he must remain at home. The boy, the latter part of the day when the return of the party was expected, was raking leaves in the garden when a sudden gust of wind blew them in every way. A minute later his sister’s voice called to him from an upstairs window: ‘I have been watching a sail, but now it seems to have disappeared. I can’t see it at all.” Thus one witness of the tragedy. (20)

Charles Benjamin, the boatman who survived the accident, was the sole survivor of the accident whose witness account was crucial to solving the mysterious disappearance of the Acadia party. He died in 1901, at the Mount Hope Asylum, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. You will find him buried in the Old Gaspereau Cemetery. Acadia College President Cramp referred to him in a Baptist newspaper as ‘George Banjamin’, for reasons unknown since no one matching that name fits the other, written evidence. Had Benjamin not survived the accident, no one would know what happened to the men on that boat. His haunting tale was printed and reprinted in the newspapers.

Listen for the ringing Church bells today at 4pm, the time of the accident, marking the departure of seven precious souls.
Tomorrow’s post will give one version of the accident. Benjamin’s version, as it was told to the newspaper, will be posted on June 11 with a few other accounts of the accident.

1. 1. Read the full article online on the Acadia University Archives’ Digital Collections website. Here is a link to the exact issue: https://digital-archives.acadiau.ca/node/6254 The article recounts other eery aspects of the accident.