On 20 February 1895, two young men from the village of West Pubnico, Anselme T. d’Entremont and his brother-in-law Jean Elizée d’Entremont, decided to go duck hunting in the harbour. They used a boat commonly called a gunboat. Unfortunately, they have not been heard from since.
We tried to reconstruct all possible scenarios to help explain how two men, who were sailors, could have disappeared so mysteriously. However, none of our conjectures seemed to make sense. We know, for instance, that it was snowing and it was a little windy that day. The boat could have capsized, leaving them helpless, or the two young men could have lost their sense of direction and been carried out to sea. The strangest thing, however, is that the boat was never found.
Presuming the two men were in danger, or even slow in returning home, we set out in search of them, but to no avail.
Young Hélèna (Lena) Sadie d’Entremont.Anselme d’Entremont, better known as Sam, was the son of Jarvais d’Entremont and had married Emeline d’Entremont, daughter of Guillaume of Middle West Pubnico. He was 25 years old at the time. In addition to his wife, he left his one and a half year old child, a little girl; her name was Hélèna (Lena), who would be raised by her grandfather, Jarvais, where she lived until she married Vincent, son of Michel d’Eon.
Anselme’s companion, Jean Elizée, was Guillaume d’Entremont’s only son. He was about the same age as Anselme. Emeline had lost her husband and her only brother in the same day.
As for Jarvais, it was the second drowning in his family. Another son named Georges had drowned at the Long Wharf while he was unloading fish from a dory with his uncle Antoine d’Entremont. His body was discovered later. This accident happened on 27 February 1891.