Sinking investigation continues for Cape Rouge, used in Haven

Investigators in Bridgewater are still trying to figure out how a fishing vessel, featured prominently on the television show Haven, started sinking into the LaHave River this week.

Authorities were called on Monday afternoon after someone noticed the Cape Rouge was sinking by the stern. Within hours, the stern was underwater and the bow was out of the water.

Keith Laidlaw, a Canadian Coast Guard senior response officer, said booms around the trawler should contain the 3,785 litres of diesel oil and 150 litres of lube oil on board the trawler.

"The vessel is leaking and how much or what, we're not really sure right now," he said Tuesday.

"The containment boom that's being placed around it will hold the product in."

Canadian Coast Guard crews continued to monitor the vessel overnight. The Coast Guard has hired a Dartmouth salvage company to begin work on the vessel Wednesday morning. 

The owner of the Cape Rouge had contacted a salvage company to try to refloat the 27-metre vessel, but Laidlaw said workers had not yet arrived on the scene.

The vessel was built in 1967 and was called the Cape Rouge until 2003, when it was renamed the Ryan Atlantic II. It is still commonly called the Cape Rouge. 

"If you're just looking at it, it certainly says, 'That's something we don't want there,'" said David Walker, the mayor of Bridgewater.

"It's really just a bit of a waiting game for the company to come from the owner to start the salvage work and it will still be monitored during that work as well, to ensure that there's no damage."

In the television show Haven, which airs on the Showcase network, the Cape Rouge is a fishing boat owned by a character named Duke Crocker. Eric Balfour, who plays Duke Crocker, tweeted Monday: "Time for a new boat."

The site of the half-submerged boat is attracting attention from locals in Bridgewater, who said they had seen the ship periodically tied up at the wharf for several years.

"It didn't surprise me because I knew it was going to happen sooner or later," said Cindy Corkum.

"Those old boats sitting in the water there, you know the ice hitting them underneath or whatever, they're going to weaken. When they weaken, something has to take place."

Laidlaw said investigators will not know what caused the Cape Rouge to sink until they can look underneath the vessel. It's not known when that will happen.