Remembering a Manitoulin Island tragedy
Lake Huron’s North Channel can be beautiful. But 59 years ago today, it brought unimaginable loss to two families
crouching man holds his glasses while looking a ship’s bow in a church
The author’s father, Larry, studying the Rhu’s bow at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Kagawong. (Steve Paikin)
Twice during my lifetime, I’ve learned the hard way how unpredictable and dangerous the weather can be near Manitoulin Island, the world’s largest freshwater island, just west of Georgian Bay in Lake Huron.
The first time was in 1969, when my dad and I took a fishing trip to the island. As we flew home on his Cessna 172, near-hurricane-type winds appeared out of nowhere, thrashing our little plane. Every nearby airport had shut down. My dad made a heroic emergency landing in a farmer’s field on the Bruce Peninsula, but not before telling me to put my head down between my legs “in crash position.”
Then, maybe two decades ago, I was canoeing on calm waters in the North Channel when again, suddenly, the winds whipped up. I couldn’t get back to shore and instead was being blown out to open waters. That can be incredibly scary. They had to send a motorboat to rescue me.
Thankfully, these incidents ended well. But such was not the case for two families who decided to take their boat through the North Channel 59 years ago today.
“This is an incredible story of heartache, tragedy, struggle, sorrow, guilt, and redemption,” says Mike Strobel, a former Toronto Sun columnist who has a camp on Manitoulin Island. He discovered the story’s details and wrote about them a decade ago. Strobel shared the story last week during the annual History Day in Kagawong event, organized by the Old Mill Heritage Centre, the village’s local museum, which is run by curator Rick Nelson.
On August 15, 1965 — 59 years ago today — two families who co-owned a mahogany Chris-Craft Cruiser Deluxe called the Rhu set out on a 60-kilometre day trip from Little Current west to Gore Bay through the North Channel of Manitoulin Island. Jim and Shirley Huffman brought their two daughters, Catherine and Karen, four and two years old. The other couple was Wyn and Bonnie Rhydwen. (The Rhu took its name from the couples’ last names: “R” from Rhydwen, “Hu” from Huffman).
New plaque at the Austin H. Hunt Marina. (Steve Paikin)
The Huffmans were both teachers. Rhydwen was a decorated war veteran and the editor of the Sudbury Star newspaper. The Rhydwens were from Toronto but had moved to Sudbury after their teenaged son was killed in a car accident. The couple needed a fresh start, away from Ontario’s capital city, and Sudbury provided that.
The day trip was going beautifully — 20 degrees Celsius with a light breeze — when the Rhu passed the island’s northernmost spot, Maple Point, and ran aground on a huge shoal of rocks. A marker designed to warn away boats had become dislodged during a previous storm. The six passengers were totally stuck.
Despite the calm conditions, the group decided against having one of them swim more than a mile to shore to seek help; instead they waited, hoping another boat would come by to help.
