<span style=\u00a0\u00bbFONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb><span style=\u00a0\u00bbCOLOR: black\u00a0\u00bb>
\n<p class=\u00a0\u00bbMsoNormal\u00a0\u00bb style=\u00a0\u00bbMARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt\u00a0\u00bb align=\u00a0\u00bbleft\u00a0\u00bb><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>In July 2024, the <em>Elite Navigator<\/em> fishing boat and its crew seemed to vanish one night after several days at sea fishing for turbot. The craft was reported missing after transmitting its final signal at around 8:30 p.m. the night before, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel had caught fire, forcing the crew to abandon the ship and wait for rescue on the life raft.<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>In New-Wes-Valley, which is an amalgamation of three small fishing communities along Newfoundland\u2019s northeast coast, people braced for the worst. But on July 19, Friday night, out on the ocean, searchers saw a light from a flare. It brought them to a life raft, where the seven fishermen\u2014who people now call the Lucky Seven\u2014were waiting.<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>The men had spent about fifty hours adrift in the raft about 220 kilometres away from land, said Eugene Carter, the crew\u2019s captain. The fire broke out on Wednesday night in a locker on the main deck when they were just a couple of hours into a twenty-five-hour journey home, he said.<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>\u201cWe tried to extinguish the fire once, and then it just shot right back at us,\u201d Carter said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s like wood burning. We heard the cracking. So we knew that it was pretty serious and that it was out of our control.\u201d<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>He put out three distress calls, he said, but they weren\u2019t answered. \u201cThe fire probably melted the devices.\u201d<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>The crew passed the time in the life-raft telling jokes and passing their flashlight around as if it were a microphone to interview one another.<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>As Friday wore on, a few of the fishermen seemed to be losing hope they\u2019d ever be found. But Carter said he had a feeling. He had two flares left, and he knew he had to wait out the fog before he used either one. That night, when the sky finally cleared, he set off a smoke flare.<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>Nothing happened for a few hours, he said, but then a helicopter appeared and flew over the raft. Carter said he scrambled to light his hand-held flare in time to wave it at the helicopter.<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>\u201cThey didn\u2019t see it, and that was my last flare,\u201d he said. \u201cBut a Coast Guard ship was actually looking out and saw it. And that\u2019s what got us rescued, my last flare.\u201d<br \/><br \/><\/span><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>For the first time, award-winning author Gary Collins, who lives near New-Wes-Valley, tells the dramatic story of the Lucky Seven\u2019s rescue, which made national headlines.<\/span><\/p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<span style=\u00a0\u00bbFONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb><span style=\u00a0\u00bbCOLOR: black\u00a0\u00bb> <p class=\u00a0\u00bbMsoNormal\u00a0\u00bb style=\u00a0\u00bbMARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt\u00a0\u00bb align=\u00a0\u00bbleft\u00a0\u00bb><span style=\u00a0\u00bbmso-ansi-language: EN-US\u00a0\u00bb>In July 2024, the <em>Elite Navigator<\/em> fishing boat and its crew seemed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":117786,"template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[24971],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-117430","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","5":"product_language-eng","6":"product_subjects-biography-autobiography-2","7":"product_subjects-general-biography-autobiography-2","8":"biblio_share_tag-biography-autobiography-general","9":"product_cat-apma-spring-2025","10":"entry","12":"first","13":"outofstock","14":"taxable","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"purchasable","17":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n