St. Catharines Journal (St. Catharines, ON), July 6, 1843

Melancholy Accident - On the afternoon of Sunday the 2d instant, a sail boat, in which were three highly respectable young men, belonging to Dunnville, was capsized, about half a mile from the Canada shore, opposite the Gull Island (which lies a short distance below the mouth of the Grand River) and immediately sunk on account of containing a quantity of stone ballast. Two of the young men, John Alexander Rea, son of Eliphalet Rea, formerly of Montreal, and Henry Stephens, a native of the Isle Of Man, were drowned, after having swam within a few yards of shore; the third, John Walton, by seizing an oar, was providentially saved, though in a state of extreme exhaustion. Henry Stephens was to leave, for England, the next morning, to receive a handsome legacy, which had lately been left him. An inquest was held on view of the bodies, by Edward Lee, Esq., one of the coroners of the district, and a verdict rendered in accordance with the above circumstances.