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Y.S. Trawler Aground .*¦? ; , , Jp e ----------------------s--------- +ZAr. Zi^r d 9 Dead, 9 Lost J In Rough Seas HALIFAX (CP) — Nine men died and fears ! mounted for nine others missing after the trawler Cape Bonnie ran aground in snow and fog on rocks . near the western approaches to Halifax harbor today. Al The 152-foot trawler radioed at 4.45 a.m. that she was aground on Woody Island, about a mile from the small fishing community of Lower Prospect and 18 miles southwest of here. LESS THAN an hour later, the skipper of the 400-ton vessel reported she was breaking up. Later efforts to communicate with the vessel failed. Four bodies were found by the fishing boat Gertrude and Ronald. Two empty liferafts, one of them shattered by heavy seas, were found later on Woody Island. ------------,------------.------------o ^ WO Ships^ t In Distress t HALIFAX (CP) - Gales and high seas churned by an Atlantic storm disabled two ships off the Canadian East coast today, and drove another aground. The 79-foot converted schooner Maureen and Michael, out of Halifax, reported she was in distress about 100 miles south of Cape Race, Nfld. after heavy seas swept away her sails. THE NOVA SCOTIA fishing dragger Bonda I radioed for help, saying she was drifting helplessly with a flooded engine room about 100 miles south of Yarmouth, N.S., her home port. The CNR Cabot Strait freight ferry Patrick Morris collided with the passenger ferry William Carson in the harbor at Port aux Basques, Nfld., and ran aground. No one was injured. Damage is believed slight. Fred Slaunwhite, owner of the Gertrude and Ronald, and his two sons discovered the bodies floating in the sea about a quarter-mile from the wreck of the Cape Bonnie. "They each had a life jacket on," Earl Slaunwhite said. "It looked as if they tried to get out in a hurry the way they were dressed." The search continued on the island and along the shore for the missing. NATIONAL SEA Products Ltd., owners of the Cape Bonnie, said the vessel was heading for Halifax with 70,000 tons of fish when she grounded in thick snow and a southerly gale. Earl Slaunwhite said he saw no wreckage in the area where the bodies were floating. "The only thing we spotted besides the bodies was a float ball — the type they use on fishing nets," he said. "It was rough out there and after we picked up the bodies we decided to come in because we feared we might pile up on the shoals. We couldn't see the Cape Bonnie." THE TRAWLER'S skipper was Newfoundlander Peter Hickey. Other names were mot immediately available but it was believed most of them were Newfoundlanders. Only two of the vessel's four dories had been accounted for but residents said the rugged shore of the area was littered with lifebelts, smashed timber and other flotsam from the breaking ship. Search Resumes For 4 Trawlermen LOWER PROSPECT, N. S. (CP) — Fishermen today began searching for four bodies still missing after the crash of the trawler Cape Bonnie on a rocky ledge near here yesterday. Thirteen bodies from the trawler, which carried a crew of 18 when she grounded near Woody Island during a gale, have been recovered. One more was spotted on the island, but could not be reached. A navy helicopter joined the J search this morning and ; the coast guard cutter Rapid 1 was working around the island. The trawler itself was still ' clinging to the ledge, h a 1 f-oubmerged after being pounded by gale-force winds during ,* the night. , THE 400-TON VESSEL was J bound for Halifax with 70,000 « pounds of fish when she ran : aground in a snowstorm at the western approaches of -s. the harbor. Her 18 crew mem- / bers apparently attempted to abandon her in two lifeboats after sending a radio message that she was breaking up. National Sea Products, of Halifax, the vessel's owners, said the ship was 16 miles off course. Vice - president Harold Connor said the ship was manned by an experienced captain and crew, and carried modern navigational aids. The ship's radar might have failed, but this alone could not explain the grounding because she carried other warning equipment. • "As an old sea-going man, I just can't understand it," he said. Capt. Gerald Bartlett of the Kathleen B., a fishing vessel which picked up six bodies, said the Cape Bonnie's crew probably would have survived had they remained on board. "SHE'S ONLY about half submerged now and it looks as if there hasn't been any water over her bow," he explained. The scene is about 10 miles west of where the Panamanian freighter Tegean ran aground on The Sisters reef in November. There was no loss of life in that accident. A mother and daughter wept as they looked over four bod-