You’d have figured his brother would have noticed him missing?

In the Spring of 1941, the M.S. Goldfield was towing a string of gas boats north. As was the practice, the men stayed in their boats and the ‘mother ship’ would occasionally stop to dispense coffee and sandwiches to the fishermen.

In one of the lead boats, the two Bjarnason brothers were on their way to Georges Island.

At the end of the line, two fishermen were hunkering down in their little house to get some lea from the wind. One of them went outside to rinse out his coffee cup and he noticed a large buoy floating toward him. He instinctively grabbed it, thinking to salvage the buoy for use later.

As he grabbed the buoy he noticed clinging to it was one of the Bjarnason brothers. He had fallen overboard when the M.S. Goldfield had started up after giving the fishermen their lunch.

The buoys had been stacked on the deck, and as he was falling into the water he grabbed for one and it came into the lake with him.

“I don't suppose you brought any coffee with you from up front,” said the fisher, as he hauled in the shivering Bjarnason.

Ken Kristjanson

September 2008