Lost at Sea - a Family Tragedy

Brig, similar to the
Phoebe Ellen

I wrote a brief story about this incident in my travel blog this summer and it got a lot of response.  Many people had difficulty understanding how Captain John Dill could stand by and not try to avert this tragedy. However, given the time period and the intensity with which many of these early settlers practiced their religion, I'm sure he felt God would save them.  So here's the tale:

The Dill Family of Londonderry Township, Colchester County, Nova Scotia descended from a line of Ulster Scots that came from Northern Ireland in the 1760s.  Robert Dill and Jane Denny raised 8 children on their grant near Great Village. Of their three sons, George became a school teacher, John became a farmer and Robert learned the ship building trade. Both of John's sons Robert and John followed their uncle into the seafaring life

Captain Robert Dill

Robert Dill sailed the seas in his brig "Phoebe Ellen" and he also served his community as Justice of the Peace and Collector of Customs and then later as village postmaster.  In 1841 he married Mary Ann Peers, granddaughter of my United Empire Loyalist ancestor, Alexander Peers.  The two had a family of 4 girls and 5 boys Including another John and his brother David Robert.

This is the story of John and David Dill (3rd cousins, twice removed) and William Henry McLellan (3rd cousin, 4 times removed)  and their tragic deaths in the Bay of Fundy.  The brig "Phoebe Ellen" was a two masted vessel, square rigged on both masts and had been built by Captain Robert Dill (father of John and David) in the 1860s near Great Village.  On January 8, 1872 the ship was loaded with goods bound for Cuba.  John Dill had just taken command of the ship and his younger brother, David, had left his position as school master to come on the voyage.  It was his first time as a crew member and he worked well with his cousin William McLellan. 

William Henry McLellan was the son of another sea captain, Capt. William McLellan and his wife Nancy Agnes Perry.  He was 22 years old at the time of this event.

As the ship neared Toney's Cove near Digby, all sails were furled and the crew was on deck.  Everything looked ship-shape.  Inexplicably, in a freak northwesterly gale and thick fog  the vessel was drive aground and lost.  The weather was extremely cold.  The question then became: "Why did the Captain not take measures to prevent this grounding?"  Of the many things he could have done to prevent the wreck, he did nothing.

An investigation showed that the accident took place on a Sunday and being a staunch Presbyterian, Captain John Dill practiced what he preached - and that included not working on the Sabbath.  Unfortunately, this left the ship in peril when the weather turned on them.

Capt. John Dill, Sr. was a man of the highest character (as I knew him from my boyhood); respected by everybody and after this sad event, he settled down at his home in Great Village, becoming the post master, which position he retained until he died. (Written by Capt Chas. A Morrison)" [taken from the scrapbook of Christina McLellan 1854-1942, as transcribed by her great-granddaughter G. Diane Urquhart] 

The young Dill brothers were laid to rest together in the Folly Village Cemetery.  William Henry McLellan was buried at the Portaupique Beach Cemetery just down the road.

A sad day for all involved.

Grave of John and David Dill

The body of Captain Dill was found ashore, cut in half by the ice packs in the Bay.  His young brother, David and cousin William McLellan were found frozen to death, lashed to the