My Mother Died!
Scott W Coles | Published on 2/28/2025
My Mother Died! Scott Coles MV Mascot
The summer of 2016 took Mascot and crew around the Triangle Loop. This is the perfect summer trip taking about 12 weeks and 900 miles to complete. The route has several variations but all include the Erie Canal, Rideau Canal & lakes, The Ottawa River, the St. Lawrence River, and Lake Champlain & canals. We chose to do it clockwise although many boats go around counter clockwise. The trip is filled with many beautiful sights and sometimes unusual experiences.
The latter half of the trip had us traveling along the St. Lawrence River. We stayed at the Montreal Yacht Club for 7 days and thoroughly enjoyed the city. Leaving Montreal behind, we were on our way to Sorel where we would turn south along the Richelieu headed to Lake Champlain. Having no prior experience with the St. Lawrence, we were surprised to find that it was quite docile in this area and on this day, a Sunday, it was full of pleasure boats out for a day of fun on the water. People were fishing or towing floaty things or just plain motoring along. The sun was bright and warm with just the perfect breeze was blowing. Our normal forward speed of 7 ½ kt. was aided by a favorable current which is always nice. It was a good day….
Being conscientious boaters means that we are always paying attention to our surroundings. Among other things this means that we are constantly checking out the activity on the shore or on other boats within sight, either natural or binocular enhanced. As we passed a rather large pontoon boat that was floating along, a scan with the glasses showed a good sized group of people on the boat. Some were older, some younger, some standing and some sitting. This was obviously a family out for the day on the river. A little more study revealed something was not quite right. “Should we go back?” I said to Mary. “They might need help”. We turned Mascot around and headed back toward the pontoon boat. Mary went out the pilot house door and forward to get a better look. When we were within shouting range she called out “Is everything all right?”
Quebec is a predominantly French-speaking province although most people understand and speak some English as well. We hoped the captain of the boat would understand us. With a heavy accent he shouted back “My Mutter Died!” Mary and I both heard it. The poor woman! I immediately searched the deck for a prone body and there was none. I wondered if that was her sitting upright in the lawn chair like in the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s”! This would surely impact our plans.
“What did you say?” Mary called out. “My mutter died” was again the response.
Then it hit us. “My Motor Died! Well, that’s different. After a little discussion, we learned that their home port marina was about 3 miles further down the river, behind a small island. We threw them a tow line and slowly headed down the river. The channel behind the island was narrow and shallow and we were able to communicate enough with the boat in tow so that we stayed out of the shallow spots. We had them safely behind the island when the marina came into view. Not more than a few rickety floating docks, there was no way that we could get them close to their slip. We hatched a plan to pick up some momentum then cast them off and let them glide into the dock. It worked perfectly.
There was a good anchorage on the opposite shore that we had earlier scouted out on Active Captain. Although it was a little early to be stopping for the night we moved over there and dropped the hook. There was a lot of activity and some fun people watching for the rest of the afternoon. The night was very peaceful with brilliant stars. Just another day on the water.