Holberg, BC

If you served in Holberg during the late 50s or in the early 60s, chances are you may have heard about the "Nimpkish Incident". There is no doubt in my mind that there have been many variations to the true story – and for a while, it was starting to feel as if there had been more than one occasion when the Nimpkish was taken by non authorized personnel.

Thanks to Ron Guy for his endless search of the "true story". Ron was able to trace down and speak with one of the key players in the Nimpkish Incident. He then provided me with a name and phone number – which resulted in a telephone call – and, as a result, the true story is presented at this time. We ask only for a little consideration on your part – as the story was related based on memories of something that took place in 1957 – and as a result, one must allow for a degree of memory lapse or error in the spelling of surnames etc. All of the details which follow were provided by Fred Rowbottom – who appears to have taken a lead role in the Nimpkish Incident.

July 4^th, July 5^th, and July 6^th 1957

There were four "culprits" involved in the Nimpkish Incident. Their names: Fred Rowbottom, Roger Dennis, Chuck Greig and Henry Ivor Sulli. These FCOs were all on the same crew – celebrating the first of their three days off in the wet canteen on July 4^th, 1957. It appears that they managed to put away quite a few drinks, and I suppose it is safe to say that none of them would have passed the 0.8 sobriety test of the 1990s.

They had been discussing the fact that they really didn’t want to spend their days off in Holberg – they preferred instead, to proceed to Vancouver. But how does one get from Holberg to Vancouver? It was too late in the evening to hire a float plane to fly them to the city. The discussion continued and at about 2000 hours a decision was made to take the Nimpkish as far as Coal Harbour – and then proceed to Port Hardy and onwards to Vancouver.

The group continued drinking and at about 2200 hours, they proceeded to the barracks to gather some clothing and their personal gear. They then walked the five miles from the RCAF Station to the Holberg dock – taking precautions to run and hide in the bush whenever they heard a vehicle approaching. They did not, after all – wish to be apprehended along the way.

It appears they were aware that the last security check on the Nimpkish occurred at 2400 hours – so they remained in the local area – hidden from view – and waited for the security check to be completed.

What really happened next remains something of a blur – but our fearless foursome very quickly proceeded onto the Nimpkish – and became a early version of what was to fondly become known as "McHales Navy".

One of the four took a fire ax, placed the pick end into the ring that held the lock on the door leading into the wheelhouse – and popped the ring. Viola – our culprits now had access to the wheelhouse. They had travelled on the Nimpkish on a few occasions – and as a result, they had some degree of knowledge on how to handle the controls. It is safe to assume that the alcohol added to their enthusiasm. Fred Rowbottom entered the wheelhouse and took on the role of "skipper". The other three went through procedures required with casting away – and while there were a few non-standard procedures which occurred – the FCO foursome were suddenly on their way.

Making use of a phrase from the Gulf War in the early 90’s – this trip was taken in what had to be the "Mother of all Foggy Nights". The fog was so dense that the Nimpkish was proceeding down the inlet, extremely close to the shore – and at a very high speed. I was told that one of the FCOs was on top of the wheelhouse making use of an extremely bright spotlight in an attempt to provide some degree of visibility. This was all in vain.

The "fearsome foursome" were quick to identify that the radar facilities on the Nimpkish were unserviceable. Sensing a possible disaster, and the need for quick assistance – the group decided to make a radio check with the radar station – just to ensure that the radio was serviceable. The radio check had to sound legitimate – and care had to be taken to ensure that their voices would not be recognized by their fellow FCOs working the midnight shift. They initiated radio contact pretending to be a US Navy jet overflying Cape Scott. Knowing that the radio was serviceable – they did not respond to any further queries from the crew working in Operations up the hill.

At about 0230 hours, having managed to complete the trip without the use of radar, in soupy fog, at the controls of inexperienced personnel – and in record time – our "fearless foursome" arrived at Coal Harbour. They pulled up along side of the wharf, and eventually all four had their feet on solid ground. The Nimpkish appeared to be none the worse for wear – with only a single broken window pane and a slightly damaged door to the wheelhouse.

The next phase of the trip was to get a cab driver to take the group from Coal Harbour to Port Hardy. It was not too difficult finding the taxi driver – but getting him to agree to making the trip at that time of the night must have taken considerable persuasion. It appears that the group made use of the story that there was a "death in the family". Somehow or other, this was enough and the group was soon travelling from Coal Harbour to Port Hardy.

There was one major difference though. The group was now down to a "threesome". As best can be remembered – it appears that Sulli had to make a washroom run on arrival to Coal Harbour. By the time Sulli was ready to continue – he was somewhat surprised to find that the "Three Amigos" had already left Coal Harbour by taxi. Somewhat frustrated, tired, and still feeling the effects of too much alcohol, Sulley simply returned to the Nimpkish – and fell asleep in the wheelhouse.

Our group – now consisting of a threesome – eventually arrived at the airport in Port Hardy. Try as they may – they were unable to get any of the pilots to fly them to Vancouver in darkness. Initially, they decided to wait it out until daylight, and then proceed to Vancouver. As daylight approached – so did varying degrees of sobriety. The group eventually decided it was best for all if they simply chartered a float plane to take them back to Holberg.

For some unknown reason – they could not initially figure out why there were so many people at the dock when they arrived about 0900 hours, on the morning of July 5^th, 1957 It seems that there were 20 or so people at the dock – all waiting for the Nimpkish to carry them out of Holberg.

There are, no doubt, a number of stories that could be told about what happened when the Nimpkish was found to be missing. Reliable sources have identified the NCO i/c as F/S Ivan Schnare - who on hearing of the missing vessel, got down on his knees, shaded his eyes, and looked down into the water to see if she had sunk at the dock.

Having returned to Holberg – someone called the MPs, who promptly took our group to the cells at the MP shack on the station. RCAF personnel were subsequently flown from Holberg to Coal Harbour where they picked up the Nimpkish – and it is assumed that life carried on as expected from that moment.

Fed Rowbottom found himself in front of the Commanding Officer (S/L Game) the very next morning (July 6^th, 1957). The proceedings took all of about 10 minutes – and resulted in 90 days detention and a discharge. Greig and Dennis were given 60 days and Sulli received 40 days - all at Work Point Detention Barracks.

Fred was moved from Holberg later the same day – destination "Work Point" in Victoria BC. The trip took him from Holberg to Port Hardy to Comox – for the night – and subsequently by the Dayliner (train) from Comox to Victoria where they were met by personnel from the Provost Corps.

Fred ultimately served 63 days at Work Point (he obtained a reduction in sentence of 27 days for good behaviour) and eventually returned to Holberg where he was processed for discharge from the RCAF.

I would like to thank Fred Rowbottom for taking the time to relate the details pertaining to the Nimpkish Incident, and for his approval to add this story on the Pinetree Line web site.

As we were ending our discussion – Fred was quick to ask whether I had heard the story about the time that he and two other FCOs had proceeded to Raft Cove for a 3 day outing? This trip resulted in their being lost in the bush for 6 days – with air, ground and sea search activity looking for the group. But that’s another story – for another day.