Watch the Global Halifax Evening News at 6 p.m. from Feb. 17-21 to see all of Natasha Pace’s reports on the Miss Ally tragedy and safety issues in the fishing industry. Click here to see the ones that have already aired.
GUNNING COVE, N.S – A dream by a Nova Scotia man is now etched forever into a classic piece of art to remember the five young men who died when the Miss Ally sank.
The wood carving, which will soon hang prominently in Woods Harbour, is based on an idea from Franklin Strang, and a dream he had the night the boat capsized.
READ MORE: Nova Scotia woman composes tribute to fishermen lost at sea
“In the dream, Jesus was standing in the water, his hand out stretched towards a bright spot in the sky, and there were five doves going from the vessel towards his hand,” Strang said.
Strang said he never meet the crew of the Miss Ally, and didn’t know what happened to the vessel until the following day. That’s when he asked his friend Barry Crowell to make a carving of the vision.
“I thought it would be neat and bring peace to the family if he could produce my dream,” he said.
Crowell, who has been an artist for decades, said it took him weeks to put together the Miss Ally piece.
“Two or three times when I was carving it, I got second thoughts about it, because the boys and just drowned it was hard to do,” he said. “A couple times, I almost disposed of it.”
READ MORE: One year later: Miss Ally crew remembered
Over the past five years, Crowell has made hundreds of three-dimensional wood carvings, but says the Miss Ally was one of the most challenging pieces he’s ever done.
“There will never be another one that I do like that because I don’t want any earnings for it, and I don’t want to charge for it,” he said.
The entire piece is almost identical to Strang’s dream, with a single exception.
“He said he envisioned it with the boat capsized, and I said I wouldn’t do that,” Crowell said. “I would do it before the boat capsized, and Jesus was sending the doves off.”
The piece will soon be on display at the community centre in Woods Harbour for the entire town to see. Crowell said it will be a bittersweet moment.
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