I've recently been thinking about the horror experienced by those who face imminent death by drowing. Over the past year, I've done considerable genealogical research into my family's history and have gathered a lot of information about ancestors faced with death. During the Acadian deportations of 1755-1763, many of my ancestors were forcibly deported from Nova Scotia simply because they were of French descent and because New England merchants and politicians perceived them as economic and military threats. The entire Acadian population of mainland Nova Scotia was hunted down and transported to various locations in the New England colonies and Europe. Two of the ships, the Duke William and the Violet, foundered at sea not that far from Georges Banks taking entire families to their deaths. Victims included grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Michel Boudrot and Michelle Aucoin. They were original Acadian settlers from whom both my grandmothers are descended. Some eventually settled in Louisiana and are the ancestors of the Cajuns Some of my direct ancestors escaped by hiding in Cape Breton while others subsequently returned after hostilities ceased and the British were in control of most of North America. They made their living through fishing and many of them drowned in the pursuit of their livelihoods. At least half a dozen of my friends and relatives have drowned in the 52 years I've been around. I watched, in horror, a news broadcast some years ago when a new steel fishing trawler from Lunenburg (which just happened to have a news crew along during its sea trials) cut into another, small fishing boat and sent it to the bottom. The news footage showed men being sucked back into the swirling water as the smaller vessel sank. Many didn't survive.

What goes through peoples' minds when they come to realize that they are about to die and there is no escape. I can only think of one word ... horror.

Bob