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MG 1 Vol 2124 number 202

The Manse,
Waverley,
Halifax Co.
N.S.

Pro. A. MacMechan,
Halifax disaster Record Office
Chronicle Building

Dear Mr. MacMechan;-

Your letter of the 19th, to hand.
This afternoon I had an interview with the man who helped me to launch the small boat at Tuft's Cove on the morning of Dec. 6th. (I am not sure of his name but he was then & is now Brakes Man on the train that runs between Dartmouth & Windsor Jtn.) He thinks they the men were on the wreckage of a broken pier but could not say definitely. In the unusual circumstances I did not pay much heed to the "barge", it may have been wreckage, but I am inclined to think it was a barge, & the men with cars, or boards, were endeavouring to work their way to the Dartmouth shore. Of course the float was low in the water & I took it to be loaded with sand or coal. On the other hand it seems to me now quite reasonable to suppose it may have been the wreckage of one of the piers. This incident was so much eclipsed by what occurred subsequently about Richmond, also the cries & groaning Etc which I heard when crossing the harbor was such that I paid little attention to this incident other than to satisfy myself that those men were in no immediate danger, whereas there was the danger of the small boat being overturned should those men leap into it, & their actions left me in no doubt in that regard.
There were five men, probably six. I took them to be 'Coloured' men, & their frantic cries & actions supported my supposition; indeed the situation as I took it in was that they were men employed loading or discharging a barge of sand or coal in difficulties because of the explosion. In the whole thing I may be wrong, they may have been blacked as a result of the explosion & they may have been standing on what was once a pier.
The Brakes' Man already referred to informs me that shortly afterwards a man came into the train wet & he thinks this man was one of those of the barge. (Perhaps this may give you a clue.)
If I can be of any further help in this matter I shall be pleased to place myself at your disposal. On the First of May I change my pastorage, & my address shall be; -
Rev. K. C. Mac Lennan
The Manse
Lawrencetown
Halifax col

Yours very truly
signed K C MacLennan