Clyde the Canon part 2
March 27/ 2022
Al Howe procured a heavy-duty trailer and a truck to tow it with. He also arranged for a proper base to be constructed for the cannon.
All was completed and loaded onto the trailer. In his driveway the PCKC covered everything up with a large tarpaulin and tied it down securely. We placed four kayaks on top of the load as a form of a poor, but effective as it turned out, camouflage.
We began our journey in two vehicles… a car with four, and Al’s truck and trailer with three. We were to meet at the Okeechobee parking lot at a prearranged time. Al Howe, with the trailer and load in tow, pulled into the arrival area at Pearson airport in Toronto to pick up Bob. He was flying in from Halifax. I would wager that this was the first and only time a cannon would be brought to the Pearson airport.
Bob arrived on time and joined the rest of the group. He never asked or seem to be interested into what was on the trailer but did exclaim, that it was a quite large load.
The eventual presentation of the cannon, was meant to be a surprise. It’s amazing that he never caught on.
Both vehicles made it safely to the launch area south of Espanola Ontario. Okeechobee Lodge fortunately had a fairly large boat, like a miniature landing craft, that would carry people, equipment and supplies between the mainland and the lodge.
All of us boarded the boat without our gear and arrived safely at the lodge about 30 minutes later. The car, truck, and trailer were left at the parking lot.
The next morning Al and I, took the boat back to the parking area. Our other PCKC members were in charge of keeping Bob busy until we could return with the cannon and get it placed in its proper proposition.
After arriving at the parking area I drove the truck, trailer and Cannon to an Indian reservation several kilometres away. Al brought the Landing craft to this location. This was necessary because they had the proper docks as well as the front-end loader, capable of transferring the load from the trailer onto the boat.
The “landing craft” was brought along side of the dock. The front-end loader first loaded the cannon onto the flat front deck. It was so heavy that the boat sank deeper into the water by at least 3 inches.
Next, came the base, which was also very heavy. It was successfully loaded but we were very close to being dangerously overloaded.
Off we went at the safe speed we could tolerate. All was going well until we entered the open bay, where we encountered a stiff headwind and whitecaps. Water would splash over the bow, and it seemed we were close to capsizing. My shoes were drenched. However, we eventually made it safely into Okeechobee Harbor. We tightened everything down safely and heaved a deep sigh of relief.
The cannon was still completely covered by the tarpaulin. Bob W didn’t seem to have the slightest interest in what we’re doing.
One of our group was always assigned to keep him busy and out of the way. The lodge had its own backhoe. We carefully unloaded the base, then the cannon, and placed it down… facing the Baie Fine. We again, covered it up with a tarp, and again, breathed a huge sigh relief.
End of part two