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De-icing in the spring of 1933

Black and white photograph Three men standing in front of the Josuhée schooner. The person on the left is holding a shovel, the one in the centre is holding a saw and the one on the right is holding an axe.

Gérard Desgagnés and his cousins J.A.Z. and Maurice Desgagnés in front of La Josuhée, 1933

Photographer unknown

Source: collection of Roger G. Desgagnés

Zélada and Joseph each sailed aboard their schooner with their eldest sons as their crew. On Zélada’s side, J.A.Z. (Joseph Arthur “à Zélada”), Roland and Maurice learned their trade on board the J.Z. Degagné. Their cousins Gérard and Jean-Paul embarked with their father Joseph on La Josuhée. The ship was used among other things for shipping the steel piles needed for the dock at Havre-Saint-Pierre. It also transported pulpwood and lumber. The two Desgagnés brothers once found themselves having to winter in Bagotville when an early cold snap in 1932 froze the Saguenay River. Come Easter 1933, the two brothers and their oldest siblings decided to put their shoulder to the wheel and free their schooner before spring breakup.