Grand Manan flag placed on North Pole
On October 5, Stanley Fleet, quartermaster of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent, presented two 8x10 pictures, and a framed placard explaining the planting of a Grand Manan flag near the North Pole.
On October 5, Stanley Fleet, quartermaster of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent, presented two 8x10 pictures, and a framed placard explaining the planting of a Grand Manan flag near the North Pole.
Several years back, in 1995, Fleet had been elected councillor of Grand Manan – when it had just become the newly amalgamated Village of Grand Manan. Under the direction of then Mayor Joey Green, Fleet was a member of the all-councillor committee that had the mandate to design a new symbol and corporate flag to represent this new Village of Grand Manan. The result was a flag representing the whole island carrying the blue and gold of the high school, a fishing boat and the island's outline.
Fleet served his term as councillor but didn't offer to run in the next election. "It was the 2006 town manager Andrew Daggett," said Fleet, who made the suggestion that he, now quartermaster of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent, place the flag as close to the north pole as possible. It wasn't until this year that it was done. The flag was placed 83012'N 118 038'W about as close to the pole as anyone is going to get.
"When he was placing this on the ice it was quite an emotional experience for him." said Celia Fleet, Fleet's wife. "It meant a lot of things. It represented all the people from this little island that went somewhere and did things, and the ones that stayed provided the education, skills, and encouragement, so they could."
It was with great pride that the Grand Manan council heard Fleet's presentation. "It was a project that had a life of it's own, it not only represented Grand Manan, it became a symbol of international cooperation," said CEO Rob McPherson. The Grand Manan flag had all the councillor's names written upon it as well as almost ninety other crew members who were in some way a part of three different expeditions, ending with the UNCLOS Expedition, which was a joint U.S. and Canadian project. Amongst all the names, Fleet jumped the gun on one. Remembering a Grand Manan couple to be married soon he added Alyssa Calder's name to the flag. She didn't marry until a couple of weeks later, so her name that day in August was still Alyssa Ingersoll.
Fleet would have been happy enough launching the flag off the icebreaker's side, but that wouldn't do for welder Peter Vass, who has Grand Manan connections. With great care, a metal base and staff, able to tolerate just about any Arctic gale, were hand-crafted and painted white to reflect sunlight, so as not to melt its way to the bottom of the ocean.
A long way from the shores of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy, Fleet and the ship's Bo'sun Bob Taylor perched four stories above the ice in the ship's metal bucket. Landing on the ice floe, they set foot on the coarse, grainy surface. With decks lined with spectators on one side and the ship's helicopter on the other, the Village of Grand Manan's first official flag and the Coast Guard Jack were unfurled.
On the placard presented to the Grand Manan Council, Stanley wrote: "The vessels reached the highest position of 84013'N, 122028'W, 347 N from the North Pole, on Thursday, 27 August 2009, The flag was actually deployed the next morning at the position 84012'N, 118038'W,408 N from the North Pole, on Friday, 28 August 2009. The placement of the flag was delayed due to late hours in the evening and the presence of fog. Darkness was not a factor since we were in the land of the midnight sun and at this time of year, there is no night there.
Find something you love to do and you will never have to work another day. Quartermaster Stanley Fleet CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.