Seven years after the sinking of the Pop’s Pride, which claimed the lives of four fish harvesters, a monument has been erected in their honour close to the place they called home.
On the morning of September 6, 2016, Eugene Walsh, his son Keith Walsh, his grandson Keith Walsh Jr. and their family friend Billy Humby, departed the harbour in St. John’s, N.L. to haul in gillnets previously set 0.65 nautical miles off of Cape Spear aboard the 22-foot open boat Pop’s Pride.
That day, winds of 25–30 knots, significant sea spray and a boat full of gillnets caused the Pop’s Pride to swamp and sink, leaving the Walsh family and Humby stranded in the water.
Search and rescue operations commenced shortly after the vessel was reported overdue, where the bodies of two of the fishermen were recovered near Cape Spear. The following day, the sunken Pop’s Pride was located outside St. John’s harbour. Two of the four crew members were never found and were presumed drowned.
All four men, being from the St. John’s neighbourhood of Shea Heights, are finally being commemorated close to home with a polished granite bench located at a lookout within the neighbourhood. The monument bears the faces of the departed harvesters as well as commemorative poems to honour each of them.
The money to build the memorial was raised by the community in six weeks to honour these fallen fishermen. Although COVID-19 and other mitigating factors slowed the project, on June 19, 2023, it was unveiled at a point overlooking St. John’s to serve as a memorial for generations to come.
