In 1967 a twenty-one year old Anna Bolique of La Chienne-sur-Roues, Québec, concluded her crusade to have N. M. Paterson & Sons, Ltd., reimburse her for the loss of her beloved 16-foot Wingnut-class racing sailboat, Mouette Folle, destroyed the previous fall.
The Paterson boat Calgadoc, loaded with 16,786 cases of Molson Export Ale empties for delivery to Montréal back when that was a thing, had difficulty in negotiating the small harbor at La Chienne-sur-Roues and accidentally backed into Ms. Bolique’s boat moored nearby, crushing it..
Infuriated, Ms. Bolique borrowed her grandfather’s shotgun and, standing at the harbor entrance as the Calgadoc exited, threatened to shoot Captain Félix Le Chat in the pilothouse (ouch) unless he immediately paid her what she believed the boat worth, around 189 American dollars.
Using a megaphone while cowering on the floor of the pilothouse, Captain Le Chat assured that Paterson would immediately arrange a settlement, then ordered “full speed ahead” and the Calgadoc entered the St. Lawrence River faster than any Paterson canaller had ever moved, its Fairbanks, Morse diesel leaving a trail of oily smoke over La Chienne-sur-Roues that did not dissipate until after Christmas, according to unconfirmed reports.
However, Ms. Bolique’s quest for payment dragged on, primarily from constant requests from Paterson’s insurers, Lloyds of London Ontario, for more and more information. In early March 1967, after Lloyds said it needed Ms. Bolique’s shoe size and her hairdresser’s blood type to process the claim, Ms. Bolique had had enough.
She learned that two Paterson vessels spent the winter at Chicago at the Chicago Sun-Times dock with a winter storage cargo of newsprint and were soon to leave to begin the new season. Ms. Bolique took to her 1960 Renault Dauphine and drove to Chicago where she bought a used bathtub at Vic’s Salvage on North Dearborn and a small Johnson outboard motor at Rodi Marine, intent to blockade the vessels in the Chicago River until her demands were settled.
Ms. Bolique launched into the Chicago River near the Wendella boat dock to the amusement and befuddlement of pedestrians in the Chicago Loop. She circled her vessel in front of the Paterson boats, daring them to run her down (an increasingly tempting prospect for the vessels’ crews as the blockade wore on).
Even Mayor Daley got into the act, almost, the local Democratic machine claiming Ms. Bolique represented the constant struggle of “the little guy (well, gal in this case) against entrenched capital.”
Daley was to give a speech on the plaza at the Wrigley Building exalting her mission until he was told she was not a registered Democratic voter in Cook County, nor even an American citizen, and did not speak English (an odd consideration since most of Chicago north of Pulaski Park spoke Polish). Daley immediately scrapped that plan.
However, through the efforts of the Canadian Consul in Chicago, Bob McKenzie, on the afternoon of 1 April 1967 just before he was to play against the Blackhawks at the Stadium in the season’s penultimate match, Jean Béliveau, star center of the Montréal Canadiens and a native of Trois-Rivières, Ms. Bolique’s birthplace, shouted across the river to her that he held a check from Paterson in full payment of her claim.
With that news, Ms. Bolique brought her blockade boat to the Wendella dock where she, literally, pulled the plug on it. It may still reside on the bottom of the Chicago River. When asked why Mr. Béliveau was finally capable of defusing the situation, Ms. Bolique answered (in French, of course), “Parce que c'est Jean Béliveau, crétin! Bien que Rocket Richard aurait été OK.”
Translation of Miss Bolique's response: “Because it's Jean Béliveau, moron! Although Rocket Richard would have been OK.”
ReplyDeleteI didn't check your site on April 1, so if you did something as an April Fool's gag, I didn't see it.
ReplyDeletehttps://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/03/happy-april-fools-day-im-not-going-to.html
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