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IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY
They were a bit cold and a bit wet, but five narwhal hunters were OK after being stranded 35 nautical miles away from Arctic Bay. The group was rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard last Wednesday.

A Canadian Coast Guard rescue boat, with five stranded hunters from Arctic Bay aboard, tows the hunters' boat to the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Terry Fox on Sept. 5. - photo courtesy of Capt. David Fowler/Canadian Coast Guard

"There was one fellow who had a medical condition and the other four were cold and a little wet," said Capt. David Fowler, in charge of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Terry Fox, which performed the rescue operation.

"They couldn't get their boat out due to the waves and they were going to give it a try but they would have had a hard time - it was very windy out and fairly big waves."

Fowler said his ship received a call from the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Trenton, in Trenton, Ont., at 2 p.m. Wednesday saying an emergency beacon was activated.

People in Arctic Bay had been trying to get in touch with the hunters, as did the base in Trenton and the CCGS Terry Fox.

When none of them could, the Terry Fox, an 88-metre, 24,000-horsepower icebreaker, went to the spot given by the beacon and found the hunters on land at a camp they'd set up, said Fowler.

"They had run out of heating fuel and they were a little concerned about the man with the medical condition, so they wanted to go home," said Fowler.

"They were weather-bound and had to get out and they couldn't, so they asked for help. We were grateful to be on scene and close by and able to help."

The CCGS Terry Fox stayed a few miles out and sent in an eight-metre rigid-hull inflatable rescue boat to pick up the hunters and tow them in. The boat was then hauled on board.

"We were able to get them all on board, dried out and fed them and get them back safe and sound to Arctic Bay," said Fowler.

"As we were dropping them off at Arctic Bay, I was manoeuvering the ship up on the bridge ... and they all came up and said thanks very much for saving their lives.

"That's what's great about our jobs."

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