60 years ago, seven men survived for 39 days lost in northern Quebec

Montrealer Everitt

     This fall marks the 60th anniversary of the miracle recovery of seven men stranded in the bush in the far, far north of Quebec after 39 days in the bush. The group, which included Montrealer Jim Everitt, were forced to land their plane in the remote Lake Emmanuel,  about 400 kilometers north of Montreal.
   Several members of the stranded team were experienced in the bush so the group managed to endure difficult conditions, rain, snow and near starvation to persevere.
  Jim Vanstone, 20, a student from Toronto described it as a "wonderful experience," and told reporters, "I wouldn't have missed it for anything." In fact he said he'd do it all again if he knew it'd end up with a rescue.
   The group agreed at the start that they would not quarrel and managed to share a tent of five-feet by nine-feet.
   When the rescue team finally found them, part of the group had split off to find an Indian village, so they had to be found about nine hours away deep in the forest.
   The men were: prospector Victor Abel of Seneterre, mining engineer Karl Koeten of Rotterdam, Jim Vanstone, who had been hired to do a government survey job, the men who left to hike to search for he other village were geologist Dr. Rolf Theinhaus of Seingen Germany, Flight Engineer Richard Everitt of Montreal, Andre Levesque of Rimouski and Pilot R. J. Mullin of Kenora Ontario.
   Everybody had lost between 25 and 40 pounds and death was staring them in the face, as their last bits of food were almost done.
   The group had been lost on August 25 and were found October 2. Their flight was from the Fenimore Iron Company property at Fort Chimo near Ungava Bay and was flying to Roberval.
   The men, if still alive, would be at least 80 years old now