Before going
back to Toronto to start training for another NHL hockey season, Bill Barilko
decided to go on a fishing trip with his hometown friend and dentist Henry
Hudson (“www.barilko.ca”, n.d.). They decided to take Hudson’s small yellow,
single-engine plane (Pagan, 2011) called Fairchild 24 with CF-FXT marked on the
wing (“Strom Halts”, 2001). Their destination was Seal River (Zeisler, 2001),
along the east side of James Bay by northern Quebec (Pagan, 2011). Barilko and
Hudson planned to leave Friday, August 24th 1951 and return in the
next two days (“Home”, n.d.).
Barilko and
Hudson were reported to have stopped at Fort George on the east coast of James
Bay on their way home and were seen taking items such as camping gear out of
the plane to lighten the load, stating the fish they caught that weekend was
weighing down the plane (“Storm Halts”, 2001). The two men were then seen at
Rupert House at the Quebec-Ontario border in order to refuel (2001). A clerk
named Dan Wheeler warned Barilko and Hudson about an upcoming storm, but they
ignored the warning in order to get their catch back home before it went bad (2001).
On August 27th
1951 Barilko’s younger sister Anne received a phone call informing her that
Barilko and Hudson were roughly 12 hours late returning home from their fishing
trip (Peacock, 2001). Family and friends naturally started to worry (2001).