Ewan McCausland's Shorthand Logbook — Leaf recovered from driftwood, Fox Island, June 1913
A single waterlogged leaf in Pitman shorthand, partially legible, found wrapped in oilskin inside a floating trunk. The trunk bore the initials E. McC. Transcription by Port Hume Harbour Master's office:
14 March 1913
Lat 47.2 N Long 85.4 W. Course NW by N. Heavy ice to northd. Capt Hume refuses alter course. Says Co orders via Marconi say maintain heading. I showed him reports from the Sardinia — ice pack thirteen miles north of our position. He said "The schedule is the schedule."
Cargo in No. 2 hold shifting. Bill of lading says "agricultural implements — 40 crates." Weight suggests otherwise. 40 crates ag implements ought not to run 900 st. Marked for Westhills Depot, not the Hume dock. Noted forafter we make port.
15 March, late
Two men aft after dark. Not crew. Spoke to Capt Hume in wheelhouse — heard "Ontario" and "Leith." Timmons saw them also. They went ashore at the Supplement stop.
16 March
Told Capt Hume for last time. The ice, the weight, the men. He said Replace me if you can find another man fool enough to take this berth. I said I'd log my objection. He said Log what you like. No one'll read it but us.
Below, in different ink, a note added later — perhaps the last lines McCausland wrote:
If this is found: tell Mary the brick in the east cellar. Tell Thomas the Beacon has the papers they killed the story for. Trust Timmons.
— Port Hume Harbour Office transcription, H.M. Beckwith. Filed with the Beacon morgue, unpublished.