2 ~- North Shore News - Sunday, March 19. 2000 Nan ing acti lonoured for! Lifeboat drill turned deadiy at Cates Park Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter adangclo@nsnews.com GEORGE Harding is a hern and he has the paperwork to prove it. The 5l-year-old North Vancouver resident recently received the Governor General's Certificate of Commendation. Harding received the honour for his efforts in saving the lives of three sailors who almose died ina lifeboat drill accident in 1998 off Cates Park. Harding received the commendation during a ceremony held in Vancouver. “I wasn’t expecting anything, because weeks and months afterwards we didn’t hear anything,” said Harding. On Nov. 9, 1998, Harding and Harry Trueman were out in Trueman’s 15-metre power boat called Paradise. They were heading up Indian Arm to go crabbing. Harding said they were within 91 1: (300 feet) of the Panama-registered freighter Jolcos Grace at the time of the accident. “I saw it (the lifeboat) splash into the water,” said Harding. “It was just like an elevator falling seven floors.” A hook holding one end of the lifeboat had released unexpectedly during the drill. The aft hook gave way under the resulting weight, causing the enclosed lifeboat to fall and roll upside down in the water. Harding thought the lifeboat drill had gone as expected until he saw men splashing in the water. “I thought this is no drill. This is serious,” he said. He called in a mayday. He had videotaped the lifeboat drill. Harding and Trueman realized that the men splashing in the water needed help. Harding and Trueman pulled three men inte tacic boat. “Two of the men were unconscious and went into cardiac arrest. “i was doing CPR on two people at the same time,” said Harding. “Twas very happy chat bork of them lived.” He told Trueman, the captain, that they needed to head for shore where ambulances were waiting. As they were heading towards shore, Coast Guard beats and hovercraft arrived. “We just told everybody where they could find them in the water and they went and got those guys,” said Harding. Eight men were in the liteboar, One man, Cesaz Maningding, 36, of Manila, was killed in the accident. He died after being crushed inside the lifeboat. The Coast Guard rescued the other four men. Coast Guard diver Jim Garrett found a trapped crew member in the flipped, dark, lifeboat. Garrett, then 26, said the crew member was treading water and had his head up in a small air pocket wing to breathe. Garret gave the near-panicking man a quick scuba lesson, a spare mask and spare regulator. They went out the way the Coast Guard diver went in. The freighter was empty of cargo at the time of the accident. The vessel was waiting to load sulphur at Port Moody. The loading was delayed for a day so the freighter’s captain decided to use the spare time to conduct a lifeboat drill. The freighter was owned by Greeks. The vessel had crew members from Greecs, Croatia and the Philippines aboard. After dropping off the injured men, Harding and Trueman stayed «round to sce if they could help Call Brian Watts for an « SenF EMPLOYMENT INCOME * EMPLOYMENT INCOME © RETIREMENT NEWS photo Terry Peters GEORGE Harding was recoynized by the Governor Geners! of Canada for his efforts in saving three sailors off Cates Park in 1998. some more. Harding said that to this day, no one from the steamship company or crew thanked him. Harding, who owns his own private investigation company, used to be with the North Shore Lifeboat Society and the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Trueman also received the Governor General's Certificate of Commendation. Last year, Harding and Trueman received the Silver Medal for Bravery from the Life Saving Society. RE frees © INVESTMENT INCOME « Cantar. GAINS * Disapitry CREDITS We aks offer Financial Planning Services WHITTAKER & ASSOCIATES CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS #103 - 3151 Woodbine Drive (Edgemont Village) 988-7832 studia parking push debaied Jan-Christian Sorensen Contributing Writer A North Vancouver company would like to turn parkland into parking lots. Lions Gate Studios is looking to build a half-acre, 40-space parking fot on a poruon of Sunrise Park, situ- ated behind the Brooksbank Drive studio complex. The facility needs room to accommodate an increasing numbers of cinployees and film crews that use the facili- ry. 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