Bryan Allen
Well-Known Member
There was a time when cheaters in salmonderbies went to jail!
Something fishy at the Sun Salmon Derby
RALPH BOWER/FILESA beaming David Chafe hoists a 37-pound chinook salmon in a photo that ran in the Aug. 21, 1967 Vancouver Sun. It was initially believed that the big catch had won the newspaper's Free Salmon Derby. However, Chafe was found to have cheated and was sentenced to six months in jail for fraud.
The front page of the Aug. 21, 1967 Vancouver Sun featured the beaming winner of The Vancouver Sun's Free Salmon Derby, holding up the 37-pound, eight-ounce Chinook that took top prize.
As per usual with the annual event, reporter Dave Ablett wrote up the story as what old newspaper types call a “bright,” keeping things light and funny.
“You wouldn't believe who beat B.C.'S best fishermen to win The Sun's Centennial Salmon Derby,” said Ablett. “A Newfie!”
“`Ye can bet I'm a good fisherman,' said David Chafe, the 31-year-old Newfoundland expatriate who won the derby. `Ye just better believe it.'”
“The sea-green B.C. anglers believed,” Ablett wrote. “But the shame of it! The ignominy! As any seasoned B.C. fisherman will swear on a stack of Lucky Louise, a Newfie has to be up pretty early in the morning to outsmart a B.C. Chinook and a B.C. fisherman at the same time.”
But not everybody believed. On Aug. 25, West Vancouver police issued a warrant for Chafe's arrest.
“The warrant alleges Chafe defrauded The Sun of a 17-foot Hourston Glascraft boat and an 80-horsepower outboard motor valued at $3,500,” a Sun story said.
“It alleges Chafe perpetrated the fraud `by presenting a 37-pound fish and claiming first prize when in fact he had not caught the said fish according to the established rules of The Vancouver Sun Free Salmon Derby.'”
An investigation had been launched by The Sun on Aug. 21 into “mysterious circumstances surrounding the winning entry.” Chafe was arrested Aug. 28 and was released after posting $500 bail Aug. 31.
On Dec. 21 Chafe pleaded guilty to a charge of defrauding Pacific Press of his winnings. He admitted he had purchased the Chinook at a commercial fish dock. On Jan. 11, 1968, Chafe was sentenced to six months in jail for fraud by Magistrate Alfred Watts.
His lawyer, John Motiuk, unsuccessfully argued that Chafe hadn't intended to sell the boat and engine “for profit,” but “wanted to play a prank and was forced to continue with it when he won first prize and was given publicity.”
But it turned out this was not Chafe's first run-in with the law. A Province story said he had been “given suspended sentences on false pretences in 1966, and served two months and two months concurrent for false pretences in 1967.”
The new winner was Bob Thornber, who had caught a 31-pound fish.
An estimated 11,400 people had ventured into Howe Sound for the Sun Salmon Derby, an incredibly popular event that ran for 45 years.
The first derby was held on Sept. 15, 1940, and the last on July 29, 1984, but the event was usually held in August. It was always on a Sunday.
About 400 boats participated in the first derby, where winner Frank Hallow won with a 16½-pound fish. He took home $100. The story was on page 10 — the front page was dominated with news of the Battle of Britain, which was raging at the time.
The last Sun Salmon Derby was won by Dave Perrin with a 24-pound, three-ounce catch. Perrin had been fishing five years, but had never caught a salmon before his winning entry.
The derby was still popular in the 1980s — 1,800 boats were in the 1984 derby. But salmon stocks had dwindled, and on June 11, 1985, Sun editor Bruce Larsen said the paper was cancelling the event that year, “with considerable regret.” It never came back.
The Sun used the $15,000 that would have been spent on the derby to “supply salmon egg incubators to Lower Mainland schools.”
There had been a bit of a kerfuffle with the 1966 Salmon Derby as well. The biggest fish was caught by 15-year-old Colin Bull, who reeled in a 29-pound, eight-ounce Chinook. But he was disqualified because he was an employee of The Sun — he had been a sub-manager of a newspaper carrier station for two months.
First prize then went to 19-yearold Jim Dixon. But Sun publisher Stu Keate decided to give Bull a duplicate of the “16-foot hardtop boat with an 80-horsepower motor” because the rule barring employees from competing was not advertised that year.
(David) Chafe perpetrated the fraud `by presenting a 37-pound fish and claiming first prize when in fact he had not caught the said fish.
Something fishy at the Sun Salmon Derby
SUPPOSED WINNER'S 37-POUND CHINOOK WAS ACTUALLY BOUGHT AT A FISH DOCK
- Vancouver Sun
- 20 Aug 2022
- JOHN MACKIE jmackie@postmedia.com
The front page of the Aug. 21, 1967 Vancouver Sun featured the beaming winner of The Vancouver Sun's Free Salmon Derby, holding up the 37-pound, eight-ounce Chinook that took top prize.
As per usual with the annual event, reporter Dave Ablett wrote up the story as what old newspaper types call a “bright,” keeping things light and funny.
“You wouldn't believe who beat B.C.'S best fishermen to win The Sun's Centennial Salmon Derby,” said Ablett. “A Newfie!”
“`Ye can bet I'm a good fisherman,' said David Chafe, the 31-year-old Newfoundland expatriate who won the derby. `Ye just better believe it.'”
“The sea-green B.C. anglers believed,” Ablett wrote. “But the shame of it! The ignominy! As any seasoned B.C. fisherman will swear on a stack of Lucky Louise, a Newfie has to be up pretty early in the morning to outsmart a B.C. Chinook and a B.C. fisherman at the same time.”
But not everybody believed. On Aug. 25, West Vancouver police issued a warrant for Chafe's arrest.
“The warrant alleges Chafe defrauded The Sun of a 17-foot Hourston Glascraft boat and an 80-horsepower outboard motor valued at $3,500,” a Sun story said.
“It alleges Chafe perpetrated the fraud `by presenting a 37-pound fish and claiming first prize when in fact he had not caught the said fish according to the established rules of The Vancouver Sun Free Salmon Derby.'”
An investigation had been launched by The Sun on Aug. 21 into “mysterious circumstances surrounding the winning entry.” Chafe was arrested Aug. 28 and was released after posting $500 bail Aug. 31.
On Dec. 21 Chafe pleaded guilty to a charge of defrauding Pacific Press of his winnings. He admitted he had purchased the Chinook at a commercial fish dock. On Jan. 11, 1968, Chafe was sentenced to six months in jail for fraud by Magistrate Alfred Watts.
His lawyer, John Motiuk, unsuccessfully argued that Chafe hadn't intended to sell the boat and engine “for profit,” but “wanted to play a prank and was forced to continue with it when he won first prize and was given publicity.”
But it turned out this was not Chafe's first run-in with the law. A Province story said he had been “given suspended sentences on false pretences in 1966, and served two months and two months concurrent for false pretences in 1967.”
The new winner was Bob Thornber, who had caught a 31-pound fish.
An estimated 11,400 people had ventured into Howe Sound for the Sun Salmon Derby, an incredibly popular event that ran for 45 years.
The first derby was held on Sept. 15, 1940, and the last on July 29, 1984, but the event was usually held in August. It was always on a Sunday.
About 400 boats participated in the first derby, where winner Frank Hallow won with a 16½-pound fish. He took home $100. The story was on page 10 — the front page was dominated with news of the Battle of Britain, which was raging at the time.
The last Sun Salmon Derby was won by Dave Perrin with a 24-pound, three-ounce catch. Perrin had been fishing five years, but had never caught a salmon before his winning entry.
The derby was still popular in the 1980s — 1,800 boats were in the 1984 derby. But salmon stocks had dwindled, and on June 11, 1985, Sun editor Bruce Larsen said the paper was cancelling the event that year, “with considerable regret.” It never came back.
The Sun used the $15,000 that would have been spent on the derby to “supply salmon egg incubators to Lower Mainland schools.”
There had been a bit of a kerfuffle with the 1966 Salmon Derby as well. The biggest fish was caught by 15-year-old Colin Bull, who reeled in a 29-pound, eight-ounce Chinook. But he was disqualified because he was an employee of The Sun — he had been a sub-manager of a newspaper carrier station for two months.
First prize then went to 19-yearold Jim Dixon. But Sun publisher Stu Keate decided to give Bull a duplicate of the “16-foot hardtop boat with an 80-horsepower motor” because the rule barring employees from competing was not advertised that year.
(David) Chafe perpetrated the fraud `by presenting a 37-pound fish and claiming first prize when in fact he had not caught the said fish.
