After a harrowing rescue in the cold North Atlantic, and more than 48 hours on a life raft with six of his fellow crewmates, fisherman David Tiller wanted two things: A new guitar, and tickets to see an upcoming Nickelback concert in St. John’s.
He’s gotten more than he bargained for: Multiple brand-new instruments, including a black guitar signed and christened by former Great Big Sea frontman Alan Doyle.
The present was gifted to Tiller by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey on Friday.
“I couldn’t be happier with the amount of responses, I mean all the people that thought about us is just overwhelming.”
Tiller and his six crewmates from the Elite Navigator have become known as Newfoundland and Labrador’s “Lucky Seven.”
The crew miraculously beat the odds when they withstood the fog and the cold of the Atlantic Ocean, and survived two whole days on a life raft after their vessel caught fire and burned.
They’ve been celebrating ever since.
Premier Andrew Furey, left, with David Tiller, one of seven fishermen who survived 48 hours on a life raft in the Atlantic Ocean, and former Great Big Sea frontman Alan Doyle. (Andrew Furey / X)
On July 20, the crew returned to New-Wes-Valley, and the town celebrated with a parade the next day in their honour. Premier Andrew Furey attended the parade and organized a presentation in his Confederation Building office to give Tiller his present on July 26.
“Miracles do happen,” the Premier wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Especially with the support of Newfoundland and Labrador at your back.”
While some of his crewmates were anxious to get back on the water, Tiller said he’ll never go fishing the same way again — definitely not for turbot, he said, a fishery that takes harvesters far offshore.
“My daughter, she met me on the pier and she was crying, breaking her heart, and I said ‘Katie, dad is home for good,'” he said.
“I just got too big of a fright. I can’t put myself through it anymore.”
The dramatic Saturday rescue was led by the 103 Squadron, a search and rescue operation run out of 9 Wing Gander.
The boat was discovered at 1 a.m. on July 20 when search and rescue teams spotted a flare — the last flare the crew had on their life raft.
According to Jason Maloney, a search and rescue technician with the squadron, two of the fishermen had mild cases of hypothermia when they were rescued, and two also had some burns from the fire on the fishing boat.
“It is incredible, and a lot of these stories don’t end off this way,” he said. “We were super happy. I think we were just as happy to see them as they were to see us.”
With files from NTV