{"id":553864,"date":"2026-07-17T05:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/553864\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:10:21","slug":"terrifying-deaths-of-27-actors-and-dog-called-cabot-after-huge-explosion-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/553864\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrifying deaths of 27 actors and dog called Cabot after huge explosion at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

The film, the first of its kind, was successfully made and was getting ready to be released when the director decided to make some final tweaks that would prove deadly\"The<\/p>\n

The Viking was re-named after tragedy struck(Image: Library and Archives Canada)<\/p>\n

In a horror accident<\/a>, 27 people, including the film director and a dog, Cabot, died in a dramatic explosion<\/a> on the set of a film.<\/p>\n

A 1931 a Hollywood production team came to Canada to make a film The Viking, the story of Luke, a young fisherman in Newfoundland who reluctantly joins a sealing-expedition, thinking he is a bad luck charm.<\/p>\n

He is persuaded by his love interest to join reluctant to join the trip. However, the horrifying action behind the scenes was a far more grim reality<\/a> than what appeared on screen.<\/p>\n

Filmmaker Varick Frissell heard Sir Wilfred Grenfell, a British medical missionary to Newfoundland, speak at Yale about his work in Labrador and decided to document Grenfell\u2019s mission on film.<\/p>\n

He made two documentaries \u2014 The Great Arctic Seal Hunt (1928) and The Lure of Labrador (1928), as per Product of Newfoundland.<\/a><\/p>\n

Frissell felt there was a film to be made and approached Paramount Pictures to film an epic-style documentary-esque film about the Newfoundland seal hunt.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The remaining men were forced to scarmble over the ice to safety(Image: Library and Archives Canada)<\/p>\n

As he wanted to capture the feel and authenticity of the area the crew used local actors and technicians and audio and dialogue were to be recorded on location \u2014 a first for a Hollywood feature.<\/p>\n

With a script called White Thunder, most of the filming took place in Quidi Vidi until they boarded a real ship to collect footage at sea.<\/p>\n

The harrowing shots make it clear the life of a sealer is a grim one. To imbue the film with adventure Frissell was not above some stunt casting.<\/p>\n

Brigus-native Captain Bob Bartlett appeared in the movie as Captain Barker of The Viking. At the time, Bartlett’s name was well-known. He had undertaken extensive voyages to the arctic and had been awarded the National Geographic Society\u2019s Hubbard Medal.<\/p>\n

The fateful pivot in fate came in March 1931 when Varick Frissell returned to Newfoundland where he debuted the first cut of White Thunder.<\/p>\n

\"Men<\/p>\n

The film protrayed the brutal nature of sealing(Image: Library and Archives Canada)<\/p>\n

He did not like what he saw and decided he needed more action.<\/p>\n

He was not happy with it and decided he needed to be more daring so set out with a small crew on the SS Viking, captained by Abram Kean Jr. and filled with local fisherman.<\/p>\n

The SS Viking had made it to White Bay on the north coast of Newfoundland, where it hit heavy ice and eight miles from Horse Island, the Viking was safe.<\/p>\n

Then disaster struck – and The Viking exploded. The sound was so loud it was heard for miles and the stern was wrecked with the rest of the vessel engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

27 people died, including Frissell and any injured survivors had to struggle through the ice to Horse Island.<\/p>\n

It was thought the explosion was caused by blasting powder. At the time it was customary for sealing ships to carry explosives. Careful detonations were used to break apart the ice, allowing ships to move.<\/p>\n

The Viking\u2019s stores of explosives had caught fire, possibly due to careless handling. There were reports of pipe smoking near the blasting powder.<\/p>\n

Despite the tragedy the film was released the following summer and re-named in honour of the ship. The final cut included a prologue delivered by Sir Wilfred Grenfell, detailing the events that led Frissell to Newfoundland and his untimely death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The film, the first of its kind, was successfully made and was getting ready to be released when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[234358,289,93,234357,3211,61,60,99715],"class_list":["post-553864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-california-cinema","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-general-accident","tag-hollywood","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-workplace-accident"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}