- Dates
- 1962-04 – 1963-03
- Kind
- Accident
- Where
- Sand Bay
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- maritimeenvironmentcommunity
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The March 1963 Beaver Beacon uses the “Polar Bear Club” label for two winter incidents involving Archie LaFreniere. In the first, a boat motor launched near Sand Bay sent him into ice-cold water. In the later incident, a truck broke through a soft area of ice and settled in about five feet of water before a winch truck was summoned.
Evidence and limits
The article is a humorous retrospective, not an accident report. It does not establish exact dates for both incidents, damage, recovery method, or whether a formal Polar Bear Club existed.
Open questions
- Can local photographs, insurance records, or contemporaneous accounts date and document the recoveries?
Sources
- Retells an April 1962 boat launch in Sand Bay that put Archie LaFreniere in the water and a later incident in which his truck settled into five feet of water near an ice ridge; it is a humorous retrospective and supplies no recovery log or damage report.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1963-03_Beaver-Beacon
- The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1963-03_Beaver-Beacon
Added 1 August 2026 · revised 3 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Polar Bear Club winter mishaps, 1963”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-polar-bear-club-incidents-1963/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, March 1963, “Beaver Island Polar Bear Club Holds Annual Outing.” (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Beaver Island Polar Bear Club winter mishaps, 1963”RIS for “Beaver Island Polar Bear Club winter mishaps, 1963”