Thorne cottager wants to give it to a family member of original owner
Charles Dickson
Ladysmith July 28, 2023
“It’s a tool box, obviously,” said Mike Gowan, holding up the two-foot-long metal case.
“It’s engraved ‘W. Hodgins 10158’ which, I guess, is his tag number,” he said.
“Then we look at the side,” he said, turning the box.
“So, it says ‘Tool Kit Type E1, Engine Room’, and his name is engraved again here – W. Hodgins – and there’s a bunch of serial numbers here, six of them, in total.”
Gowan spoke with THE EQUITY on the shore of Toote Lake, north of Ladysmith, where he and his wife, Leslie, are cottagers.
“I’ve had it for about 25 years. I bought it at a Preston Cull auction sale in Shawville, in a very, very old house,” he said, describing what sounds like the Lang Street area in the east part of the village.
Gowan says the reference to ‘Engine Room’ in the words engraved on the box points to its likely use aboard a ship.
“It’s kind of a mystery,” he said. “And I’d like to know the ship’s name and what happened, and what happened to this gentleman.”
“So, we’d like to give it back to relatives of the family,” said Gowan.
Anyone with clues that might help solve the mystery of who this particular W. Hodgins was, and where this tool box might have been used, is invited to get in touch with THE EQUITY.
