TOWNSHIP 15 RANGE 13 – A 58-year-old Limestone man on a canoe trip with two of his daughters and three other women drowned in the St. John River after his canoe overturned Friday night.

Robert E. Godfrey was pulled from the raging waters of the Big Black Rapids by one of his daughters, but efforts to resuscitate him onshore were not successful.

Game Warden Jeff Spencer of the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said Monday that the party of six in three canoes was in the Big Black Rapids when the accident occurred at about 6 p.m.

Godfrey and his daughter Danielle Ellis were in the lead canoe. The group had begun the trip that day at Priestly Bridge, warden spokesman Mark Latti said.

Godfrey’s canoe caught on a rock in the rapids and overturned. Godfrey and Ellis were thrown into the river. Godfrey was not wearing a life jacket and did not know how to swim.

Spencer said the water in the area where the canoe overturned was too deep to stand in and too fast to swim in. Godfrey, unable to overcome the current, went under.

Ellis retrieved Godfrey and brought him to shore where CPR was attempted.

Godfrey’s daughter Mary-Anne Burress was part of the group. The three other women were friends of the daughters. No children were involved in the incident.

One of the other canoes flipped in the Big Black Rapids, but no one was injured.

The group spent Friday night on the rocks along the shore, unable to get help. That section of the river is remote and not easily accessible. The closest road is at the Big Black River Campsite two to three miles from the site of the accident.

On Saturday morning, the group loaded Godfrey’s body and the remainder of their equipment and walked the two remaining canoes to the Big Black River Campsite.

They walked to the Estcourt Road from the campsite and waited until 10 a.m. Saturday for a vehicle to come along.

One of the women was given a ride to Allagash about 45 miles away and got help.

Spencer said game wardens retrieved Godfrey’s canoe Saturday afternoon. It was still caught on the rock in the middle of Big Black Rapids.