Keith White was a tall man, maybe six foot two inches or more from his appearance in a family photo above. White, on the left, was also large and muscular across his shoulders and in his upper arms. Investigators can only wonder how high the 34-year-old man had to lift himself with those strong arms on the second-deck railing of the Northern Spirit cruise ship Saturday night to lose his balance. Witnesses say he flipped over it, then lost his grip and fell two storeys to the lake below. Some have said not enough was done to rescue Mr. White and that may be true. But it is also true that falling off of a large passenger vessel at any kind of speed is an almost certain death sentence. Throwing a life ring at those distances is almost always futile. The shipping line, Mariposa Cruises, said it took some time to turn the boat around. In fact, Toronto police summoned by 9-1-1, were able to get to the scene before security staff had lowered a rescue boat.
