Kingston Shipyards' R.W. Sutton

R. W. (Bob) Sutton was the General Manager of the Kingston Shipyards - pictured at the Kingston Shipyards with Mr Gilmore, naval architect and partner in German & Milne Naval Architects (top photo, undated). Born in Toronto in 1909, after beginning his marine career as an oiler on the S.S. Turret Court of the Tree Line Navigation Co. during the 1928 shipping season, advancing to Chief Engineer on the S.S. Ashbay into 1930, then the Dufferin Shipbuilding Co. and proceeding into marine engineering, earning his Stationary Engineer certificate in 1942: 

Beginning his career with Canada Steamship Lines at Collingwood in 1944, he was in charge of new construction before becoming General Superintendent. He then transferred to Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company in 1949 as General Superintendent there. 

He was sent to Kingston in 1953 to be the new general manager. Previous manager T.G. Bishop retired at the age of 73. Even at that time, Mr Sutton was advocating for an enlargement of the operation by purchasing land to the west enabling the workers to take on larger projects with less congestion overall. An aerial view of the Kingston Shipyards, taken by prolific local photographer Wallace Berry at the time of the launching of the lightship Cataraqui in September, 1959:

Mr Sutton became one of the city’s prominent community leaders. His energy and friendliness extended beyond the shipyard, to Kingston itself. Serving on the Public Utilities Commission from 1958 to 1966, including three years as Chairman beginning in 1960. As such, his signature appeared on Kingston Public Transit System bus tickets which took over from Colonial Coach Lines in 1962.

With the Seaway completed, Sutton continued to seek out things for the Kingston Shipyards to do, determined to keep them open. He repaired ships and modified the hulls of existing lake vessels. He hoped to build plastic boats with few employees and inexpensive equipment. Sutton’s hopeless struggle to keep the yard open and earnings was futile. A plan to extend the dry dock 200 feet to accommodate larger lake vessels would have cost nearly $2 million. At the time, total annual payroll approached $700,000 and 150 were employed, though the payroll had been two-an-a-half times higher just ten years prior. Despite believing there was a bright future for the Kingston Shipyards upon his arrival just 15 years earlier, it closed in October, 1968. Ordered razed, two buildings survived the 1973 demolition to become the home of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.

Returning to Thunder Bay as General Manager on June 1, 1968 then Vice-President of Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering in 1972, before retiring in 1974 and returning to the Kingston area to build a home on the south shore of Hay Bay. He lived there until turning 100, living into his 102nd year.

AUGUST 2026 UPDATE: I had a friendly email from Jim Barrie with his memories of Mr Sutton, or as he knew him simply, Bob:

We were close friends and neighbours for 25 years. Bob kept his papers by his easy chair and frequently had a story and photo to remember his life’s work. Our last visit to the marine museum was 2010. I introduced Bob to a gentleman working on repairs to the north end of the dry dock. Bob explained to the man he had to blow up the end of the dry dock with dynamite to accommodate a larger ship. Bob was born in England, his father died in WWI, and his mother in the ensuing flu epidemic. Bob, his brother and sister were sent to Toronto by the Barnardo Home Child program. Bob ended up north of Toronto in a barn, the back of a home, cutting railroad ties and pulpwood, till he was of age to reunite with his siblings.                                                     

The bulk of Bob's estate was put into the Sutton Trust by the Kingston Foundation. The trust supports the Kingston Boys and Girls Club and the Shrine Children’s Hospital in Montreal.

(Photos and artifacts in this post from the RW Sutton Fonds, Queen's University Archives)