R. W. (Bob) Sutton was 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 Superintent 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. Pictured with Mr Gilmore, naval architect and partner in German & Milne Naval Architects (top photo, undated). 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. 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.
(Photos and artifacts in this post from the RW Sutton Fonds, Queen's University Archives)
I showed this article to my mother today - she worked at the shipyards from about 1958-60 when she was laid off in a major reduction about a year after the seaway opened. She remembers Mr. Sutton well and said he would often give her a lift to work and that she would fill in as his secretary on occasion.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a small city in a small world! Thanks for this connection, Stu!
ReplyDeleteEric