Six Lakers Laid-Up, 1961

 

The Marine History Society of Detroit shared this photo of Canada Steamship Lines canallers rafted together, laid-up on the west side of their Kingston grain elevator: "Canada Steamship Line's canal-size vessels Fernie, Selkirk, Winnipeg, Elgin, Teakbay and Battleford await their fate at the Kingston Elevator Company's grain elevator in Kingston, Ontario in 1961. Five of the six vessels had been sold for scrap by the end of 1964." (Peter Vander Linden collection/MHSD) The Battleford was laid-up in Kingston from 1961-66.

Interestingly, at the bottom of the post, there's a link to a post I published about Kingston's grain elevator on my main Canadian railway blog, Trackside Treasure in 2018. For more on Kingston's various lay-up fleets and locations, see this earlier post on this blog. Additional information on the six vessels published above accompanied the MHSD post:

Fernie - Launched in 1929, the freighter Fernie was built in Midland, Ont. by the Midland Shipbuilding Co. for Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal, Que. The 259-foot vessel was designed for the fast package freight trade between Montreal and Fort William, Ont. It was sold for scrap in 1963.

Selkirk - Launched in 1926, the freighter Selkirk was built in Lauzon, Que. by the Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Co. for Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The 261-foot vessel was designed for the fast package freight trade between Montreal and Fort William, Ont. It was sold for scrap in 1964, towed from Kingston to a Hamilton scrapyard

Winnipeg - Launched in 1926, the freighter Winnipeg was built in Lauzon, Que. by the Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Co. for CSL. The 261-foot vessel was designed for the fast package freight trade between Montreal and Fort William, Ont. It was sold for scrap in 1964.

Elgin - Launched in 1923, the freighter Elgin (ex-Glengeldie) was built in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England by the shipyard of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. The 261-foot vessel was acquired by CSL in 1926. It was sold for scrap in 1963.

Teakbay - Launched in 1929, the freighter Teakbay was built in South Bank-on-Tees, England by the Smith Dock Co. for the Birchbay Steamship Co. of Montreal, Que. The 259-foot vessel was acquired by CSL 1946. It was sold for scrap in 1964, towed from Kingston to a Hamilton scrapyard.

Battleford - Launched in 1925, the freighter Battleford (ex-Glenross) was built in Newcastle, England by the shipyard of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson for the Glen Steamship Co. The 261-foot vessel (LOA) was acquired by CSL in 1926. After being lengthened by 95 feet, the ship was laid up for most of the 1930s when it was found to be under-powered for its new length. In 1939, the vessel was returned to its original length and converted into a package freighter. It was sold to British interests for off-lakes service in 1966. The freighter was sold for scrap in 1975.

Kingston's Part in the 'Battle of Bowmanville' - October, 1942

With the debacle at Dieppe two months earlier fresh in their minds, the Canadian military was involved in a battle waged here on Canadian soil in October, 1942. The alliteratively-named 'Battle of Bowmanville' took place at a prisoner-of-war camp housing high-ranking German officers east of Toronto. Upon hearing reports of Canadian prisoners taken at Dieppe being shackled by their German captors, Canadian authorities decided to replicate the incident. They asked for volunteer officers at the camp to participate in what we'd call a photo-op today, as photos and claims of shacklings of British and German prisoners were publicized.

I had never heard of this camp nor this incident. More background on the camp is available here, here and here

Of course the proud Germans would not agree, and perhaps it was right that they didn't. Regardless, guards pressed the point and it resulted in a prison riot and stand-off. Wounds from bayonets, baseball bats and even hockey sticks were reported on both sides. While reading a recently-published account of the incident in a Legion magazine article on WWI veterans returning as PoW guards in WWII, the story mentioned that the riot was in part put down by 200 Royal Military College students! Another account mentions troops from Kingston here on a commando course. Yet another mentions troops from Barriefield. Most accounts of the Battle of Bowmanville focus on the German side, not the Canadian side, of the story.

I can only imagine the forces from Kingston being hurriedly hustled west by train to Bowmanville. It would have been the most expedient way to get there - probably the only way when inter-city roads were rudimentary and road transport likely hard to come by. It would be interesting to know if the quickly-assembled force boarded a CNR train at the Outer Station (top photo) or perhaps a CPR special on the former K&P. I favour the former. It's doubtful that newspapers of the time would have contained any news due to wartime security measures. 

We may never know. But we need to learn more about this incredible incident.

Tett a Tete: A Study in the Transformation and History-Telling of the Industrial Nitty Gritty of this City

As a model railroader recreating Kingston, I'm drawn to the trains that served the industries that gave employment to the citizens of our city. The area around the Tett Centre on King Street West (above) is an excellent example - stately buildings. But who knows the history of the site? Not truly a prison, a military site or a place of higher learning, it actually has occupied all three of those realms in its history!

This capsule history of the Tett Centre site includes the following quote, which in two sentences really encapsulates the part of Kingston's history that really interests me.

"In our post-industrial age we celebrate the legacy of our leaders and politicians but not that of the average citizen who actually did the work. Our industries were where people found employment to sustain their families, allowing our community to grow."

After an early focus on what I call the history of the stately limestone homes of the rich families of Kingston, the focus shifted to presenting prison history, military history, educational history. All that is well and good, and deserves to be studied. Perhaps industrial history was just too gritty and grimy for us to get our historical hands dirty in? Now, after glossing over it, our sights shifted again to the current historical focus: women's history, indigenous history, history of racialized and minority groups. Again, all well and good. But the industrial history lies weed-grown and begrimed, buried in indifference and disregarded to our detriment.

Indeed, in reading the capsule history, there is much to question about the activities of the early owner of the site as a site for brewing and distilling, James Morton. An industrial baron of the 1850's, he was well-connected politically and societally. His use of convict labour and tenement housing for his labourers did little to help his bottom line, and he died bankrupt a few years after his brewery boom.

Then things got interesting. The capsule history goes on to note the increasing need for military hospitals during WWI. The Government of Canada expropriated Morton's Mortonwood mansion in January, 1918. It was known as the Ongwanada Military Hospital. Not like our modern, multi-wing sprawling hospitals of today, in July of that year the brewery was expropriated as the Sydenham Military Hospital. In 1924 the buildings were converted to house the Canadian Army's Eastern Ontario Headquarters. Then in 1966, with Paul Hellyer's unified 'aerated mud' Canadian Forces unification, the EOAHQ was moved to Ottawa. In 1968 the upper property was transferred to Corrections Services. In 1971 the lower property was bought by the City of Kingston for $120,000. Imagine its current real estate value - prime waterfront!

Aerial views from 1955 (above - note rows of hospital buildings) and 2004 (below - prior to the construction of the Tett performing arts centre by Queen's University and the rebuilding of the city-owned Tett Centre arts cluster. Snapshot Kingston)