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“Garden Island Once Scene of Busy Shipbuilding Industry,” Kingston Whig-Standard. March 25, 1942. Page 2. ---- Garden Island Vessels Plied High Seas Of World --- By FRED PENSE (Staff Reporter) Ships which sailed the high seas, as well as the lakes and rivers during the past century, were built at Garden Island. Few men now engaged in making ships here to meet the enemy in battle realize that over 100 years ago a shipbuilding industry was established at Garden Island and it continued to operate until shortly before the start of the First Great War. 

John Calvin, son of the late Hiram Calvin, who for years was identified with the Calvin Company, which conducted the thriving industry on Garden Island, told The Whig-Standard some of the happenings he could well remember. He told this reporter he could recall schooners being built at Garden Island and later steamboats, tow-barges and tugs “It used to be a very busy centre," he said, “especially in the wintertime; it was arranged that the men who sailed our boats during the season of navigation would be given employment in our shipyards in the wintertime and they certainly appreciated this. 

“The length, width and draught of the boats all depended upon the size of the Welland Canal, At first, these schooners were very small, as they could only be built of sufficient size to go through the locks. As the Welland Canal was enlarged the boats were made bigger and so on Our boats were mostly built for the timber trade and they used to sail up the lakes and bring the timber to Garden Island where it was put into rafts and taken to Quebec City,” he declared. 

Construction Varied “The construction of the boats all depended on where they were going to sail. If they were fresh water craft, steel spikes were used, but in the case of ocean going vessels, wooden tree nails had to be used, as the steel spikes would rust with the salt water. The boats were built of oak elm and pine oak being used for the hull above the water elm under the water and pine for the decks. 

“The sails were also made on Garden Island and in fact the building la now intact and may be seen from the’ ferry dock. Experts in the making of sail were constantly engaged by the Calvin Company," Mr Calvin said. 

“The launching ceremony can well be recalled, In those days, the ships used to be put Into the water stern first and as far as I can remember, there were no mishaps. I can recall some of the names of the schooners — they were the “Norway,” the “Sweden,” the “Denmark," etc. and they were all engaged in the lumber business. I also recall one mishap when one of our sailing vessels encountered a very severe gale on the lake and all the crew was lost but the ship was saved. It will never be known the reason for the crew leaving the schooner and taking to the life boat, but the schooner was later found intact, minus the crew and those men were never located. 

Old Boat Used “Some few years ago when I was in Halifax, I noticed one of our old boats, the “Ceylon" by name, being used as coal lighter, We sold her to the Montreal Transportation Company and it later was bought by other interests and taken to Halifax,” he said. 

“One of our schooners, the “Garden Island” by name was for many years engaged in the ocean going trade and in fact it sailed to all parts of the world. At least one trip was made by this sturdy schooner from Quebec with a load of timber which was taken to Great Britain. The boat was 175 feet long and was built so that it could go through the St. Lawrence Canal without a cargo. It was later sold to three Norwegians and after that I lost track of her. I remember my father going to the American ports and meeting this vessel when it returned from ocean voyages. 

June 18th is International Picnic Day! Hagley Library staff will be stuck indoors, unfortunately. We’ll be commemorating the day instead with these photographs of a September 12, 1914 Pusey and Jones Company picnic at Fenton's Beach in Pennsville Township, New Jersey. The Pusey and Jones Company built ships and machines in Wilmington, Delaware between 1848 and 1959. The Hagley Library’s Pusey and Jones Corporation photograph collection (Accession  1972.350) includes images from both the shipbuilding and machine making components of the business, beginning in the late 19th century.

Today’s Worker Wednesday post features Pete Petrucci, a welder at the Pusey & Jones Corporation, seen here in April 1944 with a recently constructed tank.

The Pusey and Jones Corporation was a Wilmington, Delaware company founded in 1848 to manufacture and repair general machinery and steam engines. In 1853, it also began shipbuilding, which would become its primary activity. During World War II, Pusey & Jones was engaged in building cargo ships for the U.S. Maritime Commission and hopper dredges for the U.S. Engineer Department. Pusey and Jones built almost five hundred ships in its company lifespan. The company shifted all of its operation to papermaking after World War II. Pusey and Jones closed in 1959.