John MacKay Blaikie (born c. 1837) was a merchant and shipbuilder from Great Village, Nova Scotia. Blaikie ran a supply store and was responsible for the building of many ships in the region. Blaikie is significant as a ship builder for building the first four-masted barque in Canada, and one of only two built in the Maritimes. [1] [2]
The ship, named after its owner, was a 1778-ton barque that was built in 1885 at Great Village, and was one of several ships built by Blaikie both individually and with his partners, A.W. McLellan, W.E. McRobert and Captain James Campbell. He had two master shipbuilders employed, named Joseph Geddes and David Morris, who oversaw the building projects. [3] John Blaike was a prominent member of the small village and an important figure in the shipbuilding industry of the region.
John Blaikie's house in Great Village, Nova Scotia was built in the 1870s, and still exists today as a historical bed and breakfast. [4]
Tatamagouche is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Minas Basin is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and a sub-basin of the Fundy Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known for its extremely high tides.
River John is an unincorporated community in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Great Village is a rural community of approximately 500 people located along Trunk 2 and the north shore of Cobequid Bay in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. It is considered locally to incorporate the areas of Highland Village to the west and Scrabble Hill to the north northwest.
William D. Lawrence was a full-rigged sailing ship built in Maitland, Nova Scotia, along the Minas Basin and named after her builder, the merchant and politician William Dawson Lawrence (1817–1886).
River John is a river in Nova Scotia. Draining the extreme western part of Pictou County, it flows into Amet Sound on the Northumberland Strait at River John, a village which takes its name from the river. The Miꞌkmaq name is Kajeboogwek. An early name was Deception River. Its present name is believed to derive from Rivière Jaune, an Acadian name, though it may also derive from nearby Cap Jean. DesBarres called it River John in his Atlantic Neptune.
Stag was a barque built in Nova Scotia which was renowned for her speed. Designed by a pioneering Canadian naval architect Ebenezer Moseley, Stag was built with a dramatic "Aberdeen bow". Considered an Atlantic Canadian example of a Clipper Ship, she was famous for several fast passages, despite her small size, and was painted by the famous Nova Scotian ship portrait artist John O'Brien.
Kings County was a four-masted barque built in 1890 at Kingsport, Nova Scotia on the Minas Basin. She was named to commemorate Kings County, Nova Scotia and represented the peak of the county's shipbuilding era. Kings County was one of the largest wooden sailing vessels ever built in Canada and one of only two Canadian four-masted barques. At first registered as a four-masted full-rigged ship, she was quickly changed to a barque after her June 2 launch. More than three thousand people from Kings and Hants counties attended the launch. She survived a collision with an iceberg on an 1893 voyage to Swansea, Wales. Like many of the large wooden merchant ships built in Atlantic Canada, she spent most of her career far from home on trading voyages around the world. In 1909, she returned to the Minas Basin for a refit at Hantsport and loaded a large cargo of lumber. In 1911 she became the largest wooden ship to enter Havana Harbour when she delivered a cargo of lumber and was briefly stranded. She was lost a few months later on a voyage to Montevideo, Uruguay when she ran aground in the River Plate. Too damaged to repair, she was scrapped in Montevideo where her massive timbers were visible for many years.
Hamburg was a three masted barque built in 1886 at Hantsport, Nova Scotia. She was the largest three masted barque ever built in Canada.
Maitland, East Hants, Nova Scotia is a village in East Hants, Nova Scotia. It is home to the historic Lawrence House Museum, which is part of the Nova Scotia Museum. The William D. Lawrence ship was built here. The community was part of the Douglas Township until it was named Maitland after Governor General of Nova Scotia Peregrine Maitland (1828–34) when building the Shubenacadie Canal was first attempted (1826–1831). The Canal was supposed to start at Maitland, Nova Scotia and run through the province to Maitland Street, Dartmouth, the canal being "bookended" by two "Maitland" landmarks.
Glooscap was a full-rigged sailing ship built in 1891 at Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia in the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy. The ship was named after Glooscap, the spiritual hero figure of the Mi'kmaq people. Glooscap was the culmination of several decades of large-scale ship building in the small village of Spencers Island. She was the last square rigger built along the Parrsboro Shore and the largest ship ever built in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. She circled the world in her first year of operation, carrying freight to Liverpool, Cape Town, Australia, and New York City. She made frequent subsequent voyages to the Pacific. Although built in the twilight period of the Age of Sail, Glooscap earned good profits for her owners shipping freight around the world for two decades under the command of two noted captains, the brothers George T. Spicer and Dewis Spicer of Spencers Island. Glooscap was converted to a gypsum barge in 1914. The ship is featured in exhibits at the lighthouse museum in Spencer's Island and at the Age of Sail Heritage Centre in Port Greville.
Research was a full-rigged ship built in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia which was famous for a determined and courageous crew who replaced her rudder eight times to survive a crippling North Atlantic storm in 1866. Research was built in 1861 for the fleet of Thomas Killam and was the largest vessel built to that date in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. In the fall of 1866 on a voyage from Quebec to Glasgow, Scotland, her rudder was badly damaged in a sudden violent storm as the ship left the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the beginning of her voyage. The rudder subsequently broke off entirely but was replaced by eight different jury rigged rudders which allowed the drifting and battered vessel to cross the ocean and reach her destination after 88 days. George Churchill, the captain of Research and Aaron Churchill, the first mate who carried out most of the repairs in the water, were celebrated for their courage, skill and determination. They both enjoyed the nickname "Rudder Churchill" for the rest of their careers. The ship was sold to owners in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1872 and then sold out of British registry a year later.
County of Yarmouth was a full-rigged ship built in Belliveau's Cove, Nova Scotia in 1884. She was the largest wooden ship ever built for shipowners in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, and the second largest wooden ship ever built in Canada, only a few tons less than the ship William D. Lawrence. The ship was one of a series of very large wooden ships proudly named after major shipbuilding counties of Nova Scotia at the end of the Age of Sail. William D. Lovitt, owner of a fleet of ships from Yarmouth, began as the sole owner. The ship enjoyed a profitable decade of service circling the globe several times but most often trading between South American, Canadian and British ports. She survived a serious grounding at Low Point, Cape Breton in 1893. After being dismasted in December 1895, she was to be broken up at Grimsby, England but was purchased by the government of Argentina as a school ship.
John Meahan was an Irish-born shipbuilder and political figure in New Brunswick. He represented Gloucester County, New Brunswick in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1862 to 1870.
Joseph Salter was a Canadian businessman and politician, becoming Moncton’s first mayor and one of the leading shipbuilders in the Maritime Provinces. As a young man employed by John Leander Starr of Halifax, Salter crossed the Atlantic 36 times. He later built some of the finest and largest ships in Westmorland County. He kept a diary which was published in 1996.
The barque Tikoma was built in Richibucto, New Brunswick, Canada, by John and Thomas Jardine, nephews of the ship builder John Jardine. She was registered in 1877 in Chatham, New Brunswick and sold to O. C. Hansen in 1889. Tikoma was sold to C. Apenes and Son of Fredrikstad, Norway in 1897, and sold once more to Th. Andresen in 1906. She ran aground off Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1909, and was lost.
Founded in 1839, Frieze and Roy was a shipping, shipbuilding and trading firm located in Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The firm was integral to the success of Maitland as a hub of shipbuilding in mid-to-late 19th century Nova Scotia. Its founder, David Frieze is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the community. The firm helped expand and develop local infrastructure, laying the groundwork for Maitland's most famous shipbuilder, William Dawson Lawrence.
Maid of England was a sailing barquentine built in Gross Coques, Digby County, Nova Scotia in 1919 by Omer Blinn. Maid of England was the last square-rigged cargo vessel built in Maritime provinces of Canada. Maid of England was owned by F.K. Warren for nine years, and then later abandoned at sea in 1928.
Morning Light was a wooden sailing ship. Her size was 265.3’ by 44.1’ by 21.1’. Launched in 1856, she weighed 2377 tons. She was registered at Saint John, New Brunswick until 1867. She was made of tamarack, oak, birch and pitch pine. Her last voyage was in 1889. She was wrecked and abandoned. Her last known cargo was iron and oil.
Skoda was a barquentine built in Kingsport, Nova Scotia in 1893 by shipbuilder Ebenezer Cox, marking the end of an era as the last vessel built by Cox and the last large vessel built in Kingsport.
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