Certificate of Endorsement for 1903 Transatlantic Voyage of Wexford. The process of “clearing out” was a formal review of a ship’s particulars, crew, and conditions aboard, always authenticated by government officials at the departure point.
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, R184-202-5-E, 1903.
Several interesting terms of service were noted:
At the Master’s option, no grog allowed on the voyage. Provisions included a sufficient supply of water, bread, beef, pork, flour, peas, rice, condensed milk, tea and cocoa, for the trip. No cash shall be advanced aboard or liberty granted other than at the pleasure of the Master. The seamen and firemen are to keep their respective forecastles in a clean and sanitary condition and leave them so at the end of the voyage under a penalty of 5/ [shillings]14 — per man for each case of neglect.
Should any crew fail to join at the time specified in the agreement, the Master may engage substitutes at once. The crew shall be decreed complete with 21 hands all told. The fireman shall supply the galley with coals.
Anyone using offensive or abusive language to Master or Officers will be fined 10/ — anyone found asleep or absent when on the lookout will be fined 5/ per offence.15
Such were the Articles of Agreement for the crew when the Wexford departed Dunkirk, France, on April 8, 1903, headed for Montreal, via London.
An interesting requirement, in handwritten notes on page one of the Agreement and Account of Crew for the trip was an employment guarantee for all crew members upon their arrival in Canada: “[O]n arrival at port of destination the crew agree to be discharged and reshipped on Canadian articles in the same capacities and at the current Canadian wages for any period not exceeding nine months terminating in Canada.”16
It was rumoured that she was in trouble and had to stop in at the Azores to take on fuel to ensure that she would arrive home securely. The two-masted schooner rig was still intact at this time, and she may have used her canvas as a power assist and to add stability on the huge ocean swells. In any event, a telegraph from Mr. Bassett to his wife, at Collingwood, Ontario, on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, confirmed that all was well, and she need not worry.
Again, according to The Collingwood Bulletin, May 14, 1903:
On Saturday, Mrs. Bassett received the following cablegram from her husband, Capt. W.J. Bassett, who is bringing out the steamer Wexford for the Western Lakes Steamship Company. — “Port Delgada, Azores — Have put in here today. Short of coal. Will leave after coaling. Strong gale with heavy sea.” The steamer was not in trouble as reported around town.
The rest of her transatlantic journey was uneventful, and she arrived in Montreal on May 4, 1903, spending two days there. She was discharged at this port by mutual consent, under seal of the Shipping Master’s Office, Montreal, signed by the vice consul.17
As noted by The Collingwood Bulletin of May 28, 1903:
Capt. W.J. Bassett arrived with the steamer Wexford at Father Point 18 on Wednesday last and at Montreal on Friday. The steamer had a full load of freight for Canadian ports. The Wexford was bought by the Western Steamship Company and was brought out by Capt. George Thomas. The steamer is schooner rigged and was built in 1883 in Sunderland. Subsequently, she was engaged in the British and French trade. She is of 1,340 tons register, 250 feet in length, 40 feet in breadth and 23 feet deep. She is fitted with a (3 cylinder, triple expansion) compound engine of 200 horsepower. The steamer will immediately engage in the freight business of the upper lakes.
Once on the lakes, her first cargo of inter-lake origin was unloaded at Goderich. On June 25, 1903, the Bulletin reported that: “The Western Steamship Company’s new steamer Wexford, Capt. W.J. Bassett, arrived at Goderich on Saturday with her first cargo from one lake port to another. The cargo consisted of grain taken aboard at Fort William.”
The Wexford is shown dockside at an unknown location. If a boat is unable to get dockage at the inner harbour piers near loading and unloading facilities, she was often forced to wait in the less protected outer harbour areas.
Courtesy of Ron Beaupre/ Library and Archives Canada, PA-213341.
When it became apparent that she required a major refitting, Bassett contracted for major works to be undertaken following her first season on the lakes. She was to be taken to the Collingwood Shipyards — ironically, the concept of which was conceived in 1882, at the same time as R.M. Hudson was engaged in planning discussions with the Doxford shipyards in Sunderland, to build the centre pilothouse freighter.
According to the Detroit Post and Tribune of May 2, 1882: “Collingwood has in contemplation the building of a dry dock and shipyard, and the council is prepared to submit a by-law granting a very liberal bonus to any person or persons who will undertake to build, equip and properly run said dry dock and shipyard.” Collingwood had become the key shipbuilding yard on the Canadian Upper Lakes, and remained the industry leader until its demise in the 1980s. The winter berthing yard for the Wexford was normally Collingwood Harbour.
The Wexford is shown at the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company Yards at the opening of navigation season in 1909. This overhead shot provides a clear image of the deck plan of the centre island ship design in the middle period of her tenure as a bulk freighter, carrying mostly cargoes of grain on the Great Lakes.
Courtesy of the Library and Archives Canada, C006-767.
The Wexford was placed in dry dock in 1904 for major restorative works and an extensive refitting at the Collingwood Shipyards. Her boilers and engine were replaced by the Collingwood Shipbuilding and Engine Company Limited, which won the contract for her boilers first, and then her engine. According to newspapers, a “gang of men are [sic] engaged in taking down the old engines and preparing for the removal of the boilers.”19 She had two new “Scotch” boilers installed and a triple expansion engine, made in Collingwood. While the engine was similar to other marine engines, it differed from the usual design in that the piston rod and crosshead were separate. The connecting rod had a wedge-type upper end — and the thrust block carried adjustable collars.
Following those upgrades, she routinely made passage from Thunder Bay, apparently unloading steel and reloading wheat at Fort William for the trip downbound to the elevators at the Port of Goderich. There remains the question as to whether she actually carried deck cargo, such as steel rails for the railroad industry. There are no available Canadian records for this cargo, but most American history sources cite that the Wexford carried steel rails as part of her circuit from Lake Superior through ports on Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, and the lower lakes. No documentation is provided for these claims. Her log for 1903 was thought to be available at the National Archives,20 but the document there makes no reference to cargo at all. The deck configuration does not seem to give credence to this claim. It is possible, according to Captain Bud, that she could have carried rails on her tween deck, in this case on the old main deck then below the newer spar deck, or indeed in the bottom of the main cargo holds if necessary to keep her centre of gravity low. If she did carry rails on her tween deck, this would have raised her centre of gravity, compounding any problem after storm ice accumulation. Perhaps we can rely on the word of her owner to settle the matter? During the Goderich Inquest, owner and manager of the Western Steamship Company, Captain J.W. Bassett, stated, “She has only carried two cargoes of ore, never any package freight and never carried deck loads.”21
This three-cylinder Doty engine is similar to a much larger triple-expansion