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CALVIN SHIPYARD Garden Island ON |
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Most recent update: September 9, 2017. |
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| A truly remarkable shipyard operated in the 19th century on Garden Island, in the St. Lawrence River, between Wolfe Island and Kingston ON. Known as the Calvin Shipyard, it was established by and for the Calvin Company, which was a major player in the Canadian timber industry. The driving forces behind this enterprise were its owner, Dileno Dexter Calvin, and the man who ran the yard for most of its existence, Henry Roney. Calvin leased 15 of the island's 65 acres in 1836, purchased this property in 1848, then bought the rest of the island in 1852. The Calvin Company shipped in logs and shipped out finished timber, becoming, in addition, merchants, wharfingers, freight carriers, salvagers, wreckers and shipbuilders. Calvin died in 1884 and under his son's management the business declined, being gone by 1914. At its peak, 750 people lived on Garden Island: today the number is a single digit - although many of the cottages built by D. D. Calvin for his employees survive as summer rentals - and the ferry service was cut off in 1976. See the island from the air on Google here. Calvin's shipyard is believed to have built at least 60 ships - he level-loaded the yard by committing to a construction rate of one ship a year - but the records are sparse: if anyone can add to the table below, please send your info to timcolton@aol.com | ||||||||
| Hull # | O.N. | Name | Owner | Type | GT | LBP | Built | Disposition |
| 115350 | Queen Victoria | J. Flood | Schooner | 133 | 95 | 1839 | Burnt 1883 | |
| Prince Edward | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1840 | City of Kingston 1847 | ||||
| Raftsman | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1840 | |||||
| Marion Cook | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1840 | |||||
| Minerva Cook | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1840 | |||||
| William Penn | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1840 | Wrecked 1856 | ||||
| Hannah Counter | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 136 | 91 | 1845 | Wrecked 1851 | ||
| Glasgow | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 116 | 90 | 1847 | |||
| Liverpool | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | ||||||
| Caroline | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1848 | |||||
| 113491 | Prescott | Hooker, Jacques & Co. | Steamer | 258 | 138 | 1849 | Scrapped 1870 | |
| Marion | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1849 | |||||
| London | Calvin Co Ltd | Brigantine | 1852 | |||||
| William Ford | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1853 | |||||
| Advance | Calvin Co Ltd | River Barge | 1854 | |||||
| Wellington | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1856 | Sank 1881 | ||||
| Hercules | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1858 | Burnt 1891 | ||||
| Mary Beck | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1858 | |||||
| 80878 | Southampton | Calvin Co Ltd | Barkentine | 1860 | Sank 1904 | |||
| 157177 | William | Calvin Co Ltd | Tug | 428 | 121 | 1860 | Scrapped 1878 | |
| Quebec | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1862 | |||||
| M. L. Breck | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1863 | Wrecked 1907 | ||||
| 13933 | John Bredin | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1863 | ||||
| Laura E. Calvin | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1863 | Sank 1869 | ||||
| MacDonald | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1865 | |||||
| Plymouth | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1866 | |||||
| John A. McDonald | Calvin Co Ltd | Large Tug | 1866 | |||||
| Henry Roney | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1868 | Lost 1879 | ||||
| Hiram Calvin | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1868 | Burnt 1895 | ||||
| Bella | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1870 | |||||
| Sweden | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1870 | Sank 1877 | ||||
| Cayuga | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1870 | |||||
| Oneida | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner/Barge | 1870 | |||||
| Onondaga | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1870 | |||||
| Jennie | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1871 | |||||
| 71177 | Seneca | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1871 | ||||
| Mohawk | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner/Barge | 1872 | |||||
| Norway | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1873 | Sank 1880 | ||||
| 71178 | Chieftain | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 485 | 137 | 1874 | Scrapped 1912 | |
| Siberia | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1874 | Sank 1883 | ||||
| Traveller | Calvin Co Ltd | Large Tug | 1875 | |||||
| Cherokee | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1876 | |||||
| Garden Island | Calvin Co Ltd | Bark | 169 | 1877 | Later Trio, wrecked in the UK 1907 | |||
| Bavaria | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 410 | 1878 | Wrecked off Cape Smith 1898 | |||
| William Johnston | Calvin Co Ltd | Tug | 1878 | |||||
| Prussia | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1879 | Later Cyrenian | ||||
| Hiawatha | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1881 | |||||
| Huron | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1881 | |||||
| 83298 | D. D. Calvin | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 750 | 166 | 1883 | Burnt at Garden Island 1910 | |
| 88571 | Dakota | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 535 | 170 | 1885 | Wrecked 1926 | |
| Denmark | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1888 | Wrecked | ||||
| Oriental | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1888 | |||||
| 92394 | Valencia | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1888 | ||||
| Ceylon | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1891 | Scrapped 1943 | ||||
| Lapwing | Calvin Co Ltd | Barge | 1892 | Sank 1932 | ||||
| 96919 | Augustus | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 1893 | ||||
| 100654 | Reginald | Calvin Co Ltd | Tug | 1894 | Burned 1941 | |||
| 100661 | Jack | Calvin Co Ltd | Steam Barge | 833 | 178 | 1895 | Bothnia 1896, lost in collision in St Clair River 1912 | |
| Parthia | Calvin Co Ltd | Tug | 1896 | Abandoned 1914 | ||||
| 107735 | India | Calvin Co Ltd | Steam Barge | 976 | 216 | 1899 | Burnt at St Mary's Island 1928 | |
| Frontenac | Calvin Co Ltd | Tug | 111 | 1901 | Lost 1929 | |||
| 111765 | Burma | Calvin Co Ltd | Schooner | 885 | 183 | 1901 | Foundered on Lake St. Peter 1929 | |
| 112144 | Simla | Calvin Co Ltd | Steamer | 1,490 | 226 | 1903 | Scuttled 1926, raised, rescuttled 1936 | |
| 117129 | Chieftain III | Calvin Co Ltd | Tug | 355 | 142 | 1906 | In collision and sank off St Antoine, Chicoutimi 1911 | |