Safe Passage: Aids to Navigation on the St. Lawrence

Introduction:

François Cartier, McCord Museum, 2003

Quintessential symbols of the romance of the sea, solitary guardians of our coasts, towers standing firm against salt-bearing winds -- lighthouses have always captured our imagination. Whether depicted in popular art or in written accounts of tragic shipwrecks and heroic battles against cruel seas, lighthouses are objects of curiosity and fascination.

Yet hidden behind the idyllic image lies a practical reality. Lighthouses and a whole range of navigation aids are designed to facilitate the transporting of people and goods by water. Long before the advent of trains and automobiles, sailing ships and later steamboats were the main means of transportation. In the 19th century, they carried many thousands of immigrants inland to the heart of this country-Canada-and many millions of bushels of Western grain on the way to European markets. Ships were an essential mode of transportation in Canada, and one of the keys to its future economic growth.

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Inland Navigation in Canada in the 19th Century
The Golden Age of Shipping
The 19th century witnessed major changes in the Canadian navigation system, in particular, along the Laurentian shipping route. Some historians even call the period "the golden age of shipping." From the early years of wooden rafts and single-sailed Durham boats navigating the shoals and rapids of Canada's rivers, the century saw the arrival, in its waning years, of the era of steamboats. These modern ships, including the famous canallers, travelled the inland waterways transporting people and goods until the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959.

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Description:

This view, executed near the first lock of the Lachine Canal, looks north-east into the harbour. The small building to the left of the lock served as quarters for the men who operated the floodgates. In 1844, the canal had undergone further enlargement to accommodate bigger vessels, and by 1850 - the time this watercolour was executed - the port of Montreal was receiving 222 vessels per season and the tonnage had increased to 46,000 tons. The canal was also a popular site for leisure activities. A young boy can be seen fishing from the top of the floodgate while other figures observe the scenery from the banks. Although the work is not signed, comparison of the inscription with those on other works known to be by Duncan shows it to be in the artist's hand. The people depicted in the work are also typical of this artist's handling of the human figure.

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The Age of Canals
Because of the rapid increase in river transportation in the 19th century, British colonial officials (and later the Canadian government) authorized a number of modifications to the navigation system, in particular, the construction of several canals and locks. The middle decades of the 19th century became known as the "age of canals."

Massive engineering projects such as the widening of the Lachine Canal (1843-1848) and the construction of the Beauharnois Canal (1842-1845) were needed so that the new steamboats could use the system. These large-scale improvements tended to overshadow smaller but equally important ones, however: the development of an efficient system of navigation aids, in particular, the construction of more lighthouses of various types.

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Reasons for the Increase in Maritime Traffic
Immigration
There were thousands of new arrivals to the Upper St. Lawrence and Great Lakes regions during the 19th century. Whether Loyalists escaping the United States, immigrants from Europe, or Canadians in search of new lands, their presence changed the nature and the volume of maritime traffic on the St. Lawrence. Between 1818 and 1825, for example, approximately 5000 tons of merchandise were shipped upriver to the Great Lakes each year. By 1832, that rate had increased to 21,000 tons. That year alone, 52,000 immigrants landed in the major ports of the St. Lawrence.

The new colonists needed a variety of goods to survive: food, clothing, farming equipment, stoves, hardware, etc. For a number of intermediaries, especially insurance companies, the increase in cargo hauling meant a commercial boom.

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Shipping
Although the quantity of merchandise carried upriver increased throughout the 19th century, the flow of goods in the other direction was actually more important to Canadians. In 1832, 66 000 tons of goods were being shipped annually from the Great Lakes region to Montreal, including 92 000 barrels of flour and 300 000 bushels of wheat. During the 19th century, grain was second only to coal in terms of the quantity shipped. The products from the West were usually carried by barge or schooner to Montreal or Quebec City, before being loaded into oceangoing ships for transport to the ports of Europe.

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Strategic Considerations
The main impetuses in the development of Canadian shipping routes in the 19th century were economic and social. But there was another important reason: fear among the Imperial powers in London of the American threat. On two previous occasions (during the American Revolution of 1775 and the War of 1812) the Americans had compromised the safety of the St. Lawrence navigation routes and revealed the weaknesses of the network.

Aware of this strategic liability, in 1817 British authorities started work on improving inland shipping in Canada, in particular the Ottawa River route and the Rideau Canal. The largest public works projects were launched, however, after 1840 and the Act of Union. The Act opened the way for local authorities to borrow large sums of money in London and thus to finance such undertakings.

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Consequences of the Increase in Maritime Traffic
New Business Opportunities
Numerous shipping companies were founded during the middle decades of the 19th century, and a variety of factors came together to ensure their success. The harbour at Quebec City had become a major destination for oceangoing ships. There was therefore a need for fleets of smaller boats to carry the offloaded merchandise and passengers to Montreal. Competition in shipping on the St. Lawrence was fierce, with every company trying to outdo the others in terms of safety and efficiency.

One of the best-known shipping companies on the St. Lawrence was the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, itself the product of the amalgamation of two smaller firms. Its first president was the celebrated captain of industry, Sir Hugh Allan.

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The Buoy System
The annual report of the Minister of Public Works for 1846 discussed the need to improve the buoy system in the St. Lawrence River.

That report was based on information gathered by Captain John S. McIntyre. Appointed by the Canadian government to examine the existing navigation system, McIntyre reported that when the canals downstream from Kingston were completed (the ones at Williamsburg, Cornwall, etc.) there would be an increase on the river of ships drawing more than 2 metres of water (maximum capacity had been 1.2 to 1.5 metres). According to McIntyre, however, few pilots had the ability to safely navigate larger ships on the river. He recommended that "navigation lights and markers" be installed to clearly indicate the channels, especially at night. Such improvements were, he said, "of the utmost importance" to facilitate the transport of Western goods in the St. Lawrence River system and to compete with the American route (along the Erie Canal, from Buffalo to Albany).

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Lobbies
By the 1850s, the pressure on the government to improve the navigation signals on the St. Lawrence River had mounted. A powerful group of shipowners in the new Province of Canada joined with colonial authorities in London to lobby for the upgrading. In a letter dated April 13, 1847, the secretary of the Board of Commissioners for the Department of Public Works called for the completion within one year of work on the Upper St. Lawrence section. The work was all the more urgent, he stated, because several businessmen were making plans to transport flour and other products from Lake Ontario to Lachine in boats that drew too much water for the existing canals.

Finally, he requested immediate permission from the government to install lighthouses. The request must have been granted because the official report for 1855 describes the Thousand Islands region as being "lit up like a street."

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Administration: The Decision Makers
Trinity House
The first Trinity House opened in Quebec City in 1805. Twenty-five years later, an affiliate opened in Montreal. Modelled on the British organization founded in 1512, Trinity House was authorized to improve the efficiency and safety of shipping traffic on the St. Lawrence. Its work included installing lighthouses and navigation aids as well as removing obstacles such as sandbars.

The two Trinity Houses in Lower Canada were modelled on the British organization: they assisted the Admiralty, the Imperial board of trade and the various lighthouse commissions in the maritimes. Responsible for all of the lighthouses downriver from Montreal, they operated up until Confederation.

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Government Services
The lighthouses in Upper Canada were administered by commissioners with direct ties to the governor's office and to the inspector of lighthouses, who himself reported to the City of Toronto administration. After the Act of Union in 1840, the lighthouses of Upper Canada were placed under the authority of the Board of Works of the Province of Canada.

Together, the Trinity Houses and Board of Works officials ensured that the St. Lawrence was a safe and well marked waterway, as shown by the number of lighthouses in service by 1867:

- From the Strait of Belle Isle to Quebec City: 24 lighthouses
- From Quebec City to Montreal: 27 lighthouses
- Upriver from Montreal: 80 lighthouses

The various groups amalgamated after Confederation to create the Department of Marine and Fisheries, which, in the 1870s, took on the management of navigation aids in Canada.

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Lighthouses and Their Role
Terminology
What is a lighthouse? Are all lighthouses the same? The Oxford Canadian Dictionary describes a lighthouse as: "a tower or other structure containing a beacon light to warn or guide ships." Webster's Collegiate provides slightly more detail: "a structure (as a tower) with a powerful light that gives a continuous or intermittent signal to navigators."

Lighthouses are made up of four main components:

1. a base that is raised above sea level by some means. The structure may be a tower located on a cliff, hilltop, island, etc., and it may be built of different materials such as wood, metal, stone;

2. an electric or gas lamp, that is, a source of light;

3. an optical system (reflectors or lenses) to intensify the light and direct it toward the horizon;

4. a lantern or enclosure to protect the lamp and the optical equipment from the ravages of the weather.

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Categories of Lighthouses
Lighthouses in Canada generally fall into one of four categories:

1. landfall lights, which mark the entry to shipping lanes and are equipped with very powerful lights. Generally used offshore, they are the first points of reference for ships entering and leaving the navigation system.

2. major coastal lights, which mark the entry to major harbours or the mouths of principal rivers. Their lights are powerful, but less so than those in landfall lights.

3. secondary coastal lights, which mark navigable waterways or shoals (like shallow water or sandbars) and are installed on points, wharfs and jetties, or on the shoal itself.

4. harbour entry lighthouses, which indicate where to enter a port facility.

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Large Lighthouses
The largest and best known lighthouses are the landfall and major coastal lights. One example is the lighthouse at Cap-des-Rosiers, on the Gaspé coast. Thirty-four metres high, it was one of the "Imperial Towers" built with British assistance in 1858. Then there are the tall stone lighthouses found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, such as the one at Pointe-des-Monts. It was 27.5 metres high and had a base 2 metres thick. This type of lighthouse was usually a circular or octagonal tower made of stone, concrete or wood. Its lamps could be seen from far away (30 kilometres or more).

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Smaller Structures
Secondary coastal and habour lighthouses are smaller in size and were usually built of wood, which was plentiful and inexpensive during the 19th century. The exterior surface was often covered with cedar strips. These little tapered lighthouses, found up and down the shores of major rivers and inland waterways as well as at harbour entranceways, were known as "pepper-shaker lights." They generally ranged in height from 9 to 14 metres, including the observation deck and the lantern-a glass enclosure to protect the optical equipment.

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Architecture: Variety of Shapes
According to official reports and lists published just before Confedation, small wood and stone lighthouses dotted the shores of the St. Lawrence River.

Lighthouses that indicated a harbour entrance or its wharf were sometimes built on existing structures. That is, the lantern would be built right on the roof of a building on shore.

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The Lighthouse at Pointe-au-Beaudet
Located on the south shore of Lake St. Francis near the Quebec-Ontario border, the Pointe-au-Beaudet (or McGee Point) Lighthouse is a typical example of a small shore-based lighthouse. Built in 1847, it is a square wooden building 7.3 metres high. Topped by a glass circular lantern that projects a fixed white light up to 16 kilometres away, the tower sits on a small parcel of land that was expropriated by the government. The keeper was a Scottish immigrant by the name of Alexander MacDonald who at the time earned 35 pounds a year.

This lighthouse, which marked the Lake St. Francis channel, was an important component of the Laurentian navigation system. Destroyed by fire in 1877, it was rebuilt the following year and served faithfully until the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, when more modern navigation lights were installed.

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Other Navigation Signals
Fog Signals
Because the St. Lawrence is often foggy, there was a need for sound-based navigation aids. It's well known that sound carries far over water, even though its point of origin is sometimes hard to determine.

Canadian lighthouses, at least those in the 19th century, used a variety of sound-making devices, including bells and even canons (filled with a blank charge). But officials favoured fog alarms (foghorns): they were less dangerous and more efficient. Before the advent of electricity, foghorns were driven by steam, and the siren and compressor were usually located in a building beside the lighthouse. This type of aid was most common in the Lower St. Lawrence region, at large lighthouses such as the ones at Belle Isle and Pointe-au-Père (Father Point).

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Lightships
There were more than a dozen lightships in Canada in 1867. Lightships were former wooden ships rebuilt to hold a beacon light. Most were located in the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Some had bells and foghorns. Because they were moveable, they could be anchored in either shallow water, to indicate danger, or deeper water, to mark a passageway.

Life aboard these stationary ships was hard for crew members, mainly because of the vessel's constant pitching, which in very bad weather could affect even seasoned sailors. After the storm, and the return of calmer waters, the crew still had to deal with the boredom and routine of shipboard life.

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Lighting Systems
Combustible Materials
In the middle of the 19th century, the lighthouses that marked the St. Lawrence were equipped with oil lamps. These burned whale oil, which was becoming more and more expensive because of shortages due to the overharvesting of whales. The government therefore decided in 1860 to convert to kerosene, which was less expensive and more efficient. Pilots in the Upper St. Lawrence, according to a government report, had great praise for kerosene lamps. And by 1866, expenditures on whale oil for lighthouses had fallen to zero, while that on kerosene had risen to $3472.43.

The original kerosene lamps were quite similar to the ones that were still in use in the early 20th century. For example, the controller for the lighthouses downstream from Montreal indicated in his 1876 report that the Pointe-au-Beaudet Lighthouse (on Lake St. Francis) was equipped with "two large flat-wicked lamps."

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Optical Systems
All lighthouses are equipped with optical reflectors that concentrate the light from the lamp in a high-intensity beam. In the earliest lamps the reflector was a parabolic mirror placed right behind it. Catatropic reflectors (from the Greek katoptron, meaning "mirror") could magnify lamplight seven-fold. These inexpensive mirror reflectors were used in Canadian lighthouses until the early 20th century.

They were gradually replaced by lens reflectors called dioptric reflectors (from the Greek dioptrikê, meaning "to see through"). They use lenses and prisms to intensify a light beam and are even more effective than catoptric reflectors.

Both systems were, however, fragile. One of the first duties of lighthouse keepers in the morning was to protect the reflector or lens from the sun's rays by drawing a curtain over it, as can be seen in this photograph of the lighthouse at Matane.

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Buoys
In addition to their use in lighthouses, gas lamps were used in many of the bouys marking the channels of the St. Lawrence River. Early bouys were made of wood, but by the middle of the 19th century these had been replaced by small metal bouys that burned compressed gas. Gas buoys were small, and to reduce the frequency with which they had to be serviced, a highly compressible gas was needed. Through experimentation scientists discovered that acetylene fit the bill; acetylene could be stored under pressures of 9 to 10 atmospheres.

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Caring for Lighthouses
Tender Ships
The use of gas of different types in buoys and lighthouses required that the lamps be serviced on a regular basis. Government ships such as this one were used for that purpose. The Scout was built in Cardinal, Ontario, and serviced the navigation aids on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Kingston.

In 1906, a terrible tragedy occurred on the Scout. Three buoys on its deck were being refilled with acetylene when they exploded, killing three crew members and the captain. The ship was, however, repaired and it served until 1934.

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Multi-purpose Ships
In addition to buoy tenders, the government operated several other types of ship whose purpose was to improve the safety of navigatation on the St. Lawrence River. Its tugboat service, for example, towed sailing ships on the river and generally served to improve maritime transport.

In the summer of 1854, three paddle wheel steamboats, the Doris, the Advance and the Admiral, were chartered by the Department of Public Transport to assist merchant ships (at the time, mainly sailing vessels) to negotiate the St. Lawrence. These steamers and their successors were put into service in response to the demands of shipowners, who had seen steep increases in the cost of insurance because of the frequent accidents on the river.

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Icebreakers
Ice has always been an obstacle to travel on the St. Lawrence. In addition to ice formation in winter, there is the problem of the spring break-up, which can damage ships and cause ice jams and flooding.

To ensure safe navigation, the government has long used ships to break ice in winter and run numerous maintenance and provisioning duties in summer (to help defray their cost).

In Canada the first icebreakers went into service in the early 20th century, where they plied ice-prone waters from November until May.

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River Dredges
The St. Lawrence River is known for its sandbars, its winding course and its strong currents. Sailors have to be very watchful when navigating it. The river even caught the skilled sailor Jacques Cartier; his ship went aground in low water in Lac St. Pierre in the 16th century. By the 19th century pressure on the government to ensure that ships could safely enter and leave harbours such as the one at Montreal had reached a pitch, and in 1844 it ordered the dredging of a channel in Lac St. Pierre. The resulting channel measured 3 metres at its deepest point, followed a gradual curve and was marked by several lighthouses.

Lack of funding slowed down dredging operations in the river until 1865 and the start of a major project. That project was financed by the government through borrowing and the levying of a ship tax (based on tonnage) A channel more than 90 metres wide and 6 metres deep was dug by an armada of dredges, built by a shipyard in Sorel, Quebec.

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Lighthouse Keepers
Although lighthouse keepers were not well paid, they did earn a regular salary, so being named a lighthouse keeper was considered a stroke of luck, especially considering the qualifications needed: "have good eyesight, good morals, know how to read and write, and have a good knowledge of basic arithmetic."

It was nonetheless a hard job; caring for a lighthouse and its optical equipment required skill and diligence. The main duty of the lighthouse keeper was to stand guard throughout the night-to make sure that the lamp burned brightly and never went out. The keeper was often alone while keeping vigil, but his family helped with the other duties in running the lighthouse. The keeper and his family usuallly lived in a cottage attached to the lighthouse.

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Conclusion:

The construction in the 19th century of lighthouses and other navigation aids along Canada's sea coasts, rivers and lakes was an important step in the country's national development. The shipping industry expanded rapidly during that period in part because of the improved safety of navigation in Canadian waters. Government officials in both Upper and Lower Canada, and then in the Province of Canada and the Dominion, invested a great deal of money and energy in creating, marking and maintaining the navigable waterways. Their work constitutes a lasting legacy in Canadian maritime history.

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