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How Ice-Bound Strait Was Conquered. |
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Family
Herald and |
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The idea of maintaining transportation between Prince Edward Island and the mainland in winter must have teased the Indians long before the white man came. But to them it probably seemed impossibility. Those Micmacs who remained on the island during the winter were isolated by the Northumberland Strait in which the ice and the tides fought for mastery.
When the ambitious whiteman took up permanent residence on the island , however, he soon began to vex his restless soul with the problem of passing over to the mainland even when the Strait was filled with ice and water. The history of the whiteman's conquest of the Northumberland in winter falls naturally into four periods. From 1497 when the Island was discovered by Cabot, to 1775, there was only isolation. From 1775 to 1874, ice-boats were the method. From 1874 to 1917, ice-breaking steamers, and from 1917 to 1947, ice-breaking railway ferries.
When colonial government came in 1770, the first organized efforts to establish a winter mail service were made. They amounted to nothing until 1775, when Governor Patterson endeavored to persuade some men to attempt passage in a small canoe to Nova Scotia over the ice.
The attempt was made from the Wood Islands to the mainland of Nova Scotia, probably because Pictou Island in mid passage would offer a temporary refuge. That winter mail crossing was kept up for almost exactly half a century.
In Governor Ready's time a change was made in the route. In 1827 he inaugurated a new service between Capes Tormentine and Traverse, and for the first time ice-boats were used to maintain it. In the years that followed, the Traverse-Tormentine stretch became the center of many arguments concerning the best winter route. Certain facts were discovered at an early date.
The tides of the Atlantic coming in north of Cape Breton split at East Point and divide, rushing around the Island and meeting at and receding from Capes Tormentine-Traverse twice daily.The rising in-rushing tides, running three to four knots, force the 15 to 48 inch ice sheets together. When the tides ebb, the ice sheets are pulled apart, opening up lanes of water. The ice-boat evolved by Governor Ready was a hybrid contrivance, neither sleigh nor boat - which professed to float where there was water and skate where there was ice.
Ice-boats Help
It often took three and a half-hours to cross the Traverse-Tormentine stretch. Passengers paid two dollars and worked their way over, but if they wanted to sit in the ice-boat and do nothing the fare was four dollars. Ice-boats were the only means of transportation with the mainland until 1873. Even after that, whenever service by the federal ice-breakers failed, the ice-boat crews were called out to get the mails through.
In 1873 the islanders optimistically believed that all the hardship with ice-boats was about to end. The Island was ready to join the Dominion, and the federal commitment of "continuous steam communications between the Island and mainland, winter and summer" was written into the bond of the union.
Thus began the era of the ice-breakers. The first winter after signing the compact nothing at all was done. Then, in 1874, when the open season steamers were laid up for the winter, Sir John A. Macdonald put the S.S. Albert on the Georgetown-Pictou run. Described by contemporary critics as " a wooden hulk, light-powered, and entirely unsuited for such work", she was unable to cope with the ice conditions in the Strait.
The next step came in December 1876, when the 393 ton S.S. Northern Light, Canada's first ice-breaker, reached Charlottetown. Once again the Islanders' hope was kindled.
The S.S Northern Light proved of some utility, but she was quite incapable of surmounting the obstacles to navigation in mid-winter. She was laid up an average of 64 days each winter and at times was ice-bound for periods ranging from 10 to 24 days.
It was all very discouraging to the Islanders, and they finally concluded that even the S.S Northern Light was " Neither fitted nor suitable for keeping up continuous winter communications ". The model was bad, the construction faulty, the steam power insufficient. She could break only four inches of ice.
In 1884 a new note was sounded in the winter transportation problem. Senator G.W. Howlan proposed a tunnel under the Northumberland Strait in the Tormentine-Traverse stretch. Following it up, in 1886 Government engineers made a survey of the rock formation in the bottom of the Strait. The borings proved that such a project was technically possible, but nothing was done, through a second, confirming survey was made in 1887.
During the 1886-87 winter the S.S Neptune, a Newfoundland sealer, was chartered by the federal government to assist the S.S. Northern Light in maintaining communication, but on February 4 the conditions of the ice forced her to withdraw from service. The Dominion Government S.S. Landsdowne was also engaged for a short period in 1887 in the winter service but she, too, was found unsuitable and withdrawn. At the end of the winter of 1887-1888 the S.S Northern Light was declared to be too badly strained to undertake further winter service.
Fight Over Routes
While all this effort to construct and employ a successful icebreaker was going on, there was a running controversy over the best winter route for such vessels. The first icebreakers used the Georgetown-Pictou route, but in 1883 the Federal Government decided to make use of the Traverse-Tormentine tides. It built expensive piers at each cape, constructed a 12 mile line of railway from Cape Traverse to the main line, and subsidized branch line from Cape Tormentine to Sackville, 36 miles. The Northern Light, Neptune, and Lansdowne, all used this route at one time or another, but by 1888 the Traverse harbor had silted up beyond safety.
The Northern Light was followed by the S.S Stanley, built in 1888 in Scotland at Goban, on the Clyde, from plans for a Swedish boat running between Norway and Sweden. She was steel, 207 feet long, 914 tons, and began her career on the Georgetown-Pictou run.
But, alas for the fond hopes of the Islanders of those days, even the Stanley, specially built, was not all that could be desired. On some occasions she was in the ice-struggling to get free, for a week, for ten days, for even half a month. The heavy ice, driven by the northeast gales, could dent two inches deep in her steel sides.
In 1891 the tunnel idea popped up again, this time as a result of a detailed survey and report made by Sir Douglas Fox. He gave specifications and considered that a tunnel 18 feet in diameter could be built for $ 11,262,500. But again the project went no further than the plans.
In 1896 the S.S. Petrel was sent to test the Summerside-Tormentine route. She made only two trips and was found unfit for such a service. Meanwhile, the S.S. Minto was built in 1899 at Dundee. She was 225 feet long and 1,089 tons, an improvement in size and power over the Stanley. She could cut through 11 inches of ice. However, the advice of Benjamin Davies was not taken.
On May 2, 1899, Davies of Charlottetown, who had been following the
successes of the railway ferries in the Mackimac Strait in Lake
Michigan, had presented a petition to the House of Assembly, in which
he proposed that " the new ice boat shall be so constructed as
to be able to take a train of railway carriages on her deck and carry
same across the Strait".
With the arrival of the S.S. Minto and the use of two icebreakers, the controversy concerning the winter route to use broke out afresh. It extended through the 1900-1917 period, and was not finally settled until the icebreakers were replaced by railway ferries. During the 1900-08 part of it, the Stanley and the Minto used various routes - Georgetown-Pictou, Charlottetown-Pictou, Summerside-Tormentine - but not always without trouble.
In the 1902-03 winter the Stanley, on the Summerside-Tormentine route, got stuck in the ice and the Minto broke her propeller trying to rescue her. Three hundred men finally had to cut the Stanley loose. There was still worse trouble in the hard winter of 1904-05. From January 23 to March 23 the ice held both boats imprisoned, while 500 cars of supplies were tied up at Tormentine and 3,000 bags of mail accumulated at Tormentine and Pictou. Emergency ice-boats tried vainly to cope with the mail.
Because of this experience the tunnel idea got another flurry on March 11, 1905, when a provincial resolution called upon the federal government to " fulfill the terms of the union forthwith by causing a tunnel to be constructed at the earliest possible moment". And, in case that wouldn't work, in the April 11, 1905, issue of the Charlottetown Guardian George E. Full proposed that the projected third winter steamer should be a " powerful ice-breaker with rails on her deck and accommodations for 15 to 20 railway cars of 20-ton capacity".
Again the Federal Government strangely ignored the pleas of the Islanders. On March 19, 1908, the Summerside Patriot carried a news story, the heading of which was " New Ice Breaking Steamer Is of Enormous Strength and Great Power, and Equipped to Meet the Demands of the Winter Service Across the Strait". But this steamer, the Earl Grey, which was delivered in 1909, was not equipped to carry railway cars.
The Stanley was taken off the service with the arrival of the S.S Earl Grey. However, produce still had to be shipped by rail to Pictou or Tormentine, trans-shipped to the steamers, carried across the Strait of Northumberland, and, if for other cities than where the steamers were landing, trans-shipped back to Island narrow-gauge railway cars.
Disappointed but not discouraged at the lack of a railway ferry, the Islanders continued to campaign. On June 23, 1910, the Patriot pointed out that " the supplying of a car ferry across the Strait of Canso whereby the people of Cape Breton are given continuous haul rates, shows how much better that Island is treated than Prince Edward Island". Moreover, up to this time, the same company did not operate the winter steamers and the summer steamers. This always meant a seasonal change and its attendant difficulties.
The campaign continued, with many meetings throughout the Island, during 1910 and 1911. The federal election of that autumn, and the provincial elections slated for the next year, added to the liveliness of the drive by the Islanders for a railway ferry. On September 11, 1911, Robert Borden, leader of the Conservative Opposition in the House of - Commons, spoke to a Charlottetown audience. He specifically promised either a tunnel or a car ferry, if he won his election.
On December 28, 1911, in a letter to A. A. Mclean, M.P., of Charlottetown, Robert Borden redeemed his promise. He wrote: " The Government has determined to undertake the establishment of a Government ferry service between the Island and the mainland. This will involve changing from narrow to standard gauge on the Island railway."
In a February 14, 1912, dispatch from Ottawa, Islanders were informed that the Federal Government would spend $ 1,304,000 improving the Island transportation system. This included $ 450,000 for a car ferry and 400,000 for enlarging the gauge of the P.E.I. railway.
In December 1915, the S.S. Prince Edward Island, capable of carrying 12 railway cars and 40 automobiles, was finally delivered. During the 1915-16 and 1916-17 winters it was operated on the Charlottetown-Pictou route.
In those two years the New Brunswick - Prince Edward Island terminals were made ready. The Tormentine - Traverse route had won out, slightly modified. At Carleton Head, two miles west of Traverse, a new port was built. It was called Borden, in honor of the man who redeemed the promise of the Fathers of Confederation and bestowed upon the Island a regular winter - summer communication with the mainland.
Up to 1919 standard gauge cars were brought to Borden by the railway ferry where they were placed on a siding and the freight transferred to the narrow gauge cars. On September 14 , 1919, the standard gauge line between Borden and Charlottetown was completed. The entire Island railway standardization was finally finished in September 1930. The dream of the Islanders, begun two generations before, had come true.
In 1921 the Federal Government acquired a second railway ferry of 16 - car capacity, the S.S. Charlottetown, which took up the regular schedule, with the Prince Edward Island serving as a spare. It had a separate deck for 41 automobiles.
In June 1941 the Charlottetown, while proceeding to Saint John for docking and general overhaul, grounded on a reef and sank.
The 26-year-old Prince Edward Island was immediately returned to full service, and has carried on valiantly, though not without difficulty. During the past few winters she has been forced to lay up several times for two or three day periods to repair damage caused by breaking heavy ice.
Since the Prince Edward Island took over from
the Charlottetown, many improvements have been made in her, including
a new cabin over the auto deck. Conversion from coal to oil burning
was commenced in 1942 and completed in 1944. During 1945 a lounge for
passengers was provided and two 7,000-gallon emergency tanks
installed. In 1946 radar equipment was added experimentally.
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© Paul Beesley |
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