HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-03-27, Page 9°butt
Big Bill Forrest dies
"The clan MacDonald of
mingham found 'them, "were
honest, sometimes a bit wild,
likable -almost lovable --and
men .one was proud to call
friends."
"Spike" Bermingham got
into the construction industry,
with hiS father and Big Bill
Forrest, as soon as he left
college. He gave distinguished
service in World War II, and
after the war, in 1947,
reorganized Bermingham
Construction, -now headed by
his son, William. -
Col. , Bermingham's notes
record a few of the many
stories told about "Reddy"
MacDonald, whose given
name, John, has almost been
, forgotten. In this ch4ter, also/
he pays a final tribute to Big
Bill Forrest.
felaVS:mher crew
had to find other employment well as her sails, She looked for
and were not long in getting all the world like a miniature of
o.,
Q .p
31De.0. 30957654
Public Library,.
52 Montreal St.,
Goderich, Ont • N7A 2G4
1
t.
•
128 YEAR - 3 THURSDAY, MAR,/cH 27, 1975 SECOND SECTION
Ashes'spread -in Hillsgreen ceme'tery
A great leader ot men is gone
breakwater for a 25 -cent- fee.
Bert was also a boat builder,
and since both his brothers,
Mac and Reddy, wanted to
become independent fisher-
men, Bert with the help of all
tlie brothers, built them each a
fishing boat during the winter _
months. The commercial
fishing was excellent between
1910 and 1920, before the
lamprey eels destroyed the
beautiful fresh -water salmOn
trout which abounded in the
lake, and had pink flesh,
delicious to eat. They brought
the higheet prices on the New
York market, where they were
shipped almost daily, packed in
ice.
MINIATURE AZOV
"Reddy, who 'had lived most
of his life 'in sail,' had his boat
built With a cliPper bow, two
maks and a stub of a bowsprit,
engine installed' beloW deck, as
established_ in other -means-of
livelihood. Captain John
became mate on the newly built
tug W.L. Forrest, and his son
. Paddy was officially captain of
the little harbor tug Edward
Blake, but as Paddy was also a
first-class ship's carpenter he
was .generally so employed,
and almost anyone who hap-
pened to be handy would take
the wheel of the 'Teddy,' -as she
was affectionately called.
"John's sop Bert became
harbormaster and • also -
established a soft drink and hot
dog concession on the south
pier, near the town bathing
beach. He rebuilt the Azov's
yawl which brought them all ,
across the lake, installed a
modern gasoline engine,
decked her in and used her as a
work l5oat, and to take perch
fishermen to and from the
the_old. cliooner, and was -just—
as seavvOrthy. She was decked
in solid; fore and aft; no cabin,
but a large hatch giving access •
to the engine, and she was
steered by a hand 'tiller in the
stern.
"Reddy shipped a crew of
two high school boys tb helP
yards of gill -nets which he set
daily, and he would go out in -
almost any weather, .though it
kept other fighermen ashore.
One day while he was out at his
fishing grounds, a gale from the
north. sprang up, and Teddy,
who usually returned to port
about 2 p.m., was,long overdue..
Fear' for his safety and that of
°the two boys ran high. Word
reached the town that he was
still out in the lake, and py 5;30.
an anxious crOwd had
assembled on the south pier,,
Where the fish shanty was
located. All eyes wefe scanning
the northwest horizon, and
finally, about 6;30 they spotted
the two masts, but little of the
hull, due to the size of the waves
and the northwest breakwater
blocking the view. Finally
Reddy's boat rounded the end
of the breakwater, with bare
,masts and only a small storm
jib set, and doing about 10 knots
'before the wind. There was no
sign of the two boys, but Reddy
was crouched in the stern, in
his oilskins and "sou -wester'
hat, with one leg and both
hands around the tiller,
"He brought the boat in to
within 100 feet of his moorings,
ran forward and dropped the
jib and* ,coasted into- his
COPYRIGHT
W.E. ELLIOTT
re d
bottle of whisky, and some '
glasses. Teddy sPotted the
bottle from the park across the
street, and also the fact that the '
telephone cable to, the Bell
Telephone office next door was
carried on poles only a few feet
from the open window. He
climbed the nearest pole on the
hand spikes, went hand -over-
hand along. the cable to the
window, reached out and
grabbed the bottle, tucked it in
his pocket and went , monkey
fashion to the next pole,
descended and yvas gone.
"Such-epiSodes often ended in
If appearing the next day in
agistrate's Court, where he
moorings headway. might be sentenced to from
Willing hands made fast the thirty to sixty days in jail.
mooring lines. The deck was "I visited hirn once during
loaded with boxes of fish, one such a' sojourn and asked:
'abbard7Wheii-all Was Secure -ReddS7? Ile said, "I Sure -hope
Reddy unfastened the locks. on they gdt anti -freeze in them
the hatch, lifted it and said, rad,iators, cause if they haven'A
fYou_can-come-out now' to the—theyll--bust-and-fl-ood-the-plaee—
wretched youths who had spent as sure as God made little
the whole of the voyage lying in apples. 'How is the food?' I
greasy bilgewater, one on each asked. 'Oh,' said Reddy,
side of the engine. Reddy had 'there's enough of it such as it
is, but the tea! You could see a,
nickel in the bottom of twenty
fathoms of the dammed stuff,
it's so weak.
ordered them there for their
own safety when the going got
tough, and sailed his boat in
alone.
, "Reddy worked several
times under Big Bill Forrest,
but he was never" much ,of a
hand at steady employment for .
someone else, unless as a sailor
at sea or on the lakes, where he
couldn't get ashore for a
session with John 'Barleycorn.
The ,story goes that one hot
summer night; very late, some
of the boys from the local banks
were having a poker 'game in
the rooms above one of the
banks. Being such a warm
night, they•had pulled the card
table over next to the open
window, on the sill of which
'There were several other
MacDonalds who wOrked
around the ,harbor, besides
Captahi John's immediate
family. They were mostly
cousins, or some relative. One
was ;Mutton MacDonald, who
was a derrick scow operatrl:
working for .0me in 'the early
1930s. Another was Angie
MacDonald, who was chief
engineer (there was only one)
on Bill Forrest's dredge -
tending tug Dorothy Mae. I
fact, there were so many
MacDonalds working around
the harbor at • one thing and
another, some wag expressed it
this way. *"If someone with a
foghorn voice like big Bill's
went down to the docks and
ye lied 1VIACDONALD ! there
would bea general stampede.
"Big Bill towed one of his
dredges, and "one dump scow,
from Goderich to. Oshawa in
1936. He sent the tug VV.L.
Forrest to do the lion's share of
the towing, and theThbrothy
Mae, much smaller, to fulfil the
insurance requirements that
two tugs should bp in at-
tendance in case of emergency,
and also .to take charge of the
single dump scow on which was
loaded the dipper arm, the two
spuds, and all spare gear, so as,
JighterOth&dredge- 11 -as-:
much as poSsible.
The Dorothy Mae was strictl
a harbor -tug -with -little- or no
accommodation aboard her for
double shifts of the crew, and
the voyage was made in fine
weather with little opportunity
for sleep for the crew. Upon
arrival at Oshawa, Bill turned
the Dorothy around and sent
her back to Goderich for the
other dump scow. Upon he
arrival at Goderich the cr
were pretty well "beat" ith
fatigue, but Bill's order were
to "coal -up" .and ge started
down the lake aga with .the
Second dump,sco
chief, wh hadn't lost his
Scottish accent, approached
*Bill an said, Bill, cood I have
twen -five dollars advance On
m monthly pay, as I left all
Bill asked 'What do you want
twenty - five dollars for?",
knoWing full well that a trip to
town and possibly the purchase
of a bottle or two was the real.
reason.
Angie said, "Well, ye see, I'm
all out of smoking tobacco, and
friends for a week now."
"Bill said, "What do you
smoke?". Angie replied "None
other than MacDonald's cut
plug". . Bill • reached for the
telephone, called Craigies
poolroom and smoke shop and
said '$end down twenty-five
dollarS 'worth of MacDonald's
cut pliig smoking tobacco right
away and I'll pay for it when it
gets here.' Angie said later, to
the rest of the crew, 'Good losh,
mon, I'll be .smokin' the do
stuff for the next twenty year
•
BIG BILL RETI
- "Bill Forre sold his
dredging plan oon after Dad
died, and ecause he' was
getting ol and feeble he went
back to his first farm (in
Tucker mith)' where his sisters
and is niece Margaret and her
s apping big husband, who
ow ran the farm, looked after
him.
"I used to visit with him when.
the opportunity offered, and at
Christmas in 1951 I took him
one of those giant -size bottles of
Scotch whiskey that hold four
ordinary bottles. , Bill was
delighted, and when he
broached it for the two of us he
said, 'Now that is what I call a
man-sized bottle 'of Scotch, and
I know there'll be a wee drappie
left for the morning.' But it
lasted a long time, as his heavy .
drinking days were over."
(In a will drawn eight years
before his death, Bill Forrest .
•
Q. shack, pro bly to fire
'someone e e, and when he '
returned found a newspaper
clippin pinned prominently to
the c tre of his desk. •
directed that his Wily. be
cremated and the ishes
deposited in Hillsgreen
cemetery, Stanley township.
An account in *the Huron
Expositor, Seaforth, on Sept.
19, 1052 is in part as follows: 'A
private service was held at the
home of his sister, Miss Alber
Forrest, Tuckersmith, an the
remains were taken ,to .St:
James' Crematorium, Toronto;
interment took lace in
Pallbearers • ere David
McLean, Jo C. Cochrane,
Seaforth;/ ale Pressey, St.
Thomas • Robert Williams,
7
God rich, and Col. C.J. Ber-
ngham, Ancaster. Rev, A.W.
ardiner, Egmondville, of -
Bermingham records in his
notes, "and -while he was'
dressed in his customary blue
flannel shirt and modest tie, I
felt it rather a shame that the
funeral clothes could not have
included his ' high Stetson hat
and his buffalo hide fur coat,
both of which Were a part of a
great individualist. ,
"He left me a legacy which
his. sister gave me . at .the
funeral service. . It Was a
framed document written by
Elbert Hubbard, signed by the
author, and it carried a story.
"During the conStruction of a
wharf in Morrisburg in 1919,
Bill became more and more
„frustrated by the availability,
or lack of it, of 'efficient labor
following World . War One.
There were three crews - one
coming, onp going , and one
working, and Bill kept cussing
and firing right and left. After
one Rich very voluble session,
Bill stormed out Ot the office
"It read: The man who Is
worthy of being a leader of men
will never complain of the
stupidity of his helpers, the
ingradtude of mankind, nor the
inappreciation of the publia.
These thhigs, are .all a part*
the great game of life, and to •
meet them and not go down
before them In -discouragement
and defeat is, the Final Proof of
Power.'
. "After Bill read it he told
'Dad, 'Mr. Bermingham, I
never got such a ticking -off in
my life.' He was. SQ iMPIT$Sed
Ahat: he' -wrote, the atithbt--and'
told ,him the circumstances
and received the Signed copy .
done in Old English print. I
have it now, hanging-below—
Bill's picture in my office as a .
reminder that I was privileged
great leader of men.'' .
KNEW BIG BILL'
Jack Videan, writing to say
he enjoyed this series, addS: "I
knew Bill Forresti-he had a,
turkey dinner for some of us
veterans when we returned
from overseas after the last
war. Joe Webb was .cook. I
don't reinember if the shack, aS •
he called it, was, still on the
island at that time or where it is
now. I visite& him at his farin,
near Seaforth in his later years
and his large living-iliom was
full of beautiful antiques,
lamps, dishes, silver, etc - and
a mahogany bar which was
once in the Ocean House at the
dock, when Babb was
proprietor."
11111111111111111111111111111
1111111111111111111111
otoy
4
Godellich HI arboi irt 1 9 I 6 inimimmillimmifi'iimminiiimillimmimailiiiiiimoniim,