Clinton News Record, 2016-09-07, Page 88 News Record • Wednesday, September 7, 2016
The Canadian Hydrographic Service Vessels °Bayfield'
t was 'one of most exciting
days in Bayfield's history'
on July 25, 1981 when the
Canadian Survey Ship 'Bay-
field' made its first official
visit to the village that shared
her name, according to M .L.
Willock in 'The Village of
Bayfield History' (1985).
The CGS Bayfield was the
fourth, and last, Hydro-
graphic Survey Ship that
bore the name of Canada's
greatest marine surveyor.
The vital need for accurate
nautical charts was under-
scored on September 14,
1882 when the overcrowded
steamer 'Asia' foundered on
Georgian Bay with the loss
of over 100 lives.
In 1884, the Canadian
government purchased the
wooden screw tugboat
`Edsall, previously known as
the 'General U.S. Grant' and
renamed her 'H.M. Domin-
ion Surveying Steamer Bay-
field, according to Peter
Sturdy in `A Hole in the Wall.'
Captain John George
Boulton, a retired Royal
Naval officer with extensive
hydrographic experience in
South Africa, Australia and
Newfoundland, was given
command of the first Bay-
field. His was the daunting
task of charting 4,120 miles
of the Georgian Bay
coastline.
Coincidentally, Captain
Boulton mastered the
hydrographer's trade under
Admiral Bayfield and, in
1908, wrote a brief biogra-
phy of him.
During Bayfield's first sea-
son, Captain Boulton's crew
Huron History
Dave Yates
included Lieutenant William
Stewart was one of the first
graduates of the Kingston's
Royal Military College, and
legendary Great Lakes cap-
tain, Captain Alexander
McGregor of Goderich.
With a crew of 17 seamen
and surveyors, Boulton
found that 'with sacrifice to
his comfort,' the Bayfield was
as good as a 'larger and more
expensive vessel.' Using Kil-
larney as her base of opera-
tions, Bayfield began the
painstaking task of remaking
Lieutenant Henry Wolsey
Bayfield's original charts
from the 1820s.
Remarkable for the era,
Boulton was pleased to
report that 'in the whole five
months' he had 'not the
slightest suspicion of inso-
briety or disobedience
occurred' amongst the Bay -
field's crew.
For the next 19 seasons,
the Bayfield charted the
Canadian shore of all five of
the Great Lakes. Her bat-
tered hull endured storms,
groundings, heavy seas and
endless repairs.
Built in 1864, the Bayfield
was declared 'totally unfit'
for further service by Stewart
who now commanded the
vessel. Stewart warned that
unless 'a larger, stronger, and
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faster vessel' is commis-
sioned, 'the important work
will have to be abandoned:
The Bayfield continued in
service for another three
seasons. With battered hull
and worn out boiler, she was
finally retired at the 1902
season.
The Department of
Marine and Fisheries pur-
chased the steamer 'Lord
Stanley' in 1901 and
renamed her Bayfield II the
following year. Bayfield II
had a distinguished career
as a Great Lakes surveyves-
sel. Ruth Mckenzie in 'Admi-
ral Bayfield Pioneer Nautical
Surveyor' states that she
completed the Lake Supe-
rior Survey in 1909, and
between 1909 and 1915, she
re -charted Lake Ontario
from Hamilton Bay to Prince
Edward County.
In 1916, Bayfield II was
pressed into service in the
Royal Canadian Navy for the
war effort. Never officially
commissioned by the navy,
Bayfield II was used as a
supply vessel for the east
coast fleet. Her main arma-
ment was an ancient Gatling
gun purchased for the 1885
North West Rebellion.
Bayfield II resumed her
survey duties on Lake Supe-
rior in 1919. One of her tasks
was to discover the cause of
so many shipwrecks on the
lake. In particular, the loss of
three French naval mine-
sweepers with all hands lost
in November 13, 1918 was a
still a mystery.
In 1930, Bayfield II con-
firmed an earlier U.S. find-
ing that a veritable moun-
tain range lay just 6 metres
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Her Majesty's Dominion Surveying Steamer, 'Bayfield' c. 1890
below Superior's surface.
This ridge became known as
the `Superior Shoal' and was
determined to be the cause
of many maritime disasters.
Bayfield II found a 'grave-
yard' of lost hulls which
were cracked like eggshells
on the shoal's sharp ridge.
Despite efforts to blast the
shoal's peaks, the shoal still
remains but is now accu-
rately charted for navigation
thanks to the Bayfield II's
crew.
After 30 seasons, Bayfield
II was taken out of service in
1931. She was paid off in
1937 and converted into a
freighter in 1944. Mckenzie
records that she 'met a
watery death in a wreck off
the coast of Newfoundland
in 1949!
Bayfield III was
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Sept. 6 With Love
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A
commissioned into the
Canadian Hydrographic
Service in 1949. She was the
first vessel in Canada built
specifically as a nautical
chart maker.
More of a 'cabin cruiser'
than an open lakes vessel, the
small 49.5 foot vessel had
accommodation for shore
parties who charted the
extensive inland rivers and
waterways of the entire Cana-
dian Great Lakes watershed.
She was paid off in 1963.
In 1973, Environment
Canada purchased John
David Eaton's private yacht
Hildur and renamed her
Bayfield IV. Eaton, owner of
the Eaton's retail store
chain, purchased the 102.5
foot long vessel in 1960.
Not surprisingly, Bayfield
IV was the most luxurious
hydrographic vessel in the
Canadian fleet. Her teak
decks and furnishings with
spacious air-conditioned
galley must have been a wel-
come relief for her 15 mem-
ber crew of seamen and
scientists.
It was Bayfield TV that
made her first official visit to
the Village of Bayfield on July
Photo Courtesy of Bayfield Archives Room
25, 1981. Under the auspices
of the Bayfield Historical
Society, the village council
welcomed Captain J. Ber-
cham in full uniform ashore
near Tom Castle's shanty.
According to Willock,
crowds lined Pioneer Park and
the south pier to greet theirvil-
lage's namesake. A guard of
honour consisting of the Clin-
ton Legion Pipe Band, local
Boy Scout and Girl Guide
Troops was arranged on Clan-
gregor Square for Captain Ber-
cham's inspection followed by
an official luncheon in the
town hall.
Captain Bercham took the
salute in a sail past of 60
boats from the Bayfield
Yacht Club. The 'highlight'
for Willock was when 'Don
MacLeod's fish boat all
freshly painted and decked
in flags' motored past the
Bayfield IV in review order.
Never had Bayfield IV
received a more enthusiastic
welcome.
Bayfield IV was decom-
missioned in 1993. Today, no
other hydrographic vessel
bears the name of Canada's
most famous hydrographer,
Admiral Henry Bayfield.
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