Clinton News Record, 2016-07-13, Page 1010 News Record • Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Captain 'Louis' McLeod and the 'Helen McLeod 11'
When the 'Helen
Mcleod II' was
launched in the Bayfield River
on October 12,1926, she was
destined to be the last sailing
vessel built for the commercial
fisheries on the lakes. Yet, it was
her master and builder, Cap-
tain Lewis 'Louis' McLeod, that
would make the 'Helen
McLeod II' a legend as she
sailed into Great Lakes folklore.
The 'Helen McLeod'
replaced the first `Helen
McLeod' launched in 1887.
The original 'Helen McLeod'
was one of several boats built
for the Bayfield fishing fleet
by Captain Hugh McLeod
who descended from a long
line of seafarers who traced
their ancestry through the
Scottish Isles to the
Norsemen.
A devout Scots Presbyte-
rian, the elder Captain
McLeod and his wife, Anne,
reared five sons (one of whom
was killed in the Great War)
and four daughters. His sons
were all raised on Lake
Huron's waters. They leamed
from their father fishing, sea-
manship and boat building.
The McLeod built fishing
boats bore names like the
'King William; and the `Scarlet
Flag' bespoke their Protestant
Celtic roots.
One of Captain Hugh's sons
was Lewis `Louis' McLeod
born in January 1888. Having
grown up on Lake Huron,
Louis McLeod was inured to
the sailor's hardships of wind
and weather. In 1881, the
`Huron Expositor' described a
Huron History
Dave Yates
fisherman's life as one of early
mornings setting sail for the
reef twenty miles offshore let-
ting out and hauling in nets
with the day's catch before
returning home after dark The
fish were filleted, salted and
stored in barrels for market
Nets had to be mended and
reset before the daywas ended.
The 'Expositor' called it a life for
'wooden ships and iron men.'
By 1926, the 'Expositor'
reported that the old `Helen
McLeod' had 'weathered many
a gale' and was showing signs
of age and wear. She had 'wom
out five sets of sails and three
gasoline engines: On January 2,
1926, Jack and Louis McLeod
began the `Helen McLeod II'
construction with the help of
famed Goderich mariner Bert
McDonald.
A 1955 article in the 'Clin-
ton News Record' said that
she was built on one of
Goderich shipbuilder Henry
Marlton's patterns. Another
source, 'Motor Boating Maga-
zine' (1961) called her a
Mackinac -type fishing
schooner with a square cut
stem. However, local histo-
rian, Phil Gemeinhardt,
whose father helped con-
struct the 'Helen McLeod II,'
called her the last of the
'Huron boats.' Gemeinhardt
said that the square cut stem
accommodated the wider gill
nets used by lake fishermen.
At her launch on October
12, the 'Expositor' described
the `Helen McLeod II' as a
'trim and neat' vessel that
measured 36 feet long and 10
feet abeam. With two masts,
and an enclosed cabin, the
'Helen McLeod' was 'a home'
compared to the original
open topped 'Helen McLeod.'
She also had a modem gas-
oline engine and 'net lifting
machinery: She was capable
of carrying 5 tons of fish in her
hold. Bedecked in flags, pur-
ple heather and the McLeod
clan's tartan colours, the
'Helen McLeod II' was chris-
tened before a large crowd by
Dr. A. Newton -Brady.
For the next twenty years,
Captain Louis McLeod fished
Lake Huron's waters aboard
the `Helen McLeod II' Her
usual fish run was to Kettle
Point or to what local fisher-
men called 'the Reef' about
twenty miles off Bayfield's
shores.
By the 1920's, a commercial
sailing vessel was a rare sight.
Despite the marine engine,
the 'News Record' said Cap-
tain 'Louis never used the
motor power if he could use
the wind. He sailed for the
sheer joy of it and his beloved
craft responded to his touch:
McLeod was one of the last
true sailors. Aside from three
years of military service dur-
ing the Great War, he had
spent his entire life on the
lake. All three of his sons
served in the Royal Canadian
Capt. McLeod on the 'Helen McLeod 11' c. 1930.
Navy during the Second
World War.
The 'News -Record' recalled
that they realived in the navy
'how much Dad knew' about
seamanship. When his sons
'enthusiastically' told their
father what they had leamed
in the navy, Captain Louis
calmly answered 'Yes. If you
had listened to me, I could
have taught you all that."
The 'Helen McLeod II's
'square sails and well-bal-
anced canvas' made her an
excellent `heavy weather
boat: It was said that because
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o-zn -tom
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communities in this area.
Rex wishes Jason and Sarah along with all the staff the very best in the future!
Special thanks to all our customers over the years!
For continued electrical service 24/7 please call:
Goderich Electric Ltd: 519-524-2889 & Bayfield Electric: 519-525-0638
he understood the lake,
McLeod was never afraid and
`so if a vessel was in distress,
he went to the rescue,' accord-
ing to the 'News Record:
The year 1932 was 'a bad
year' for storms. The 'Helen
McLeod II' rescued four
Americans in a large canoe
off of Kettle Point. In Novem-
ber, 'Louis' went to the rescue
of his nephew in the 'Donald
Mac' during a ferocious gale.
High winds and heavy seas
snapped the tow cable six
times. After 12 hours battling
the elements, the 'Helen
McLeod II' brought the Don-
ald Mac's crew to safety of the
Bayfield harbour.
That same year, the 'Helen
McLeod II' saved the crew of
an American yacht that
`drifted helplessly' off of Drys-
dale who could not raise their
sails in the storm. One of the
rescued seamen asked Cap-
tain McLeod 'if the wind were
too high for those on board to
hoist their sails, how could
you use yours?' McLeod dryly
answered that 'they didn't
know how to sail:
In Apri11945, Captain
McLeod suffered a stroke
which ended his commercial
fishing days. Unfortunately,
the `Helen McLeod II'
Photo courtesy of the Bayfield Archives
suffered from neglect because
of her master's ill -health. The
'Helen McLeod II' was sold in
1950 to an American, Charles
Miller, who turned her over to
the Detroit Historical
Commission.
Much to the outrage of the
Bayfield and the McLeod
clan, she was re -named the
'Anna S. Piggott' in memory of
the wife of Grant Piggott who
was instrumental in the
'Helen McLeod II"s restora-
tion. Captain 'Louis' McLeod
died on August 13, 1960 and
was buried in the Bayfield
Cemetery.
In 1955, the rebuilt `Piggott'
was displayed at the Museum
of Great Lakes History on
Belle Isle. It then became a
U.S. Sea Scout training vessel
before it was sold into private
hands.
After having passed
through several owners, the
'Helen McLeod' reclaimed
her former name and,
according to former Bayfield
Historical Society President
Phil Gemeinhardt, was
retumed home in 1996. Cap-
tain McLeod may have
passed over the bar but his
boat 'the Helen McLeod' lives
in the hope of one day return-
ing to her home on the lake.
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