Pictou Shipyard

Launching of S.S. Ashby Park at the Pictou Shipyard in 1944

The Pictou Shipyard is a Canadian shipbuilding site located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada and made famous by its use as an emergency shipbuilding facility in World War Two where it constructed twenty-four 4,700 ton Scandinavian class freighters.^[1] At its current site it was founded as The Pictou Iron Foundry in 1856 by William Henry Davies ^[2] and through many business booms and busts as well as several changes of ownership it continues to operate today under the ownership of Aecon Atlantic Industrial Inc.^[3]

Early Shipbuilding and Repairs

Although the official founding by W. H. Davies occurred not until 1856, Pictou’s ship registry began in 1840.^[4] Shipbuilding and ship repair began in Pictou in various places near the town a few years after settlement in 1773 via the Hector, with the first cargo of squared timber leaving Pictou in 1774.^[5] Other than the current site itself, the most significant site in the shipbuilding industry was located on Windmill Point where Captain William Lowden first settled in 1788. He eventually moved into the town of Pictou and continued his ship work. Captain Lowden is traditionally considered to be the father of shipbuilding in Pictou County as he was made famous by his construction of the Harriet built in 1798. At 600 tons she was built with room for twenty-four guns and was supposed to be the largest and finest ship built in the province at that time. He was not the first builder however as there is a record of a small one-mast vessel being launched in Pictou Harbour in 1788 by Thomas Copeland, and the county’s first schooner named the Anne was built in 1788 at Merigomish, Nova Scotia.^[6] Shipbuilding and work continued throughout the early 1800s’. Before the age of steam the types of ships built were schooners, brigs, and brigantines, barques and barquentines and full rigged ships.^[7] Most notably was the yard’s work on the SS Royal William on her fully steam powered voyage across the Atlantic.^[8]

A Foundry in Pictou

W. H. Davies who left the Albion Iron Foundry in 1854, completed and managed his own foundry on the Pictou waterfront in 1856. William H. Davies’ sons George and Charles, carried on the foundry’s operation until the late 1800s until they sold it to Joseph Robb and Douglas Hannon. In 1906 Allan A. Ferguson bought out the interests of Robb and the business was renamed to the Pictou Foundry and Machine Company. In 1910 Douglas Hannon died and Allan A. Ferguson became the sole owner and head of the business.^[9]

Ferguson Ownership

During his twenty-five years of management of the foundry, it was diversified and expanded the operation of machine, moulding, boiler, carpenter and pattern works. This allowed for the lease of machine shop facilities to early auto-mobile mechanics. During 1913 the plant was equipped with electromotive power and was the first in the area to change from steam. After the outbreak of the Great War the company participated in the war effort and machine finished thousands of shells forged in Trenton, Nova Scotia. Once the war was over and peace was enjoyed for another two decades, the primary work for the Pictou Foundry and Machine Company was both steel and wooden ship and dredge repairs.^[10]

Allan A. Ferguson died 1932, and the business was then taken over by Allan A. Ferguson’s eldest son, Robert A. Ferguson and upon the outbreak of war was joined by his three brothers Allan A. Ferguson Junior, Thomas Ferguson and James Ferguson. Before World War Two there had not been a ship launched in Pictou in since the barque Orquell in 1879.^[11][12]

Pictou County Park Ships of the Second World War

Britain had been at war for less than a year when it was realized that Germany was destroying their merchant ships faster than they could reproduce them. Due to Britain’s focus on the production of its own naval ships, it did not have the capacity to keep up with merchant vessel losses. This led to a British shipbuilding commission arriving in North America in October 1940 looking for help to supply the much needed transport. The commission found the help they were looking for, and the Canadian government was charged with the immediate construction of twenty-six 10,000 ton cargo ships for Britain. At the same time Canada decided to build more ships for its own benefit. It was some of these additional ships that would be built as Park ships in Pictou. A totally of twenty-four 4,700 ton Scandinavian class freighters would eventually be built, but not before major preparation and expansion measures were completed to the yard and town to accommodate the new booming business.^[13]

When the good news hit Pictou on October 9, 1941, the Pictou shipyard consisted of a marine slip with refit and repair capability. Major changes thus had to be made, launch ways had to be built, and more space had to be created. To create more space, the landmark of Battery Hill, Pictou, Nova Scotia was bulldozed to make room for the new yard. Along with the new developments, the new yard was taken over by Foundation Maritime Shipbuilding Limited. This allowed for the Ferguson brothers to retain the operations of the original marine slip and carry out repairs and refits to naval vessels. The first ship of the twenty-four ships built was the S.S. Victoria Park. It was launched on October 22, 1942, twenty-three in all would follow.^[14]

After World War Two to Present

With the twenty-four Park Ships built and the war over, Foundation Maritime Limited closed the shipyard and the equipment was sold. Convinced that shipbuilding could be a viable industry in Pictou, the Ferguson brothers, with the support of the Nova Scotia government took over the shipyard building and re-equipped the yard. Although the senior brother Robert A. Ferguson died in 1942, the brothers continued the firm and incorporated as Ferguson Industries Ltd., and gained official ownership of the entire yard. Therefore after the Second World War the Fergusons continued operations in Pictou, building 107 steel ships in the post-World War Two years, which included barges, trawlers, and ferry boats. The Ferguson’s ownership lasted until 1984 when the firm faced bankruptcy and entered receivership.

Park Ships Built in Pictou

1. S.S. Victoria Park
2. S.S. Camp Debert/Crescent Park
3. S.S. Camp Aldershot/Rockcliffe Park
4. S.S. Camp Petawawa/Montmorency Park
5. S.S. Kensington Park
6. S.S. Manitou Park
7. S.S. Woodland Park
8. S.S. Ainslie Park
9. S.S. Hector Park/Camp Debert
10. S.S. Chignecto Park
11. S.S. Camp Petawawa/Beresford Park
12. S.S. Camp Sussex/Avondale Park
13. S.S. Confederation Park
14. S.S. Cataraqui Park
15. S.S. Galt Park/Kelowna Park
16. S.S. Taber Park
17. S.S. Parkdale Park/Liscomb Park
18. S.S. Wentworth Park
19. S.S. Sunset Park
20. S.S. Ashby Park
21. S.S. Evangeline Park
22. S.S. Mulgrave Park
23. S.S. Sutherland Park
24. S.S. Lorne Park^[15]

References