The schooner barge David Andrews (1872)

General

Port of Picton Registry, Number 4 of 1875 :

See also the entry for the Schooner barge David Andrews in our Ships Database.

Despite the registry entry stating that the David Andrews was built at South Bay, she was, in fact, built on and launched from Timber Island, just at the entrance to South Bay (See the first two Schooner Days entries at ^{Note 16} below.) It is of course possible (but undocumented) that she was completed, including rig, in South Bay and subsequently "seen and registered" at that place.

2. Name: DAVID ANDREWS ; Built By: Tait ; Build Location: South Bay ; Built When: 1872 ; Owner: Andrews ; Port of Hail: Napanee ; Value: $8,500 ; Class: A2 ; Date of Last Survery: 9/1873 Association of Canadian Lake Underwriters, Lake Vessel Register. 1873 Page 3.
3. DAVID ANDREWS Description: Schooner Tonnage: 160 Built By: Tate ; Build Location: South Bay ; Owners: Andrews & Downey ; Port of Hail: Napanee ; Value: $9,000 ; Class: A2 ; Date of Last Survey: 2/1874 – Association of Canadian Lake Underwriters, The Marine Register. 1874 Page 17.
4. [O.N.] 71066, David Andrews, Napanee, Sr. [schooner], South Bay, 1872, 150 [registered tonnage], Robert Downey, Napanee, Canada. – Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1881 (Spottiswoode, London), p. 278.
5. Schooner DAVID ANDREWS: [Re]built by Tait at Port Milford, South Bay, 1872. Rebuilt in 1880 and owned by Downey & Co. of Belleville, 1892. She was renamed the Delaware of Port Hope in 1895. – Canvas & Steam on Quinte Waters, second edition, page 57. Willis Metcalfe. Note the first word 'rebuilt', rather than 'built', was an obvious typographical error, corrected in notes for Willis Metcalfe's unpublished third edition (NMA, Metcalfe fonds).

Newspaper transcriptions

6. South Bay: Messrs. Downey and Andrews of Napanee, built a barge here the past winter, and it was launched this afternoon. Mr. John Tait was the builder and contractor. She was called the DAVID ANDREWS. Her burthen is 180 tons and she will carry 12,000 bushels of grain. The Toronto Mail, July 18, 1872.
7. Masonic Excursion and Launch: Excursion on PIERREPONT from Napanee to South Bay for picnic and to see launch of DAVID ANDREWS, 12,000 bushels capacity, building for Messrs. Andrews & R. Downey of Napanee, by Tait. Kingston British Whig July 22, 1872 p. 3
8. Man Overboard: from barge DAVID ANDREWS in Belleville Harbour. Kingston British Whig June 14, 1873 p. 2.
9. Man Drowned - Captain Marriott, of the barge David Andrews, reports that about half past one yesterday morning, while leaving Toronto harbour, opposite the Queen's wharf, Joseph Gregory, one of the hands fell overboard and was drowned. Gregory is a Lower Canadian from between Three Rivers and Quebec, unmarried, and has lived in Belleville for the last two years. Daily News (Kingston, ON), June 14, 1873; p.2
10. Freights: Rates are so discouraging that schooners DAVID ANDREWS and BEN FOLGER were laid up and crews paid off. Daily British Whig June 16, 1875 p. 2.
11. Kingston, Nov 3rd: The schooner DAVID ANDREWS, ashore at Mill Point, Bay of Quinte, is in a bad position. Two tugs are trying to get her off. Toronto Daily Globe Thursday November 4, 1875 (SUMMER & SHERWOOD, Daily News)
12. The steamer NORFOLK, which was destroyed by fire at Napanee on Thursday morning last, was owned by Captain Collins of Newburg. The barge DAVID ANDREWS was also slightly damaged. The fire was the work of an incendiary. The J. W. Hall Great lakes Marine Scrapbook, April 1877.
13. Schooner DAVID ANDREWS makes first trip from Napanee. British Whig March 14, 1878 p. 2.
14. An April Tornado – The Sudden Storm which caught Lake Ontario Shipping- The schooner David Andrews ashore the Gardner and the barges etc.
    
    The mild weather of Saturday was followed about midnight by one of the most sudden and violent changes ever known here in this most changeable climates. A gale of snow and wind swept down over the lake with almost terrific fury. The snow was blinding, the wind attained a velocity of 50 miles an hour, and such vessels as were outside had a wild night of it.
    The schooner David Andrews, Capt. McCrimmon bound from Napanee to Toronto with 12,000 bushels rye, was struck by the gale, driven out of her course and in the midst of the blinding snow went ashore near Four Mile Point below this city. Capt. Blackburn of the Oswego life station was notified, went down with his crew, took off the crew of the Andrews and brought them to this city. Vessel and cargo are owned by Downey Bros. of Napanee and are insured. The wind freshened last night and it was believed that she would go to pieces.
    The tug Gardner from Ogdensburg with four light barges belonging to Whitney of Detroit and bound for the Welland canal was struck by the gale near the Gallous. Becoming unmanageable in the tow, the barges cut loose and made sail for themselves. Three of them reached this port yesterday afternoon after a most tempestuous struggle outside, and the fourth anchored in Mexico Bay, where she rode out the storm. The Gardner went down this morning to tow her to this port. The schooner J.J. Hill of Youngstown came in during the gale. She threw her anchors in the lower harbor, but they did not get hold, and she was driven against the bridge under full headway, partly turning the draw and carrying away her boom. The gale made a commotion among the harbor shipping, but no serious damage was done.
    Capt. McCrimmon sent us the following note of acknowledgement:
    
    Oswego April 11, 1880
    I return thanks to Capt. Blackburn, keeper of life saving station No.3, and his crew for the prompt assistance in rescuing myself, daughter and crew of the schooner David Andrews, and putting us safely on shore, dry, with part of our clothing.
    Capt McCrimmon
    Mr. Downey and captain Dobbie returned from the Andrews this afternoon and report her lying easy in the sand, not much out. They anticipated no danger of her breaking up, but the heavy sea and storm running down the lake this afternoon make them entertain fears that she may go to pieces.
    The tug Gardner will take the Whitney barges three of which are here and one at Mexico Bay to Port Dalhousie. The barges are bound through the canal. The Gardner has gone after the barge anchored in Mexico Bay.
    The schooner Canadian Capt. Blanchard, stone-laden from Kingston to Charlotte, ran in here this morning.
    The schooner Mary Ann Lydon, light bound from Kingston to Port Hope, was compelled to run in here by the storm.
    
    Oswego Palladium, Monday, April 17, 1880
15. Schooner DAVID ANDREWS; on beach 3 miles east of Oswego - crew saved- April 10. Casualty List for 1880, Toronto Globe, November 30, 1880
16. [ Back ] References to the schooner David Andrews appear in C.H.J Snider's articles:
    Schooner Days DXVI (516) "Timber Islander", 11 October 1941, and (under her later name of Delaware in "The Round Sterned Delaware", 9 April 1932,
    and more briefly in:
    "Tait's Types: Round Sterned Delaware, Gun-Barrel Picton, and her Hickory Jibboom", 28 Nov 1936,
    "And Only The Dog Came Home", 22 May 1937,
    "The Old Grey Shawl", 20 Sep 1941,
    "A Prince Of Prince Edward", 15 Mar 1947.

References and source notes

Mr. W. McNeil, Toronto
Mr. R Neilson, Kingston
Marine History of the Great Lakes
(14) Mr. Richard Palmer, Oswego
(16) C.H.J. Snider Schooner Days index, Naval Marine Archive.