The steam barge JESKA (1909)
1. General
| Name: JESKA | Type: Steam Barge |
| Official Number: 126128 | Registered: 1909 |
| Tons (gross): 189 | Tons (net): 108 |
| Where Built: Kingston, Ontario | Port of Registry / Hail: Kingston |
| Build Year: 1909 | Value: |
| Builder’s Name & Date of Certification: Davis Drydock Co Ltd, 1909 | |
| Master’s Name: | Subscribing Owners: Captain Ed. Smith and Mr Alan MacKenzie. |
| Length; 108 feet | Breadth; 23 feet and 5 tenths |
| Depth of Hold; 10 feet | Masts: none |
| Stern: round | Bowsprit: None |
| How Built: composite | How Rigged: none |
| Figure-head: None | Decks: One |
See also the entry for the steam barge Jeska in our ships Database.
2. Notations
Engine 10-20 x 14 by Selby and Yeldon, Kingston.
3. History
- Built by Davis Drydock Co Ltd., Kingston, Ontario
- 1909, May: Launched for Smith & MacKenzie Company, Kingston
- Traded mostly coal and lumber, mostly with Oswego, occasional Rochester, Montreal.
- Owned MacKenzie & Sowards, Kingston.
- 1927, 7 October: Filled with water. 9 (13?) October: foundered.
Newspaper transcriptions and various notes
- British Whig (Kingston, ON), 6 May 1909 : The new steamer JESKA, turned out at Davis' drydock, was given a trial trip on the harbor, yesterday, and proved most satisfactory. After returning to the wharf, the inspector granted a certificate for the captain. The Jeska will leave, today, for Oswego, on her first trip, to load coal.
- The Jeska was a composite built hull. John O. Greenwood writes in his Namesakes series, that the name was also 'composite' as follows: "The original owner was the firm of Smith & McKensie Company, controlled by Captain Edward J. Smith and Mr. Alan McKensie. [Note spelling, normally given as MacKenzie. Ed.] The reverse of Captain Smith’s initials, “J,” “E” and “S” and the “K” from McKensie plus an “A” for Alice McKensie formed this ship name.
- The Smith & MacKenzie Company, Kingston was formed in 1908. From 1917 until 1920, Captain Smith worked for the Montreal Transportation Company and, from 1920 on, commanded the Jeska. After 1926, he worked for the Kingston Shipping Company until his death at Simcoe, Ontario on July 8, 1942.
- Directory of Shipwreck of the Great Lakes: The steam barge JESKA filled with water and foundered in 300 feet of water 10 miles off, North of Fair Haven, NY., on Lake Ontario on Oct. 7 to 9 1926. Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), January 1927, p. 80 has the date of loss as October 13.
References and source notes
(1-3) Various registers, Ontario.
(4-7) As cited in text.