17 Resurrection

17

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eArly in 1838, news of the upper cAnAdA rebellion reAched England, compelling the Admiralty to reactivate the Kingston Naval Yard. The officer assigned to this task was Captain Williams Sandom, who became the commodore on February 14, 1838. Sandom had been a half-pay officer for eight years, hoping for an opportunity. He was distinguished by his record of combat, having come under enemy fire more than 60 times. Curious and scientifically inclined, Sandom studied steam engineering in the British shipyards. He foresaw the end of sail and the beginning of steam-powered vessel warfare. While his credentials were impeccable, Sandom was known to have a difficult personality and could be arrogant when diplomacy was needed.1

Sandom departed from England, sailing to New York, and arrived at Kingston on April 18, 1838. He was met by John Marks, who had made preparations to receive him, including refurbishment of the Admiralty House. A bachelor, Sandom must have found the house large and empty. Like his predecessors, he arranged to purchase furnishings as befitting his rank and status.

Marks opened the gates of the empty yard and the doors of important buildings for Sandom’s inspection, which likely started immediately. There were no gun salutes or parades, since there were no staff or vessels. The limestone storehouse, mould loft, blacksmith shop, hospital, stone cottages, perimeter wall, and dockyard gate no doubt resembled structures Sandom knew in other Royal Navy yards. But he noticed the same rundown buildings that

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Fig. 17.1: This

image shows the dockyard in 1843, a few years after Commodore Williams Sandom’s arrival. The arrow marks the derelict hull of the Netley, which Sandom commissioned as the Niagara. The other vessels are gone. vexed Barrie and was not impressed. In his report to the Admiralty, he stated that, apart from the storehouse, the buildings were “in a state of perfect destitution.”2

Sandom had broad authority to put the yard into operation and had the support of John Marks, who continued as his secretary and naval storekeeper. The priority for Sandom was to find a suitable vessel in the yard, or failing that, one that could be obtained to convert into military use. The derelict warships populating Navy Bay were beyond consideration, at least for sailing. However, there was one remaining vessel hauled up near the Provincial Marine dock that would do for what Sandom had in mind. The ship was HMS Netley, built as the Prince Regent but renamed Beresford in 1813, then renamed again in 1814.

The Netley was notable for being built at York by John Dennis and launched on the very eve of the War of 1812. It had been present at many of the major events of the war and was remembered for its escape from York in 1813 just ahead of the U.S. attack. The Netley had been tied up near the Provincial Marine dock for many years and was used as offices, one of which, on the deck, was blown off during the storm of 1833. Sometime later the vessel was towed to where it remained for some years (see Figs. 17.1 and 17.2).

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Fig. 17.2: John

Richard Coke Smyth’s sketch of the Netley made in July 1838. It appears to have been hauled out. Based on the report that the Netley’s office was lost in a storm in 1833, this is likely the Netley (Prince Regent), commissioned by Commodore Sandom as the Niagara.

Artist John Richard Coke Smyth left a sketch of the Netley at the time of Sandom’s arrival (see Fig. 17.2). The view is from today’s Stone Frigate and was made while Coke Smyth accompanied Lord Durham, governor general of British North America, as an art instructor during a tour of Upper Canada in July 1838. The drawing shows the Provincial Marine dock, with the vessel hauled onto the wharf, which is deteriorated. It appears without an office, roof, or rigging. The Netley had been sold the previous year, but the owner did not remove it, so Sandom repurchased it, then renamed and commissioned the vessel as HMS Niagara.

Needing crew and workers for his new vessel, Sandom promptly signed up 25 seamen and artificers who were given temporary accommodation in the limestone storehouse, which was filled with stores for both the navy and ordnance. Barrie had previously utilized the storehouse to accommodate some of his crew, and Sandom may have been able to use rooms or berths built previously.

On April 23, barely two weeks after arriving, Sandom took over responsibility for the yard from the Ordnance Department. When Sandom opened his muster book and made his first entry, he reported a ship’s company of four. Ten days later he noted 30. By the end of June 1838, he had 220 men, including Royal Marine lieutenant Charles Parker and his 30 marines, who

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had just arrived from England. By that time, they had exceeded the space in the storehouse, and Sandom opened the old hospital building to house some of the sailors.3 The marines were quartered in a different location that they found unappealing, probably the naval cottages, which had not been occupied for some time. The day after the arrival of the marines, Sandom and his officers celebrated the coronation of Queen Victoria at the Admiralty House.4

Housing his sailors and marines in the old hospital and cottages was temporary. Sandom saw a permanent solution in the limestone storehouse, which the ordnance inspector described as “an excellent stone building” with a tin roof that leaked a little. Inside, Sandom found guns, tackle, and other equipment well preserved and ready for use.5 The ordnance stores took up space on the ground floor and parts of the upper two floors,6 space he needed, so he asked the Ordnance Department to remove its supplies from the building.

Since his actual vessel, HMS Niagara, did not offer accommodation, or anything else other than a name, he made the storehouse his command centre and barrack, effectively a “ship,” or what the navy called a “stone frigate.” With HMS Niagara (Netley) as his flagship, figuratively at least, Sandom proceeded to arrange the purchase of “tenders” for his ship. He was able to buy back the Bull Frog, which provided him with transportation on the lake.

During the summer of 1838, Sandom bought HMS Experiment and the General Porter, the latter renamed HMS Toronto.7 Both were steam vessels, which were refitted to make them suitable. The Royal Navy was now introducing steam warships to the Great Lakes.

Sandom continued building his small fleet by leasing additional schooners, gunboats, and steam vessels. Two of them, HMS Cobourg (the largest) and HMS Queen Victoria, would engage in action. Another steam vessel, acquired in 1839, was HMS Traveller. With an eye on Lake Erie, Sandom indicated in June that he planned to arm two of his ships, one on Lake Erie and the other on Lake Ontario. On Lake Ontario, the Experiment was armed with two guns,8 while the Bull Frog sailed on July 1 under Sandom’s pennant.9

After the Ordnance Department cleared its stores from the limestone storehouse, Sandom sent joiners, carpenters, plasterers, and painters into the empty spaces to renovate. They were instructed to build decks, cabins, messes, a quarterdeck, and the other ship components necessary to turn the limestone storehouse into a facsimile ship interior, the “Stone Frigate,” Sandom’s true flagship. The alterations were started after July 183810 and were completed by

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June 1839, with the entire establishment located within. His broad pennant flew from the roof. Each floor, or deck, was given a distinctive name. The furnishings, including the cartridge case, were marked as they would be at sea. Sandom’s room “was very beautifully finished in light wood.”11

Captain David James Ballingall, a Royal Marine who had been at Portsmouth, arrived in Kingston in 1841 and described the interior of the Stone Frigate (see Fig. 17.3):

During the winter season while these steamers are frozen in alongside of the wharfs of the Dockyard, the crews occupy a handsome stone building, one of the storehouses of the Dockyard which is divided from the rest of the Establishment by a high wooden picketing, all within this space is called Her Majesty’s Ship Niagara. The building itself consists of a basement and three stories.

The basement contains cooking places for the Officers and men, with kitchen, strong room, prison and cells, behind is a good yard, where the men amuse themselves at skittles, quoits, and other games. In the rear of this yard are the wharfs, and slips for the boats, where the men can wash their clothes in the waters of the Lake.

The first floor is entered from the yard in front by the principal doorway from which a circular staircase divides the building from top to bottom. The apartment on the right as you enter is 85 feet long having a width of [blank]

Fig. 17.3: HMS

Niagara, otherwise known as the Stone Frigate starting in 1838. Commodore Sandom’s office was on the “quarterdeck,” certainly facing Navy Bay. The cookhouse and guardhouse were located in the basement section.

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Fig. 17.4: The

Stone Frigate, circa 1841, with Commodore Sandom’s broad pennant flying overhead. The St. Lawrence Wharf is seen in the foreground.

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feet, and a spacious height which is fitted up as the lower deck of a line of battleship, with mess tables, kids, and tubs. This is called the dining room or lower deck. The apartment on the left of the stairs is fitted as a bedroom having four rows of wooden bed places, one over the other, like those in the cabins of a passage vessel.

Over the men’s dining room is the mess room and cabins for the Officers. The apartment over the bedroom is termed the Quarter deck, one side of which is also fitted up with cabins for the mates. There all complaints are made and all punishments directed. The two apartments over this are fitted as a sick bay, armory, tailors and shoe-makers shop and the cabins for the Warrant Officers.12

A lakeside depiction of the Stone Frigate shows today’s St. Lawrence Wharf in the foreground in Fig. 17.4. The peaked-roof building on the left of the Stone Frigate is the mould and sail loft built in 1813. At the base of the pier is a blockhouse of square logs. The wharf in front has a tall picket fence. On the right are two storehouses, with the storekeeper’s office, formerly the Provincial Marine guardhouse, in the rear. Sandom’s broad pennant is seen flying over the roof of the Stone Frigate.

Sandom cleaned up two lingering problems. The first was the area around the dockyard gate. The porter’s lodge and three buildings along the road inside

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the yard gate were old wooden structures13 that may have been still damaged from the 1833 storm. A fresh appearance, improved function, and the threat of fire were some reasons for pulling down the first three. They were replaced by two structures made of stone between 1838 and 1841.14

The second problem was the derelict vessels still in Navy Bay. Sandom considered the anchorage a problem. It was encumbered with the hulks of three large frigates and two smaller vessels, which were allowed to decay where they lay, and a few decayed gunboats on the stocks.15 Understanding Sandom’s action to clean up the bay is best understood by appreciating the wrecks today.

The modern-day location of the two larger frigates, the Kingston (Prince Regent) and the Burlington (Princess Charlotte), has been determined to be Deadman Bay,16 where they are known to sports divers. Parks Canada archaeologist Jonathon Moore has concluded that the vessels were pumped out, floated, towed, and sunk in Deadman Bay sometime between 1839 and 1843.17 The Kingston was identified as the wreck at the head of the bay and can sometimes be seen in Google Earth depictions when conditions are right. The Burlington is in deeper water near the entrance of Deadman Bay. In 1938, a hard-hat diver retrieved a few artifacts from the Burlington that included weapons, anchors, shot, and guns, perhaps taken from Fort Frontenac and repurposed during the War of 1812 as ballast.

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Fig. 17.5: Detail

of a watercolour by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Francis Ainslie, 1839. The red arrows point to roofing over the old war frigates, still present at Navy Bay. The white arrow points to the gallows used in the execution of Nils von Schoultz. The yellow building on the far left is Admiralty House. The white building in the centre is the naval hospital. Beside it, with the red roof, is the surgeon’s dwelling, today’s RMC Commandant’s Residence. Partly shown on the far right are the naval cottages.

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Fig. 17.6: The final

resting place of HMS Charwell (Earl of Moira) at the north end of Navy Bay sandspit, circa 1935. The wreck, which was 200 yards north of the Provincial Marine wharf, was investigated as shown above. The keel length was 78 feet, near that of the Charwell.

Jonathon Moore’s early-date estimate of 1839 is supported by Sandom’s description of “two frigates” being present in Navy Bay and also LieutenantColonel Henry Francis Ainslie’s 1839 painting that shows the roofed decks of the ships (see Fig. 17.5). His later-date estimate is supported by LieutenantColonel Sir Henry Bonnycastle, who in 1841 described “huge hulks rotting in the dock-yard.”18 It is clear that it was Sandom who ordered the removal of the vessels and cleaned up the bay.

Having filled Deadman Bay with two large wrecks, Sandom likely had the Montreal (Wolfe) and perhaps the Psyche towed elsewhere. Not wanting to foul Navy Bay any further, he probably had the Montreal lugged out of the harbour until the water was deep enough to prevent interference with navigation, then sunk it. The Montreal is most likely the so-called “Guenter’s Wreck.”19 The final location of the Psyche is not known.

The Charwell (Earl of Moira) was the smallest and most northerly of the vessels parked at the Navy Bay sandspit (see Fig. 16.2). It does not seem to have been moved. A wreck uncovered in 1935 (see Fig. 17.6)20 was reported in the RMC Review21 and assessed as probably the Charwell. 22 An old Provincial Marine vessel, the Charwell was partly sunk by 1839. Being on the northern extremity of the Navy Bay sandspit, it was unlikely to obstruct navigation and was left. It remains there today under a sports field.

By the fall of 1838, Sandom had accomplished much. Although the yard was a shadow of its past self, he had converted the abandoned facility into

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an operational unit centred around the Stone Frigate. He had acquired small modern armed vessels suitable for use on the lake or St. Lawrence River and had trained sailors capable of dealing with threats.

In November 1838, they had their chance. Indirectly associated with the insurrection of William Lyon Mackenzie, which had occurred in Toronto the previous year, a group of American “Patriot Hunters” convinced themselves of the need to free Canadians from Britain by attempting an armed occupation of Upper Canada. Sympathetic to Mackenzie, the Hunters thought they would be welcomed as liberators.

Their leader was Nils von Schoultz, a Finnish-Swedish former army officer and soldier of fortune who took charge when the commanding “general” pulled out at the first suggestion of fighting. The Hunters had departed Oswego, New York, on November 10, 1838, and sailed east on the steamer United States to the St. Lawrence River. After a few misadventures along the way, the group of about 250 men landed on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence on November 12. The landing site was close to a stone windmill and some buildings, not far from Prescott, Upper Canada. They were watched from offshore by First Lieutenant William Fowell, captain of HMS Experiment, who had been warned of their intentions. Using his single 18-pound carronade and small brass three-pound cannon, Fowell fired on the Hunters as they crossed the river and landed. There were no troops on the shore to oppose them.

News of the threat had reached Sandom while he was having dinner in Kingston. Accustomed to enemy fire, Sandom would have responded quickly. But he had granted liberty to his sailors, who were scattered across Kingston in taverns and elsewhere. He ordered them rounded up and made fit for duty, which took some time.23 When Royal Marine lieutenant Charles Parker learned of the attack, he prepared his men for action, drawing arms and ammunition from the armoury. The detachment of 30 marines were paraded and then boarded on the steamer HMS Queen Victoria in Navy Bay. The vessel was equipped with three 12-pound cannons. The other steamer, HMS Cobourg, armed more stoutly with four 18-pound cannons, transported a detachment of 40 rank-and-file of the 83rd Regiment under the command of Lieutenant William Johnson. The Cobourg was underway by 11:00 p.m. on November 12, with the Queen Victoria following an hour later. The steamers each chugged out of Navy Bay, around Cedar Island, and downstream, with Sandom in overall command.24

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It was a beautiful night, which allowed the soldiers and marines to plan and employ grindstones “to give keenness to the cutlasses.”25 Early in the morning, they met the Experiment standing offshore. With approaching signs of daylight, the Royal Marines and foot soldiers were landed. There, they were placed at the vanguard of two columns of militia who had arrived. By the time the attack began, the Hunters were well entrenched. The naval vessels on the river continued shelling the enemy. While the Hunters successfully blunted the first attack, they soon withdrew to the base of the stone windmill, which proved to be invulnerable to artillery fire.

Meanwhile, with the Royal Marines and three vessels away from Point Frederick, it became apparent that the dockyard could be subject to attack. Anticipating this, John Marks stepped in to fulfill his other job, that of colonel of the 3rd Regiment of the Frontenac Militia. Marks had been appointed colonel when the regiment was created months earlier on January 13, 1838. When he learned of the attack at Prescott, he called out the regiment and deployed it in the dockyard to provide security.26

After brisk fighting over three days that included heavy artillery shot deflecting off the walls of the windmill, the battle ended. Sandom’s three vessels had fired hundreds of rounds. While being rowed to shore, late in the action, Sandom was struck on the chest by a spent bullet.27 The Royal Marines had taken heavy casualties, suffering one dead and 15 wounded,28 a rate of 50 percent. Lieutenant Johnson and one of his soldiers were killed. Johnson’s body was mutilated by a few of the Hunters, a point of contention that came up repeatedly in the courts martial that followed.

The leader, von Schoultz, was captured along with most of the others, many wounded. There were a total of 136 men and young boys apprehended.29 Up to 50 of the Hunters were killed. Parker returned to Kingston on November 17 and conveyed his wounded to the hospital. He described the prisoners being marched through Kingston in pairs at night and being derided by the populace they thought they were liberating.

A second group of prisoners arrived a few days later. This group came on the Traveller, which disembarked them at Navy Bay. One Hunter prisoner wrote that when he arrived at Kingston “we were landed privately and marched by a back road to Fort Henry.”30 They were chained and handcuffed in pairs as they trudged up the hill, their shackles removed when they were locked in a guarded room at the fort.

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Most of the prisoners were put on trial for their lives. Under the rules of court martial, the adjudicating authority was deemed the senior militia officer, Colonel John Marks fulfilling yet another role, that of presiding officer. As the court learned, some of the prisoners were young, impressionable, and underage. Some parents came forth, having travelled from the United States to claim their children, and a few were released or sent home. Those who were older and hardened were another matter. Depending on their actions in the fighting or roles as leaders, they were tried and most found guilty. Their sentences ranged from jail or transportation to the penal colony of Australia or to death by hanging. Although many were sentenced to death,31 only 11 were hanged.32

The best known of the group was von Schoultz, an unwitting leader who admitted guilt and remained stoic to the end. Although he was not permitted direct representation, he received legal advice from his lawyer, John A. Macdonald, who later prepared his will.33 As the leader of the attack, von Schoultz was given special attention and a very public execution. Before his execution, von Schoultz was moved to the jail. In preparation for the event, a gallows was erected on the heights of Fort Henry (see Fig. 17.5). For the others who were hanged, their sad ends came on gallows constructed outside the Kingston jail, not on the hill in full view.

At that time, the Kingston courthouse and jail were located on the south side of Clarence Street between Wellington and King Streets. There was a small burial ground on the site for criminals. William Allen at the time was a young boy who lived across the street with his parents. He recalled many years later that on the day of von Schoultz’s execution he sensed the excitement and managed to slip away from his parents to follow the procession. As von Schoultz left the jail, he was accompanied by two priests, one on each side. Von Schoultz was placed in a cart, and the company proceeded through the town toward Fort Henry. Allen followed along “with the soldiers across the bridge and up the fort hill.”34

The route went across the Penny Bridge, past the Admiralty House, along the dockyard fence, around the head of Navy Bay, and up Fort Henry Road to the place of execution. According to William Allen, “When the gallows was reached … an upright post with an arm and a rope … the cart drove under the arm, the rope was adjusted, the prayers said, and then the cart drove ahead, leaving the man dangling from the rope.”35 Undoubtedly, given

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the vantage point, the sad event was witnessed by many along the entirety of Point Frederick and from boats on the waters of Navy Bay.36

There were no further major conflicts. But the Royal Navy squadron was kept active by events involving a bandit named Bill Johnston, “The Pirate of the Thousand Islands,” and other small incidents associated with the rebellion. When the navigation season ended in 1839, Sandom’s small fleet was reduced to two steamers, one schooner, and two gunboats, most with steam engines on board.

The advent of steam obliged the yard to begin new practices. At first, the fuel for the boiler fires was wood. But wood took up space and burned quickly, which required vessels to make frequent stops to replenish. Sandom decided to try using coal instead. He purchased Ohio coal, had it delivered to the yard, and compared the two fuels by burning both coal and wood in adjacent boilers on the same vessel. Sandom found that the coal proved to be cheaper, took less volume, and lasted longer, which increased the range of travel between stops. He also learned that changes had to be made in the construction of the boilers for coal to be practical. The 1815 stone blacksmith shop, situated west of the Stone Frigate on the east side of today’s RMC parade square, was central to rebuilding the boilers. Blacksmiths not only worked their forges but relied on the raw metal and coal stored in the two adjacent buildings to the west.37

With the naval dockyard firmly re-established, Sandom suggested building a steam warship, since the commercial steamers he had purchased, or leased for conversion to military use, were proving too fragile. The idea received a warm reception at the Admiralty in London. Soon, naval architect J. Tucker was sent to Canada to build three paddlewheel naval steamers named Minos, Cherokee, and Mohawk.38 This was a huge commitment to the defence of Canada. HMS Mohawk would be the only one of the three completed with an iron hull rather than one of wood. It was the sole ironclad steam vessel built at Point Frederick when it was finished in 1843.

The naval dockyard at Kingston was building vessels again. The largest, HMS Cherokee, was assembled at Point Frederick during the winter of 1839–40. The engine, armament, and additional equipment were shipped from England. At 800 tons displacement, the Cherokee was considered a large vessel. It was schooner-rigged with masts and sails, and its guns were muzzle-loading six- and nine-pounders.39 But as had happened before, when construction was finished, the Cherokee was immediately put in ordinary.40