This ongoing series showcases historic photos in the Collingwood Museum collection, with research and writing by Melissa Shaw, the museum supervisor.
Thanks to the iconic photographs of ships being side launched at the Collingwood Shipyards, many local residents can see the history of the large-scale shipbuilding that occurred in Collingwood for over a century.
The dual function of the flooded rectangular basins that received the launching ships, however, is less known despite being the only physical, in-situ landmarks left from Collingwood’s shipbuilding history.
The rectangular basins in question are located at the northern extensions of St. Paul and Hurontario Streets. Their unique dual functions as launching basins and dry docks date back to the opening of the Queen’s Dry Dock (or Dry Dock No.1) on May 24, 1883.
The construction of Dry Dock No. 1, at the northern extension of St. Paul Street, officially marked the beginning of large-scale shipbuilding in Collingwood and 1883 was adopted as the date of establishment by the Collingwood Shipyards.
The new dry dock facility was instrumental in the financial success of Collingwood’s early shipyard as it allowed ship repairs and construction to happen simultaneously.
The steamer Oneida was the first ship to enter the dry dock for repairs and is pictured here on May 23, 1883. A ship to its left is undergoing construction on the building berth.
The small brick building to the right of the Oneida functioned as the dry dock pump house.
The workings of a dry dock are rather complex. To receive a ship, the water in the flooded dry dock is first pumped out so blocks can be positioned on the dry dock floor to hold the incoming vessel.
Once the blocks are in place, the dry dock is again filled with water so the ship can be floated in. The dry dock is then pumped out for a second time and the ship is slowly lowered onto the blocks as the water level declines.
Each ship that was repaired in Collingwood was unique in size and design, so the placement of the blocks had to be carefully planned and placed for each repair.
For approximately 50 years, Collingwood boasted two dry docks in which many “ship surgeries” were conducted for rebuilds and repairs.
Impressive “before” photographs document the significant damage corrected by Collingwood’s skilled labour force and are preserved in the Collingwood Museum’s historic photograph collection.
For example, the S.S. Saxona was in dry dock in Collingwood on October 29, 1917, after a head-on collision with the vessel Pentecost Mitchell on May 14, 1917.
The collision resulted in the sinking of both ships. Saxona was raised and brought to Collingwood for repairs after being purchased on an “as is, where is” basis by R.M. Wolvin, J.W. Norcross, and H.W. Smith of Collingwood.
The damage to the ship’s bow seems irreparable, but repairs were made, and the ship was sold to the Matthews Steamship Company of Toronto and renamed Laketon.
The conversion work completed on the S.S. Glenross in June, 1939, is equally impressive. Shown in Dry Dock No. 2, a portion of the ship’s midsection is visible to the left of the ship that sits in two pieces.
Handwritten notes on the back of the photograph state that the vessel was shortened by 95 ft in Collingwood. No less than 17 photographs document the conversion process of the Glenross in the Collingwood Museum’s collection.
Dry Dock No. 2 was used until 1958, at which time, the basin was permanently flooded and returned to its original use as a launch basin.
Dry Dock No. 1 continued to be used for repairs until the closure of the Collingwood Shipyards in 1986.
Just five years before closure, Dry Dock No. 1 was expanded. The evidence of the dry dock’s extension can be seen above the water level today where the dry dock’s limestone wall construction shifts to steel.
To learn more about the importance of the Hurontario Street Basin and Dry Dock No. 2, take a walk along Side Launch Way and look for the Museum’s interpretive panel at the northernmost point of the Hurontario Street Extension.
