We just acquired a book that is simply filled with data, as the name suggests it is a “Record”. But it is an important book on its subject, unique in fact, and if the author did not write this book, the summary of this information would exist nowhere else. Chances are no one could duplicate this book, even if endless hours were to be spent in archives throughout Canada.
The book is not boring at all. It is a fascinating history of wooden shipbuilding in Eastern Canada, ship by ship, location by location, builder by builder, very well illustrated. The author spent his life focused on the sea, and when he passed so did an incredible repository of information. The book is in fine condition and has the look and feel of a private press production – indeed, it is a numbered first edition signed by the author.
Wallace (1886 – 1958) was a journalist, photographer, historian and novelist. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he initially worked as a clerk but turned to the sea as a journalist of the fishing industry which later led to historical work. Wallace served in World War I as commander of a Q-Ship. After the war, he edited the monthly journal Canadian Fisherman which would be his main occupation for forty years. This publication, which ran from 1917 to 1970, remains an important source of information for researchers today.
In 1924 he published Wooden Ships and Iron Men as a testament to the spirit of the Age of Sail. He followed this book with In the Wake of the Windships (1927) and Record of Canadian Shipping (1929). These three historical works became standard references to the deepwater sailing era in Canada.
An accomplished photographer, in 2006 he was the subject of a book by Nova Scotia writer M. Brook Taylor entitled A Camera on the Banks, which documents seven voyages to the Newfoundland Grand Banks where he toiled alongside other fishermen, at the same time documenting their condition in photographs and words. In conjunction with the launch of Taylor's book, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic opened an exhibit on June 6, 2006 entitled A Camera on the Banks: The Work of Frederick William Wallace, which displayed part of the museum's extensive collection of Wallace's photographs. Some of these photographs had originally appeared in the National Geographic.
From the book’s Foreword:
In compiling this list of Canadian-built square-rigged sailing ships, the author has endeavoured to set down a full record of Canada’s accomplishments in wooden shipbuilding during the age of sail. Apart from the hope that it will be of some value to the archivist, the author believes that it will aid the collector of nautical paintings, prints, photographs and marine memorabilia in identifying his items as well as affording a source of basic information to the historian.
It may be superfluous to emphasize the fact that no steam-propelled vessels or schooners or wooden vessels built elsewhere than in Canada are included in this list. Approximately 3700 vessels have been recorded in this volume. From this, an idea may be gained of the magnitude of Canada’s maritime construction during the Golden Age of Sail.
The basis of the work of compilation has been the Shipping Registers of the various ports, now stored in the Canadian Archives, Ottawa. The information thus obtained has been considerably augmented by the records of Lloyd’s Register, the American Shipmasters’ Association, the American Bureau of Shipping, American Lloyd’s, and the Bureau Veritas. J. Murray Lawson’s “Yarmouth Shipping”, Narcisse Rosa’s “List of Quebec Ships” and data from unofficial and private sources have played a large part in the compilation.
Among the highlights of this book are the 3 pages “Ports of Registry”.
In addition to the cities and large towns are listed small towns and villages that are mostly much smaller and less busy now than they were in the nineteenth century. Keep in mind that the folks in these small places not only built the ships, they captained and crewed them as well. We still see many of these large wooden houses with their distinctive “widows walks”.
Here is a sample page of the data presented by Mr. Wallace.
And here are some of the ships that carried Atlantic Canadian multi-leveled expertise around the Seven Seas when wind power had a different connotation than it does today.
