Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Lumber Mills & Shipyards
For much of New Brunswick’s history, the rivers and forests were key components for the lumber mills and shipbuilding industries. The rivers were the highways for the log drives to the mills and shipyards in Miramichi, Moncton, St. Martins, the Kingston Peninsula and Saint John. At the mouth of the Saint John River in the 19th century there were dozens of lumber mills and shipyards. Over 6,000 vessels were built during the 19th century, a third of the total tonnage produced in British North America. Only one of these wood ships is still in existence. The Egeria, built in Millidgeville in 1859. That vessel is now part of a wharf structure at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
Courtenay Bay
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Booming Industry
There was more to the bay than just mills and shipyards. Even its name is interesting - Courtenay is French for short nose. Courtenay was a small town in the Gatinais province.
The bay has always been surrounded by industry, including Foley Pottery, Lees brick yard, the Courtenay Bay Glass Works, the Putnam Brothers fuel tanks, the International Fertilizer plant, and a biscuit plant. In 1935 the British-American Oil Company, Ltd. opened their marine terminal.
Canada’s first aircraft flight took off from Courtenay Bay in 1840 when Professor Louis Anselm Lauriat of Boston launched his Star of the East hot air balloon from Barrack Green. In 1912 New Brunswick’s first airplane flight took off from the mudflats. Captain Tom Baldwin’s ‘Red Devil’ was here for the annual Saint John Exhibition. One of his airplanes is part of the collection of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.
Provincial Fertilizer at Courteney Bay
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
The Causeway
The Courtenay Bay story includes a sardine fleet, a rowing club, as well as the drowning of many workers and residents, including young Fred Mundee and his would-be rescuer John Frederick Young – which led to the subsequent commissioning of the Young monument in King’s Square. There were various plans to build a canal from the bay along Marsh Creek to Drury Cove, a tunnel under the Bay into Crouchville (one of the names for part of East Saint John) as well as several plans for either a bridge or causeway. The causeway was built in 1966.
The Causeway
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
War Ships
The bay was the site of several shipyards in the 19th century until the end of the First World War. These included the yards of William Wright, John MacDonald, Nevins & Fraser, and J.K. Dunlop, who built two ships for Moran & Galloway of Liverpool and the Vaughan Brothers of Liverpool in 1984.
During the First World War two wood ships, the War Fundy and War Moncton were built at the Grant & Horne Yard in Courtenay Bay as was the Cutty Sark. Two wood merchant ships, the Dornfontein and Randfontein were built on the Straight Shore, now known as Chesley Drive. During her maiden voyage in 1918, the Dornfontein was captured and burned by a German U-156 just off Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy.
War Moncton
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
The Dry Dock
Construction began for a new shipyard and breakwater in Courtenay Bay in 1912. This was part of an extensive plan of quays or wharves and the extension of a national railway to the bay. Difficulties with financing during the First World War halted this project. It was resurrected in 1918 when James Playfair of Ontario incorporated his St. John Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. He financed the dry dock and in 1923 the dock received its first ship. The first vessel constructed was the MV Kipawo, launched on Dec. 5, 1924. That ship is still in the water at Parrsboro, NS. At this time the shipyard was known as the largest in the world.
The Dry Dock
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Ship Repair & Building
The main business of the shipyard was ship repair. During the Second World War alone the Dry Dock repaired 195 military and merchant vessels including the famous HMS Jervis Bay. Post-war, the shipyard continued to repair and build warships. Canada’s two aircraft carriers HMCS Magnificent and Bonaventure were both repaired here. Nine of the 12 Canadian Patrol Frigates were also built here.
Between 1923 and 2002 the Saint John Shipyard built 126 vessels including oil rigs, tugs, dredges, scows and barges, buoy tenders, product and build carriers, ore and oil carriers, ferries, tankers, warships, container ships, fishing trawlers, and coastal vessels.
MV Hudson
Credit: Heritage Resources, Saint John
Daily Telegraph March 18, 1895 Courtenay Bay Shipbuilding Gloucester No. 4 Salvage Tug Ocean Eagle Norton-Griffith Company Contract Proposed Drydock Drydock Construction Drydock Welland County Drydock, November 1969
