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Polson Iron Works Limited

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Polson Iron Works Limited
IndustryShipbuilding
PredecessorWilliam Polson and Company c. 1883
Founded1886
FounderWilliam Polson
Franklin Bates Polson
Defunct1919
FateCeased operations
HeadquartersToronto 1886–1888 and 1893–1919, Owen Sound 1888–1893,
Toronto/Owen Sound, Ontario
,
Canada
Number of locations
Toronto, Owen Sound
Area served
Canada
Key people
William Polson – co-founder, Franklin Bates Polson – co-founder
ProductsFerries
Launching a ship at the Polson Iron Works shipyard.
Launching a ship at the Polson Iron Works shipyard.

The Polson Iron Works was an Ontario-based firm which built large steam engines, as well as ships, barges and dredges.[1]

Founded by William Polson (1834–1901) and son Franklin Bates Polson, the firm was incorporated in 1886 and it was one of the original shipyards operating in Toronto.

In 1888 favourable land grants prompted the company to move to Owen Sound, which was then an important port for Canadian Pacific's steamships.

The firm eventually returned to Toronto in 1897 when Owen Sound's town council did not renew the firm's exemption from property taxes. In Toronto the company's ship yard was located on the harbourfront at the foot of Sherbourne Street. In 1914 the company agreed to lease land from the Toronto Harbour Commission to build a new facility in the newly reclaimed Portlands industrial district, but the outbreak of World War I prevented the move.

Some of the vessels constructed by the Polson Iron Works remain in service today. They include SS Bigwin, PS Trillium and MV Kwasind.[2]

The engines and hull of Bonnington, a steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes from 1911 to 1931, were built at the Polson Iron Works, and shipped by rail to British Columbia.[3]

The company ceased operations around 1919,[4] but the name lives on in Polson Pier, where the company had intended to relocate the shipyard.

Discover more about Polson Iron Works Limited related topics

Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. Located in Central Canada, it is Canada's most populous province, with 38.3 percent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province by total area. Ontario is Canada's fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto, which is Ontario's provincial capital.

Franklin Bates Polson

Franklin Bates Polson

Franklin Bates Polson was a Canadian machinist and engineer, and co-founder with his father of the prominent Canadian shipbuilding firm the Polson Iron Works.

Owen Sound

Owen Sound

Owen Sound is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay.

World War I

World War I

World War I or the First World War,, often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. It was fought between two coalitions, the Allies and the Central Powers. Fighting occurred throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died as a result of genocide, while the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.

SS Bigwin

SS Bigwin

SS Bigwin is a small steamship ferry that plies the waters of Lake of Bays in Muskoka area of Ontario.

PS Trillium

PS Trillium

Trillium is a side wheeler ferry operated by the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Now 112 years old, she is one of several Toronto Island ferries operating between the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at Bay Street and Queens Quay and three landing points on the Toronto Islands. She is the last sidewheel-propelled vessel on the Great Lakes.

MV Kwasind

MV Kwasind

M/V Kwasind is a passenger ferry built in 1912 for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is 71 feet (22 m) long. She was built by the Polson Iron Works and cost CA$13,000. Her name was taken from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about Hiawatha, as the yacht club's previous ferry is Hiawatha.

Bonnington (sternwheeler)

Bonnington (sternwheeler)

Bonnington was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1911 to 1931. Bonnington and two sisterships were the largest sternwheelers ever built in British Columbia. Bonnington was partially dismantled in the 1950s, and later sank, making the vessel the largest freshwater wreck site in British Columbia.

Arrow Lakes

Arrow Lakes

The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Beachland is fairly rare, and is interspersed with rocky headlands and steep cliffs. Mountain sides are heavily forested, and rise sharply to elevations around 2,600 metres.

British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia, commonly abbreviated as BC, is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains, and borders the province of Alberta to the east, the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north, and the US states of Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of 5.3 million as of 2022, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria and its largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver is the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada; the 2021 census recorded 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver.

Polson Pier

Polson Pier

Polson Pier, previously known as The Docks Waterfront Entertainment Complex, is a multi-purpose entertainment complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the largely industrial Port Lands area of the city along the waterfront of Toronto Harbour. The site is also home to an amusement area, with facilities for swimming, beach volleyball, and a driving range. Until 2019, the site was also the only place in downtown Toronto to have go-karts which has since closed permanently after failing to renew its contract from the landlord and Polson Pier.

Ships built

Polson was a builder of motor yachts for the wealthy in Toronto during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

List of ships built:[5]

Motor yachts

  • Mockingbird (1886)
  • Vivid (1886)
  • Rescue (1886)
  • Electric (1887)
  • Gypsy (1887)
  • Siesta (1889)
  • Undine (1889)
  • Naiad (1890)
  • Siesta (1892)
  • Undine (1892)
  • Mizpah (1892)
  • Annie C. Hill (1898)
  • Wanda (1898)
  • Bobs (1900)
  • Llaus (1900)
  • Islander (1900)
  • Llano (1900)
  • Ina (1901)
  • Kate (1902)
  • Espanola (1902)
  • Linnea (1903)
  • Mildred (1903)
  • Rambler (1903)
  • Temagami (1905)
  • Wanda II (1905)
  • Wawinet (1904)
  • Keego (1909)
  • Sir Wilfrid (1902)
  • Morning Star (1907)
  • Roberval (1907)
  • Bessie Butler (1907)
  • P.W.D. No. 117 (1909)
  • Kwasind (1912)
  • Wanda III (1915)

Tugs

  • Conqueror (1886)
  • Pikouagami (1906)
  • Loretta (1908)
  • G.R. Geary (1912)
  • Batchawanna (1912)

Ferries

  • City of Chatham (1888)
  • Mizpah (1889)
  • Majestic (1899)
  • Algoma (1901)
  • Charles Lyon (1908)
  • Kuskanook

Passenger vessels

  • Manitoba (1889)

Train ferries

  • Ontario (1890, for CPR)
  • Ontario #2 (1915)

Patrol boats

Others

  • Knapp roller boat (1897)
  • Barge Inenew (1902)
  • Lightship Lurcher (1903)
  • Lightship Anticosti (1904)
  • Hercules (1906)
  • Barge Navarch (1906)
  • Keego (1909)
  • Clinker Shuniah (1910)
  • Fireboat T.J. Clark (1911)
  • Drill Scow MNCO No 6 (1912)
  • Clinker Port Nelson (1913)
  • Dredge City Dredge No 2 (1914)
  • Cyclone (1914)
  • Buoy tender Grenville (1914)
  • Terminals Lighter Hudson Bay No. 1 (1914)
  • Terminals Lighter Hudson Bay No. 2 (1914)
  • Terminals Lighter Hudson Bay No. 3 (1914)
  • Q.H.C. No 51 (1914)
  • Q.H.C. No 52 (1914)
  • Q.H.C. No 53 (1914)
  • Q.H.C. No 54 (1914)
  • Q.H.C. No 55 (1914)
  • Seventy Five (1915)
  • Tornado (1915)

Naval vessels

Cargo vessels

  • Tento (1918)[6]
  • Asp (1918)[6]
  • War Hydra (1919)[6]
  • War Taurus (1919)[6]
  • War Tamiskaming (1919)[6]
  • Aquila / War Hamilton (1919)[6]
  • War Algoma (1919)[6]
  • War Halton (1919)[6]

Aircraft

In 1916 Polson Iron Works was involved in the production of the M.F.P Tractor Biplane for MFP Company owned by J.B. Miller, Walter L. Fairchild and Walter H. Phipps.[7] The plane was designed by Walter H. Phipps, owner of Steel Constructed Aeroplanes Co of New York. Fairchild was a monoplane pioneer from Hempstead Plains, New York.

Discover more about Ships built related topics

Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway, also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.

HMCS Constance

HMCS Constance

HMCS Constance was a commissioned minesweeper of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Originally built as a fisheries cruiser for the Department of Marine and Fisheries, upon completion she was transferred to the Department of Customs, and was used by the Customs Preventive Service. Constance spent the entire war as a patrol and examination vessel on the East Coast of Canada. Following the war, the vessel was sold in 1924.

HMCS Curlew

HMCS Curlew

HMCS Curlew was a commissioned minesweeper and patrol vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) that served in the First World War. Constructed in Ontario in 1892, Curlew was initially a Canadian government fisheries patrol vessel on the East Coast of Canada. In 1912, the ship was fitted as a minesweeper and in 1914, joined the RCN. Curlew spent the entire war on the East Coast of Canada. Following the war, the ship was taken out of service and sold in 1921.

CGS Petrel

CGS Petrel

CGS Petrel was a Canadian patrol vessel used primarily for fisheries protection on the upper Great Lakes from 1892 to 1904. In 1904, Petrel was sent to the East Coast of Canada for fisheries protection duties there. In 1912, Petrel was fitted for minesweeping and in 1914, was taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy for use as an examination vessel during the First World War. Following the war, Petrel was discarded.

CGS Vigilant

CGS Vigilant

CGS Vigilant was a Fisheries Protection patrol vessel employed on the Canadian Great Lakes. Completed in 1904, the vessel remained in service on the Great Lakes until 1924. The vessel was then chartered by the Canadian Customs Preventive Service until 1929 for service on the East Coast of Canada. The ship was sold to private interests and converted to a barge. She remained in service until 1956 when the vessel was broken up.

Buoy tender

Buoy tender

A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work.

HMCS Messines

HMCS Messines

HMCS Messines was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers constructed for and used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Following the war the ship was transferred to the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries and converted into a lightvessel. Re-designated Lightship No. 3, the vessel was sold for scrap and broken up in 1962.

Minesweeper

Minesweeper

A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.

HMCS St. Eloi

HMCS St. Eloi

HMCS St. Eloi was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers constructed for and used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Following the war the ship was transferred to the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries and converted into a lightvessel. Re-designated Lightship No. 20, the vessel returned to RCN service in 1940 to become the gate vessel Gate Vessel 12 during the Second World War. After the war, the trawler returned to government service and was discarded in 1962.

HMCS St. Julien

HMCS St. Julien

HMCS St Julien was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers constructed for and used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Following the war the ship was transferred to the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries and converted into a lightvessel. Re-designated Lightship No. 22, the ship remained as such until 1958. The ship was sold for commercial use and renamed Centennial and was in service until 1978.

HMCS Vimy

HMCS Vimy

HMCS Vimy was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers constructed for and used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Following the war the ship was transferred to the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries and converted into a lightvessel. Re-designated Lightship No. 5, the vessel remained in Canadian government service until being possibly broken up for scrap in 1958.

HMCS Ypres

HMCS Ypres

HMCS Ypres was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers constructed for and used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) during the First World War. Named after the Second and Third battles of Ypres, the ship entered service in 1918, patrolling the east coast of Canada for submarine activity. Following the war, the ship remained in service with as a patrol and training ship. In 1938, the vessel recommissioned as a gate vessel, re-designated Gate Vessel 1, in service at Halifax, Nova Scotia. On 12 May 1940, the gate vessel was rammed and sunk in a collision with the British battleship HMS Revenge.

Source: "Polson Iron Works Limited", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, August 25th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polson_Iron_Works_Limited.

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Further Reading

List of cruiser classes of the Royal Navy

Union Iron Works

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

HMCS Armentières

HMCS Messines

HMCS Festubert

HMCS Ypres

HMCS Vimy

HMCS St. Julien

HMCS St. Eloi

HMS Shearwater (1900)

HMCS Constance

HMCS Curlew

Naval Shipyards, York (Upper Canada)

Cook, Welton & Gemmell

MV Kwasind

PS Trillium

Franklin Bates Polson
References
  1. ^ Michael B. Moir. "Polson, Franklin Bates". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 22 March 2012. The steady advancement of the business led to its incorporation on 23 Oct. 1886 as the Polson Iron Works Company of Toronto Limited, with William as president and Franklin as secretary-treasurer.
  2. ^ "Nautical History". Save Ontario Shipwrecks. 2003. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2011. The Iron Works only two existing ships in Toronto are the Trillium (built in 1913, which still ferry's passengers to Centre Island) and the RCYC passenger ferry Kwasind (1913).
  3. ^ Robert D. Turner (1998). Sternwheelers and Steam Tugs – An Illustrated History of the Canadian Pacific Railway's British Columbia Lake and River Service. Sono Nis Press. ISBN 9781550390896. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  4. ^ "Polson Iron Works Timeline". polsonironworks.ca. 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  5. ^ "List of Ships Built". polsonironworks.com. 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Polson Iron Works". shipbuildinghistory.com. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Polson Iron Works - M.F.P. Tractor Biplane, 1916".
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