New Yates book details life of Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield

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The Bayfield Historic Society is the host to a e book launch and creator discuss on Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield on the Bayfield City Corridor on July 6, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 and features a signed e book copy.

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Had been he alive at the moment, beloved balladeer Stan Rogers would have one thing to say – and sing – in regards to the lifetime of Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield.

Earlier than turning 11, Bayfield joined the Royal Navy as a supernumerary volunteer, serving on battleships within the Napoleonic Wars. By 22, then a younger naval officer, he assisted within the first nautical surveys of Lake Ontario, later main the arduous work of mapping the coastlines of the Nice Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and jap Canada.

In his 30s, by his survey work, Bayfield loved partaking encounters with Arctic explorer John Franklin and ornithologist and painter John James Audubon.

Admired for his meticulous chart-making, Bayfield printed a number of books, together with crusing instructions for vessels within the often-dangerous waters of the St. Lawrence River.

In 1885, then a full admiral, he died at age 90 in Charlottetown.

He was “the best hydrographic surveyor in Canadian historical past,” spending 40 years mapping Canada’s coasts and inland waterways from the Lakehead to Labrador, observes David Yates, creator of a brand new biography of Bayfield. Together with his crewmen, Bayfield was the primary European to circumnavigate Lake Superior, a three-year enterprise that produced important knowledge for vessels on water depths.

Yates, a former highschool historical past trainer, was commissioned by the Bayfield and Space Chamber of Commerce to write down the newly launched Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield: Grasp Chart Maker of the Nice Lakes and St. Lawrence River. He compares Bayfield’s achievements to these of David Thompson, the famend fur dealer, astronomer and surveyor of Western North America in the course of the late 1700s and early 1800s – the “best land geographer who ever lived,” in accordance with the Canadian Encyclopedia.

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“Admiral Bayfield was the David Thompson at sea,” says Yates. “Most of Bayfield’s accomplishments have been made at sea and by no means actually acknowledged.”

Kudos to the Bayfield Historic Society – and to Yates’s readable account – for shining a lightweight on somebody who performed a pivotal position in guaranteeing protected passage for sailors in two of Canada’s most vital waterways: the Nice Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

Regardless of his monumental accomplishments, Bayfield is scarcely identified to many people.

Sure, the picturesque city of Bayfield, Ontario (and 30 others alongside the Nice Lakes) bears his title; a number of plaques in Ontario and Prince Edward Island commemorate his achievements; and the Canadian Hydrographic Service sometimes names certainly one of its ships for him, in accordance with the Canadian Encyclopedia.

However the story of Bayfield’s life just isn’t required studying in elementary and secondary college, although an impressed trainer may simply discover methods to weave his spectacular achievements into the social research and historical past curriculum.

One of the crucial interesting options of Yates’s 48-page e book is his description of the on a regular basis challenges for Bayfield and his crewmen “in small open-topped boats, in among the most inhospitable climates, painstakingly measuring hundreds of miles of Canada’s uncharted coastlines.”

A stern disciplinarian (who apparently by no means used the lash), Bayfield complained at instances of shedding crew who abandoned, with bottles of rum, unwilling to endure harsh winter climate, tough dwelling situations on board and homesickness.

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In his early years aboard His Majesty’s warships (typically battling Spanish and French combatants) Bayfield would have acquired some coaching in geometry, arithmetic and studying a navigational chart. However he basically realized on the job, incomes promotions alongside the way in which, partly, it’s believed, for the thoroughness of his work.

He benefited from a mentor, Captain William Fitz William Owen, who reported to the Admiralty on the commendable work of his subordinate Bayfield who, with six different officers and 50 seamen, surveyed 300 miles of Thousand Islands shoreline and took 10,000 bearings in 69 days in typically -20 Fahrenheit situations. Owen, who reported the survey’s accuracy as inside “two inches in a mile,” promoted Bayfield to grasp of the survey sloop HMS Star in 1816. Quickly after, he was promoted to appearing lieutenant, writes Yates.

Past his experience as a chartmaker, Bayfield developed an appreciation for nature. In 1833, whereas surveying the Labrador coast, he met Audubon, who already had printed a part of Birds of America. Yates cites journal entries by Bayfield describing how he and his fellow officers joined Audubon for an on-board “meal of fish, roast mutton, nice wine, and ‘some wonderful snuff.’”

Bayfield initially balked at turning into a hydrographic surveyor, writes Yates. However by 1826, frightened his service in pre-Confederation Canada may come to an finish, he was absolutely invested in a profession that will, in actual fact, preserve him right here. “If I ought to return [to Canada] on half pay and haven’t any different employment, nothing would give me a lot pleasure, for I like the nation and really feel involved in its welfare,” he wrote to a pal.

The subsequent time you go for a dip in Lake Huron, drive a ship alongside the rocky shoreline of Lake Superior, paddle the St. Lawrence, or stroll the shoreline of Prince Edward Island, consider the chartmaker who introduced these vistas into view. Stan Rogers, for positive, would have loved singing of Bayfield’s exploits. Fortunately, now we have this new e book to share the under-told story of a grasp mariner’s lasting contribution to Canada.

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Jennifer Lewington is a author, editor and panel moderator