Old Cat Hollow I: Schooner Days CCXLI (241)

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"OUT OF CAT HOLLOW" has long been a title of pride on the lakes. You will search in motor maps and ancient atlases till your eyes ache, and you will never find either Cat Hollow or the 'Port of Cramaha,' which was the official documented name of the place. The latter appears in the earliest Dominion registers of Canadian shipping and then vanishes like the many schooners once therefrom enrolled.

But Cat Hollow and the Port of Cramaha were both very real.

Harold Batty, of Port Hope, himself a graduate of that Cat Hollow academy where "Old Johnston" spake in the whispers which went echoing down the corridors of time, supplies this list of Cat Hollow captains still in active service:

Capt. Jas. Cuthbert, Cobourg, Ont.

Captain Chas. E. Redfearn, Colborne, Ont.

Capt. Walter Kirk, Capt. Harry Kirk, Capt. Chas. Kirk, Lakeport, Ont.

Capt. Earl McMurray, St. Catharines, Ont.

Capt. George Kirk, Hamilton, Ont.

Capt. Nelson McGlennon, Capt. Henry McGlennon, Toronto.

Capts. Harry, William and Grant Redfearn, Colborne, Ont.

Capt. Harold Brown, Capt. Robt. Brown, Toronto.

Capt. Henry Matthews, Jr., Cobourg, Ont.

Capt. Bruce Peebles, Toronto.

And, last but not least, Capt. Peter Shaw of Toronto—getting on in years, but still doing his work.

If you are good at guessing riddles, you may think, from the addresses given, that Cat Hollow became annexed to the City of Toronto and so lost its identity—but you are wrong. Lakeport, present home of three of the Kirk captains, became the name of the place when it rose to the dignity of a post office, and Lakeport is its name today. A mile and a half southwest of Colborne and eight miles from Presque'Isle Point is its geographical location, and canning tomatoes its industry.

Two hundred and sixty-five souls lived in Cat Hollow, men, women and children. Each spring forty-two masters, mates, sailors and cooks packed their bags and joined their vessels. Seldom did they find them at the "Port of Cramaha," for Cat Hollow was an uncomfortable place to moor at any time, and almost impossible for "laying up" through the winter and "fitting out" in the spring, from the great fields of ice pushed down Lake Ontario by the brave west winds. Vessels wintered in Cobourg, sixteen miles to the west, or Brighton, eight miles to the east, or wherever they were frozen in. Yet the port had its shipyard, its docks—you can see the great cribs of the long pier yet, like isolated blockhouses—its grain elevators, its warehouses and its weigh scales. The stone foundation of the latter, in a grassy bank, and the battered cribs of the largest pier are all that is left of the lost "Port of "Cramaha."

Standing there the other day, Mr. Batty pointed, house after house in the little village, once filled with sailors and sailor sons. Going up one street and down another it was something like this: "Here's where Capt. Peter Shaw used to live. Next door was Capt. Peter Keith, and Capt. John Keith, who sailed the Keewatin first. The next place was Capt. Jim Redfearn, who sailed the Keewatin later, and whose son, Capt. Charles Redfearn, sailed the Albacore before he went into the Canada Steamship service.

"Next is the house of Capt. James Henderson, of the Macassa, whose brother, Capt. John, was lost with the Blanche.

"Then there is the house of Capt. Steve Taylor, of the Katie Eccles, and then the house of Capt. Tom Matthews, who sailed the Oliver Mowat and later the Winnie Wing.

"Then there is Capt. Tom Padgington's house. He was with Capt. Joseph Philip, in the Turret Chief. Next is the home of the three Kirks—Captains Walter, Harry and Charles.

"On the next street lives Capt. Henry Kirk, retired. The house next his was Capt. Donald Connagher's, who built the Thistle. Next to him lived Capt. Ed. Redfearn. Next again Isaac Matthews, and then Capt. Allan Scott. Across the street, Capt. Jas. Shaw, Sr.; then Capt. Conroy; then the three McGlennons—William, Nelson and Henry, all in steam now; and then Wm. Seed's house—he was mate in the lost Blanche."

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THE STILL REMEMBERED "BLANCHE"

Sir: - Your recent stories regarding the Prince Edward County schooners have been most interesting. Your account of the "Annie Falconer" brought back very pleasant memories. My uncle, Capt. James Shaw of Lakeport, sailed her about the close of the nineties and I remember her well. Incidentally, I have heard him speak of sailing with Capt. Thomas Brokenshire in the "Nellie Hunter." I presume this is the same Capt. Brokenshire lost with the Ocean Wave," to whom you referred in last week's article.

The "Ocean Wave" mystery and the loss of the "Mary" about which you wrote a few months ago, have brought to memory another unsolved Lake Ontario shipwreck, that of the schooner "Blanche."

Recently in going through some old records I found some notes regarding the "Blanche" disaster which I thought very interesting. I was born and raised in Colborne, Ontario, the home port of the "Blanche" and although I knew nothing of the actual wreck, I well remember the tales that were told about her last trip which ended so unhappily.

Lost with all hands on the night of May 28, 1888, between Oswego and Brighton, heavily laden with coal screenings, the relatives and friends of the crew, practically all of whom resided in Lakeport, watched and waited daily for some news, and hope was not abandoned until nearly three weeks later when on June 15th, the owner, Mr. A. Campbell, received word that the empty yawl had been washed ashore near Cape Vincent, N.Y. News did not travel as fast in those days as now.

In the village of Lakeport no less than four families were bereaved, the following members of the crew residing there: Captain John Henderson, Mate William Seed, William Hayes, before the mast, and Miss Annie Smith, cook. The fact that Capt. Henderson was only 25 years of age at the time of his death, is

an indication that the Lakeport sailors were taught their profession young. Incidentally, he was a brother of the late Capt. James Henderson, a well-known figure on the Toronto waterfront in more recent years when in command of the steamers, "Macassa" and "Modjeska."

A memorial service was held in the Presbyterian Church at Lakeport on Sunday, June 24, 1888, for the lost crew and as the records: show was "very largely attended and solemn and sad enough." On September 8th, of the same year, the body of Capt. Henderson was found on the shore only a few miles west of his home, identified by his parents and interred in the "Sailors' Plot" in Lakeport cemetery, where to-day there stands a beautiful monument erected through public subscription to the memory of the "Blanche" and her crew. I believe none of the others were ever found.

If I remember correctly the spot I where the "Blanche" foundered was located by one of the other Lakeport schooners late in the fall of '88, some five or six miles southwest of the"Scotch Bonnet," but so far as I know no effort was ever made to have the wreck investigated.

I wonder if this "passing hail" will induce someone to tell us more of the story? In view of the very interesting manner in which you have dealt with the history of the Prince Edward schooners perhaps you will deal with this mystery in some future article. I am sure it would be of interest to all your readers and of special interest to those of us who were brought up in very close touch with the mariners who hailed from the ports along the north shore of Lake Ontario.

W.W.D. McGlennon.

The fate of the Blanche has been recorded in Schooner Days (Article No. LVII, Dec. 8th, 1932) but we shall have some more on the subject of Cat Hollow next week, Mr. McGlennon, and the story of the Blanche and other vessels will be dealt with. Thank you.

LAKEPORT TO-DAY WITH ITS LONG ABANDONED PIER.