The Colborne collection.

Navigating the Lower Saint Lawrence in the 19th Century.

Causes of Numerous Shipwrecks along the Gaspé Coast.

	When reading the Quebec Gazette and Quebec Mercury covering the first half of the 19th century, a recurrant theme appears, year after year, during the shipping season. Those sailing vessels arriving from the United Kingdom who passed north of Bird Rocks and the Magdalens during heavy weather often ran ashore between Percé and Fox River, now called Rivière au Renard. The brigs and barks that passed south of the Magdalens often ran ashore even further south, sometimes ending up in the Baie des Chaleurs instead of sailing up the middle of the St. Lawrence between the Island of Anticosti and the south shore. While our present-day experts will philosophize endlessly on the reasons why so many sailing vessels wrecked on the Gaspé coast during the 19th century, I'd perfer to consolidate what was known during that period. While several articles exist which cover the main causes, perhaps the most informative letter to the editor, of May 22nd, 1827 brings a viewpoint rarely mentioned in the newspapers of yesteryear. While the British government was knowledgable of the continous and roving nature of our magnetic north, few scientific studies were being persued, and even fewer notices to the shipping world were published of those changes during the early part of the 19th century. Having practically no literature on hand covering our Canadian magnetic north, I found the following article on internet intitled "The road to the magnetic north pole". Without a magnetic north, or something similiar, compasses wouldn't have anywhere to point to, and would never have been invented. For those who haven't read over the above article, I'll outline the main points of the history of magnetic north. While magnetism was known in ancient times, it was only around the beginning of the 11th century that free swinging magnetic needles came into being. By the 14th century, navigators believed it pointed to the true north, but by the 15th century, it was known that the magnetic needle diviated both in time and location. By the 1830's the magnetic north pole had been located some 1200 miles south of true north, in Canada's northern hinterland. Over the last 400 years, the magnetic north wandered over 5000 miles in a counter-clockwise elipical arc, making the use of the compass a hazard without correct compensation. During the first half of the 19th century, navigators knew about deviation, but few governments were willing to invest heavily in monitoring its course. The result: captains were charting their courses using outdated diviation corrections, with errors as much as 6 degrees. Supplemented to the errors caused by outdated diviation corrections, the Gaspé currents were little known, uncharted and unpublished. Southeastly currents of 2 to 3 knots were not unusual. The numerous journals of the day add little to the existing meager knowledge, although assumedly, the British naval intelligence was quite familiar with these currents. The following causes, from Losses of Property and Lives at Sea published in the Quebec Gazette of November 16, 1836, give a few more clews. Defective construction of ships. Inadequacy of equipment. Imperfect state of repair. Improper or excessive loading. Inappropriateness of form. Incompetence of masters and officers. Drunkenness of officers and men. Operation of marine insurance. Want of harbours of refuge. Imperfection of charts. A few other topics of interest are: Lack of navigational season guidelines. Autumn deck overloading. Documented freezing spray and icing dangers. Are you interested in adding to the topic, or elaborating some of the above subjects? Welcome aboard! You can contact me at: [email protected] Should there be sufficient interest, perhaps we could look into an information exchange group.

Causes of Numerous Shipwrecks along the Gaspé Coast.

When reading the Quebec Gazette and Quebec Mercury covering the first half of the 19th century, a recurrant theme appears, year after year, during the shipping season. Those sailing vessels arriving from the United Kingdom who passed north of Bird Rocks and the Magdalens during heavy weather often ran ashore between Percé and Fox River, now called Rivière au Renard. The brigs and barks that passed south of the Magdalens often ran ashore even further south, sometimes ending up in the Baie des Chaleurs instead of sailing up the middle of the St. Lawrence between the Island of Anticosti and the south shore.
While our present-day experts will philosophize endlessly on the reasons why so many sailing vessels wrecked on the Gaspé coast during the 19th century, I'd perfer to consolidate what was known during that period. While several articles exist which cover the main causes, perhaps the most informative letter to the editor, of May 22nd, 1827 brings a viewpoint rarely mentioned in the newspapers of yesteryear. While the British government was knowledgable of the continous and roving nature of our magnetic north, few scientific studies were being persued, and even fewer notices to the shipping world were published of those changes during the early part of the 19th century.

Having practically no literature on hand covering our Canadian magnetic north, I found the following article on internet intitled

"The road to the magnetic north pole".

Without a magnetic north, or something similiar, compasses wouldn't have anywhere to point to, and would never have been invented.
For those who haven't read over the above article, I'll outline the main points of the history of magnetic north. While magnetism was known in ancient times, it was only around the beginning of the 11th century that free swinging magnetic needles came into being. By the 14th century, navigators believed it pointed to the true north, but by the 15th century, it was known that the magnetic needle diviated both in time and location. By the 1830's the magnetic north pole had been located some 1200 miles south of true north, in Canada's northern hinterland. Over the last 400 years, the magnetic north wandered over 5000 miles in a counter-clockwise elipical arc, making the use of the compass a hazard without correct compensation.

During the first half of the 19th century, navigators knew about deviation, but few governments were willing to invest heavily in monitoring its course. The result: captains were charting their courses using outdated diviation corrections, with errors as much as 6 degrees.

Supplemented to the errors caused by outdated diviation corrections, the Gaspé currents were little known, uncharted and unpublished. Southeastly currents of 2 to 3 knots were not unusual. The numerous journals of the day add little to the existing meager knowledge, although assumedly, the British naval intelligence was quite familiar with these currents.

The following causes, from

Losses of Property and Lives at Sea

published in the Quebec Gazette of November 16, 1836, give a few more clews.

Defective construction of ships.
Inadequacy of equipment.
Imperfect state of repair.
Improper or excessive loading.
Inappropriateness of form.
Incompetence of masters and officers.
Drunkenness of officers and men.
Operation of marine insurance.
Want of harbours of refuge.
Imperfection of charts.

A few other topics of interest are:

Lack of navigational season guidelines.
Autumn deck overloading.
Documented freezing spray and icing dangers.

Are you interested in adding to the topic, or elaborating some of the above subjects? Welcome aboard! You can contact me at:

[email protected]

Should there be sufficient interest, perhaps we could look into an information exchange group.

Posted Dec. 5, 1998.

Updated Nov. 28, 2002.