11/14/2025
Nov. 14, 2025 - First I must apologize as last week's post had an error. The mother of Wendell Tuttle is Helen Mary Brown, commonly known as Helen, not Mary.
Today's picture is of a 4 master leaving Wallace. Perhaps it was one of the ones that was built in Wallace. Apparently the postcard is from the 1930's which seems a bit late for a cargo sailing ship.
The building of the first vessels in the area dates back to the 1700’s. One was built by Benjamin Stevens at Salters Creek. Not having any rope at the time, the builders peeled the elms. Using the bark for both rigging and cable and a stone for an anchor they closely hugged the shore until they arrived at Halifax where they were able to procure proper rigging and an anchor.
In 1816, Samuel Cunard had a ship built in Wallace, the Country’s Dalhousie, described as a British plantation-built ship with one deck and two masts.
In the 1850's, there was a boom in shipbuilding in Wallace Harbour spurred by the need for supply ships to feed the armies involved in the Crimean War. Wallace was the home of 11 shipyards, all working at full capacity. The industry gave work to about three hundred besides the men and teams who prepared the timber. And then there were offshoots such as the shipping of ice blocks to Boston and New York. Limestone from East Wallace, tanning bark, eggs, blueberries and timber were other frequent cargoes.
In 1854, 16 ships were completed or under construction in the harbour in 7 shipyards. With the end of the Crimean War, shipbuilding slowed down and finally came to a halt - not only because of the war, but also because of the increase in steam power which was creating a need for iron ships.
In all, records and names of 110 ships have been found with many more known to have been built. The largest was the Retriever, a full-rigged ship of 990 tons built in 1854 by Robert Purvis.
Until about 1870, these early vessels were mostly square rigged and other than for the war, they were built for the St. John’s and Great Britain trade. Later ships, until 1885, were large schooners built in Wallace to carry stone from the quarry to the U.S.A.
