Built on Shaky Ground:

Welland's Contribution to Shipbuilding During the Great War

Mikayla Asta

Niagara - 2024

Shipbuilding has a centuries long history in Canada filled with impressive advances in technology and complex changes to canal infrastructure. The history of shipbuilding reflects historic changes in Canadian society and economics, as shipbuilders' designs adapted to the needs of their customers with vessels being built for recreation, trade and of specific interest to this paper, war.¹ During times of war, vessels were used for a myriad of reasons, much of which were determined by the type of ship. Cargo ships were used to transport munitions, medical supplies, food, troops, and other supplies that were used to support war efforts. While several other types of ships were used to patrol the waters. These vessel types were produced at shipyards across Canada to help support military operations in Europe during the Great War.²

As the First World War went on, there was an evident need for support from allied nations worldwide. Canada participated in The Great War by providing troops, ammunition, food, and aircraft; to transport their contributions, more vessels were required. Thus, the Imperial Munitions Board, appointed with the responsibility to distribute shipbuilding contracts on behalf of the British Government, began arranging agreements with shipyards.³ These contracts were distributed across different provinces within Canada but priority was given to shipyards that were located along a seacoast. Importantly several inland shipyards began to receive war contracts, such as the British American Shipbuilding Company from Welland, Ontario.

Despite receiving their contracts late in the War, the British American Shipbuilding Company made significant contributions to the war effort by building vessels such as the War Badger and War Racoon.⁴ As a new business, the British American Shipbuilding Company faced many difficulties throughout their war contract, namely, the delayed receival of the contract, labour shortages, transportation issues and delays in canal construction. However other factors such as the shipyards' location, the construction of the Fourth Welland Canal, and production accessibility favoured the British American Shipbuilding Company when it came to their ability to build vessels for the war, hence why they were granted contracts by the Imperial Munitions Board. This paper will examine both the advantages and disadvantages undergone by the British American Shipbuilding Company and their building of vessels during and for the First World War.

The British American Shipbuilding Company was an inland shipyard, which meant that its ships needed to travel through canals to access the Great Lakes. The shipyard was located on the Third Welland Canal at 102 North Main Street, now the location of Niagara Street, Welland.⁵ Figure 1 illustrates the location of the British American Shipyard Company on a present-day map.⁶ Figure 2 depicts the Welland River with the British American Shipbuilding Company in the background.⁷

The location of the British American Shipbuilding Company was not only favoured due to its close proximity to the canal; the previous owners of the property, Beatty and Sons, used the location to manufacture steel dredge hulls and boilers, agricultural equipment, castings, steam engines, and other tools.⁸ Thus, both the location, and previous manufacturing capabilities of the site helped the British American Shipbuilding Company to secure a total of five shipbuilding contracts in the year 1918. Among those contracts, the War Weasel, which was the first vessel launched at Welland, followed by the War Badger, and the War Racoon which were built for The Shipping Controller in Great Britain. Whereas the Canadian Otter and the Canadian Squatter were built to join the Canadian Merchant Marine.⁹ Figure 3 is a photograph of the War Weasel vessel built in 1919 by the British American Shipbuilding Company.¹⁰ Figure 4 is a photograph of the War Racoon vessel built in 1919 by the British American Shipbuilding Company.¹¹ Another advantage that the company had was its proximity to the Beatty and Sons company, which included a factory and machine shop located on the East bank of the Welland Canal on Lincoln Street.¹² Beatty and Sons not only facilitated the process of acquiring steel for the construction of these vessels, but aided in the overall securing of the contracts from the Imperial Munitions Board.

However, the location of this shipyard had some geographic disadvantages. After all, the Canadian Railway and Marine World Newspaper stated in 1918 that shipbuilding yards on the Great Lakes were at a disadvantage when it came to constructing vessels as they were required to ensure that they would fit through the canals.¹³ This was the case for the British American Shipbuilding Company, as the Third Welland Canal was found to be too small for the large vessels that were being built to fit through.¹⁴ Its lack in size was due to an absence of skilled engineers and contractors during the canal's construction.¹⁵ This construction began in 1875, completed in 1881 and expanded to increase depth in 1887.¹⁶ Despite the expansion in 1887, by 1905 it became evident that eventually the canal would require an additional significant increase in size.¹⁷ Therefore, while the Welland Canal certainly presented difficulties for the British American Shipbuilding Company, such as transporting boats through the canal, it led to additional delays.

On August 15, 1918, just a few months before the end of World War One, the British American Shipbuilding Company was ordered to build two vessels of four thousand and three hundred tons. However, in December of 1918 the canal\'s limitations affected the ability to fulfill the request, with the vessel requirements being too large for the canal capacity leading to the contracts being revoked.¹⁸ Instead the company was contracted for smaller vessels, which were less difficult but had challenges fitting through the Canal. Eventually, the limitations of the size of the Third Welland Canal forced the British American Shipbuilding Company to cut their newly built vessels in half and rejoin them after they had passed through the canal or build the vessels in two different pieces and join them afterward.¹⁹ Both methods of reconstruction complicated the shipbuilding process for Welland's shipyard.

The Third Welland Canal was established as outdated before the outbreak of war and the increased needs for vessels during this period provoked plans for a new Canal; The Fourth Welland Canal.²⁰ The Fourth Canal would be larger, provide a more direct route, and require fewer locks than the Third Canal.²¹ The Fourth Canal's construction began in 1913, and the promise of the new canal facilitated the process of receiving shipbuilding contracts for the British American Company as it would have allowed them to ship the vessels through the canal without significant delay. Figure 5 is a map of the Niagara Region that portrays the different Canal routes from over the years, demonstrating the different paths between the Third and Fourth Welland Canal, as well as the dates that these canals were completed and enlarged.²² The Fourth Canal was anticipated to be complete by 1918, however this was not the case, and construction was quickly halted as funds were low and recruitment was extremely difficult due to a shortage of tradesmen who were away fighting in the war. Many labour workers were sent to fight in the Great War which caused a global labour shortage.²³ A shortage of skilled steel manufacturing labour was a significant challenge faced by shipbuilding companies across the globe. The British American Shipbuilding Company as a newly established shipyard, felt the effects of the shortage deeply.²⁴ As the company struggled to find labourers, establish themselves as a new business and transition from wood to steel production, attracting employees became a priority. So much so that they resorted to advertisements in newspapers to recruit workers.

A local newspaper, The Evening Star Times advertised for the company stating "shipbuilding in Canada is a fast-growing industry" and "sufficient numbers of skilled shipbuilders are not available".²⁵ Shipyards across Canada were in such need at the time that they were looking to hire anyone who had transferable skills from other industries even if they lacked experience shipbuilding. It did not matter whether the labourers were painters, carpenters, horseshoers, bricklayers, etc, as long as they were exempted from military service or were not engaging in farming duties, they were eligible to apply.²⁶ Figure 6 is an advertisement from July 1918 that addresses those who would be qualified to apply for work in the shipbuilding industry and highlights transferrable trades, and shipyards across Canada that are looking for help including the British American Shipbuilding Company of Welland.²⁷ Due to the growth of the shipbuilding industry occurring late in the war, by the time labour advertisements were released, eligible candidates were largely already occupied with fulfilling other industry roles to help the war effort.

The construction of war vessels was eventually complete, the completion occurred far too late for many of the ships to be use in war. Therefore several war vessels were passed on to private interests, where they lived on their legacies.²⁸ Some of the ship\'s legacies extended to use in the Second World War, such as The Canadian Otter, which was completed in 1920.²⁹^v^Figure 7 displays a photograph of the Canadian Otter vessel of the British American Shipbuilding Company.³⁰ Over the years, the Canadian Otter went through several name changes. Nearly a decade after its construction was completed, in 1929, it became the Chomedy, followed by the Otter, then the Foo King, and finally, the Fukoku Maru which was its final name in June of 1944 where it sank from the United States of America missile attack during the Second World War.³¹

Another legacy vessel produced by the British American Shipbuilding Company was the Canadian Squatter, which was built in halves and taken to Montreal for completion in 1920.³² It lived to sail until 1970 when it was scrapped as the Boreas; the only name change undergone by this vessel during its fifty years of sailing.³³ Figure 8 depicts the Canadian Squatter vessel.³⁴ The War Weasel, another ship built by the British Americans, was completed in 1919, and was dropped from the register in 1956 for a lack of news.³⁵ The War Weasel also underwent several name changes; Orne, Huo Fong, and An Hsing.³⁶ The War Badger of 1919, was renamed Ribeauville in France, and then Zalla in Spain where it was broken up and scrapped in 1936.³⁷ Finally, The War Racoon completed in 1919, changed its name eleven times during its life span of nearly forty decades before it sprang a leak in 1958 and foundered.³⁸ Its names in chronological order were; Shouragallus, Prairial, Sara, Kamsa, Elise, Tropique, Firenze, Elise, Eero, Roine, and Mount Delphi.³⁹

The fulfillment of the five contracts granted to the company by the Imperial Munitions Board marked the end of the career of the British American Shipbuilding Company as they closed their doors in 1920.⁴⁰ Their land was bought by the Iron and Brass industries of Welland where it remained until it was lost to a fire in 1988.⁴¹ Currently, the land remains vacant, however as of 2023 discussions regarding potential condominium development on the land have taken place.⁴² Figure 9 is a photograph of Welland's Iron and Brass industry formerly known as the British American Shipbuilding Company.⁴³ Although the ships they built were not used in The Great War, the quick efforts to contribute to the war by the British American Shipbuilding Company created a lasting legacy through their use in World War II and private industry. Late or not, and through the various challenges they had to overcome, the contract for five functional war vessels was fulfilled.