In the days before iron ships, ships were built from wood. When England began to run short of woodlands to build ships, they turned to the colonies. Prince Edward Island was heavily wooded and had the kind of natural waterways that made it easy to set up shipyards. Souris River was ideal for shipbuilding because it was very deep and sheltered.

The Souris area had been settled by the French until the Expulsion of the French in 1758 when most of the French on Prince Edward Island were sent away. Some of the French who had been living here had gone to the Magdalene Islands and were not here when the English rounded up the French and removed them from the area.

One of these families was the D'Etcheverie family. They moved back to the Souris area after the Acadian Expulsion was over. The name got shortened and Anglicized to Cheverie and many descendants of this family still exist today. I'm descended from this family.

From Samuel Holland's Survey

In 1763, Prince Edward Island was an English possession. Samuel Holland surveyed the Island in 1765 and he described the land around Souris River (lot 44 and 45) as burned woods, indifferent land, that was not cleared and not very good for fishing or farming. England was trying to get people to come to the New World and settle it Lots 44 and 45 did not attract people. In a census taken in 1798, there were people who were listed in lot 43 and lot 46. Part of this reason was that the English proprietors who owned each lot were responsible for bringing out settlers to their land. Lot 44 had changed hands sixteen times between 1767 (when the lots were drawn in England and the owners given their section of land) and 1793. In 1793, part of Lot 44 was given to Benjamin Evans and Peter MacGowan who held it in trust for John Cambridge. John Cambridge was one of the first shipbuilders on Prince Edward Island and between 1792 and 1825, his shipyards built 12 ships. His sons, Lemuel and Artemas, were also shipbuilders and between 1790 and 1830, their shipyards built 24 ships.

Cambridge's first shipyard was in Murray Harbour in 1793 and he had a sawmill there too. These ships sailed to England with timber and brought back settlers as well as shipwrights, blacksmiths, blockmakers, woodcutters, and people to run sawmills. These men came from Bristol, England, and places in Scotland and Ireland where shipbuilding had been done for many years. Some of the early shipbuilders are names that are still recognized around the Souris area such as Mallard, Gregory, Rossiter. By the 1790s, there were shipyards all along the Souris River. John Cambridge kept buying up land and by 1818 he owned all of Lot 44. The map in Figure 1 shows that most of Souris River was in Lot 44.

One of the shipwrights was Thomas Perkins of Plymouth, England, who along with 30 other shipyard workers came to Prince Edward Island to work for Lemuel Cambridge.

Shipbuilding was the main occupation and reason for business in the Souris area from the first Cambridge Shipyards in the 1790s to the last of the Kickham Shipyards around the time of World War I. Shipbuilding on the Souris River was at its peak in the 1860s. Sometimes there were up to 300 men working in the shipyards on Souris River.

The shipyards existed anywhere the water was deep enough and there was enough shelter. Some of the shipyards included one owned by J.B. Cox, north of Union Cemetery, and next to it was another shipyard owned by Richard Burk. This one was in the gulley north of Union Cemetery. On the other side of Souris River there was a shipyard at McInnis Creek and another one at the head of the River at Gowan Brae. The McGowans had been active in shipbuilding in what is now called Gowan Brae. In Souris East – which is now the town of Souris – there were several small shipyards. There was one at Norris Pond, Chepstow, Little Harbour, and North Lake. The North Side was generally rocky and not suitable for building and launching ships.

John Knight had a huge shipyard near where the Platter House restaurant was for many years and T.J. Kickham had another shipyard across the River on the east side. Edward Kickham came from Tipperary in Ireland. T. J. was his son and after working in his father's store and as a postmaster, T. J. got into shipbuilding. From 1891 until 1907 his shipyards built 12 ships, all of them with the word "Light" in the name. There was the Minot's Light, the Arclight, the Searchlight, the Silverlight, the Delight, the Ariel Light, the Twilight, the Sunlight, the Souris Light, the Satellite, and the Limelight. There was a second ship called the Delight.

The Satellite, mastered by Capt. Alexander Bushey unloading coal at the Matthew & McLean wharf. She was built at the Kickham Shipyards.	The Archlight, which was built at the Kickham Shipyards
The Delight (on left). She was built at the Kickham Shipyards	The Limelight, which was built at the Kickham Shipyards

All of the Kickham ships were destroyed at sea because he skimped on the wire that held the wood together and when things got rough at sea, the ships fell apart.

In this picture above, the small wooden desk was used by the captain as a place to keep the money safe that he received when he delivered the ship or its cargo to the United Kingdom or other harbours.

In the late 1870s the shipbuilding industry began to collapse. The construction of steamships meant that there was a decline in ships required by the United Kingdom. After the industry collapsed many shipwrights, blacksmiths, and carpenters had to go elsewhere to find work. The last ship built in Souris was the M.C.A. built for a Captain Arsenault. She sailed until 1952 when she was beached near the Magdalen Islands.

In later years, lobster boats were built in canneries after the lobster season was over. The Kickhams of Souris West had a cannery.

The author with Captain Lanigan's desk

In this picture to the left, the small wooden desk was used by the captain as a place to keep the money safe that he received when he delivered the ship or its cargo to the United Kingdom or other harbours. Bibliography Townshend, Adele. Ten Farms Become a Town: A History of Souris 1700-1920. Town of Souris, 1986. Special thanks to: Waldron Leard of the History Room, Mike P. Fitzpatrick (Grampie), George Mullally, Joanne Reid, and Lori Fitzpatrick for their help with this project. The photo on the cover page is of a barquentine in Souris Harbour. This project was prepared for a Heritage Fair, held at Souris Consolidated School. It is reproduced here by permission of the author.

Copyright
Alex Fitzpatrick