Over the course of more than 100 years, the Tett and Chaffey families established several enterprises at Bedford Mills and Devil Lake, some more successful than others. The least well known but arguably most prosperous enterprise was shipbuilding and forwarding (which is the shipment of goods from one place to another via single or multiple carriers). Almost 40 wooden tugs and barges (both unpowered and powered using steam engines) were built by the Chaffeys and by the Tetts at Bedford Mills, which was the largest shipbuilding and forwarding centre in the Rideau corridor. The barges were quite large, often measuring more than 100 feet in length and 30 feet in width. While most of the ships built or used at Bedford Mills were used to transport goods on the Rideau Canal and beyond, three were used exclusively on Devil Lake itself.
Steam Barge Westport
Caption: The Westport – a steam barge 103 feet long which was built at Bedford Mills in 1862 by the Chaffey brothers. Photograph taken at the Newboro Lock; date unknown. Note that the ship almost fully occupies the lock.
Source:Rideau Lakes Public Library
The earliest ship to be built at Bedford Mills was a barge named Hope, constructed in 1841 by Benjamin Tett Sr. and his partner at the time, Alexander Buist. It was powered by sails, and was initially used to assist in the transport of booms of logs down Devil Lake to the sawmill. Hope remained in service on Devil Lake for some time and, in later years, was used to transport cordwood down the lake. It was rebuilt by a shipwright at Bedford Mills in the winter of 1879, and Tett records show that in 1880 loads of phosphate were transported by Hope down Devil Lake. Once the phosphates reached Bedford Mills, the Tetts transported them in their barges through the Rideau Canal to market.
Another ship used on Devil Lake, about which very little is known, was a tug named Pointer. It received mention in Kingston’s Daily British Whig on August 30,1895, as follows: “The tug Pointer, engaged towing rafts on Devil Lake, was caught in a heavy blow last week, and had it not been for the able management of the captain, who was at the wheel at the time and succeeded in beaching her at Pappoose Island, some lives might have been lost. As it was very little damage was done.”
The final commercial ship on Devil Lake was a barge named Mary Bedford. There is a considerably greater amount of information available about it. The barge, which was built at Bedford Mills in 1883 for the Tett brothers, was described by The Globe on May 22, 1883, as: “The first vessel to float on Devil’s Lake has been put on by Tett Bros. of Bedford Mills. The craft is propelled by steam, and carries the name Mary Bedford. She is carrying cordwood, taking 35 cords at a load.” Tett family lore suggests that the name Steamboat Island in Devil Lake was so named because the Mary Bedford tied up there at night during the logging season. The vessel was also occasionally used by the Tetts in the summer to transport friends and family members on a cruise of Devil Lake followed by a picnic at the Bedford Mills home of John Poole Tett.
By 1887, the Tett brothers had decided to take the Mary Bedford out of service on Devil Lake, as they considered the quantity of cordwood being brought out of the lake each year to be insufficient to justify the cost. As well, the engine had been damaged, as described in a memoir by the author’s grandfather, Edmund J. Tett: “The Mary Bedford had a very fine compound engine but alas the boys in charge forgot to drain it when laying her up in the fall so the frost took over and burst the cylinder.”
Caption: Sketch of the submerged wreck of the barge Mary Bedford.
Source: Drawing by Jonathan Moore and Dorothea Kappler, Parks Canada, 2005
The barge was cut in half, placed on skids, and transported through the sawmill to the Loon Lake level. During the winter of 1888, Kingston carpenter and shipwright Joseph Mercier rebuilt the Mary Bedford at the Bedford Mills shipyard. The engine was removed and sold to a Kingston shipbuilder, and the vessel was reassembled and lengthened by over 30 feet, to a total of 101 feet. The resulting unpowered barge bore the same name, and it was used for many years by the Tett brothers as part of their forwarding business in the Rideau corridor. It was frequently towed in convoy with one of Tetts’ other barges by their tug Edmond (built at Bedford Mills in 1879).
It is not known when, but the Mary Bedford sank in Loon Lake near Bedford Mills. Between 1998 and 2002, underwater archaeologists with Parks Canada surveyed conducted a systematic underwater archaeological survey of the Rideau Canal. One of the sites surveyed was that of a wreck in Loon Lake. In their 2005 report, authored by Jonathan Moore, it is postulated that the wreck was likely that of the barge Mary Bedford, based on both historical and archaeological evidence. Moore wrote: “Its remains are the best surviving archaeological example of the general-purpose barge used on the canal for shipping bulk cargoes such as lumber, grain, and mining products.” A sketch of the wreck, also from the 2005 Parks Canada report, is reproduced with this article.
Caption: The tug Edmond docked at a lumber wharf at Bedford Mills circa 1885. In the background near another lumber wharf can be seen two barges, one of which could be the Mary Bedford.
Source: Author’s personal collection
The Mary Bedford was the last ship to be built by the Tetts. In August 1911, the tug Edmond sank at Bedford Mills, and the Tetts’ shipbuilding and forwarding business was closed. Today, there are no traces of these once-prosperous businesses to be found at Bedford Mills or anywhere on Devil Lake.
-John Gray
DEVIL LAKE ASSOCIATION 