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greatest activity had passed. The brigantine, “Zelrica,” for instance, was launched at his yard on November 12, 1889. Described as a “veritable ocean greyhound,” the “Zelrica” was built under the supervision of Fred— erick Douglas, boss—shipwright.

The shipyard of John Roche Bourke, Jr. was located west of Coffin & Glover’s and on the opposite side of the river. Mr. Bourke adopted the common practice of naming his vessels after members of his family. The “Lillian Bourke” and the “Elcho,” launched in 1878 and 1881 respectively were reflections of this practice. The record indicates that the Bourke ships were, in the main, sold to small dealers rather than to the well- known Charlottetown firms to whom the other builders in the area resorted.

Other Mount Stewart shipbuilders included James White, J. J. Fletcher, James Ross, Duncan Coffin, James Coffin, William Coffin, Elisha Coffin and Solomon Clark. The locations of their yards, if they maintained yards separate from the above, are uncertain. It is known that at least two of them made use of facilities already identified. Thus, at one point, James Coffin rented a yard east of Mount Stewart Bridge and on the north bank of the Hillsborough from David Egan, and, at the end of the shipbuilding era, Solomon Clark utilized the old Coffin facilities on the south bank. The other builders may have secured accommodation in a like manner; however, much more research is needed before this can be stated with certainty.

Those involved in the shipbuilding industry have been described as “a wonderful breed of men,” and in getting out the great logs, some- times one hundred feet in length, for use as yardarms and spars with the aid of nothing more than horses and sleighs, they undoubtedly did more than could be accomplished now with the same equipment. Needless to say, the industry was a great employer. During the period from De- cember, 1882 until July, 1883, the time taken to construct the brigantine “Zerelde,” built by Kimball Coffin for Peake Bros. & Co., approximately fifty men were employed in its construction in various capacities With its small population, however, the Island did not produce enough officers and sailors to man its ship production. The usual practice was that the local builders built for a Charlottetown merchant who had the vessel re- gistered at that place. The merchant then contracted with an overseas dealer to sell the vessel for a certain sum. When the vessel was sold, and it usually was — Island-built ships being in great demand, it was regis- tered elsewhere, and its Charlottetown registry was cancelled. Thus it was arranged that the “Dashwood,” built by James White of Mount Ste- wart for George and Henry Longworth of Charlottetown, was to be sold by William H. Tucker of Swansea, Wales, for a sum not less than £2,000. An arrangement agreeable to that contract was made with William Whyte of Banff, Scotland on March 12, 187 5, five months after the vessel’s launch— ing. Its Prince Edward Island registry was promptly cancelled.

There were, of course, many Island ships with Island officers and men to be found on the world trade routes. The “Ralph B. Peake,” for instance, was retained by its Island owners, Peake Bros. & Co., for its own commercial undertakings. Its maiden voyage was made from Char- lottetown to Charleston, South Carolina in October, 1876. Leaving Char- leston on November 18th with a cargo of cotton, it arrived in Liverpool on December 9th. A voyage of 47 days took the vessel to Savanah, Georgia, from Where, on April 13, 1877, it embarked for Callao, Peru with a cargo

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