22 Trade and Commerce

Courtesy Pictures of the Paul by beards,

The Arclight

The Arclight was built in Souris West in 1898 and registered the same year. Her tonnage was 10265 with a 91 foot keel. The vessel was 27.5 feet wide amidships and the depth of her hold 8.8 feet.

T.K. Kickham owned her until 1911 when it was sold to George Toombs of Charlotte- town and Alex MacDonald of Mount Stewart. The ship was lost in New York Har- bour, U.S.A., on July 12, 1912.

A launching ofa ship was always an occasion for a party. An account of launching of the Limelight has been passed down thus: “Eddie Donald McCormack was the fiddler at the party at Tom Warner’s. He kept on bravely making music while many strong men slumped to the floor but finally the fiddle dropped from his hand though the bow kept sawing the air but not for long, as Eddie too was thoroughly relaxed on the floor”.

Next morning Eddie Donald came down to the yard and went aboard the Limelight to bore the pumps. He bored and bored and finally bored into the river. Someone had made a mistake. Joe Kennedy, who was working in the hold shouted, “The ship is sinking. The ship is sinking!” Eddie Donald plugged the hole with his fist and with other stuffsaying bitterly, “Ifl could take my hand out of here, I would knock your head off.” William Chaisson, the builder, looked calmly but sadly on.

The Limelight was lost between Canso and Halifax and became beached at Wine Harbour, Nova Scotia in the fall of 1914. Later in the war it was remodeled, renamed the Riseouer II and sold to Venezuela in 1921.

Information about Tee Kay Kickham’s shipyard was gathered from men who built the ships and sailed on them, stories from men who lived at that time. Today, Billie Peters of Cambridge, Massachusetts, grandson of Wil- liam Chaisson, master builder of the Lights can relate stories of the ships. At age eleven, he was on board the Limelight when she was launched. Other