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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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DESMOND, JAMES (1830-1918)

DESMOND, JAMES, ship carpenter and master builder; b. Ireland, 22 Nov 1830, s/o Patrick Desmond Sr and Joanna Mahoney; brother of Patrick Desmond; m. 1st, 1851, Charlotte Kerr, d/o Adam Kerr and Rose McGuiness, of Alnwick parish; 2nd, 1873, Sarah B. Wynne, a teacher in Chatham, and 3rd, 1887, Joanna Sweeney; d. Chatham, 24 Mar 1918.

James Desmond's parents were on the Miramichi in 1837 and 1839, when their son Patrick and daughter Ellen were baptized, but they returned to Ireland and were living "near the botanical gardens" at Jane Ville, Cork City, when their son Daniel Desmond was born around 1845. "I came out to this country in the brig Richard White," stated James Desmond. "We sailed from the city of Cork, Ireland, and were about six or seven weeks at sea, and arrived here about one week before the barque Looshtauk, viz. about May 27 or 28 in the year 1847." One of Desmond's sisters died of measles during the voyage, suggesting that the whole family was on board the Richard White. Since some of the passengers were sick upon arrival, all were placed in quarantine for more than a month on Middle Island. When the crew and passengers of the Looshtauk, under Capt. John M. Thain, were also quarantined there a few days later they were prevented from mixing with the Richard White's passengers or with the passengers of the Bolivar, which was tied up in quarantine at the same time.

After his release, Desmond found employment as a ship carpenter, and he continued to work as such until promoted to the position of master shipbuilder at the yard of William Muirhead in the mid-1860s. The first ship of record built by him was the 1623-ton Royal Arch, which was the largest vessel ever constructed on the Miramichi. Hundreds of Muirhead's employees and others were in attendance at her launching in the summer of 1865 and stayed to dance the night away.

The most famous vessel of Desmond's construction was the barque Queen of Hearts (1868), the unlucky ship of Miramichi legend, which "killed a man on every voyage." The Queen of Hearts sank at sea twenty years after being launched, taking the lives of most of her crew. The figurehead of the ship was a carving of a woman dealing cards, which many believed to be a bad omen.

Desmond built at least five vessels for Muirhead in the 1860s and one for himself, the barque Carolina (1869), in which he sailed to England. He planned to sell the ship there, and after his return pay those who had advanced him the materials used in her construction, but his creditors brought a lawsuit against him while he was away and stripped him of everything he owned. Later he was one of several shipwrights who formed the Miramichi Shipbuilding Co. to construct the large barque Molilamo at the Muirhead yard. The company went bankrupt, but the ship was bought by Alexander Morrison and completed by Desmond in 1875. Desmond also built the barque Clandeboye for Henry A. Muirhead in 1878-79.

As the days of sail passed into history, Desmond turned to other kinds of construction. In the 1880s he began to design and build steamers. One of the best-known to be constructed under his supervision was the ferry Nelson, which was launched in 1885. In 1888 he designed the superb steamer St Nicholas for J. B. Snowball & Co. and was foreman of the construction crew. In 1895 he built the St Isadore for Snowball's use in the Tracadie area. In 1897 he built the St George, "a big, paddle-wheeled sea tug," for the same firm. The St George was the second Snowball vessel to be so named. At 185 tons, and with a length of 119' and a 25' beam, she was the largest steamer constructed on the Miramichi to that date. In the winter of 1900-01 he built a barge for the Miller Tanning Extract Co. In 1906 he won a contract to erect a steam-powered sawmill for the Thomas W. Flett Lumber Co., and another to build lighters for use in Bathurst harbor.

Throughout his later years Desmond conducted a general store in Chatham. The Chatham World stated that he was "a reader and thinker, with decided opinions on all political and other questions and an outspoken habit of expressing them." He and his second wife, Sarah B. Wynne, had two sons: Patrick J. Desmond, who worked with his father as a youth and later served in the Canadian armed forces, and Daniel Desmond, who lived in Portland, Maine, and later in Anaheim, California. The two sons and his third wife were named as his survivors in 1918. He was the last of "the old time marine architects," observed The World, and "the last of the master builders who...gave Miramichi a name in the shipping world."

Sources

[b] census [m] Gleaner 25 Aug 1851; Freeman 24 Jul 1873; church records [d] World 27 Mar 1918 / Advance 31 May 1888, 2 May 1895, 4 Jul 1895, 18 Feb 1897, 13 May 1897, 6 Dec 1900; Advocate 6 May 1874, 6 Nov 1878, 18 Apr 1906; Baxter; Commercial World 5 Jun 1947, 2 Oct 1958; Leader 14 Dec 1906; Manny (Ships)


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