A Sailor’s Memorial

A Sailor’s Memorial. . Many vessels that sailed out of Port Credit were lost on Lake Ontario, along with the sailors that sailed on them. Ships wrecked in the lake included the Augusta, Barque Swallow, Brothers, Coronet, Jessie Drummond, Maggie Hunter, Morning Star, P.E. Young, Pinta and Sampson, amongst others. Many early residents of Port Credit were stonehookers and fishermen by trade, and the dangers of the lake were a part of daily life., There are many stories of sailors who never returned home, their resting place somewhere under the deep, cold waters of Lake Ontario. The Schooner Days article series in the Toronto Telegram by C.H.J. Snider, along with several articles and book excerpts by the late Port Credit historian Lorne Joyce, recall the heyday of the stonehooking trade and the fishing industry on Lake Ontario. , br> Some of the sailors who sailed out of Port Credit with the schooners and fishing boats to never return home were Robert Crosby, Byron Dorland, William Dorland, Howard Gilliam, John Gilliam, Billy Hutchinson, Joseph Howell, Alex Mason, John Newman, Frank Nixon, Joseph Quinn, William Quinn, William Sargent and Richard Walker. There were likely many more, leaving widows, children, and grieving families behind., Brave sailors also risked their lives to help in countless rescues on the lake. Many families who called Port Credit home over generations were tied to the rhythm of a sailor's life, including the Blakeley, Block, Blower, Dorland, Hare, Harrison, Joyce, Lynd, Miller, Naish, Peer, Thompson, Ure and Wilcox families, among many others., "They are gone, yes gone forever, , But the wakes they left behind will never fade; , Not a port that didn't know 'em, , As up and down the lake they plied their trade." , ~From Fore- 'n'-After by S.A. Clarke