![]() ![]() These washed up on the beach opposite the bay. All that was found of the ship, her passengers, cargo, and six-man crew were a chicken coop and compass box. The schooner vanished on approach to the mouth of the bay (Presqu'ile Bay). In response shoreline bonfires were lit, ostensibly to guide her to safety. The crew fired one of her cannons to signal her situation and position. The schooner was sighted passing Presqu'ile Point at dusk on 8 October. By the morning of 9 October, the brothers managed to reach Newcastle's harbour. The wind had turned and was blowing out of the northeast. ![]() Speedy and the canoe were separated as the storm deteriorated into blizzard conditions during the afternoon and evening of 8 October. They elected to accompany Speedy in a canoe. The Farewell brothers refused to board the ship, expressing concern that it was already overloaded, crowded, and unsafe. Speedy stopped briefly at Port Oshawa to pick up the Farewell brothers who were business partners of the murder victim and key witnesses for the prosecution, and a handful of Natives who were also to provide testimony. Almost immediately upon her launch, she ran aground in the harbour due to the heavy load, resulting in a six-hour delay.Īfter freeing herself, she sailed due east. Under threat of court-martial, Paxton departed. Two of Speedy 's crew were required to constantly operate manual bilge pumps to keep her afloat for the journey. Paxton, an experienced British naval officer, was concerned about an incoming storm and the condition of the ship.Īlthough only six years old, Speedy suffered from extensive weakening of the hull from dry rot due to the timber used in her rushed construction. The schooner left York on 7 October 1804 at the insistence of autocratic Lieutenant-Governor Peter Hunter, despite the reluctance of the ship's captain, Lieutenant Thomas Paxton. Sir Robert Isaac Dey Grey (of Bruce-Grey County fame), first Solicitor-General of Upper Canada was also on board. The ship was also carrying six handwritten copies of the new Constitution of Upper Canada, supplies, and a Royal surveyor, John Stegman, a former Hessian soldier, to help in the planning, construction, and expansion of the fledgling district town, which consisted of nothing more than the three-story courthouse/jail, a handful of residences and a survey plan. Also on board were Justice Thomas Cochrane, the judge for Ogetonicut's trial, and the accused's lawyer. Although Ogetonicut was arrested near York, the crime had allegedly been committed in Newcastle District, and under British law of the time, one had to be tried in the jurisdiction in which the crime was purported to have been committed. ![]() Ogetonicut was suspected of exacting revenge for the killing of his brother, Whistling Duck. The prisoner was Ogetonicut, a member of the Ojibway tribe, who was accused of murdering trading post operator John Sharpe near Lake Scugog. High Constable Fisk was transporting a prisoner to court in Newcastle. Speedy was carrying the first provincial law-enforcement officer to lose his life in the execution of office. The schooner was set to sail from the Queen's Quay, York, present-day Toronto, the young capital of Upper Canada, to the district town of Newcastle District (not the present-day town of Newcastle) on Presqu'ile Point (now Presqu'ile Provincial Park) for a prominent murder trial ostensibly to 'legitimize' a newly built district courthouse. Because she was constructed from improperly seasoned green timber, she almost immediately began to suffer problems with leaks and dry rot after her commissioning. In spite of her name, Speedy was considered slow for her era. Speedy carried four-pound guns and had a 55-foot (17 m), two- masted hull plus an over 20-foot (6 m) bowsprit, bringing her close to 80 ft (24 m) in total length. That threat was later realised as the War of 1812, but Speedy would not survive to see service in that conflict. HMS Speedy was one of five warships rushed into service, quickly built from green timber at Cataraqui (present-day Kingston) in 1798, to help defend British Upper Canada from the perceived threat from the newly formed United States. ![]() The ship was built for the Provincial Marine in 1798 at the Point Frederick Navy Depot and was used to transport government officials and supplies. The sinking changed the course of Canadian history because of the prominence of the citizens of the tiny colony of Upper Canada lost in the disastrous event. The schooner or gunboat HMS Speedy sank in a snowstorm in Lake Ontario south of the future site of Brighton, Ontario, and west of Prince Edward County, on 8 October 1804, with the loss of all hands. ( January 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. ![]()
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