EPISODE 315: part one: THE DEATH OF THE SCHOONER LYMAN M. DAVIS: WHICH IS BEST …FIRE OR ROT?

The D. Freeman Schooner From Port Hope, Ontario, aground near Oswego, New York…seems to have the flat

bottom of the stonehookers.  Old schooners  like this became stonehookers.  No date

for photo.   The Lyman M. Davis got grounded much  like this in 1922 but was rescued, repaired

and what I say is strictly my own personal opinion, But every expression I have seen so far is on one side, and it might appear that there is no other side to this affair,” stated D.M. Goudy, manager of attractions, Sunnyside Beach.

“It is no insignificant decision that the owners of the “Lyman M. Davis” are being asked to make when they are asked to refrain from burning the boat. To proceed with the fire means a crowd of much greater than holiday proportions at the beach. Take a look at past experience, The first experiment with this boat burning stunt as made on July 1, 1927, when the “Barbara L.” an old 75-foot yacht, was burned. That night the police estimated there were 75,000 people at the beach, and there were still a large number around at 5 o’clock in the morning.

In 1929 we burned the “John Hanlan” and “Jasmine” two old ferries. The police said that the Hanlan drew over 50,000 and two weeks later the police inspector said that, including the crowds, stretched along the beach out to Etobicoke, up on the King street bank, the Dowling avenue bridge, in High Park tree tops, on the two Canada Steamship Lines ships that were filled and even far away as the Island and Grimsby Beach, there were between 100 and 150 thousand people witnessing the fire. At Sunnyside the place was packed. If any other spectacle has ever drawn crowds like that in Canada, I do not know anything of it.

“In 1930 we burned the old ferry “Clarke Brothers,” and in 1931 it was the second last sailing vessel, the ‘Julia B. Merrill.’ Each of these brought the same huge crowds.

“Incidentally, at that time the newspapers drew public attention to the fact that the “Merrill” was the second last schooner remaining, and that the ‘Lyman M. Davis’ was at Kingston; From the storm of protest against burning the “Merrill” I thought that some effort would be made to save the ‘Davis’ before it got into our hands, but nobody else seemed to think about that. I was somewhat surprised this summer to find that the Davis was available at a price that we could pay for her.

“The ‘Davis’, if burned, will make one of the biggest nights, if not the biggest, that Sunnyside Beach has ever had, particularly if the fire is held as a big one-night celebration as part of the city’s centennial. The more sentiment there is attached to a boat, the greater the crowd that turns our to see her finish. In this respect it is apparent that it will be impossible to get another boat with as much public regard as the “Davis. Her value as a burning spectacle exceeds any other boat that can be secured.

“It is purely a business proposition for Sunnyside Beach. This talk of vandalism is silly. The men who are responsible take no more pleasure out of destroying an article of sentimental value than anyone else. They are even sentimental themselves, and I have often heard my principals say that they hated to see these old boats disappear. I hate to myself, and if it were possible to do so without suffering a loss, I would like to see the “Lyman M. Davis” preserved. My experience with ships is limited to cross-the-lake pleasure boats and troop ships, but I have been an enthusiastic reader of sea stories, and I can sense the feeling of a soul about a ship, where men have lived and laughed and struggled and feared. One has only to visit the Davis to feel the atmosphere of lingering memories of other years.

“There is another angle also, as was often expressed when we were about to burn “Julia B. Merrill.”

People said. Isn’t it just as well to see these grand old-timers go out in a blaze of glory with thousand of people present to pay them homage, as to let them rot on some beach, uncared for and unwatched? At one time there was a custom of shooting a general’s horse at the graveside when the soldier was buried. This is the same idea.

The Lyman M. Davis would have been burned this year had it not been for Mayor Stewart’s intervention. Whether she shall burn next year or be held as a relic of the canvas era on the lake is up to the associated interests at Sunnyside Bach. Personally, I think she makes a wonderful addition to the beach as she rides at her mooring there, but the powers that be must decide whether sentiment is worth more than the actual financial reward.

BURNING INDIGNATION

Sir,-I want to add my warm protest to the plan of burning of the Lyman M. Davis. Surely it won’t be carried out. One of the most interesting exhibits of the Fair, to many, is the collection of “Old-Time Farm Implements” in the Coliseum, and the Lyman M. Davis would add a most attractive item to the relics of bygone days. Trusting your efforts in its behalf may be successful.

Yours truly

A.S.E.

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CLARKSON CALLs

Sir,-Kindly accept this as my appeal for the preservation of this ship for exhibition purposes. I read in one of your editions of last week a very interesting account of the history of the ship, and I certainly deem it a sacrilege to burn a vessel of this type on the Great Lakes to make a Roman holiday

Sincerely yours

J.B. Biddle

Clarkson, Ont.

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BONFIRE SUBSTITUTE

Sir- as one of the many interested readers of Schooner Days column. I have given thought and done some planning re saving the Lyman M. Davis. Made a shank’s-mare cruise along the waterfront as a start. In my cruise along the waterfront three ideal locations showed for Col. Alley’s ideas. One location is close to the Navy League, the other two extreme east and west boundaries of Exhibition grounds. These are in a way unfinished spots in the vast shoreline improvements, and permit space for placing this schooner, without narrowing the width of line of channel behind the seawall, now much used and enjoyed by all aquatic sports and pleasure-seekers.

My knowledge of the commodore of the Sunnyside amusement fleet permits me to see it no easy task for the champion of silver-tongued coaxers to persuade him to give up a set rule, “Carry out as advertised: never disappoint the public.” I have an alternative to offer, which I have confidence can save this schooner with the three link emblem. I have formulated plans for a burning “in effigy” that will give a more spectacular illuminating blaze than any burning yet presented at Sunnyside, and yet not destroy the schooner.