Jardine Ship Builing in the Early 1800's
The Beginning
The first business that John Jardine (Old Jock) set himself was to cut pine timber for markets. After a time, he engaged a Halifax firm to build him a ship to get the lumber to Britain. He must have turned in quite the profit, he soon established his own ship yard, with a foreman named Neilson, who he brought over from the old country, and in 1819 this pioneer of the industry in Kent County launched his first ship, the ELLEN DOUGLAS.
This ship yard was established at a point on the Richibucto River just a few miles from its mouth, and was the beginning of the settlement of Kingston, now Rexton. As in the other areas one of the primary objectives of shipbuilding in the Richibucto area in these early years was to convey fish and lumber to the markets of Britain and the U.S., so the ELLEN DOUGLAS was used to ship lumber to Great Britain, but she returned with a more valuable things like new settlers for the area. Through the numbers of men John Jardine eventually had working in his yard, and the immigrants his ships brought over, he was primarily responsible for founding and settling of the town of Kingston.
R & J Jardine
Together with his brother Robert, they formed the firm R & J Jardine around 1821, and built ships for the next ten years. During this time they built 7 ships, for a total of 2222 tons and a value $22,000. By 1828, there had been a total of 5723 tons of shipping built on the shores of the Northumberland Strait and the Jardine brothers built over 2000 tons of that total. The ships built by the Jardines were recognized for their high quality of construction and John Jardine was becoming a respected man in the community.
John and Robert continued building ships, with lots of success, shipbuilding and lumbering being a big part of the changes in the world trade. In 1831, Robert left the partnership to settle in Upper Canada. The parting had been agreeable between the two of them, as 3 years later, in 1834; John was
The first business that John Jardine (Old Jock) set himself was to cut pine timber for markets. After a time, he engaged a Halifax firm to build him a ship to get the lumber to Britain. He must have turned in quite the profit, he soon established his own ship yard, with a foreman named Neilson, who he brought over from the old country, and in 1819 this pioneer of the industry in Kent County launched his first ship, the ELLEN DOUGLAS.
This ship yard was established at a point on the Richibucto River just a few miles from its mouth, and was the beginning of the settlement of Kingston, now Rexton. As in the other areas one of the primary objectives of shipbuilding in the Richibucto area in these early years was to convey fish and lumber to the markets of Britain and the U.S., so the ELLEN DOUGLAS was used to ship lumber to Great Britain, but she returned with a more valuable things like new settlers for the area. Through the numbers of men John Jardine eventually had working in his yard, and the immigrants his ships brought over, he was primarily responsible for founding and settling of the town of Kingston.
R & J Jardine
Together with his brother Robert, they formed the firm R & J Jardine around 1821, and built ships for the next ten years. During this time they built 7 ships, for a total of 2222 tons and a value $22,000. By 1828, there had been a total of 5723 tons of shipping built on the shores of the Northumberland Strait and the Jardine brothers built over 2000 tons of that total. The ships built by the Jardines were recognized for their high quality of construction and John Jardine was becoming a respected man in the community.
John and Robert continued building ships, with lots of success, shipbuilding and lumbering being a big part of the changes in the world trade. In 1831, Robert left the partnership to settle in Upper Canada. The parting had been agreeable between the two of them, as 3 years later, in 1834; John was
Citations: Jardine, Jock. Jardine. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1972. Pages 36-51. Manny, Louise. Ships of Kent County. Miramachi, New Brunswick, Canada. Pages 7-23.