Heritage

by Mike Sterling

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Detailed area for restoration agreed upon by the Marine Heritage Committee, Coast Guard and others.  This was in our original project plan

South wall with remains of the Rumford Fireplace

North wall showing the former lath and plaster

In the first article the beginnings of the tremendous effort on the restoration of Chantry Island were presented.  In article two we will explain to you the first halting steps to success. How were we organized?  What were we up against?  Those ware the questions.  Could we overcome the inertia that accompanies any volunteer based project?  Could we get the permissions necessary?I want to get some of this story out of the way so that the interesting parts get a chance.  From time to time we will meander back to catch something I've missed that relates to some future story?

The Douglas Report had been submitted on October 22nd 1996, so we had to get going and not lose the push that it gave us.

Skeptics were in the majority.  We all knew that.  We had formed a new Marine Heritage Board of Directors.   The board consisted of the following members:

Chairman John MacArthur

Bob Trelford  Treasurer

Secretary John Rigby

Jim McLay

Ron Seaman

Brice Martin

Mike Sterling

This small group divided up responsibilities.

John MacArthur relaxes at the weekly Propeller Club meeting at the Walker House

John MacArthur organized our efforts, chaired the meetings and was steady as a rock throughout the restoration.  He loved every part of it. 

Joan and John  Rigby.  Joan was the original organizer of the docent crew on the Island and a tireless worker.  John was a key board member and Saugeen Shores liaison

John Rigby was given the task of liaison with the Town of Saugeen Shores, which amalgamated after the Douglas report.  John's job was to be the formal contact between the Town and the Marine Heritage Society.  This was important so that the Town did not receive mixed messages or requests from more than one person. 

The most important part of this was to have our funds deposited with the Town.  This would allow us to give tax receipts upon donations and form a steady base for accounting and bill paying.  Laurie Sweiger, the excellent CFO was instrumental in making life easy for us.  All subsequent boards worked with Lori using the original system set up by John Rigby and Bob Trelford.

We all dealt with Town Officials, but only John worked with them on a day by day basis.  This served us well as it made us appear more disciplined than we were at the time.

Ron Seaman life-long Southampton resident and builder.

Ron Seaman's job was two-fold.  He was a professional builder so his opinions on cost control and construction were vital.  Furthermore, he was a life-long resident of the area and knew everybody.  He could present an aura of confidence to the community.

Jim McLay (R) working on the dock loading some stone for transport to Chantry Island. 

Jim McLay was in charge of government relations.  We had to deal with the Coast Guard and the Ministry of the Environment to name a few.  Jim was well qualified for this task and he and his father were  known to the Coast Guard being long time fisherman and Jim being the harbour master.

The irrepressible Bob Trelford with daughter Elaine and grandson Logan to show them the results of his labour of love on Chantry Island.

Bob Trelford was the Treasurer and he compiled the donor's lists.  He was in charge of day to day estimates and would serve as the foreman on the Island restoration.  He had been a shop teacher for 35 years.  He has energy to burn and worked to perfection with others.  Much more about what Bob did later.

Bruce Martin

Bruce Martin had been on the prior board and his job was to make sure the business people in the community had confidence in us.

I was in charge of marketing and public relations.  I took on the job of raising the money needed..  I tried to take note of  the pulse of the volunteers and use encouragement as much as possible without appearing to be a Pollyanna.

The first order of business was to obtain permission from the Coast Guard to proceed with the project.  This was no mean task.  If we had a nod from them, we could proceed, without it, the project was dead.  Jim arranged a meeting with

Mr.  Randy Childrhose

Supervisor, Marine Aids Program

Canadian Coast Guard Base, Parry Sound Ontario

Randy was in charge of all aids to navigation from the arctic to the US boarder.  He was the right man.

Jim and I met him at a motel meeting room in Port Elgin.  We presented our case working from the project vision and implementation plan that was mentioned in article one of this series.  We had colour images and the report was bound.  It looked like we had put a lot of work in on it and we had.  Randy read it carefully.

When he finished reading, he asked for us to wait around for an hour or so and he disappeared.  When he came back he had complied a Letter of Understanding that had complete control resting in the hands of the Coast Guard, but also allowed us to go ahead on a trial basis with the restoration.  We were off and running.  The picture below is the area we desired.  It was part of the report as was the large close-up view above.

Aerial view of designated area laid out on a Sunday by Ron Seaman, Bob and John Trelford, Jim McLay and Mike Sterling

Next we had to make sure we had agreement with the birding people both locally and nationally.   The local people would influence the nationally organized groups who pay close attention to Chantry.  Jim suggested that we meet with the local birding leader and latter with Cindy Cartwright, who was a well known birder.

At this time, we thought that a little publicity would be good for us on an Ontario wide basis.  A former summer resident of Southampton had heard about our efforts and she called me as I knew her family..  It seems that she was now the producer of a children's television show that aired once per week. 

The theme was adventure.  A young girl, who looked 13, but was 19 would spin out of a time tunnel and land, plop in some exotic setting weekly.  For the shoot in Southampton, Chantry Island was to be the site of the spinning time tunnel

I took over the orchestration of this adventure working with the producer.  She knew what she was doing and I learned a lot.  To 'act' in the show, I suggested we get John Weichel to do the history side and be interviewed by the young woman.  The birding expert would wax eloquent on Chantry Island as an international bird sanctuary.  Jim McLay would play himself as a great look-alike seafaring man complete with flowing black ponytail.

Since we did not have a proper boat we got one from Port Elgin complete with Captain who forgot his diabetic medication, making duration dicey.  That was a worry.

The crew including cameraman, producer and host for the adventure arrived and I met them where they had stayed overnight.  They were eating and having a beer or two.  They seemed in no hurry.  I had arranged for the others to meet us at the harbour.  I was concerned that the whole endeavor would come apart with hurt feelings, if these Toronto folks did not get moving.

It seems that the crew knew their own time well, they just did not react to my entreaties with any modicum of alarm.

As it turns out, all went very well.  Jim was the star of the show and to my surprise was a natural.  He was Jim for sure, but more in front of the camera.  Later I discovered how good he was in front of children and he and I did some talks together for children and adults. 

The cameraman concentrated on Jim and the young hostess with the Island in the distance.  The final cut of the time machine transporter had the girl land deftly right beside Jim, who was perched on the bow. It was a nautical adventure that should have had a better script.

Mike Sterling in front of the 'fortress like' door of the Imperial Tower on Chantry Island.  Mike is holding the Lighthouse key.  The key is attached to a net float made by the Eagles family years ago.  This is the key's life preserver in case we all get dumped in the water.

When we got to the Island, Jim and I struggled with the lock on the Lighthouse.  The key and lock were not well related at that time.  Later oil did the trick.  We were close to ruining children's Saturday afternoon or so I thought on a rusty lock and key.  This key was touted to open any lock on any Lighthouse in Canada.  Could Chantry be the exception?

Finally the lock gave up and we entered.  The cameraman was a big guy and he balked at taking his huge body and the camera up the 106 steps to the top.  We prodded him and helped him with the camera.  He was terribly winded at the top.  In those days cameras were not dainty.

All went well and our first Ontario-wide exposure starring Jim McLay was a real hit.

Since I had no acting job, I spent my time talking to a passenger on the boat who had been at El Alamein with Montgomery.

The birding man latter moved away.  He was skeptical about our use of Chantry.  We needed the birding people to consider us one of them or better yet, more diligent than they were about protecting the birds.  A bad word from them could ruin the project.

Much later I had Jim introduce Cindy Cartwright to all of us.  Bob Trelford and I decided to take her out to Chantry to show her first hand the extent of the area that we would be working in for the duration of the project.

It started as a beautiful day, but upon the return trip dense fog poured in obscuring our view completely.  We had no GPS or radar at that time, so it was our wits that we were depending upon.  Wits were down one to nil with time running out.

Bob steered us carefully, but to our alarm we were far to the east of the red buoy at the gap.  Red right return was now disaster red left.  We could see the rocks below us but little else. Cindy would think us fools, if we ran aground.  We did a lot of that later in rough conditions on our thousands of trips to Chantry.

Bob inched along the edge of the long dock and below us we could just make out the dangerous rocks shimmering in what light we had.  We found the gap. 

Cindy decided to take matters into her own hands and she leapt onto the bow to serve as lookout.   As we approached what we thought was the hidden Saugeen river mouth, I saw the rocks at the foot of Landsdowne loom up out of the mist.  We were in danger of making an unannounced visit to John MacArthur's house that was directly in front of us.  He would not be pleased.   Cindy caught a glimpse of the range light as the fog parted for an instant and she told us we were a few hundred feet short of the mouth.  We got back safely with Bob's quick action and Cindy's sharp eyes.

Later, on another expedition this time with Cindy and other volunteers and birders, I put them as far away from the Island as was possible and still be in Saugeen Shores in an even denser fog.  Fog was always a problem in the restoration.  We feared it almost as much as wind.  With fog it was better to anchor and have Bob sing a song..  With wind it was better to not go.  Blowen in the Wind became a theme for us.

Cindy became an avid volunteer after seeing that we were not good in fog, but sincere about protecting of the birds.  We have welcomed many scientific visits to the Island by all manner of experts and each of them has commented on the way we respect the sanctuary.  In fact we usually clean up after they leave as they are not good about making sure that their traps are disposed of properly.

Ian Evans' tiny 12' boat with a 6 HP balky Johnson goes to the Island in early morning (note the angle of the sun in the fall).  The little boat was one of 3 we used early in the restoration

To step back a bit before the birders, we needed a boat.  We were trying to do the project with a 12 foot aluminum boat given to us by Ian Evans and a tiny punt that belonged to me.  Doug Huber, whose father was a Light Keeper, helped us from time to time with Little Snick, his fishing tug.  He had been a boy of eight on the magical Chantry Island with his family with his Dad as Keeper.  We also borrowed Ron Seaman's yellow Tilbury until we could afford our own and also used my tiny punt to ferry tools and material to and fro.

Mike Sterling's swift punt languishes at our makeshift dock.

Ron Seaman's Yellow Tilbury and the little barge we borrowed from the Boat Club.  Note the single plank.  Mike Goodwin on the barge and Bob Trelford manning the 15 foot Tilbury.  Later we would get our own durable 17 foot Tilbury, ideal for the rocks and rough water around Chantry Island

We knew that the former water rescue boat was in a Town owned garage at the foot of Grey Street where it ends at the river.  We went to investigate.  What we found was both discouraging and wonderful.  The building was a terrible mess with the ceiling fallen in from a roof leak. Were we doomed to have to fix everything before we could use it?  The answer was yes. 

What we later named 'The Peerless" was in bad shape with the bilge full of water and the electrical system welcoming an explosion.  You could sometimes feel tingles touching certain surfaces.   That's bad!

We could not even get Peerless out of the garage it was in without the expert help of Tom Shillinglaw.   We borrowed a big trailer from Brian Johnston, who later donated it and then we launched it in the river..  Everything about it needed repair and we did not own it nor did we have a place for it.  We kind of confiscated it until we could get Town Council agreement.  It had gone up for sale years earlier, but had no bidders.  With the amalgamation going on, we were not drawing much attention from the Town because they had more important things to deal with at the time.

We set to work.  We thought that fixing up at our expense the Grey Street building would show the new amalgamated Town Council and the new Mayor Mark Kraemer that we were serious and to be trusted.  We worked hard and got the building repaired.

As bad luck would have it, the Town was looking to sort out what buildings they had and what to do with them.  The Grey Street pseudo boathouse was not to be ours.  It would be torn down later.

Mark Kraemer

We asked Mayor Kraemer for another spot.  He suggested a building in Port Elgin.  Bob and I went to look at it and were surprised.  It was a huge building!  It would be wonderful.  We could have that, wow!

Again things were not quite stable yet and the grand building was going to be used for other things.  I asked Mayor Kraemer for another suggestion.  He told us to look at the former PUC office and garage that is now Martin's Bike Shop.  This too was a great building.  We could do well with it.  Again other plans were to thwart us.  Mark felt bad. 

The Council was to go on a tour of what now is the 'Boathouse' behind the Art School.  It was a real wreck.  It was full of equipment, the roof leaked, the windows were boarded up, the urinal emptied  onto the parking lot and the east corner and end were open to the elements.  It had no heat and a 60 amp dangerous electrical system.  It was bad enough so that nobody wanted it, but it was in danger of being torn down to make room for more parking.

I asked Mark to give us a shot at getting it and fixing it up.  The rest of the Council were there. Mark got right up in my face moving me away from ear shot and whispered to me in that forceful way he has.  "Mike, if we give you this building, you better do what you say you can do!" 

I said we would and he was good on his word and so were we.  The building is now used by the Marine Heritage Society, Propeller Club,  Art School, Chambettes and other service groups for classes, garage sales and plant sales to name a few.  It's wonderfully restored with a great feel about it and good tools available.  It's so good that it is in danger of having a receptionist scheduling time.  That would be bad.

In order to go further we needed to enlist full Council support.  We did not want money from them at this time, but if we could be covered as volunteers by insurance and if they would handle our finances, it would be better than monetary support.  We decided to make a presentation to them from our project plan.  You can use nice looking project plans to advantage especially if they are bound.  They make  more impact that Power Point presentations.  I decided to inject some theatre in as it seemed to work for us with Jim McLay's starring role..

Prior to this time a new volunteer had joined us.  He was Mike Goodwin a talented artist and songwriter/singer.  He had composed the theme song of the project.  For an explanation see below.

I decided to use Michael at the Council Meeting.  The Council was gathered and expecting to hear the usual "We need you to help us with $$$, blah, blah, blah!".  Instead I said:  "We are here to explain our project and don't want anything from you at this time."  We dimmed the lights and Mike sang 'We Were Here'.  The Council gave us a standing ovation.  That was fun!  It was a first for Council ... a deposition without strings except for Mike's guitar.

Read about 'We Were Here" below  The words tell the world why we got started and why we were successful.

*Like a beacon in the night

As the seasons pass in time

The past is yours and mine

Tell those yet to come that we were here.

One day early in 1998 Mike Sterling and Michael Goodwin were talking to a young Southampton man.  He asked Mike Sterling why he was attempting the Chantry Island Restoration.  This opening questions was followed by  a burst of more questions that were more statement than question.  The man did not want reasons why, he wanted to state why not.  Mike, quickly became frustrated and turned on his heel and left.  Mike Goodwin said nothing, but went home and composed "We Were Here". 

His thoughts centred on the Inuit and how they create Inuksuit or stone objects that tell those who come in the future that "We Were Here" and we share  your human natures.  In 3 words Mike summed up our inner thoughts and dreams.  We want to give something of ourselves to the future.  Here is a little explanation of the word Inuksuit.  I think you'll like the obvious connections to the Imperial Towers as a Beacon of the past shining on the future.

Next time we will pick up the restoration process in Bob Trelford's Bush.

Mike Sterling

June 10, 2011

For prior articles see below:

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Rare photo of the Leeder family having a picnic on Chantry Island in 1904.  Chantry was once a destination after Church on Sunday.

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