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• Wilkins Expedition 1763, The
  On November 7, 1763, a fleet of small boats carrying nearly 700 officers and men of the 60th and 80th Regiments under Major John Wilkins was forced ashore by a violent storm about three miles east of this point. The expedition had set out from Niagara on October 19 to relieve the British post at Detroit, commanded by Major Henry Gladwin, which was then under siege by a powerful force of Indians led by Pontiac...

• Victoria Boat Disaster 1881, The
  On May 24, 1881, one of Canada's worst marine disasters occurred on the Thames River near this site. The "Victoria", a small, double-decked stern-wheeler commanded by Captain Donald Rankin, was conducting holiday excursion trips between London and Springbank Park. On a return trip to London, the boat was dangerously overcrowded with more than 600 passengers. Oblivious of the danger, the crowd repeatedly shifted from side to side, resulting in flooding and a precarious rocking motion...

• Noronic Disaster, The
  On the evening of September 16, 1949, the "Noronic", a Great Lakes cruise ship carrying 524 passengers, docked at Pier 9, 100 metres east of here. At 1:30 the next morning a passenger noticed smoke seeping from a locked closet. Crew members fought the fire, but it erupted into a life-threatening inferno before they could waken everyone aboard. Passengers descended the gangway, climbed down ropes, leapt onto the dock, or jumped into the harbour. Firefighters...

• Great Fire of 1916, The
  On July 29, 1916, fires which had been burning for some weeks around settlers' clearings along the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway were united by strong winds into one huge conflagration. Burning easterly along a 40-mile front, it largely or completely destroyed the settlements of Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson, and Ramore. It also partially razed the hamlets of Homer and Monteith, while a smaller fire caused widespread damage in and around Cochrane...

• Great Fire of 1922, The
  On October 4, 1922, scattered bush fires which had been burning for some days north of Haileybury were united by strong winds into a holocaust which spread over most of 18 townships and took an estimated 43 lives. Burning out of control between the Englchart and Cobalt areas, it destroyed the communities of North Cobalt, Charlton, Thornloe and Heaslip, while Englehart and New Liskeard were partly consumed. The thriving town of Haileybury was razed except...

• Loss of the Speedy, The
  In 1804, an Indian, Ogetonicut, arrested near York, was accused of murdering a trader, John Sharp, at Lake Scugog. The trial was to be held here in the projected, but never completed, "district town" of the Newcastle District. On October 7, the schooner "Speedy" sailed from York. Her passengers in addition to the prisoner, included Solicitor General Robert Gray, Judge Thomas Cochrane, High Constable John Fisk and other participants in the trial. The ship appeared...

• Hurricane Hazel
  On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit southern Ontario with 110 km/h winds and over 200 mm of rain. Many rivers, including the Humber, Don and Rouge overflowed flooding communities in much of southern Ontario. The storm killed 81 people, left 1868 families homeless, and caused extensive property damage. International and local donations to a flood relief fund assisted victims, and all three levels of government shared the expenses of paying for property damage and...

• Great Storm of 1913, The
  In a storm that struck Lake Huron on November 9, 1913, 10 lake freighters were lost. Seven of them vanished, ranging from the 30-year-old, 270-foot "Wexford" to the 550-foot "James Carruthers," launched six months earlier at Collingwood. The bulk of the wreckage was cast up on the shore of Huron County, where recovery and identification of the crews' bodies were directed by a Lake Carriers' Association committee based at Goderich. The storm, which ravaged the Great Lakes region for three days, destroyed a total of 19 vessels and resulted in the stranding of 19 others, with a loss of 244 lives.

• Porcupine Fire, The
  In the summer of 1911, when the Porcupine gold rush was at its height, the weather was hot and dry. On July 11, gale-force winds from the southwest whipped individual bush fires into a 16-km sea of flames that swiftly engulfed the drought-parched forest. The fire-storm swept through mining camps, razed the towns of South Porcupine and Pottsville, and partially destroyed Golden City (Porcupine) and Porquis Junction. Many people fled into Porcupine Lake to escape...

• Sinking of the Waubuno 1879, The
  This anchor, recovered in 1959, belonged to the steamer "Waubuno", a wooden sidewheeler of some 200 tons that was built at Port Robinson in 1865. She carried freight and passengers in the shipping trade, which flourished on Lake Huron during the nineteenth century. Commanded by Captain J. Burkett, she sailed from Collingwood on November 22, 1879, bound for Parry Sound. The "Waubuno" encountered a violent gale later that day and sank in Georgian Bay some...

• Heroine of Long Point, The
  In November 1854 the schooner "Conductor" was wrecked off this shore during one of Lake Erie's many violent storms. Jeremiah Becker, who resided nearby, was away on the mainland but his courageous wife, Abigail, risked her life by repeatedly entering the water while assisting the exhausted seamen to reach land. The eight sailors were housed and fed in her cabin until they recovered from their ordeal. In recognition of her heroism she received a letter of commendation from Queen Victoria, several financial awards, and a gold medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York.

• Icelandic Settlement Disaster, The
  In the 1870s, economic distress prompted mass emigration from Iceland. On September 25th, 1874, 352 Icelanders, exhausted and weakened by illness arrived at the emigration sheds in Toronto. When the Victoria Railway Company offered work constructing its line from near Kinmount, the provincial government housed the Icelanders in log shanties down river from here. Poor ventilation, sanitation and diet allowed sickness to rage through their cold, over-crowded quarters. Within six weeks, twelve children and a...

• Loss of the "Jane Miller"
  The "Jane Miller," a wooden-hulled freight and passenger vessel, was built in 1879 at Little Current. A screw-propelled, 210-ton ship 78 feet in length, she was owned by her skipper, Andrew Port of Wiarton. On November 25, 1881, at Owen Sound and Meaford, she loaded a heavy deck cargo destined for Michael Bay, Manitoulin Island. Not obtaining enough wood at Big Bay dock (North Keppel) to reach his destination, Captain Port attempted to reach Spencer's...

• Sinking of the Mary Ward 1872, The
  On the night of November 24, 1872, the steamer "Mary Ward" ran aground on Milligan's Reef, two kilometers offshore. Recently purchased by five Owen Sound men, the vessel was making the trip from Sarnia to her new home port of Collingwood with twenty-seven aboard, including a Canadian Pacific Railway survey party when the accident occurred. The first lifeboat safely reached shore, then a fierce gale sprang up, delaying rescue operations. After a perilous journey the...

• Hungerford Smallpox Epidemic of 1884
  The viral disease of smallpox – widespread in 19th century Ontario – flared up in a severe epidemic in Hungerford Township in 1884. The outbreak claimed at least 45 lives in 202 reported cases and disrupted economic activity and family life for many more. Local efforts by municipal authorities and private physicians were initially unable to halt the disease, and its wider spread throughout the province seemed likely. The newly established Provincial Board of Health...