On Course for the Future The Victory hosted a gloriouscelebration of Trafalgar Day onOctober 21st,, 2007. VanwellPublishing and John Lord's Books setup a Book Fair comprising a vastnumber of nautical treasures. Wewere honoured to listen to musicperformed by the Sea Cadet band.

Ship's Band from RCSCC Quinte Guests danced to the music andenjoyed the wine provided by BlackPrince Winery and the cider fromCounty Cider Company.

―═══―Isabel Slone, the Young CanadaWorks student for 2007, gave herfirst community presentation on theearly settlers to Prince EdwardCounty, showing a film aboutbuilding a birch bark canoe, themode of transport that pioneersborrowed from Canadian aboriginals.Her story board, highlighting

important facts about the loyalistswho settled in the Quinte region,received ample attention fromvisitors.

―═══―The grade six class from QueenElizabeth School came for anafternoon presentation of the varioustypes of boats used by the earlyexplorers of Canada.

Isabel and Paul answering questionsOur photo shows the discussionfollowing a viewing of the award-winning Frédéric Back film TheMighty River that illustrated theevolution of the St. Lawrence Riverthroughout history.

―═══―Paul Lockyer brought his gradetwelve class from Prince EdwardCollegiate Institute to the Victory fora morning to study and researchtopics in local history. They madegood use of our extensive library,and Dennis Calnan came in personto talk about the history of his

family's dairy. Research topicsincluded the history of the Hasty“P's”, the local police, the mills inConsecon and Wellington Park, toname just a few.

Book Reviews

17th and 18th Century Ship Modelsfrom the Kriegstein Collection byArnold and Henry Kriegstein, PierBooks and Dupont Communications,Pier Books, Inc, PO Box 5, PiermontNY 10968-0005; 2007, 215 pages,hardcover, US$85.

The Kriegstein collection of shipmodels is the largest collection inprivate hands of ships built, for themost part, by the shipwrights asmodels of the full-size ships theyalso built. Instead of being adockyard of arsenal models that wereutilitarian and most often stayed atthe shipyard, these models weregiven by the shipwrights, at theirown discretion.Twins Arnold and Henry Kriegsteinhave been collecting intricately built,beautifully executed, painted andcarved warships for more than 30years. Their meticulous research has

added to the rather scarce survivingknowledge of seventeenth andeighteenth century models, and theyopen their collection to seriousresearchers and collectors.This book is a compilation of theknowledge the brothers have gainedand distilled into a limited edition,beautifully executed book. Arrangedchronologically by model, theauthors discuss the history of eachship model, its provenance, and howthey acquired and restored it. Eachchapter is accompanied by detailedphotographs of the ships, both beforeand after restoration. All thephotographs were taken by theKriegstein brothers, with fewexceptions.The last chapter of the book goesinto 'Fakes and Forgeries.' Theywrite, "In 30 years of collecting, wehave encountered two 'models' thatwere alleged to be period Admiraltymodels, both in Americancollections." They subtitle thechapter, "The Good, the Bad, and thePhony."While the topic is somewhatnarrowly focused, the attention todetail in both the writing and thephotography makes this a fascinatingstudy for serious collectors, studentsand those who love history and thesea.Only 1,000 copies of this book havebeen published, and its $85 pricemake it a collector's book, as well asa research tool.

Anne Kugielsky

Antiques and the Arts Weekly, December28, 2007. Reprinted with permission

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Words of Valediction andRemembrance, Canadian Epitaphsof the Second World War, by EricMcGeer published by VanwellPublishing, 312 pages, $35For centuries, the epitaphs carved ontheir monuments have eulogizedkings and common men.When Toronto history teacher EricMcGeer visited a Canadian warcemetery in Normandy, the memoriallines engraved on the monuments ofsoldiers from the Second World Warmoved him deeply. Later, he was inspired to write Wordsof Valediction and Remembrance, a312-page book detailing the powerfulsentiments he found written in stone. McGreer recorded epitaphs rangingfrom the religious “For me, to live isChrist and to die is gain” to thepoetic “a checker-board of nights anddays where destiny with men to

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pieces plays” – Omar Khayyam toexpressions of raw grief “You weremine and I love you. Sadly missedby his mother; God's Will Be Done.”The author has used this collection ofepitaphs to shed light on the wayCanadians of all backgrounds per-ceived the Second World War and thescarifies required to achieve victory.He notes that families contributingepitaphs to be engraved onmonuments, in war cemeteries to bemaintained in perpetuity, weremindful that the words honouringsoldiers who fell for their idealsshould be appropriate to their setting.Archaism and diction somewhatremoved from common speechseemed the appropriate medium ofexpression to give lasting anduniversal meaning to the death of aloved one – especially if theinscription took the form of a prayer,invocation or declaration ofprinciple, as many do.McGreer writes “Although theepitaphs of the Great War may, as aresult, sound stilted to our ears, theyimpress sympathetic readers by theirforbearance and dignity,in the face ofunprecedented catastrophe.”Words of Valediction andRemembrance, Canadian Epitaphsof the Second World War is publishedby Vanwell Publishing of St.Catherines, Ontario. Through thissensitively written book reverberatethe voices of thousands of grievingfamilies, whose loved ones made thesupreme sacrifice for King andCountry

Margaret Haylock

Mariner Artist John M Horton byPeter Vassilopoulos, 173 pagespublished by Heritage House 2007,$59.95

For the lover of marine art, this bookis a must, as it contains over 85beautiful colour reproductions of theartist’s paintings covering a widerange of marine subjects.The significance of this edition forthe ACS is that John M. Horton isone of the founding members of theCanadian Society of Marine Artistsand its first president. This wastwenty five years ago and he remainsinvolved in the running of theSociety as an honorary director -although there is no mention of thisin the narrative.The first part of the book tells thestory of how John became a marineartist. His philosophy of painting hascome from those who mentored him.He explains that drawing isimportant, as is the accuracy of theships and boats, and the buildings inthe background. The largest part of the book isdevoted to his paintings

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accompanied by descriptions of theactual subjects and the story aroundthem.

Betty Ann Anderson

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Kids Learn about PioneersOn May 14th, the Archives andCollections Society held a “PioneerDay” for students in grade seven andeight. Following a short introductorytalk about The Victory and what ithas to offer, our co-op student,Jessica Marr, gave the students aninformative power point presentationabout pioneer food, technology,transportation, and childhood.

Two volunteers in period costumefrom Macaulay House discussedaspects of pioneer life with theclasses and brought along someinteresting artefacts for the studentsto see, including a spice tin and aruffle iron. “Pioneer Day” was a true victory forboth the ACS and the students.

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Raymond McIntosh“He’s a wizard on the water, a truegentleman and he’s my friend!” Itwas a gloriously sunny day with afair wind blowing and I was sittingon the dock on Amherst Islandlistening to the last commercialfisherman on the island, HowardWelbanks, tell me about RaymondMcIntosh. “Why, you could blindfold Raymond, set him down in themiddle of Lake Ontario in the darkand in the fog, and he could tell youwere he was!”

I have spent the past twenty yearscollecting oral histories from the lastof the Prince Edward Countycommercial fishermen. Time andtime again, the fishermen told mestories about Raymond, and theyalways had a kind of reverence intheir voice when they did.

There are some ship and airplanepilots who have almost a sixth sensewhen it comes to navigation.

Raymond is one of those people.“You see there were fog horns forone thing,” Raymond told me when Iinterviewed him in 1996. “If youcould hear a fog horn, you wouldstop the engine and listen. FalseDuck had a fog horn, but it was auseless thing, but Main Duck had agood one. So if you really got a littleundecided where you were or whereyou were headed, why you’d stopand hear the horn. Oh yeah, there itis, so o.k. you’d go on. If you wereoff course a little bit, you wouldcorrect it. Another way too, I knewthe bottom of the lake very well, andI would take a sounding if I decided Ididn’t know if I was just where Ishould be or not. So I’d take asounding. I used to have a chunk oflead on a line and just dropped itover and measured with that. Thatwas before we had depth sounders.We didn’t have one. That’s the truthand I never seen a compass for twoyears!”

Born in 1916, Raymond was theeldest of six children. He quit schoolat the age of thirteen to help hisfather fish and farm. The greatdepression had hit, and it was notuncommon for children to leaveschool to help their parents fend for aliving. A very bright student, he wasable to transfer that intelligence fromthe class room to becoming a masterseaman, a boat designer, and a boatbuilder.In the 50s, the floor of LakeOntario was littered with bombs,military ordinance dropped fromairplanes from a World War TwoRoyal Air force bombing school on

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Prince Edward Heights. It was a timewhen fishing for bombs was morelucrative then fishing for fish. “Yeah, we were after the bombsdown there,” said Raymond. “Therewere divers around trying to getthem over in the bay. It was too siltyand you couldn’t see them. I saidmaybe we could come up withsomething that we could dig them upwith. So I invented a rig that wecould rake them up with. It is calleda bomb rig. I took it up after it hadbeen assembled, I was alone at thetime. Sure enough I got a few bombswith it! My partner and I went againthe next day and got a few more.Quite a few more in fact! Then theother guys got into the act. Theycopied it.” I asked him if any of thebombs ever exploded. “Well, there’sone I got up and I seen that it hadn’texploded. The fellow who wasworking for me picked it up andthrew it against a hard object. It blewright in his face, all over him. Itruined his clothes. Acid you know.He said he’d never do that again! Butit was kind of comical afterwards.His face got brown, brown, andbrown, except for his eyes. He hadglasses on. The explosion wasn’t thatbad because it had been in the water.But, he was lucky I guess.”In all my years of collecting stories,Raymond’s story about getting loston the ice is my very favorite. It wasa warm sunny day, the first of March.Because of the beautiful weather, hehad left his coat behind on the dock.There was ice all over the area, butnot where he was going to set his

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nets. When they were out settingtheir nets, the engine failed, and theycould not get it to work. “Then thewind came up, blew a gale, and westarted to drift. We didn’t have todrift very far before we came into theice. We were about 200 feet from themain ice when we got caught in driftice and couldn’t get through it. Wetried every way with the oars. There we sat, and then this other icecame in during the night. Miles of itcame back. We couldn’t see, plus wehad to keep warm, but I had left mycoat on shore. The boat was gettingjammed this way and that, and thenwe saw ice peeking through thebottom of the boat. The ice was thereand we were being elevated a bit. Isaid the engines got to go! So wethrew our prize engine overboard.That way we could save 500 pounds.We just picked it up and threw itoverboard after it was disconnected.Then we threw the wet netsoverboard, and the ice was justgrinding them up. Then we threw thefloor boards over. We had everythingout of the boat but ourselves and apair of oars. That was all that wasleft in the boat.”Around four in the morning,Raymond wondered if the ice wassolid enough for them to walk on. Itwas. The boat was sitting on a wedgeof ice twenty feet high. “We couldn’tsee anything, but I knew where to goto get us back to shore. We finallymade it to shore about daylight.”When the men went back with asleigh and chains to retrieve the boat,they saw it had come through ½ mile

of solid ice. “We couldn’t believe it!”

Raymond McIntosh is one of themost respected commercialfisherman I have ever known. Hecarries with him a vast knowledge ofskills learned from many yearsworking on the dangerous waters offPrince Edward County shores. His isa vanishing legacy. One of thegreatest honours in my life was thelittle bit of time I spent with him andthe incredible stories of his life hewas kind enough to share with me.

Suzanne PasternakMilford

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Danielle Erickson of Calgaryand PictonAnnouncing the naming of our newhome The Victory, Danielledesigned our eye-catching sign.Thank you , Danielle.

―═══―

Trish Hause's CD Launch

'Thank God I Feel Like Singing'

On January 29th, County musiciansarrived for the launch of talentedvocalist Trish Hause's new CD.People danced and children swayedto the music, and the audiencethroughly enjoyed the festivities.Trish's music, an eclectic variety offolk melodies, country tunes,

virtuoso yodeling and originalmaterial, graces the air waves of ourlocal radio stations. For those whomissed the afternoon, we have theCDs on sale at the desk.

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Beautification Project'Victory Gardens'

Out with the old asphalt and in withthe new garden and walkway!Above, Frank Roloson and his helperlay the sidewalk from Main Street toBenson Park. Jack Kooter delivered plants for thegarden, and with the assistance ofvolunteers Jessica, Joyce, Mark,Henry, Paul, and Dieter, created avery pleasing and elegant attractionon Picton Main Street. Thanks go toour donors and contractors

Essroc ItalcementiAnderson Farms

Jack KooterFrank Roloson

Reg GrosseC. B.FennellH.Trepstra

Canadian TireBruce Milan

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News and Events

Volunteers planting

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Great achievements have taken place since thelast newsletter. The Society has receivedsignificant financial donations.

We were also given significant collections thathave greatly expanded the size and scope of ourlibrary/archives. As a result of these recentacquisitions, we created two new sections formilitary literature and the Rebellion of 1837.

Around the outside of the building, our newlandscaping project significantly improves theappearance of our property and Main Street.

The Society received grants for two summerstudents, and as a result, we will enjoy a busyand productive summer.

Preliminary work has started on the second floorfor extending library space. A fundraisingcampaign will soon be announced.

Our next newsletter will cover the SilverAnniversary Exhibition of the Canadian Societyof Marine Artists, a very exciting show that weknow many of you have enjoyed.

Victory Kids!Come join the fun this summer withSaturday morning programs forchildren ages 7-11. Find out whatlife was like as a pirate, Viking, orpioneer.

Learn about canoes, bateaux, longships, lighthouses, and shipwrecks.Investigate a variety of topics inlocal and maritime history, and thenshow your creative side with relatedartistic, dramatic, musical, andwriting activities. Classes start onJune 28.

On August 23, participants will get achance to give a presentation to theirparents and the community. Cost is$10 per day. Register now.Sponsored by YCW

Calendar of Events

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2 May - 22 June 25th CSMA Silver Anniversary Exhibition24 June - 17 July Annual Victory Show with local artists & models

including the Phoebe from the Kingston Pump House and an RCN Flower class corvette

19 July - 3 August Essroc Italcementi retrospective Artists of the Year celebrating Essroc's fifty years of community involvement

4 Aug – 20 Sept Marine Art of the CSMA and other masters20 Sept – 10 Oct Artist Tony Lassing, CSMA – retrospective of a life of

paintings and sculptureArchives and Collections (ACS) Society and Canadian Society of Marine Artists

The Victory, 205 Main Street, Picton, Ontario, Canada – K0K 2T0Telephone 1 613 476 1177

E-mail ACS@AandC.org Web www.AandC.org and www.ultramarine.caCanadian Charitable Organization 888721 9921 RR00081

Member of PECCTAC, Quinte Arts Council, CHIN, CMA, SNR, OHS, CNRS