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7 W ednesday , Septem ber 1, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Lake Ontario, and particularly Bronte,have a great marine history and nowpart of that history is archived and available for reading with the Oakville Historical Society. The society has completed its collection of Schooner Day articles. The collection features 1,298 articles, which were printed between 1931 to 1956 weekly in the former Toronto Evening Telegram newspaper by mariner C. H. J. Snider. There were five more articles written that were not printed, and are not part of the societys collection. Snider travelled extensively around the Great Lakes, especially Lake Ontario and has made many stops at ports, including Oakville and Bronte. During his stops he interviewed local mariners who sailed on cargo schooners, fishing boats and others. The fact is that when you have a look at what is available in terms of the history theres very little, next to nothing, which has been published on the schooners, which were really an essential part of our marine history in southern Ontario for a century, said Phil Brimacombe, member of the board of directors for the society. Brimacombe collected and eventually completed the entire series of articles, though he was given a head start. His long- time friend and fellow member of the Toronto Marine Historical Society Dr. Lorne Joyce started the collection. Joyce donated his portion, which con- sisted of about two-thirds of the entire series, to Brimacombe, who then contin- ued collecting and adding to the set. The Oakville Public Library also has the entire series on microfilm, so the articles Brimacombe was unable to find, he had printed from the librarys archive. To date, Brimacombe has read some 200-300 of the articles, which are one to two pages long and include illustrations. Theyre fascinating reading and I hope in the next year or so Ill have read all of them, Brimacombe said. (Snider) never used to drive a car and he used to go down along the lake ports and on the American side, too, and he used to have a guy who would drive him and he used to go from one place to another and talk with the old men who were close to dying then who recalled the days when they worked on the schooners. He was wonderful in the English lan- guage and he used a lot of the old jargon used by the old sailors, which now has pretty much disappeared. Theyre just an incredible resource in Canadian history. The local historical society already has a great marine history section, Brimacombe said. About 10 years ago we got a collection given to us by the late Bob Davis. Bob was a great sailor and retired in Prince Edward County and when he died he donated his marine book collection to the Oakville Historical Society, he said. However, that book collection featured more of the seas and oceans than the Great Lakes, so Brimacombe is trying to establish a collection of the lakes history. Hes working on featuring articles on the old steamers and stonehookers that sailed the lakes. Right now hes still cata- loguing the Schooner Days articles. The Schooner Days tend to the Lake Ontario marine history, so it sort of fills a gap in our collection. And theres a lot of references to Bronte and Oakville in the Schooner Days, he said. Another important aspect of the collec- tion is that schooners are largely ignored in history, despite their significance. There were a thousand schooners at one time and they were the means by which cargos were carried not only on the lakes here between Oakville and the American side of the lakes, but as far away as Britain and South Africa. Its amazing, he said. Theres a lot of stuff in Archives Canada in Ottawa, the Ontario archives in York University but theres very little thats been published, next to nothing really about schooners. The Schooner Days collection features mostly articles about schooners, however there are also references to steam vessels. Brimacombe said there might be others who have the complete set, though it is rare to have it, and that the collection is not available for viewing anywhere online. But he welcomes everyone to come to the historical society offices and read the articles, even non-members. Theres very few people interested in the schooners so I hope this will get some interest up, he said. The society is located at 110 King St. and is open 1-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The society is run entirely by volunteers. Visit www.oakvillehistory.org for more information. Schooner Days archived at Oakville Historical Society There were a thousand schooners at one time and they were the means by which cargos were carried not only on lakes here between oakville and the American side of the lakes, but as far away as Britain and South Africa. its amazing . Phil Brimacombe, Oakville Historical Society member NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER THOSE WERE THE DAYS: Phil Brimacombe holds a Schooner Days article on the White Oak schooner (model in the background). Brimacombe helped to compile a selection of articles from his grandfather's collection of Toronto Evening Telegrams to add to a Schooner Days collection at the Oakville Historical Society. The exhibit is open to the public from 1-4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 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