A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CLUB
BQYC Today
VICTORIA PARK
THE STEAM AND SAW MILLS
THE ISLAND
THE PARK
THE HARBOUR AND ROADWAY
THE BAY OF QUINTE YACHT CLUB
America's Cup: The Atalanta, the 1881 Race and the 2001 America's Cup Jubilee
THE KATIE GREY

BQYC's Racing Trophies

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAY OF QUINTE YACHT CLUB

   The Bay of Quinte Yacht Club was one of the four founding members of the Lake Yacht Racing Association (LYRA). The other three founding members of LYRA were the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, the Oswego Yacht Club, and Toronto Yacht Club. The first Lake Yacht Racing Association races were a series of regattas held in Toronto, Oswego, Kingston, and Belleville. The Belleville LYRA Regatta was sailed on August 12, 1885 in Big Bay.  

   Activity at the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club lessened at the turn of the century and ceased altogether with the advent of the First World War.
 

*It is of interest to note that the recorded annual BQYC dues for the year 1922 were ten dollars.
 

   Interest in yachting on the Bay of Quinte resumed following World War One. Many regattas, including LYRA, and other yachting events occurred during the next several racing seasons. This interest was short-lived. Few records of BQYC Club activity can be found relating to the years 1926 to 1950, however, informal sailing races were held on the Bay of Quinte during the 1930's.

   Following the Second World War, local yachtsmen showed interest in resurrecting the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club. In the fall of 1951, thirty-five yachting enthusiasts met at the Wharf Street Debating Club. Among those in atttendance at this meeting were Bill Bell, Bob Boyce, Ernie Colebourne, Morley Smith, and Elwood Wickerson. BQYC was reborn.

Mr. J.J. Morch was elected as Commodore of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club for the term 1951 - 1953.  

   At the 1951 meeting, it was decided that a Clubhouse would be built at the site of an old swimming pool located at the southern end of Victoria Park. The swimming pool was filled in and parts of the pool were used for the new building's foundation. Part of the present Clubhouse was built in 1952 over an old bathhouse that existed on the site. The Clubhouse was approximately forty-three feet long and thirty-three feet wide. The construction of the BQYC Clubhouse could not have been completed without BQYC members contributing many hours of manual labour as well as money and materials.  

   In 1978, the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club played an active role in the City of Belleville's Centennial Year Celebrations. A historical booklet, "Yachting on Belleville Waters", was published by BQYC under the leadership and guidance of Commodore Bud Simmons. A Centennial Sailpast was planned for July 1,1978 by a committee of BQYC members chaired by Pete Petto. Approximately three hundred boats from around Lake Ontario joined local boaters for this event.

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In the past, the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club has hosted a variety of races, regattas, and other boating events including the Eastern Yachting Circuit. At the present time, there is a full compliment of Wednesday Night Races with boats racing in a Spinnaker Division and a Non-Spinnaker Division. There are several Cup Races contested on weekends. Once, BQYC sailors raced 'Round the County'. Now, the only 'distance' race remaining under BQYC sponsorship is a shortened version of the original Braidwood Cup Race. This race begins and ends in Belleville with a mark near the Glenora Ferry serving as the turning mark for the race.

The Cups and Trophies have their own history which is in process of being complied.
 

   BQYC has an active evening Laser Racing Fleet with skippers having a wide range of ages and years of sailing experience. The Laser Masters' Regatta and High School Regattas are held on the Bay of Quinte.  

   BQYC has an excellent Sailing School serving approximately two hundred students each summer. Children learn to sail dinghies during the day and adult students take over at night. There is also a very popular, "Adult Learn to Sail Keelboats Program", being run by volunteer BQYC members two nights per week.

   At this point in time, The Bay of Quinte Yacht Club is an active boating, sailing, teaching, cruising, and racing club, as well as contributing to charitable activities. The calibre of members, instructors, and students (young and older) ensures that BQYC will successfully continue on into the next millennium.

The Bay of Quinte Yacht Club is situated on the southern tip of today's Victoria Park. It is hard to imagine that this park was at one time a small island at the mouth of the Moira River where it meets the Bay of Quinte.

   Information on the early days of the island is scarce, with one of the earliest references being a painting by Thomas Burrowes in the 1830's. This sketch shows the mouth of the Moira River with several homes along the east shore and a small island in the Bay of Quinte. See below. (Archives of Canada)

THE STEAM AND SAW MILLS

In the 1860's the Messrs. Bogart owned a steam and sawmill on the island. David Demorest Bogart was a wealthy lumberman and entrepreneur who financed the construction of many stately buildings in Belleville. He built his home on the south west corner of Bridge St. and John St. in 1855 as well as the "Old Post Office Block" on Bridge Street East (the present location of Dinkel's Restaurant) and the building across from the City Hall known today as the "Cablevue Building"(since demolished).

   In the fall of 1866, H.B.Rathbun & Son purchased Bogart's Steam and Sawmill and proceeded to overhaul, update it and add much needed new machinery. The cost of these improvements exceeded $6,000. More work was required, but the island was too small. Permission was granted by the Town Council to proceed with the extension as they felt it would also materially improve the channel and harbour as well as benefit the Rathbun Mill.  

   During the early months of 1867, the Messrs. Rathbun brought over 200 000 saw logs down the Moira River of which about 80 000 were converted into lumber at the island mill. The balance were sent to other Rathbun Mills to the east at the Salmon River (Frizzell's Mill) and Mill Point (Deseronto).

   In the mill on the island there were four gangs of saws which totaled 90 saws in all, as wall as edgers, butters and a lath machine. The capacity of the mill was 75 000 feet of lumber every 24 hours, 20 000 lath and 7 000 headings. In the first six months of 1867, Rathbun Mills shipped over 2 000 000 feet of lumber, 628 550 feet of lath and 401 000 feet of heading. They had 3 or 4 vessels which maintained constant shipments to Oswego N.Y. The machinery at the mill was run by two steam engines of 30 horse power each. The mills employed about 120 men and boys as labourers whose weekly payroll totaled $550.00.  

  The Rathbun Mill was a comparatively small mill by the standards of the day. (The Daily Intelligencer July 13, 1867). The most extensive mill in Belleville was that of Messrs. Flint and Yeomans located just west of the mouth of the Moira River.

   The late 1870's saw a marked decline in the economy. The once rich timber land to the north was exhausted and the lumber industry began to slow down with the eventual closing of many sawmills and lumber manufacturing plants.

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THE ISLAND

Queen Victoria Park, the present day site of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club, was originally deeded to "the President and Board of Police of Belleville" on November 27, 1837. The deed was presented by Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada on behalf of Her Majesty Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The deed covered a grant of several lots along the Bay shore as well as "The Lower Island in the River Moira opposite Captain Baldwin's Wharf, containing two acres and a half, more or less" (wording from the original deed). The crown retained all rights to any mines of gold or silver that may be found on any part of this land as well a "All white Pine Trees that shall or hereafter grow on this parcel."  

The Island was leased for many years to a variety of mill owners.

THE PARK

The Island was finally proposed as a public park during Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1887. There still remained the difficulty of public access so a large group of Belleville's citizens under the leadership of Henry Corby, MPP, Mayor Walmsley, George Wallbridge (Harbour Commissioner Chairmen) and Mr. Thomas Ritchie began a campaign to have a causeway constructed.  

   An article which appeared in the Belleville Sun in 1895 puts forward some interesting points in favour of the roadway. The article suggests that the city could earn revenue by granting privileges for swimming baths, a yacht club, merry-go-rounds, swings, refreshment booths, skating rinks and other attractions. The concept of a summer carnival on Belleville's waterfront was proposed for early July 1896 and it was thought that Victoria Park would add greatly to the attractiveness of this waterfront festival.
 

THE HARBOUR AND ROADWAY

A group of engineers from the Dominion Government strongly suggested the construction of the roadway in their recommendations for harbour improvement and flood control. These engineers also recommended the cutting away of Ashery Point, straightening the bank on the west side of the river and deepening the channel to a depth of 9 or 10 feet. They proposed the rip rapping of a solid earthen roadway similar to the old Quinte Bridge roadway, with one or more sluice ways through it to prevent the harbour from becoming stagnant.  

   No documentation was found to pinpoint the exact date of completion of the roadway but it appears to have been constructed around the turn of the century. The sawdust from the Rathbun Mill was used as the base for the causeway.

   The Island Park became a popular place with the citizens of Belleville. In 1924 Mr. Henry Corby"s estate made provision for the construction and maintenance of the Corby Baths on the southern point of the Park. The Baths consisted of a one story, frame building on a concrete post foundation with the facilities for a ladies' and mens' change house, band stand and first aid room. There was an open concrete pool located south of the Bath House that was used each summer by the children and citizens of Belleville. According to the 1938 Fire Insurance Survey for the City of Belleville, the Bath House and Band Stand were valued at $1200.00 and the fire insurance premiums were $1.65 per year. The facility was maintained by the Corby family and the City Parks Board for many years, but when the pool developed a large crack and was unable to hold water, the facility fell into a state of disrepair.  

   With the formation of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club in 1952, club members demolished the building using the foundation as part of the current club house. The pool was broken up and filled in.  

   Victoria Park has remained a focal point in the lives of Belleville citizens for many years.

   The Park and inner harbour were the site of many activities but over the years the old bath house and pool fell into disrepair and the inner harbour became stagnant and polluted. Following the Second World War (1947-1949) a group of Belleville's citizens became interested in forming a yacht club to welcome visiting boaters to Belleville but their efforts were thwarted by their inability to fine a suitable location for a clubhouse and docking facilities. At the same time a similar group was encouraging the city to improve Victoria Park and the Belleville Harbour.

   An an article from the Intelligencer dated January 12, 1952, mention is made of plans for rejuvenation of the area. "In the opinion of many citizens the filthy conditions of the Belleville Waterfront is driving out-of-town yachtsmen away from the city." Plans were drawn up for construction of 'cruiser pens' and washroom facilities. Ground work for this rejuvenation of Victorias Park was complected in the summer of 1952 following a 5 year program of dumping fill to raise the level of the park. Over this 5 year period hundreds of loads of fill from all over the city were dumped to raise the park level. Then the City Parks Board was to take over the landscaping of the park "to make it a showplace". These plans did not materialize.

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THE BAY OF QUINTE YACHT CLUB

The newly reformed Bay of Quinte Yacht Club was looking for a site for a clubhouse and docking facility and signed a long term lease (99 years for the price of $1.00) with the city for the southern tip of Victoria Park. The Parks Board Chairman was quoted in the Intelligencer of May 31, 1962 as saying that this lease was signed at a time when Victoria Park was badly run down and the Parks Board had no money to complete any improvement work. This lease, with the Yacht Club offered an opportunity to see needed improvements done at no expense to the Parks Board.  

   The Victoria Park location was an ideal site for a clubhouse as well as for small craft and it was ideally located for the Junior Sailing Programs B.Q.Y.C. hoped to be offering. The fact that the area was within walking distance of the downtown area was a definite attraction to visiting boaters.

   The members remodeled the east portion of the old bath house for their clubhouse and began extensive revitalization of the point. The lease covered property for a distance of 400 feet north of the point with one of the terms of the lease being that the public was not to be excluded from that section of the Park.

   In 1962 members of the Yacht Club planted a hedge across the Park and established a turn-around road 400 feet from the point with a parking lot being located inside the hedge. This cutting off of the roadway around the point caused much comment and concern as to the terms of the lease. It was pointed out by Commodore Ernie Colbourne that pedestrians were not being prohibited access to the point but for safety reasons, vehicular traffic was being re-routed.

   The Federal Government dredged the harbour and installed a larger culvert south of the railway bridge to provide for an increased flow of water through the inner harbour.

   In the early 1950's, Senator Fraser was able to get appropriation from the Federal Government for the construction of a dock in the harbour. A work crew from Trenton built the large crib on land and pushed it into the water on the east shore of the point. The dock didn't settle where it was needed and Bill Finkle had to locate his crane on the South Front Street shore and put a line on the crib and pull it into place. This crib was then filled with rocks and capped. This dock was built as a visitors' dock and was referred to as the "L" Dock for many years.

   In the early days of the Yacht Club, boaters were able to keep their boats in the harbour. Many drove stakes into the shore and secured their boats with a stern anchor.

  Boaters also built their own docks in the harbour area. They requested permission from the Harbourmaster and built their own docks at their own expense. All of these docks have since disappeared from the harbour following the up-dating of Victoria Park in the 1980's

   Compiled from B.Q.Y.C. archives

With the increasing coverage of the America's Cup trials in New Zealand, it might prove of interest to look back on the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club's entry in the America's Cup Race of 1881.
 

   The members of BQYC issued their challenge to the New York Yacht Club in a letter dated May 16, 1881. Their challenge was accepted on June 12, 1881 with the New York Club waiving the required six months notice and the race date was set for September.
 

   Captain Alexander Cuthbert, a club member and popular yacht designer of that era was chosen to construct the BQYC challenger. (He was also the builder of other yachts in the BQYC fleet such as the Dauntless, The Surprise and the Katie Grey.)
 

   The Atalanta, named for a mythological maiden known for her racing ability, was built in the Flint and Holton Lumber Yard on the west side of the Moira River in Belleville. The building of the yacht was wrought with many difficulties and she was mortgaged for the lumber from Flint and Holton for a total cost of $2,100. There were many delays in construction but she was finally launched in the late summer of 1881 - only half equipped and poorly finished because of the shortage of funds.
 

The Challenger - THE ATALANTA:

The Atalanta was 78 feet long with a beam of 19 feet 6 inches and a draft of 6 feet 5 inches with the centreboard up and 16 feet 6 inches with the board down. She should have been a beautiful sight on her maiden voyage but eyewitness accounts state that the hull was rough-hewn and the crew were still nailing planks to her deck and completing other carpentry work as she sailed down the Bay of Quinte.
 

   With the completion date being so late in the season The Atalanta did not have time to sail the St. Lawrence-Ocean route to New York. She was forced to take the short route and she entered the Erie Canal at Oswego. Because her beam was 16 inches wider than the canal, the crew had to shift her ballast of iron ore and Bay of Quinte boulders to one side in order to heel the boat enough to permit her passage through the narrow locks. She was then towed through the canal by teams of mules. The canal hands nicknamed her "The Canadian Mud Turtle" after seeing her rough, muddy bottom as she passed through the locks. When the Atalanta reached Albany, New York and the end of the Erie Canal, her crew once again shifted her ballast to put her back on an even keel. They restepped her mast and set sail for New York. The Atalanta finally sailed into New York Harbour on October 30, 1881.
 

   With her arrival in New York Harbour on October 30, 1881, preparations for the challenge races for the America's Cup began. The New York Yacht Club, while not overjoyed with beginning the series so late in the season, set the date for the first race for November 8, 1881.
 

The Defender - MISCHIEF

The American defender, Mischief, was the second yacht built in the United States and the first one to defend the America's Cup. She was designed by A.Cary Smith of New York and built of iron in Wilmington, Delaware in 1879. Her dimensions were 67 feet 5 inches overall; 61 feet at the water line and 19 feet 10 inches at the beam. Her 5 foot 6 inch draft with the centreboard gave her a total draft of 16 feet. Her mast was 63 feet 6 inches with a top mast of 41 feet 6 inches. Her boom was 62 feet 6 inches and the spinnaker boom was 43 feet 8 inches.

THE RACE

Before entering the races with Atalanta, the Mischief was hauled out and her underbody was sanded, holystoned, varnished and potleaded until it shone like platinum. This was in very sharp contrast to the rough hewn hull of the Atalanta.
 

   The Canadian challenger seemed plagued with problems in the days prior to the first race. Many of the crew promised from Belleville didn't arrive and the small group from Belleville was complimented by a number of amateur sailors from the Oswego Yacht Club. Atalanta was not really in shape for racing. She was over-sparred with poorly cut sails. Prior to the first race her main mast was cut down and her head sails altered but time was limited and many necessary alterations were left undone.
 

   The November 8 race was canceled because of poor weather conditions. The first race began at 11:00 a.m. on November 9, 1881. The winds were very gusty and proved too much for the heavily sparred Atalanta and many observers feared the vessel would capsize in the heavy seas. Atalanta lost 40 minutes in reefing and as a result lost this first race to Mischief by 28 minutes and 20¼ seconds.
 

   The second race was held the following day in a strong north west wind. The course was over 30 miles long and the Atalanta crossed the start line only 30 seconds behind the Mischief. Atalanta seemed to be holding her own until the spinnaker boom snapped causing a loss of speed and time. When both yachts rounded the first mark, the Atalanta was only 2 minutes and 15 seconds behind the Mischief but the final leg of the race found the challenger beating into gale force winds. She finally struggled across the finish line after sunset, 38 minutes and 54 seconds behind Mischief, the winner of the America's Cup for 1881.
 

   In spite of her poor sails, rough finish and poor handling, the Atalanta impressed many Americans with her speed "under such handicaps" but after what the Americans termed a "fiasco challenge", the deed of gift was changed. All challengers should come under sail thereafter (a rule not often used today)!

Photo of America's Cup taken at 2001 challenge that Peter and Jill Cox attended.
BQYC's name is clearly engraved on the cup as the 1881 Challenger
 

   Captain Alexander Cuthbert was also the designer and builder of the Countess of Dufferin, from R.C.Y.C., the first Canadian challenger to the America's Cup in 1876 and now with the Atalanta, he was the only man to have entered a challenge in the America's Cup on a vessel which he himself had designed, built and skippered. It was a sad time for Cuthbert when he tried to challenge for the next race and was refused because of a deed of gift ruling.
 

FURTHER FEATS

The Atalanta returned to Lake Ontario the next year. She underwent many changes and modifications and continued to sail on the Great Lakes with much success. In 1883 she sailed to Chicago to enter the race for the Fisher Cup. In the first race she was leading but broke her spinnaker boom and lost the race to the Cora of Chicago. After completing the necessary repairs, Captain Cuthbert promptly challenged the Cora to a match race the following week. The Atalanta beat the Cora by 16 minutes over the same course and returned to the Bay of Quinte with the Fisher Cup (the championship cup for yachts on fresh water). She held this trophy from 1883 until 1886 when she was defeated by the Norah which was also built by Captain Cuthbert and owned by John Bell, Q.C. of Belleville.
 

   The Atalanta was partly burned in 1896 and was subsequently sold and taken to Chicago where she was rebuilt with higher sides and flush decks. She was last heard from in New Orleans around the turn of the century.
 

(Compiled from B.Q.Y.C. Historical Files by Susan Smith Club Historian)

BQYC carried on with it's America's Cup history by competing in the now famous America's Cup Jubilee Regatta in Cowes, England, in August of 2001. The BQYC crew did a great job were very pleased with their in the top third standing in the "Modern Class" competitions... upholding, in their own way, BQYC's America's Cup tradition.

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by Susan Smith

The Cup

The Katie Grey trophy is presented annually to the winner of the race from Belleville to Picton held on Labour Day Weekend. The trophy was originally called the Robertson Trophy and it was presented for the first time on July 13^th, 1878 by Alex Robertson, the first mayor of the newly declared "City of Belleville" to the yacht Katie Grey during the Union Regatta held on Big Bay.
 

   The trophy next appeared at an auction in Kingston in 1967. Several members of the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club collected funds in order to purchase the cup and return it to the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club. The first "Katie Grey" race was held in 1968 and the trophy was won by Dr. Ken Douglas on Serendipity.
 

The Yacht Katie Grey

The yacht Katie Grey was designed and built at Cobourg in 1875 by Captain Alexander Cuthbert for Mr. W.H. Campbell, Fire Chief in Belleville. The Katie Grey had a 27 foot keel, a beam of 10 feet 6 inches and weighed ten tons. Sail inventory consisted of a mainsail, topsail, staysail and jib topsail. She carried 2,000 pounds of ballast of which most was moveable. The moving of ballast was not permitted during local races but was allowed in races at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. She carried a large number of Quinte boulders and an army of boys to carry the boulders to the windward side whenever the yacht tacked during these races.
 

   The Katie Grey sailed the waters of Lake Ontario for 62 years and brought home more honours than any other yacht of her time.
 

   Her maiden race was the Dominion Day Regatta at Belleville on July 12, 1875 when she defeated the best of the local fleet.
 

   The fame of the Katie Grey soon spread and the public keenly followed the local racing scene. (It was also said that interest was such that considerable sums of money were won and lost on the results of these races.)
 

   Her most famous race was a match race against the "Ella" of Oswego held at Kingston on July 15, 1879. The race was sailed over a 35 mile course and the Katie Grey won by 13 minutes, taking the purse of $250.
 

   The yacht was purchased in 1882 by Ross Cummings of Trenton who sold the yacht that same year to W.B. Phelps of the Oswego Yacht Club. After many years of successful racing she was retired and used as a cruising yacht by the Phelps family.
 

   Around 1910 the Katie Grey returned to Belleville, purchased by Captain A.A. Bartlett. She spent some time on the bottom of the Bay of Quinte but she was subsequently raised with the help of the schooner "Lyman Davis". Her ballast was removed and the boat was raised to continue her sailing on local waters. She was often seen sailing on the Long Reach with Captain Bartlett at the helm and his crew, Lassie, a scotch collie on the cabin deck sniffing the wind.
 

   The Katie Grey ended her illustrious career on the banks of the Napanee River, as seen in a photo taken in 1937. It is assumed that this was her last resting place.
 

   NOTE: A special thank you to Past Commodore Dick Bird, whose booklet "History of the Katie Grey" was a valuable source of information. Several copies of this booklet (which contains a detailed history of the Katie Grey and her racing career) have been left at the bar for members who might wish to borrow it to discover more about the Old Days of Yachting on the Bay of Quinte.

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Some More BQYC History

BQYC and the America's Cup Jubilee Cowes, Isle of Wight, August, 2001 It's been a while since this once in lifetime sailing event. Memories linger on BQYC's participation in this regatta of the century. For at least part of the story of BQYC in this regatta, and our America's Cup, heritage, click here.