George Albert Black (January 17, 1778 – 19 May 1854) was a Canadian politician and businessman and an important shipbuilder in Quebec during the earlier part of the 19th century.
Contents |
George Black was a leading shipbuilder in the port of Quebec during the early 19th century. A ship’s carpenter in 1817, he went into business in 1819, and from then until 1846 he built at least 54 vessels for a total registered tonnage of 23,645. His shipyard was located at Cape Cove, below the monument to James Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, and specialized in the building of full-rigged vessels and, to a lesser extent, barques. The location was subsequently leased by his nephew, William Henry Baldwin and his partner, Henry Dinning who continued, together and separately, to build first class ships out of the Port of Quebec.
Black’s ships were of a high quality and of the larger class of contemporary shipping. Almost all were awarded the highest rating, A1, by Lloyd’s register of shipping. Therefore, by virtue of the quality and quantity of his shipbuilding, Black is a notable figure in Canadian economic history.
He also engaged in ship-repairing, apparently an active sideline for shipbuilders at Quebec because of the hazards peculiar to the St. Lawrence. Unlike his contemporaries, such as John Munn, for whom five of Black’s first six vessels were built, he seldom built on his own account. With the exception of two steamers, a schooner, and a brigantine, the vessels he built were destined for owners in the United Kingdom, and the bulk of them were employed, at least initially, in the British trade to the West Indies, Africa, and Australia.
He is said to have been a partner of John Saxton Campbell, a Quebec merchant and shipowner. He has been awarded a measure of fame, singular for a Canadian shipbuilder, because of a vessel he built with Campbell in 1831, the 1,270-ton steamship Royal William.[1] The vessel was constructed for the Quebec and Halifax Steam Navigation Company which included Black, Samuel Cunard, and numerous prominent Lower Canadian businessmen among its shareholders. As a steamer, the Royal William was atypical of Black’s production, but her steam voyage from Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Cowes, in late summer 1833 was widely and repeatedly claimed decades later by Canadians to have been the first across the Atlantic.
Black capped his career with his largest ship, constructing the 1,278-ton Omega in 1846. On May 1 of that year he leased the shipyard to his son George Black Jr. for £800 per year and probably retired. An inventory taken three days later revealed that the shipyard contained building materials worth approximately £472, household furniture to the value of £35, as well as tools and other articles valued at £310. The business was carried on by Black Jr. until his death three years later. Black Sr. then leased the shipyard to another Quebec shipbuilder of note, William Henry Baldwin.
Black was elected councillor for Saint-Laurent Ward in 1835. When the city reverted to a system of administration by justices of the peace between 1836 and 1840, he served as one of the justices. After a new charter provided for the appointment of a mayor and councillors, Black was appointed city councillor for Champlain Ward for 1840–42. The positions on the city council again became elective in 1842 but he declined to stand for office although he continued to act as a justice of the peace until at least the late 1840s.
He married Jane Gilley on July 26, 1817 at Quebec; they had nine children together. A Presbyterian, he was also a member of the local St. Andrew’s Society.