W. E. Redway

W.E. Redway, member of the Naval Institute of Naval Architects of England, is one of the best known marine constructors on the Great Lakes, and he is about the only member of the Institute of Naval Architects in Canada. To be a member of this Institute means a good deal, for unless a man is unusually clever he is not permitted membership in that organization. Mr. Redway was born in South Devon, England, his father being a shipbuilder of Exmouth and Dartmouth, so that our subject was literally born into the business and reared in it.

Having received a thorough education, Mr. Redway served a long apprenticeship, and passed through every department of the noted Chatham dock yard, besides being on the northeast coast of England and on the Clyde. His last position in Great Britain was as general manager of the Castle Steel & Iron Works, of Milford Haven. Thus he became thoroughly acquainted with everything connected with vessels sailing in deep water, and was made a member of the Institute of Naval Architects in 1884. In 1885 Mr. Redway made up his mind to emigrate, and brought his family to Canada, settling in Toronto. Not much time was lost before Mr. Redway became fully employed in his line of business. Besides being connected with several big engineering schemes in Toronto, he has up to June, 1897, planned and constructed many vessels, among which were the Imperial, Mayflower, Primrose, Garden City, Mascotte, Cleopatra, Mistassini, Medora and others. Hearing of his good work the managers of the Union Shipyards at Buffalo sent for Mr. Redway, and he went there, becoming second in charge of the building of the steamer Ramapo, which occupied six months of the year in 1895. Among the other achievements in later years, he has contributed a number of valuable and cleverly written articles to the marine publications, notably the Marine Record, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Of course Mr. Redway has not fought through this active and successful career alone, for Mrs. Redway has taken a lively interest in every undertaking. Her maiden name was Miss Ellen Rose Hodge, and on her mother's side she is connected with the aristocratic and wealthy Wheaton family, of Silverston, in England. Mr. and Mrs. Redway have four sons and one daughter. Three of the sons, Horace, Sydney and Edwin, are with the Polson Shipbuilding Company, of which Mr. Redway is construction director. Edwin is a draughtsman, Sydney, an accountant, and Horace, a foreman shipbuilder. The other son Edgar, is in the provision trade, and Miss Redway is an accomplished musician. Mr. Redway's active life near the water has had a beneficial effect upon his constitution, for he is yet as strong, and perhaps more able, than most men who are twenty years younger. His faculties are as sturdy as ever they were, and are likely so to remain for many years, and their owner is capable of building any craft from a battleship to a schooner.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.