Polson Iron Works Limited

Polson Iron Works Limited

Industry	Shipbuilding
Fate	Ceased operations
Predecessor	William Polson and Company c. 1883
Founded	1886
Founder	William Polson Franklin Bates Polson
Defunct	1919
Headquarters	Toronto 1886-1888 and 1893-1919, Owen Sound 1888-1893, Toronto, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
Number of locations	Toronto, Owen Sound
Area served	Canada
Key people	William Polson - co-founder, Franklin Bates Polson - co-founder
Products	Ferries

File:Launching the Aquila, at the Polson slip.jpg

Launching a ship at the Polson Iron Works shipyard.

The Polson Iron Works was an Ontario based firm which built large steam engines, and ships, barges and dredges.

Founded by William Polson (1834-1901) and son Franklin Bates Polson, the firm was incorporated in 1886 and it was one of the original shipyards operating in Toronto.

In 1888 favourable land grants prompted the company to move to Owen Sound, which was then an important port for Canadian Pacific's steamships.

The firm eventually returned to Toronto in 1897 when Owen Sound's town council did not renew the firm's exemption from property taxes.

Some of the vessels constructed by the Polson Iron Works remain in service today. They include SS Bigwin, PS Trillium and the MV Kwasind.

The engines and hull of the Bonnington, a steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes from 1911 to 1931, were built at the Polson Iron Works, and shipped by rail to British Columbia.

The company ceased operations around 1919 and name lives in Polson Pier, where the shipyard was once located.

Ships built

Polson was a builder of Motor yachts for the wealthy in Toronto during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

List of Ships built:

Motor yachts

• Mockingbird (1886)
• Vivid (1886)
• Rescue (1886)
• Electric (1887)
• Gypsy (1887)
• Siesta (1889)
• Undine (1889)
• Naiad (1890)
• Siesta (1892)
• Undine (1892)
• Mizpah (1892)
• Annie C. Hill (1898)
• Wanda (1898)
• Bobs (1900)
• Llaus (1900)
• Islander (1900)
• Llano (1900)

• Ina (1901)
• Kate (1902)
• Espanola (1902)
• Linnea (1903)
• Mildred (1903)
• Rambler (1903)
• Temagami (1905)
• Wanda II (1905)
• Wawinet (1904)
• Keego (1909)
• Sir Wilfrid (1902)
• Morning Star (1907)
• Roberval (1907)
• Bessie Butler (1907)
• P.W.D. No. 117 (1909)
• Kwasind (1912)
• Wanda III (1915)

Tugs

• Conqueror (1886)
• Pikouagami (1906)
• Loretta (1908)
• G.R. Geary (1912)
• Batchawanna (1912)

Ferries

• City of Chatham (1888)
• Mizpah (1889)
• Majestic (1899)
• Algoma (1901)
• Charles Lyon (1908)
• Kuskanook

Passenger vessels

• Manitoba (1889)

Train ferries

• Ontario (1890, for CPR)
• Ontario #2 (1915)

Patrol boats

• Constance (1891)
• Curlew (1892)
• Petrel (1892)
• Vigilant (1903)

Others

• Knapp roller boat (1897)
• Barge Inenew (1902)
• Lightship Lurcher (1903)
• Lightship Anticosti (1904)
• Hercules (1906)
• Barge Navarch (1906)
• Keego (1909)
• Clinker Shuniah (1910)
• Fireboat T.J. Clark (1911)
• Drill Scow MNCO No 6 (1912)
• Clinker Port Nelson (1913)
• Dredge City Dredge No 2 (1914)

• Cyclone (1914)
• Buoy tender Grenville (1914)
• Terminals Lighter Hudson Bay No. 1 (1914)
• Terminals Lighter Hudson Bay No. 2 (1914)
• Terminals Lighter Hudson Bay No. 3 (1914)
• Q.H.C. No 51 (1914)
• Q.H.C. No 52 (1914)
• Q.H.C. No 53 (1914)
• Q.H.C. No 54 (1914)
• Q.H.C. No 55 (1914)
• Seventy Five (1915)
• Tornado (1915)
• War Toronto (1918)

Naval vessels

• HMCS Messines (1917)
• HMCS St. Eloi (1917)
• HMCS St. Julien (1917)
• HMCS Vimy (1917)
• HMCS Ypres (1917)
• HMCS Festubert (1917)

Aircraft

In 1916 Polson Iron Works was involved in the production of the M.F.P Tractor Biplane for MFP Company owned by J.B. Miller, Walter L. Fairchild and Walter H. Phipps. The plane was designed by Walter H. Phipps, owner of Steel Constructed Aeroplanes Co of New York. Fairchild was a monoplane pioneer from Hempstead Plains, New York.