Sullivan Agent Confesses, [1948]

The National Seaman’s Association was a labour recruiter hiding behind a union-like name. It was run by H.N. McMaster who collected fees from companies and dues from workers. With McMaster in charge, shipping interests could claim that their seamen had a union, but ship-owners were free to push their vessels and their workers to the breaking point. In 1935, the members on the Great Lakes decided to strike. One year later, they created their own union and amalgamated with a Montreal-based independent body to create the Canadian Seamen’s Union headed by a ship’s cook who became a union leader, John Allan Patrick “Pat” Sullivan. By the late 1940s, almost all sailors on Canadian ships were CSU members. Right from its inception in 1936, Communists were prominent among the leaders of the union. Sullivan had been recruited to the Communist party that year and the union had a close rapport with the party. On June 8, 1940, Pat Sullivan was arrested because of his affiliation with the Communist party. He was incarcerated until March 20, 1942. No charges were laid, no bail was set and there was no trial. After his release, Sullivan was elected second vice-president of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada. In 1943, Percy Bengough was elected as president and Sullivan was elected as secretary treasurer of the TLC while maintaining his role as president of the CSU. On March 14, 1947 Sullivan made a shocking announcement that he was resigning from the CSU and the Labor-Progressive Party. He claimed that the CSU was under the full control of the Communists. Within a month of this announcement, he emerged as the president of the Canadian Lake Seamen’s Union. Ship-owners never really reconciled themselves to having their industry unionized, and in 1946 there was a seamen’s strike in which the union won the eight-hour day. In 1949, the shipping companies had a plan to get rid of the union and were negotiating behind their back with the Seafarers International Union (SIU). In a brutal confrontation, led by Hal Banks, an American ex-convict, the SIU was able to roust the CSU and take over the bargaining rights of Canadian seamen. On July 15, 1948, Robert Lindsay, who was Sullivan’s Welland business agent said that to the best of his knowledge, Sullivan’s outfit, the CLSU, was under the control of some of the Steamship Companies. Lindsay had heard that there was a movement to get rid of Bengough of the Trades and Labour Congress as well as elements of the CSU. He also had heard that the CLSU wanted to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. Lindsay’s allegations raised the questions: Were the ship-owners powerful enough to oust Percy Bengough because he supported the seamen? Could the CLSU get an affiliation with the American Federation of Labor? and Would the American Federation of Labor actually affiliate with a union that was siding with employers against a locked-out union?

Wakeman Burritt fonds, 1807-1814

Wakeman Burritt (1785-1847) was a merchant and ship owner who conducted his business in New York, New Orleans, LA, Charleston, SC, and the West Indies. Despite the difficulties that the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812 posed to trade and commerce, Burritt managed to run a successful business, dealing in commodities such as foodstuffs, cloth, cotton, and soap. He owned three ships, the Brig Cannon, Brig Eunice and Brig Sampson. In 1809, he married Grace Burr (1787-1874). Together they had at least one child, Francis Burritt (1811-1861).

Columbian Centinel, 12 March 1814 (no. 3123) - Newspaper

Volumes of interest were published between 1812 and 1815 with articles about the War of 1812. Issue for March 12, 1814: The front page of this issue is dominated by a large engraving of a ship, part of a political notice in support of Caleb Strong for governor.

The Columbian, 12 June 1813 (vol. 4, no. 1105) - Newspaper

Volumes of interest were published between 1812 and 1815 with articles about the War of 1812. Issue for June 12, 1813 includes copies of letters from U.S. Gen. H. Dearborn describing the U.S. attack on Ft. George 27 May 1813; letter from Gen. H. Dearborn describing U.S. pursuit of British troops at Beaver Dams and the U.S. capture of Fort Erie; list of U.S. killed and wounded in Commodore Isaac Chauncey’s squadron in attack on York 27 April, 1813; list of killed and wounded in Commodore Isaac Chauncey’s squadron in attack on Ft. George 27 May 1813; abstract of the cartel for the exchange of prisoners of war between Great Britain and the United States; mention of troop movements through New York on their way to the battle front; list of persons killed or lost on the privateer Saratoga; account of the loss of the U.S. war ships the Growler and Eagle to the British; news from Quebec and Kingston of troop movements; report of launching of British ship Sir George Prevost; announcement of sending of 5 American infantry companies to Burlington from Bennington, Vermont; U.S. ship Syren unsuccessfully pursues British ship Herald; account of a U.S. cargo ship being captured by a British military ship; account of U.S. ship Siro capturing British ship Loyal Sam; report from Halifax of recent British troop and ship movements; list of recent troop enrollments in various states; report of British troop build up in Kingston.

Port Weller Dry Docks collection, 1959-1967

Port Weller Dry Docks Limited was officially established on April 25, 1946, near Lock 1 of the Welland Canal. Charles A. Ansell was the company’s first President and General Manager. Initially, the company focused on repairing ships, but in June, 1951, built their first ship, the Scott Misener. In 1956, the Upper Lakes and St. Lawrence Transportation Co. purchased all of the shares of Port Weller Dry Docks Limited. In the mid-eighties, ULS (Upper Lakes Shipping) International (which owned the Port Weller dry docks), and Canada Steamship Lines, merged their operations. As a result, the Port Weller Dry Docks became a division of this newly formed company, known as Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited. In 2007, Seaway Marine & Industrial Inc. took over ownership of the Port Weller Dry Docks, but declared bankruptcy in July 2013.

Post Card Album - Welland Canal

A collection of post cards (52 black & white and 47 colour) and photographs (26 black & white) of the Welland Canal. The photographs and post cards cover a range of years and locations, inlcuding St. Catharines, Port Colborne, Port Dalhousie; Humberstone, Thorold, Allanburg and Niagara Falls.

Welland Industry - Postcards

Board of five postcards of Welland. First postcard, Welland Riverside Mills. Second postcard, Plymouth Cordage Co., Welland, Ont. Third postcard, Ship Yard, Welland Canal, Welland, Ont. Fourth postcard, Welland Cordage Co., Fifth postcard, Cordage St.., Welland, Ont.

Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd. Vessels Scrapbook, 1964-1967, no date

The origins of Upper Lakes Shipping can be traced back to 1931, when Gordon Leitch, the general manager of Toronto elevators, sent Captain Bruce Angus to scout for potential ships that could be used to transport grain. The ship Sarnian was purchased as a result. It soon became apparent that more ships would be needed by the business, and Leitch subsequently partnered with James Norris of the Norris Grain Company, in order to transport their products more economically. The Upper Lakes and St. Lawrence Transportation Company (which later become known as Upper Lakes Shipping), was incorporated in 1932. In 1956, the company bought Port Weller Dry docks. At this point, the company began constructing new vessels designed to meet specific freight and classification needs.

Schooner Ranger document, 1810-1815

Partial transcription: Buffalo, August 15, 1815 This day settled all accounts between… respecting the purchase and sailing of the Schooner Ranger until she was laid up in the fare of 1811. For the value of the…of the said Schooner destroyed by the enemy in January 1813 and the rigging & c taken by the U.S. Navy Officers for the use of the Government a [Joint][appreciation] is to be made... Government for our mutual benefit. Porter & Barton for [the firm] of Porter Barton & Co. George Kibbe

Disease-Gene Association Using a Genetic Algorithm

Understanding the relationship between genetic diseases and the genes associated with them is an important problem regarding human health. The vast amount of data created from a large number of high-throughput experiments performed in the last few years has resulted in an unprecedented growth in computational methods to tackle the disease gene association problem. Nowadays, it is clear that a genetic disease is not a consequence of a defect in a single gene. Instead, the disease phenotype is a reflection of various genetic components interacting in a complex network. In fact, genetic diseases, like any other phenotype, occur as a result of various genes working in sync with each other in a single or several biological module(s). Using a genetic algorithm, our method tries to evolve communities containing the set of potential disease genes likely to be involved in a given genetic disease. Having a set of known disease genes, we first obtain a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network containing all the known disease genes. All the other genes inside the procured PPI network are then considered as candidate disease genes as they lie in the vicinity of the known disease genes in the network. Our method attempts to find communities of potential disease genes strongly working with one another and with the set of known disease genes. As a proof of concept, we tested our approach on 16 breast cancer genes and 15 Parkinson's Disease genes. We obtained comparable or better results than CIPHER, ENDEAVOUR and GPEC, three of the most reliable and frequently used disease-gene ranking frameworks.

Letter - E.C. Schmon to Arthur A. Schmon, 11 & 12 September 1918

Eleanore Celeste describes Arthur's departure for service one year ago. She also discusses a friend, Dick Hart, who was thought to have been a casualty of a torpedoed ship, but is now thought to be safe. She mentions that she will visit Mother Schmon and had played tennis with Gus. The letter is labelled number 159.

Letter - E.C. Schmon to Arthur A. Schmon, 20 December 1919

Eleanore Celeste discusses the ice breaker ship that travels to Quebec. Arthur has asked if the boat will travel the first trip soon and she responds that she is not sure if it will make the trip, but will wait until the New Year to find out more. She mentions that Arthur is going to buy her a fur for her Christmas gift. The letters are labelled number 78 & 79.

Persia steamboat poster, no date

The “Persia” was built in St. Catharines in 1873. From 1877 to 1894 the ship was owned by James Norris of St. Catharines. The Toronto and Montreal Steamboat Co. acquired the ship in 1894, followed by the Quebec Navigation Co. in 1907. A fire severely damaged the ship in 1911, and the following year the “Persia” was rebuilt as a barge.

Photograph - House Interior, Dining Room

Black and white photographs, 19 cm x 24 cm of the interior of an unidentified house showing a dining room with a model ship on the table. The photograph was taken by Wurts Brothers General Photographers of New York City (2 copies).

Disease-Gene Association Using Genetic Programming

As a result of mutation in genes, which is a simple change in our DNA, we will have undesirable phenotypes which are known as genetic diseases or disorders. These small changes, which happen frequently, can have extreme results. Understanding and identifying these changes and associating these mutated genes with genetic diseases can play an important role in our health, by making us able to find better diagnosis and therapeutic strategies for these genetic diseases. As a result of years of experiments, there is a vast amount of data regarding human genome and different genetic diseases that they still need to be processed properly to extract useful information. This work is an effort to analyze some useful datasets and to apply different techniques to associate genes with genetic diseases. Two genetic diseases were studied here: Parkinson’s disease and breast cancer. Using genetic programming, we analyzed the complex network around known disease genes of the aforementioned diseases, and based on that we generated a ranking for genes, based on their relevance to these diseases. In order to generate these rankings, centrality measures of all nodes in the complex network surrounding the known disease genes of the given genetic disease were calculated. Using genetic programming, all the nodes were assigned scores based on the similarity of their centrality measures to those of the known disease genes. Obtained results showed that this method is successful at finding these patterns in centrality measures and the highly ranked genes are worthy as good candidate disease genes for being studied. Using standard benchmark tests, we tested our approach against ENDEAVOUR and CIPHER - two well known disease gene ranking frameworks - and we obtained comparable results.