Joseph Cunard's Fall from Grace
In the Miramichi's shipbuilding and timbering days of the 1830's and early 1840's, there was no one riding higher than Halifax-born Joseph Cunard. But in 1847, when economic depression and personal recklessness combined to end his financial empire, it was Cunard's employees - loggers, shipbuilders, office workers and shop clerks - who fell the hardest and suffered the longest.

Rapid Expansion: Joseph Cunard, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1799, was the younger brother of Samuel Cunard, founder of the famous transatlantic steamship company. In 1820, in partnership with Samuel and another brother, Henry, Joseph purchased a wharf and store on the Miramichi River in Chatham, and was soon involved in lumbering, milling and shipping on the north side of the river. Throughout the 1830's, the Cunard empire grew rapidly to include several mills, brickworks, stores, a counting house, and at least 2 shipyards in Chatham. It spread to additional mills downriver, and stores in Shippagan, Kouchibouguac and Richibucto. In 1831, Cunard purchased stores, houses, and other buildings in Bathurst and began to ship timber. His company established shipyards in Chatham, Bathurst and Kouchibouguac; in Bathurst alone, Cunard commissioned the building of 43 vessels, including the 1846 Velocity, the first steamboat constructed on the Miramichi.

As his brothers gradually distanced themselves from the daily affairs of the central New Brunswick operations, Joseph strengthened his ties with Chatham and the Miramichi region. He became a justice of the peace, chair of the local Board of Health, commissioner of lighthouses, and a representative to the New Brunswick government, first as an elected Member of the House of Assembly, then as an appointed member of the Executive Council. Cunard was also the owner of Middle Island, site of a quarantine station for arriving immigrants; in 1848, he unsuccessfully opposed plans to move the station from Middle Island to Chatham.

Cunard had many admirers, but he also had several enemies. He waged a long and bitter business and political battle with Alexander Rankin, another well-established Miramichi entrepreneur. Cunard and Rankin frequently clashed over timber reserves; their support for opposing political candidates in Northumberland County resulted in the "fighting elections" of 1843, when troops had to be sent in to restore order.

Corporate Collapse: Despite its large payroll and outward appearance of success, Joseph Cunard's financial empire was overextended and precarious. In 1842, a declining economy, relentless competition from Rankin, and a call of government loans pushed Cunard toward insolvency. His declaration of bankruptcy in November of 1847 resulted in a legendary public confrontation, in which Cunard, faced with an angry crowd of unemployed workers, is said to have brandished 2 pistols and demanded: "Now show me the man who will shoot Cunard."

Lingering Effects: The crowd dispersed, but 500 -1,000 people had lost their jobs. Some moved away from the area, and others, who ran small businesses that depended on Cunard's payroll, also went bankrupt. The devastating effects of Cunard's business failure were felt in the Miramichi region until shipbuilding revived in the 1850's. Cunard went on to found a new shipping business in Liverpool, England, and to continue his comfortable lifestyle. His New Brunswick debts were finally settled by his brother Samuel in 1871.

The Great Miramichi Fire of 1825
On the morning of October 7, 1825, no one in Newcastle paid much attention when an elderly woodsman strode though the streets, beating his drum and warning everyone he met that a tremendous forest fire was bearing down on the town. The day was hot, dry and sunny, just as it had been all summer and fall, and there was no indication of the horror to come.

But as the day wore on, a massive column of smoke rose over the forest. The air grew thicker, and ash began to fall in the streets. By mid-evening, a horrifying roar could be heard as the fire raced along the riverbank and into the town. In less than 3 hours, the town of Newcastle, population 1,000, had been burned to the ground; of 260 buildings, only 12 were left standing.

The fire raged on, destroying the communities of Moorefiield, Napan, and Black River. In Douglastown, all but 6 of the town's 70 buildings were consumed. (Among those that survived was the home of local lumber baron Alexander Rankin, arch-enemy of fellow empire-builder Joseph Cunard. The home still stands today as a Douglastown historic site.) In some places, the fire jumped the river; in others, it was carried to the other side by burning ships trying to escape the blaze.

As the inferno raged, and trees and buildings crackled and crashed, panicked residents rushed into the waters of the Miramichi, submerging themselves to their necks to escape the unbearable heat. Those who could not escape died in the blaze; historical accounts suggest that at least 160 people lost their lives. Tales of tragedy abound - the man who rushed to save a church only to return home to find his family dead, typhoid patients who were too weak to flee the flames, prisoners in Newcastle Jail who perished in their padlocked cells.

Like people, forest animals survived by heading to the river; witnesses reported seeing a bear huddled among a herd of cattle in the water, waiting calmly for danger to pass. Sailors far out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence claimed that their ships were enveloped in smoke, and that a heavy layer of ash fell on their decks. Those who survived the fire spoke of living on potatoes that had roasted in the flames, and using the bottoms of burned tree-tops to rebuild their cabins and shelters.

Separating fact from fiction and truth from tall tales has been a challenge for historians tracing the causes and effects of the Miramichi Fire. Records seem to suggest that the fire - which may have been a series of separate fires, burning simultaneously - covered almost 16,000 square kilometres, or about 1/5 of New Brunswick's forests. The causes of the blaze have not been clearly established; possible explanations include the unusually hot weather of the summer of 1825, and the effects of spruce budworm infestations that left tree-tops tinder-dry. The forest, littered with timber cast off from the "squaring" process, was filled with loose debris and highly flammable materials. Not far away, settlers were burning stumps and wood piles as they cleared their land for farming.

Despite the devastation and loss of life associated with the Miramichi Fire, the region's timbering industry was booming again by the 1830's. The communities of Newcastle and Douglastown were rebuilt, and annual observances of the 1825 tragedy faded into history.

Beaubears Island: Barometer of Miramichi History
As a traditional Mi'Kmaq meeting place, a tragic Acadian refugee camp, a prosperous shipbuilding centre, and now a National Historic Site, Beaubears Island has served as a barometer of Miramichi history. The island is only 2 kilometres in length and less than a kilometre wide, but its location, at the forks of the Northwest and Southwest branches of the main Miramichi - about 50 kilometres upstream from the river's mouth, in the middle of the modern-day City of Miramichi - has invested it with strategic importance.

Acadian Agony: For thousands of years, the island was a natural gathering place for native Mi'Kmaq of the Miramichi, who called it "Quoomeneegook" (pine island). But it became a scene of misery and death during the British expulsion of the Acadians in the mid -1700's. In 1757, in a desperate attempt to evade British troops in the St. John Valley and the Bay of Fundy, the French general, Charles des Champs de Boishébert, led the French fugitives up the northeast coast of New Brunswick to the Miramichi, installing about 900 of them on Beaubears Island with hopes of only temporary deprivation, followed by a timely rescue.

But when provisions from Quebec finally arrived the following May, it was far too late; after a harsh and hideous winter of subsisting on cattle hides, seal oil, beaver skins, and finally, their own deerskin boots, at least 200 refugees were dead. Those who survived, and attempted to settle in the areas surrounding Beaubears Island, faced even more suffering. In 1758, British forces, led by Colonel Murray, erased almost every trace of human settlement - Acadian and Mi'Kmaq- on the Miramichi River. Amazingly, in spite of these catastrophes, a few of the Acadians remained; today, some Miramichi families can trace their ancestry to the refugees of Beaubears Island. Even the island's name recalls this sad chapter in Miramichi history: "Beaubears" is actually a corruption of "Boishébert."

Shipbuilding Saga: The next chapter in the life of Beaubears Island began in 1765, when William Davidson and John Cort arrived from Scotland to establish a fishery and shipbuilding business. Davidson secured the lucrative contract to supply ship masts for the British Navy, and built the area's first ship, the Miramichi, in 1773.

For the next hundred years, Beaubears Island remained the centre of Miramichi shipbuilding. The island passed through a series of private owners, including John Russell, who built 26 ships on the island during the period of 1837 - 1850, George Burchill and John Harley, who built 19 ships between 1850 - 1866, and Peter Mitchell, a well-known "Father of Confederation" and member of the Sir John A. MacDonald government, who bought the island in 1871 for $2,500.00. Thousands of people worked in the island's shipyards over the years. Some lived on site, but most travelled back and forth from the mainland by boat in summer and on ice in winter; many shopped at the island's general store.

Historical Designation: When the 19th century shipbuilding era ended in the late 1800's, Beaubears Island was abandoned. The last private owner of Beaubears Island was Lieutenant Governor Leonard O'Brien, who willed his property to Parks Canada. After his death in 1973, the island was opened to the public in 1979. In 2002, Beaubears Island Shipbuilding was designated by the Canadian federal government as a National Historic Site, in recognition of the wharves, foundations, and other shipbuilding remnants that have remained untouched for the past 100 years.