Bayley and his Log Raft

During the First World War, England was in desperate need of materials to help the war effort. While Canada was a vital supplier of food stuffs and steel, there was also high demand for timber. The coal mines in England supplied coal that was vital for the war effort, but unless the English could obtain timber to shore up the roofs of the tunnels their mines would not be safe, nor productive. Early in the war effort, Scandinavian countries supplied the necessary timbers, as they were close by, but an increase in German submarine activity in the North Sea made moving timbers between England and the Scandinavian region impossible. The British government turned its attention to the colonies of Newfoundland and Canada for the necessary timber and placed advertisements in newspapers seeking suppliers. These ads were seen by North Sydney entrepreneur Ivan Bayley.

A combination of British collieries hired Bayley to supply 7,000 cords of wood. One cord of timber produced around 40 props. A prop was necessary in the mine every two feet on each side, so 7,000 cords of wood would allow the miners to dig a tunnel for more than 100 miles. Bayley had to tackle two major problems before he could successfully supply timber to England — first, he had to find the wood necessary and large enough to do the job and secondly, he had to get the logs across the Atlantic Ocean.  Bayley knew of a location with lots of wood and good access to sea lanes to Britian --  Bonne Bay, NF, specifically the logging village of Lomond located in what is now Gros Morne National Park. As for how the timbers would be shipped, he hit upon an ingenious idea. He would build a massive raft out of the very cargo itself, install an engine and sail across the Atlantic. The harbour at Bonne Bay was sheltered and large enough to construct Bayley’s massive log raft.

Bayley drew up plans for his log raft and patented his blueprint under the name of the Bayley Marine Freight Transport on June 26, 1916. The patent was for: “steel framing with or without covering and partitioning plates adapted to carry commercial timber or logs or other freight and bound together in a peculiar manner so that large amounts of timber or other freight, etc., can be safely transported from one point to another.” You can find the patent and Bayley’s drawings through Google patents. Bayley’s plan resulted in the logs being lashed together in such a way that they had the shape of the hull of a ship. The raft was also hollow to allow other cargo to be transported at the same time. Soon, Bayley found a 250-horsepower marine engine from the United States that would be powerful enough to get the raft to England.

Before Bayley could even start his endeavour, he received word from England — they increased their request from 7,000 cords to 8,000 cords. This meant that Bayley’s raft would no longer be hollow and there was no need to carry additional cargo. In addition, the English government promised to send an ocean-going tug to pull the log raft across the Atlantic Ocean. In early 1917, Bayley formed the Global Timber and Transportation Company with several men from North Sydney and they headed to Bonne Bay. Bayley hired 40 men who began felling trees on the 17 of March 1917. The logs were tied together with cable and iron chains. They were then connected with various sizes of iron rods that were welded together. When they were finished there were about a million logs in the raft.

Almost a year later, the work was finished. The Dutch ocean-going tug, the Leburdee, was ready to haul the raft across the ocean. Bayley’s raft began its trip but only made it as far as the open sea near Cape Anguille off the coast of Newfoundland. Once in the open sea, the raft was hit by a massive storm, during which several of the logs began to break off. The raft turned toward the closest harbour to undergo repairs. The nearest port was Sydney harbour. The massive raft anchored off the Marine Railway Yard in North Sydney and underwent repairs. The ropes and chains were shored up and the iron rods were welded and secured. The raft floated in the harbour for a week before it was deemed seaworthy. While the raft was in the harbour, Ivan Bayley and his wife posed for pictures on the deck of their massive raft. They were proud of their creation and hopeful that their investment in the timber would pay off, but they also decided not to accompany the raft on its voyage.

By the middle of March, the tug pulled the raft out of Sydney harbour. A few days later Bayley received an “All’s Well” message from the tug. On March 21, 1918 the Sydney Daily Post reported that nothing had been heard from the steamer, the Sagona which left St. John’s at the same time as the log raft left Sydney. Further there had been no contact from the Newfoundland sealing fleet. Although there was no mention of the raft, it was assumed that the other vessels had been struck by a massive storm and had sunk and the same fate was assumed for Bayley’s log raft. Nothing was heard from Ivan Bayley’s raft again.

Thus, ended years of planning and hard work by Bayley and his investors. His dream of profit and patriotism in timber had been felled by a North Atlantic storm.

We're not sure what happened to Bayley after this endeavor, but according to Windows on the Past, a book by Elva Jackson, Bayley tended to always have some project at hand. Her book states, "Ivan Bayley...(son of Dr. Adam Bayley who came here from the West Indies), was outstanding in this early part of this century in his innovative ideas. Though he never made a fortune, he headed many enterprises, among which was an ever-bearing strawberry farm just north of the town boundary off Peppett Street, a blueberry farm on the Barren road, a fur-bearing animal enterprise, and the drilling for oil on his property. Clever as a chemist, he invented methods of preserving fish for wall decoration. As a craftsman, he made beautiful table tops of polished labradorite stones. As a naturalist, he was sought as an entertainer where he was especially proficient in imitating bird calls."

Sources:

Final version of this story has been edited by Dan Bunbury and based on the sources below.

Article provided by Saltwire, https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/lifestyles/vanessa-childs-rolls-bayley-and-his-log-raft-568840/

North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Windows on the Past by Elva E. Jackson, Mika Publishing, Bellville, Ontario, 1982.