Saturday, June 1, Penitentiary Museum

This morning, which was cloudy & 21C, we met up & truck-pooled to the Penitentiary Museum which was fascinating. www.penitentiarymuseum.ca

The Museum is housed in the original Kingston Pen’s warden’s residence, which was built by inmate labour in 1873.

There were fascinating stories of ingenious attempts at escape, some of which were successful. The most interesting one involved cut-out cafeteria trays. The inmate lost 30 pounds to be able to fit into the cut-out space, was moved by the kitchen staff out of the prison to the off-site kitchen, from where he made his escape. However, he was recaptured 3 months later.

 

 

Also on display were many methods of ‘punishment’. One of these was the Water Bath Punishment which existed from 1855 -1859. This method of punishment originated in the Eastern United States and was introduced to Auburn State Penitentiary in New York in the early 1840’s in an attempt to find a substitute for the lash. In his Annual report for 1853, Warden Donald MacDonnell of the ‘Provincial Penitentiary’ (Kingston Penitentiary) offered a description of the water bath:    

“The convict is stripped quite naked and placed in what may be termed the stocks, in a sitting position; a shower of water is brought down upon the unfortunate being, which as I could observe produced a suffocation. This continued for some time, the operator either increasing or slackening the torrent at his pleasure.”

The barrel is closed over the convict’s head, but Marcel wouldn’t let me do that for the photo!  

 

 

 

 

There were also displays of weapons that were fashioned by the inmates and the clever ways of hiding them.

 

 

 

 

From there, we went to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, which collects preserves and presents the Maritime history of the Great lakes and Kingston’s shipbuilding past. The Museum’s largest artefact, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Alexander Henry, formerly served on the Great Lakes as a light icebreaker and buoy tender. The ship, which was built in 1959 and retired in 1985, is 210 feet long and 40 feet wide.

Navigational aid servicing means taking out markers & buoys in the fall & returning them to their correct locations in the spring. We had a guided tour of the ship given by a 79 year old Master Captain who has sailed all over the world for 60+ years. He was a wealth of information!

The Museum also consists of seven Galleries, each one with a different theme. By the time we got through there, it was past lunch time, so we went to the nearby Pain Chancho Bakery & Cafe for lunch.   

Then, it was back to the campground for social time.