During the five-year period (1791-1796) that he served as Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (Ontario), John Graves Simcoe left a mark by naming, or renaming, many locations across our province.
In a previous column, we saw that he changed the name of Lac aux Claies to Lake Simcoe, honouring not himself as commonly believed but rather his father, Captain John Simcoe of the Royal Navy, who served with distinction during the Seven Years War and died in Canada of pneumonia in 1759.
Following a theme, Lt. Governor Simcoe also named Lake Simcoe’s two bays, Cook’s Bay and Kempenfelt Bay, after towering figures in the Royal Navy.
Cook’s Bay is named after famed explorer Captain James Cook. Cook, of course, it best remembered for being killed by Indigenous Hawaiians in 1779 while exploring the Pacific Ocean, but his significance to history is deeper than that mere footnote.
Born in 1728, when he joined the Royal Navy in 1755, he was already a skilled mariner with almost a decade of sailing time on merchant ships. He undertook three epic voyages of discovery into the Pacific during which he mapped New Zealand and Hawaii in greater detail than any previous Western explorers and recorded numerous islands on European maps for the first time.
Cook had a role to play in Canadian history as well. He participated in the siege and capture of Louisburg in 1758 alongside his good friend Captain Simcoe and was at the capture of Quebec City the following year. Cook then spent five years charting the coast of Newfoundland, creating maps that were so detailed that they remained in use two centuries later.
After Captain Simcoe died, Cook stepped in to mentor his friend’s young son, the future Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. John Graves Simcoe never forgot this act of kindness and so named Lake Simcoe’s largest bay in his name.
Richard Kempenfelt, who attained the rank of admiral in the Royal Navy, was likewise a contemporary and friend of Captain John Simcoe. Born in 1718, his long career is best remembered for two events.
In 1781, Britain and France were at war with France supporting the American colonies in their bid for independence. On Dec. 12, Admiral Kempenfelt was given a dozen warships to intercept a French squadron and convoy bound for the West Indies. The French, he was promised, numbered no more than seven warships. However, upon intercepting the enemy, Kempenfelt discovered the French fleet was three times that size. Kempenfelt nonetheless attacked and, demonstrating superior naval tactics, won an astounding battle. He became known as the Hero of Ushant.
Sadly, Kempenfelt didn’t have long to enjoy the accolades. On Aug. 29, 1782, his vessel, The Royal George, rolled over and sank while undergoing a refit. As many as 800 men (as well as some women and children) died. Among them was Admiral Kempenfelt, who was in his cabin at the time.
As a way of commemorating a British hero of the day, Simcoe named the western arm of Lake Simcoe in Kempenfelt’s honour.
