Warriors and Warships

Point Frederick — a small point of land jutting into Lake Ontario that is home to the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) — played a pivotal role in the development, defence, and eventual creation of Canada. Author Robert D. Banks, a graduate of the Kingston, Ontario, college, brings to life the history of the area in a surprising and satisfying manner.

There have been several other historical treatments of Point Frederick, but they have largely been confined to shorter time periods or singular events. In Warriors and Warships, Banks succeeds by filling in the historical gaps — and the result is a complete modern-era history of this truly remarkable piece of ground.

The story begins in 1610 with a battle-wounded Samuel de Champlain taking refuge on the point after possibly having been carried there in a Wendat war canoe. From there, the book details the founding of nearby Fort Frontenac in the early seventeenth century and the very beginnings of what is now Kingston. It continues to the peak of the Point Frederick Royal Navy shipbuilding years, the defence of Canada in the War of 1812, and the founding of the college in 1876.

Banks also shows that all was not steady progress at Point Frederick. The early colonists endured serious hardships and diseases typical of the times. Some lived for months on small ships frozen in winter ice. Improvements and progress were slow and fitful, and they were dictated by tight budgets from distant overseers, as well as by politics, rivalries, and wars. The point of land, the communities, and the enterprises established there underwent an astounding number of changes in fortune, ownership, management, governance, purpose, and mission.

The stories in Warriors and Warships are meticulously researched and referenced, well-written, and presented with great detail. The quantity and quality of historical maps, drawings, and illustrations are impressive and speak to the author’s quest for historical thoroughness and clarity. Altogether, this is a very informative read about a small piece of the country that I knew as an RMC cadet in the 1970s.