Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield (1795–1885)
“The Father of Canadian Hydrography”
Although young Lieutenant Bayfield predicted that the Great Lakes survey would be the “burial” of his naval career, he began mapping the eastern shore of Lake Huron in the fall of 1818.
In 1828, he returned to Lake Huron and surveyed for the Dutch Baron van Tuyll as a reward for services to the British Crown during the Napoleonic War. One of the parcels of land that he recommended to the Baron, well situated on the south shore of a river, would become the village of Bayfield, established in 1832.
Over a decade after Bayfield surveyed to coastline of Lake Huron, Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken, a Dutch nobleman, purchased two large blocks of land in the Huron Tract, based on a recommendation by Bayfield. One of the blocks was on the north shore of what would become known as the Maitland River; there, van Tuyll built a home, which still stands. The other was on the south bank of the river that Bayfield had surveyed years before. Over the next decade a settlement developed, named Bayfield in the surveyor’s honour.
Master chart maker of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River
Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield
By David Yates
Published September 2021
A riveting biography of a remarkable man. David Yates brings to life the powerful personality and extraordinary career of Henry Bayfield, taking us on travels through the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and Atlantic coast in small boats on rough waters, through extremes of suffocating heat and bitter cold, clouds of mosquitoes, and barely tolerable living conditions. Out of these journeys came the maps and navigation charts that saved thousands of lives from shipwrecks – carefully crafted by the greatest hydrographic surveyor in Canadian history. This is some story, and it deserves to be remembered.
David A. Wilson, F.R.Hist.S., FRSC
General Editor, Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Professor, History and Celtic Studies University of Toronto
48 pages, full colour
Limited-edition numbered and signed hardcover: $40.
Quality saddled-stitched softcover: $20.
Available at the Archives & Heritage Centre, 20 Main St., Bayfield.
Copies can be ordered at bhsmembers@gmail.com, A shipping fee will apply if you would like your copy mailed. The shipping fee is $7 for one copy. (We will quote a fee for multiple copies.)
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“To say that Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield was the greatest hydrographic surveyor in Canadian history is to damn him with faint praise. From the Lakehead to Labrador, Henry Bayfield spent 40 years mapping Canada’s vast coasts and inland waterways as a surveyor for the British Admiralty. His navigational charts saved countless lives and vessels from shipwreck. Bayfield quite literally put the waterways leading to the heart of North America on the map.”
— David Yates
Visit Admiral Bayfield Square (dedicated July 6, 2022) next to the Archives building
Sculptor Frank Moore and BHS President Ruth Gibson unveil the new addition to Admiral Bayfield Square on July 6, 2022.
