Louis Shickluna | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Article

Louis Shickluna

Article by George Bonavia, Peter D.a. Warwick

Published Online January 22, 2008

Last Edited July 7, 2015

Louis Shickluna, shipbuilder (b at Senglea, Malta 16 June 1808; d at St Catharines, Ont 24 Apr 1880). By 1835 he was engaged in ship construction at Youngstown, NY. He later moved to St Catharines and from 1838 leased a shipyard on the WELLAND CANAL which he purchased in 1845.

Shickluna, Louis

Louis Shickluna, shipbuilder (b at Senglea, Malta 16 June 1808; d at St Catharines, Ont 24 Apr 1880). By 1835 he was engaged in ship construction at Youngstown, NY. He later moved to St Catharines and from 1838 leased a shipyard on the Welland Canal which he purchased in 1845. His expanding operations significantly promoted inland navigation and contributed to the region's commercial prosperity. Between 1838 and 1880 he directed the construction of some 140 schooners, propellers, barkentines, barks and other vessels primarily designed for service on the Great Lakes. He was, in fact, perhaps the greatest 19th-century shipbuilder on the Great Lakes in Canada. He was an innovator and an original designer who was responsible for the unique Great Lakes snub-nosed schooner designed to make maximum use of the canal locks. He served as a councillor in St Catharines.