Greenough, J.J. Penetanguishene: A Study in British Imperial Defence: 1815-1856. Huronia Historical Parks Staff Paper, 1976.
It is possible that Kent may have had a say in selecting the location on which the new Naval Establishment was to be built – but no-one knows for sure who finalized that decision as there were dissenting opinions expressed by various officers in the Canadian Lakes Service. As Kent was slated to command the new post, the final decision may have fallen to his discretion.
Kent shepherded the two schooners, HMS Tecumseth and HMS Newash to Pentanguishene, that they might be placed in ordinary until further required for service. (To place a ship in “ordinary” was to remove her masts, rigging, sails, arms, and leave only the hulk in the water for ongoing maintenance. All other elements were kept in storage and periodically checked for signs of wear and rot.) Greenough asserts that Kent entered the Establishments muster list from the Newash, though the Admirality lists show him to officially be the officer commanding the Tecumseth.
An early challenge facing Kent as the commanding officer was adequate accommodation for all of the personnel – for example, the newly arrived detachment of soldiers had no Barracks, and Kent had no official means to approve the building of one. However, it seems that while military and naval authorities in Kingston wrangled over the problem of whose responsibility it should be, Kent and the military officer apparently improvised a solution to everyone’s satisfaction – the details of which are sadly a little on the vague side.
By all accounts a fair, though strict, commander, Kent nonetheless saw 16 Able-bodied sailors desert the Penetang Establishment in June of 1818. The stringency of Kent’s regime at the base was likely compounded by the unfamiliar challenges facing sailors adapting to a land posting versus a shipboard existence. In any case, several of the deserters claimed that Kent had tricked them out of backpay – the charge proved to be completely unfounded.
The winter of 1818-1819 was particularly severe, and by December, both Kent and the post’s surgeon, Thomas Tarte, were seriously ill. Tarte perished in January of 1819. Kent, stricken with “fever and ague” was reduced to “a mere skeleton”, but survived. Upon his discharge from Penetanguishene in June of 1819, Kent was transferred to the Isle-aux-Noix establishment, which featured a less harsh climate. At the time, the commander of Canadian Lakes Service, Commodore Robert Barrie was effecting a service-wide attempt to place formal captains in command of the various outposts on the Great Lakes, so no slight on Kent’s service at Penetanguishene should be inferred from his transfer.
The officer replacing Kent was Captain Samuel Roberts, whose great complaint about life at the fledgling outpost was the extent of drunkenness amongst its inhabitants. In raising those complaints, Roberts alleged that Kent had kept a “grog shop” – that is, that he had made unauthorized sales of liquor to the men. The charge was serious, and Kent, stationed at Isle-aux-Noix was given a chance to refute it. Kent claimed that the charge was malicious and made on the part of the personnel who resented the stern nature of his command. He dismissed the accusation as “Malicious calumny, actuated by the darkest passions of Revenge”. However, during the inquiry, when confronted by statements from the purser, Kent admitted that he had sold some of his “private stock”, but denied that his conduct was in any way compromising. Although the matter was reported to London, nothing came of it and it was allowed to drop, likely owing to Kent’s good record of service and a lack of any other compelling evidence.
Years later, in a memorial of his services as a naval officer, Kent refers to his time at Penetanguishene in the following manner:
Your Memorialist in 1817 – piloted these large schooners {Newash & Tecumseth} from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, and was then appointed Superintendant of the Naval Establishment at Penetanguishene: Your Memorialist arrived there when not a Tree had been cut down and in two years your Memorialist had cleared and fenced in twenty Acres – built Storehouses, Careening wharf and buildings of every description; and at the same time transported the whole of the Stores from the old Establishment at Nottawasaga.
