DISASTER! SEAPLANE GOES DOWN
OFF BAIE-DES-SABLES (1927)

Jacques de Lesseps was born in France in 1883.  He developed a passion for flight and in 1909 was credited with the first night aeronautical voyage, just six years after the Wright brothers made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk.  After commanding a French Air Force squadron during World War I, de Lesseps formed the Compagnie Aerienne Franco-Canadienne (CACF), which did survey work for the Quebec government, taking photos of the Gaspé peninsula from the air.  He died on October 18, 1927 when his aircraft went down in bad weather at sea near Baie-des-Sables.  The irony?  He was headed to Val-Brillant where he hoped to resolve a constitutional dispute: the Government of Canada, with jurisdiction over transport, required engineers and pilots to be British subjects (de Lesseps was not yet a Canadian ‘citizen’ – then British) and companies had to be incorporated under Canadian law (the CACF’s letters patent had been issued by Quebec).  His legacy remains:  many magnificent photos, including some of the Metis area.  Between 1926 and his untimely death, de Lesseps photographed more than 80,000 square kilometers of Quebec territory – the first to really see every detail of the Gaspésie from the skies.  De Lesseps described his experience in a letter to his friend, journalist Olivar Asselin:

“You cannot imagine the magnificent and moving spectacle that one can have in the skies of Gaspé … What a wonderful vision also offers the contrast of colours between the vast peninsula and the sea that bathes it: on one side, velvet green and silky forest, artistically draped according to the whim of the mountains and valleys; on the other, the blue of the sky, united with that of the dazzling gulf in the sun.”i 

« Vous ne pouvez vous imaginer le magnifique et émouvant spectacle que l’on peut avoir dans les cieux de Gaspé… Quelle merveilleuse vision offre aussi le contraste des couleurs entre la vaste péninsule et la mer qui la baigne: d’un côté, le velours vert et soyeux des forêts, artistiquement drapé suivant le caprice des monts et des vallées; de l’autre, le bleu du ciel, uni à celui du golfe éblouissant sous le soleil. »

Jacques Benjamin de Lesseps was the son of Ferdinand de Lesseps – a diplomat and builder of the Suez Canal joining the Mediterranean and Red Seas.  After schooling in Paris, Jacques developed a passion for flight and in 1909 was credited with the first aeronautical voyage at night – only six years after the Wright brothers made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk.  In 1910, aviation enthusiasts held meets and competitions in North American cities, including Montreal and Toronto, attracting Jacques de Lesseps to Canada.  

While in Toronto, he met railway-and-timber magnate William MacKenzie’s daughter Grace (22) – the Count was 27. A researcher wrote that in October 1910, while Mackenzie was away on business, the Grace and her two sisters Èsnuck off to the Belmont, NY air meet to visit with the Count. It was here that the Count took Grace for a flight (25 Oct 1910) and then the two younger sisters the same day. Grace became the first Canadian woman to fly.”  Grace and de Lesseps married the following year and he brought her to Paris.  

In World War I, de Lesseps joined the French Army Air Service, performing reconnaissance and, reportedly, attacking German Zeppelins and piloting low bombing runs.  His exploits earned him the Croix de chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and the Croix de guerre; Grace was recognized for her help as a volunteer nurse.

After the war, de Lesseps worked on techniques for aerial photography and became involved in forestry surveys.  At the request of Honoré Mercier (son of a former Premier of Quebec), then Quebec Minister of Lands and Forests, de Lesseps began to take photos of the forests in the Gaspé peninsula area from the air through his company, Compagnie Aerienne Franco-Canadienne (CACF).  Aerial photography was more cost-effective and practical than topographic surveys for remote areas that remained difficult to access at the time.

De Lesseps’ citizenship and company lead to a constitutional dispute. The Government of Canada, with jurisdiction over transport, required engineers and pilots to be British subjects (de Lesseps had not yet become a Canadian ‘citizen’ – subject of the British Crown) and, also, aviation companies had to be incorporated under Canadian law –the CACF’s letters patent had been issued by Quebec.  On October 18, 1927, De Lesseps and flight engineer Theodor Chichenko died in the crash of his aircraft off Baie-des-Sables, as he headed towards Val-Brillant in an attempt to resolve the dispute.ii

The first man to really see every detail of the Gaspésie from the heavens, de Lesseps left behind some amazing photos of more than 80,000 square kilometers of Quebec territory, as well as – in a letter to his friend, journalist Olivar Asselin – this poetic description of what he saw: 

“You cannot imagine the magnificent and moving spectacle that one can have in the skies of Gaspé … What a wonderful vision also offers the contrast of colours between the vast peninsula and the sea that bathes it: on one side, velvet green and silky forest, artistically draped according to the whim of the mountains and valleys; on the other, the blue of the sky, united with that of the dazzling gulf in the sun.” 

« Vous ne pouvez vous imaginer le magnifique et émouvant spectacle que l’on peut avoir dans les cieux de Gaspé… Quelle merveilleuse vision offre aussi le contraste des couleurs entre la vaste péninsule et la mer qui la baigne: d’un côté, le velours vert et soyeux des forêts, artistiquement drapé suivant le caprice des monts et des vallées; de l’autre, le bleu du ciel, uni à celui du golfe éblouissant sous le soleil. »iii

 

Did you know?  There was an interesting (if tenuous) early connection of Count de Lesseps to Metis!

Mabel (Margaret) Meighen, sister of Elsie Reford (née Meighen), was a bridesmaid at Grace Mackenzie’s marriage to de Lesseps.  She is at the far right of the marriage photo; the bride is seated and de Lesseps stands behind her.

 

i Jules Bélanger, Du nouveau au sujet de Jacques de Lesseps, Gaspésie, vol. XXX, n° 1, mars 1991, pp. 6-13

ii Photo: https://torontoguardian.com/2016/02/vintage-airplanes-from-toronto/, City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, item 74

iii Jules Bélanger, Du nouveau au sujet de Jacques de Lesseps, Gaspésie, vol. XXX, n° 1, mars 1991, pp. 6-13

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