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Screw propulsion, 60' x 13' x 5', 26 tons. Owned by T. Moffatt of Perth, Ontario. Built by F. A. Gardner of Hamilton, Ontario in 1873. Engine was 10' x 12', made by builder, and it initially served as a passenger vessel. The "Peerless" was badly damaged ("cut in two") in collision with the "Olive" on October 9, 1878 (09/10/78) near Merrickville. It was later raised and rebuilt as a tug.

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Presumably a tugboat, it was recorded in the 1878 Sessional Papers that it burned at the same place as the Lincoln in August of 1878.

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Built in 1875 at Montreal, the Ste. Anne (tug) was burnt near Hudson, Quebec. No exact records have been found.

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Built at Riviere de Loup, Quebec, the Marie Josephine was an 88-foot wrecking schooner. It was destroyed by fire November 2, 1918.

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Built in 1866 at Levis, Quebec, the Aurora was 108 feet long. It served as a tug before it was destroyed by fire on July 5, 1885.

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Not to be confused with the Prince Albert, the Albert was a sidewheel tug built at Sorel, Quebec in 1867. It was 105 feet long, and was destroyed by fire on October 7, 1884.

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Built in 1842 at Montreal, Quebec, it changed ownership many times over its lifetime. It capsized in July 1842 near Kingston when "drawn over" by the barges it was towing. The Lily was later caught by an early freeze with other vessels in November 1842 near the Burritts Rapids. It was later destroyed by fire on August 30, 1868, on the Grenville Canal.

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Little is known about this boat, other than it was rammed by the Hall on July 6, 1897, causing it to sink.

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Built in 1900 at Ottawa, this tug was 55 feet long. It was wrecked on June 11, 1904, near L'Orignal. Exact location unknown.

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Built in 1862 at Bryson, Quebec, the Calumet was a sidewheel steamer. It was destroyed by fire on April 13, 1869.

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Built in Bristol, Massachusetts in 1892, the Navarch burnt near Charlton, Ontario, on October 4, 1922.

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Also known as Zenobia (British registration), the Evangeline was built in 1869. It was a pleasure yacht and burned near Goat Island, Ontario.

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Built in 1872 at Pembroke, Ontario, the John Egan was 160 feet long. It operated between Pembroke and Des Joachims. The John Egan was very similar to the Prince Arthur. It was beached in 1882, after the collapse of the Union Forwarding and Railway Company, and left to rot.

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Built in 1890 at Pembroke, Ontario, the Alex Fraser was 140 feet long. It towed logs between Fort William and Lower Allumette Lake. The Alex Fraser first sank on Augst 28, 1903, when it hit a rock across from Murphy's Wharf. It was salvaged in 1904. In 1915, it was moved to Lake Deschenes to tow logs there. It was dismantled in 1942, with the iron sold, but the wooden structure can still be found in the mud near the Quyon boom.

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One of the last steamboats on the Ottawa River, the Hamilton towed log booms between Chenaux and Chats Falls. It was sold in 1949, and its bare hull was sunk at Castleford as an anchor for a glance boom.

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Built in 1903 and measuring 140 feet in length, the Lady Minto was the sister ship to the Alexandra. Rebuilt in 1928, it towed logs between Notre-Dame-du-Nord and the Narrows until 1968, when it caught on fire. Its charred remains were sunk in the Narrows to serve as an anchor for a glance boom.

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Originally named Atlas and built in 1851 at Carillon, it was rebuilt as the Princess in 1872. It operated as a night steamer, going between Lachine and Carillon. In 1880, it became a market vessel, and carried produce and animals between Point Fortune and Lachine. It was abandoned in a bay near the present Carillon dam in 1913.

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A 126-foot paddlewheel steamer, it was originally named the Fairy. It was re-named to the Dagmar in 1867 (one year after construction). It served the Carillon-Lachine route until it caught fire on March 12, 1890 while in its winter holdings in Como (now Hudson, Quebec).

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Built at Cobden, Ontario, in 1863, it served the area between Pembroke and Cobden. It also served for a time on the nearby Muskrat Lake. It sank May 5, 1875.

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Built in 1895, the Duchess of York was also known as the Sorel, Pelerin, and the Beloeil. It originally served near Montreal, before relocating and serving as a passenger boat along the lower Ottawa River. It was rebuilt at the Sorel in 1925, the Pelerin in 1927, and the Beloeil in in 1935. As the Beloeil it ran excursion trips out of Montreal, before being made into a pulpwood barge. It sank in 1945.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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50 feet long, the Mattawan originally traversed between Mattawa and Deux Rivières. It was known as the only steamer able to run the rapids. It later was moved to Lake Temiskaming in 1882, where it was the first steamer on the lake. In 1886 it was moved back to its original route. It burnt near Mattawa just above Explorer's Point at sometime after 1889. Its last appearance in official records in July 4, 1889.

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Built in 1834, the Thomas McKay had a very short career. It was supposed to be launched on May 31, 1834, but got stuck on the way. It finally began service on April 2. It was known to be comfortable but very plain in build, according to the Kingston Whig. The Thomas McKay was frozen in at Bytown (Ottawa) by an early winter storm in November 1834. It later hit a stump and sank on October 21, 1835, along the Rideau Canal near Merrickville. The Thomas McKay's engine was later used in the building of the Cataraqui. Click the link to learn more about the Thomas McKay.

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RIDEAU CANAL. -- Mr. Drummond's steam-boats, the RIDEAU and the MARGARET, are fitted up, to be in readiness on the opening of the Canal. Their enterprising proprietor will, we hope, reap an ...

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Originally an American vessel and built in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the Ida E. was sold to G. Horne of Wolfe Island, Ontario in 1909. It was later sold to the River Sand Company in 1914, the same year that it sank on November 6. One person was killed in the sinking.

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Built in 1875, the Cantin was a 96-foot Ottawa River tug. It was destroyed by fire September 19, 1878.

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Built in 1911, in Valleyfield, Quebec. It was wrecked on November 2, 1912, when its cargo shifted. There were twelve deaths. Read about the subsequent enquiry with the photo above (The Gazette, Montreal, Nov. 23, 1912).

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This sidewheel towboat was built in 1875, and wrecked in the same year - potentially on its first trip. It caught fire on October 18, 1875, and was unable to be rescued.

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Built in 1848, this 85-foot sidewheel steam tug was used on the Ottawa and Richelieu Rivers. It was wrecked on October 18, 1868. No lives were lost.

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Built in 1904, this sidewheel steamer served as a ferry at Calumet, Quebec. It sank September 29, 1914.

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This 110-foot paddlewheel steamer was built at Montebello, Quebec in 1880. It served as a tug for most of its life. On May 14, 1896, while at the Montebello wharf, it caught fire. One person was injured.

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Haileybury, Temiskaming Shores, ON, Canada

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Built in 1898 at Temiskaming, Quebec, the Temiskaming was a sidewheel steamer. It had a boiler explode in 1908, killing five people (click the link to read in more detail). The steamer was laid up fr.om 1912-1918, for reasons unknown, before it burned down on November 4, 1926.

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Sign In

North Bay, Ontario, Nov. 10. - The steamer TEMISKAMING was approaching the landing at Temiskaming at 6 o'clock to-night when the boiler exploded, wrecking the steamer and causing the death of at least five persons by the explosion or drowning. Several passengers and the crew were hurled into the water by the shock, and many are injured.
Owing to the remoteness of the scene of the tragedy, details are lacking. A man named McBRIDE, a hunter from the United States, is missing. J. MENARD and T. BERGOULIAN, firemen, and two men whose names are unknown are dead. Six are badly burned and several may die.
A special train was dispatched from Mattawa to bring the injured to that town.

The New York Times
New York, New York
November 11, 1908

Visit North Bay, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada
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North Bay, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada

North Bay, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada

North Bay, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada

North Bay, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada

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North Bay, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada - 1908 - Steamer Blows Up; 5 Dead. Disastrous Accident To The Temiskaming At North Bay, Ontario. | GREENERPASTURE

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Sign In North Bay, Ontario, Nov. 10. - The steamer TEMISKAMING was approaching the landing at Temiskaming at 6 o'clock to-night when the boiler exploded, wrecking the steamer and causing the death of at least five persons by the explosion or drowning.

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Built in 1909 at Haileybury, Ontario, this 85-foot steamboat primarily serviced Lake Temiskaming and area. It went through several owners over its lifetime, including Haileybury Navigation Co. (1909-1910); Temiskaming Navigation Co. (1911-1916), Ville Marie Navigation Co. (1917-1926), and J. Cunningham (1927). It was destroyed by a fire on May 7, 1927.

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A 70-foot steamer, the Wanakewan was built in 1910 at Kingston, Ontario. It was first used on the Georgian Bay, but moved to Ottawa in 1912. It later served on Lake Temiskaming beginning in 1922. There is no date for its destruction, but the records say it was abandoned near Ville Marie, Quebec.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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Built in 1887, it was originally named the Minerve. After its first rebuilding in 1888, it was renamed the Meteor. While named the Meteor, it was the largest steamboat and the only passenger steamer on the lake until 1899. It was destroyed by fire on November 29, 1926. Click the link to learn more about its history, and its role serving the communities of Lake Temiskaming.

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The S.S. Meteor steamer played an important role in the development of the the Temiskaming region. The S.S. Meteor, was a passenger steamboat that operated on Lake Temiskaming during the late 1800's and early 1900's. The Meteor was an impressive machine, with a five-foot flywheel, electricity, running water, and a lounge on the second deck for music, cards, and an observation area. The Meteor was also the largest steamboat on Lake Temiskaming, and the only passenger steamer on the lake until 1899. It provided a vital lifeline to the outside world for people from the region; there was no train service or useable roads in the north until 1905. The Meteor served the communities on both sides of Lake Temiskaming for 40 years.

We will break down the Meteor's history in the following sections written by author Douglas Baldwin.

Getting to Lake Temiskaming in 1886

In the 1880s, the Ontario government sent out teams of land surveyors into northern Ontario hinterland to establish township boundaries in preparation for settlement. Given the primitive state of transportation, they often proceeded by foot, rail, and canoe.

Alexander Herkes Telfer was a member of the Alexander Niven party which was responsible for establishing township boundaries on the west shore of Lake Temiskaming. Here follows a section of Telfer's diary account of his experiences with this survey party in 1886.

Telfer left Toronto at 10:30 a.m. on 19 July 1886. The CPR train took him to Peterborough and then to Carleton Junction (Carleton Place) about 6 p.m. Telfer left by train for Mattawa the next morning at 1 a.m. arriving eight hours later. He spent the next eight hours procuring food and supplies before he and twelve other men (including three recently-hired French Canadians and one Aboriginal) left in "one large, strong boat and three birch bark canoes." Telfer's diary described the arduous nature of the trek to Lake Temiskaming:
July 21st: Started up the river, which is about a quarter of a mile wide, with steep banks from 250 to 300 ft. high.... The Ottawa would be a most magnificent public highway were it not for the many rapids, which seem to break the navigation. When we get to these rapids, if they are bad ones, we have to land, unload all our stuff and carry it past the rapids, then carry the canoes. In other places a rope is fastened to the bow of the canoe and from 3 to 5 men pull on the rope on shore, while one or two wade by the side of the boat and keep it out of the rocks and boulders till the rapid is passed. At other times, all hands have to plunge in to the water to their waist and pull on the ropes, stumbling over the large, slippery stones, where it would be almost impossible to stand without the rope: by that means, each man helps to hold up his companion. Made 6 miles today.... July 23rd: ... a team took us to the commencement of Lake Temiscamingue about 4 pm. The bark canoes were carried over the road; the last mile of that road beat all I ever saw - a wagon load drawn over large boulders, and so close together that the wheels rarely touched the ground. The Frenchmen took the large boat up the rappids [sic]; we then loaded up again. Just then, a steamboat came in sight with a raft of square timber in tow."
Telfer later noted that the rate for freight per hundred pounds from Mattawa to the HBC fort on Lake Temiskaming was $1.00, and passenger fare was about $4.00, but he expected that competition the next summer would lower these rates.

The Meteor began life in 1886 as La Minerve. Local shipwright Charles Morin built the steamer near Long Sault (South Temiskaming) for the Temiskaming Colonization Society. The double-decker, square-sterned steamer had a steel-frame hull and was planked in tamarack that was cut along the Blanch River. It was 104.6 feet in length, had a beam of 23.8 feet, a gross tonnage of 111.5, a 100 hp engine, and could move at 10 to 13 mph. The boiler used cordwood.

La Minerve was plagued with propeller problems and ran aground several times. When the steamer did so in front of Fort Temiskaming late in 1887 and damaged its propulsion plant the Temiskaming Colonization Society sold it to the Lumsden Steamboat Line. Lumsden towed the steamer to his shipyard at Opemican, rebuilt it, and renamed the steamer the S.S. Meteor. By July 1888 the new passenger vessel had a slimmer keel for greater speed, an open bow, a bank of cabins on the second deck, a round stern, measured 105 feet in length with a 23.8 beam, had a tonnage of 115.7, and was screw driven. It was licensed to carry 130 passengers. Note: the Opemican site is now part of a provincial park and the restauration of the site has was recently a major investment from the province of Quebec. You can learn more about the Opemican National Park by following this web link.

The Meteor underwent several modifications over the next 35 years. Between 1895 and 1897 the steamer was remodeled and enlarged at Opemican to accommodate the growing numbers of immigrants into the area. The steamer was lengthened by 25 feet (to 130.5), with a beam of 29 feet; had a tonnage of 203. 6; the new 165 hp engine could power the boat at speeds up to 18 mph; and could carry 305 passengers. Wood was still the preferred fuel. The remodeling enclosed the entire main deck and covered and enlarged the second deck. The bow provided plenty of room for storing baggage, freight, and livestock. Steam winches at the bow and stern could pull in the steel hawsers (thick cables) used to moor the steamer. Two rows of round-iron columns supported the upper deck. The Meteor was by far the most impressive steamer on the lake.

Historian Peter Fancy described the revamped Meteor: "Climb the main stairway to the new passenger deck. Elaborate paneling painted matte-white covers the entranceway walls. A long corridor with doors to cabins and washrooms stretches back towards the stern. Above runs a long skylight with narrow windows on the sides and shining brass light fixtures. Over the bulbs are milk glass tulip shaped shades. Two corridors, one on either side of the funnel trunk, lead forward into the main lounge. Here against the front edge of the funnel trunk rises a low platform stage with an upright piano. On both sides of the room and at the bow end run bench seats and backs. Along the top of the seatbacks, at neck level, is a continuous row of perforated openings for steam pipe heat and another sky light canopies the entire length. Electric candelabra hang from ceiling supports; smaller ones stud the white walls. Heavy canvas protects the polished hardwood floor. Grey-painted canvas covers the outside decks where passengers can lean against a varnished teak-wood railing." The Meteor had a five-foot flywheel, starboard water pumps for toilets and bathrooms, electricity and running water. With a lounge on the second deck for music, cards, and an observation area, the Meteor was well-named the "Palace steamer." The Meteor was the largest steamer on Lake Temiskaming.

The Lake Temiskaming Colonization Railway and its boats provided the first organized transport to and through the Lake Temiskaming district. A year after the CPR extended its tracks from Pembroke to Mattawa in 1881 the S.S. Mattawan became the first steamer to appear on Lake Temiskaming. The Colonization Railway brought the boat to Mattawa to transport people and supplies from Mattawa to the foot of Lake Temiskaming. The S.S. Argo arrived a year later. Although both boats ferried settlers, loggers, and freight, their primary role was the timber trade, moving large bodies of logs on slow-moving water bodies.

In the winter of 1886-7 the Société de Colonization du Lac Témiscamingue commissioned the building of a steamboat at Ville-Marie, and named it La Minerve in honour of the Montreal newspaper La Minerva which supported the patriots in the 1837-38 Rebellions and, more recently, praised the benefits of settling around Lake Temiskaming. Under Captain Morin in 1887, La Minerva serviced settlers between Gordon's Landing (South Temiscamingue) and Baie des Peres (Ville-Marie) twice a week. Late that year the steamer ran aground near Fort Temiskaming and damaged its propulsion plant. Alex Lumsden subsequently bought La Minerve on 6 March 1888, towed it to his shipyard at Opemican for repairs and remodeling, and renamed it the S.S. Meteor. For the next eighteen years the Meteor was a key member of the Lumsden Steamboat Line.

Alex Lumsden was a self-made man who began work as a mill hand in the Ottawa area in the 1850s before branching out on this own. By 1885 he headed the Lumsden Steamboat Line which owned the rights to tow logs from head of Lake Temiskaming to Ottawa. Soon, he owned a saw mill and shipyard at south end of Lake Temiskaming, timber limits on both sides of the lake, a large hotel, an electric company, and a bank. In 1898 he was elected to parliament as the MLA for Ottawa. With as many as sixteen steamers, Lumsden monopolized the passenger and freight business on Lake Temiskaming. When this millionaire died in 1904 at the age of 65, his death made the front page news in Ottawa and his funeral was attended by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, the Mayor of Ottawa, and his fellow Ottawa lumber barons.

In 1888 Lumsden's towing business was booming and he was looking for steamboats with more cargo space and greater towing capabilities. He thus purchased La Minerve - it had more passenger and cargo space than the Mattawan - which would also allow the company to use the Argo for full-time towing on Lake Temiskaming. As the number of settlers into the area increased the demand for the Meteor's services, Lumsden bought the Temiskaming steamer in 1899. It took the same route as the Meteor, but on alternate days. Four years later the Jubilee joined them.

Following Alex Lumsden's death, his widow Margaret and son John ran the company until 6 April 1906 when they sold the Meteor, Temiskaming, and City of Haileybury steamers to former employee Joseph Larochelle of Mattawa who formed the Temiskaming Navigation Company. The new company also owned the Jubilee, the Ville-Marie, as well as Lumsden's wharves at New Liskeard, North and South Temiskaming, and Ville-Marie. Most of the company's stock was held by prominent Mattawa businessmen, including Henry Timmins and his brother-in-law Arthur Ferland, and merchants in Ville-Marie.

The Mattawa-Ottawa river system was long a major north-south artery in central Canada. The area was first inhabited by Aboriginal Peoples who used the Mattawa River as a major transportation corridor. Early in the seventeenth century, French explorers Étienne Brûlé, Radisson, Des Groseilliers, La Vérendrye, and Samuel de Champlain canoed through the Mattawa area. Soon, both French and British fur traders employed this route either south from Hudson Bay or west from Quebec City. Since Lake Temiskaming was approximately halfway along the main canoe route between the St. Lawrence River and Hudson Bay, La Compagnie du Nord of French-Canadian merchants constructed a fort on the lake near the mouth of the Montreal River in 1679 to compete with the Hudson's Bay Company posts to the north. Nine years later the Iroquois destroyed the fort and when the French re-established it in 1720 Fort Témiscamingue was constructed on the east side of the lake where the water narrows to 250 metres. This fort soon played an important strategic role in the struggle between France and Great Britain for control of the region's fur trade. Following Great Britain's conquest of New France the post was occupied by the North West Company (1788) and later by the Hudson's Bay Company (1821). In 1837, the Hudson's Bay Company opened Mattawa House, which became its most important trading post in the Ottawa Valley.

Located at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa rivers, the village of Mattawa, which means "meeting of rivers" in Ashinabe, was at the crossroads between the Ottawa River and Lake Temiskaming. Travelers heading north towards Hudson Bay from Mattawa had to traverse a chain of lakes varying in length from 15 to 50 km and in width from 2 to 8 km, and separated from each other by rapids and waterfalls (a total drop of 17 metres), before reaching the village of Temiscaming at the south end of Lake Temiskaming.

Until near the end of the nineteenth century, water transport was virtually the only means to and from Lake Temiskaming, which at 108 km long and 9 km at its widest was, in reality, an enlargement of the Ottawa River. The first official French-Canadian settlers arrived at Baie des Peres (Ville-Marie) in 1882. They were aided by the Canadian Pacific Railway which had reached Mattawa the previous year. Three years later, Father Paradis helped to establish the Société de Colonization du Lac Temiscamingue to promote settlement in the area. To do so, it improved the portages around the rapids between Mattawa and the village of Temiscaming at the bottom of the lake and placed several small steamboats between the rapids. Not long afterwards, the La Compagnie de Chemin de fer de Témiscamingue (Temiskaming Colonization Railway) constructed several narrow gauge tramways around the rapids. This was done under the direction of the Oblate priests who hoped to attract French Canadians from Quebec and repatriate Franco-Americans by providing cheap land in the Temiskaming region.

Settlement, however, took second place to the logging industry. By the 1880s such timber barons as J.R. Booth, the Gillies Bros, and Alex Lumsden were harvesting large stands of white pine and towing the logs by steamboats to their sawmills. Mattawa was now the hub for both loggers and settlers. After the CPR branch line, the Temiskaming Colonization Railway, linked Mattawa with Temiscaming at the foot of Lake Temiskaming in 1894, passengers could leave Ottawa around midnight, arrive in Mattawa for breakfast, take the ferry across the Ottawa River, bypass 60 km miles of rapids and small lakes to the foot of the lake by rail, and then board the Meteor for Haileybury and New Liskeard.

Mr. F. Kosmack, an early setter, offered this advice to prospective colonists:
"The 'Meteor' is a large and commodious steamer. Settlers and their effects are landed wherever they desire. The distance from Temiskaming Station to Thornloe [New Liskeard] is about 70 miles. For the first 40 miles the lake is quite narrow and very deep, with an occasional bay. The shores continue rocky and picturesque - most beautiful from the tourist's standpoint - most uninviting to the land-seeker. After that the lake becomes wider and shallower, the shores become lower, till at the northern end of the lake an enormous extent of fine level farming-land is reached."
Until the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway reached New Liskeard in 1905, the Meteor (and other steamboats) provided a necessary and vital link to the outside world.

According to one of the leading authorities on Lake Temiskaming steamships, Bruce W. Taylor, "To have come north on the Meteor, or even to have had an ancestor come up on that famous boat, is, for Northerners, akin to having an ancestor come over on the Mayflower. Even today, [1993] oldtimers talk with pride of having come up the lake from Témiscaming, on the Quebec side of the lake.... To have arrived by boat usually sets a person aside as a pioneer-one who arrived before the advent of the railway on the Ontario side in 1904." In Quebec, he continued, the Meteor is the symbol of the Temiscamiens quebecois and is an important part of their heritage.

The Société de Colonization du Lac Témiscamingue commissioned the building of La Minerve (renamed Meteor) in 1887 to carry passengers and freight from Témiscaming to the north end of the lake. With no train service or useable roads into the north until 1905, this was the only way to the Little Clay Belt, and a slow, but steady trickle of settlers boarded La Minerve for points north. Steamship travel was not cheap. In 1894 it cost $4.50 to travel from Mattawa to Haileybury - which was equivalent to about two days pay for a labourer. Freight was an additional 85 cents per hundred pounds. The trip from Temiscaming to Ville-Marie was $1.00.

As the only passenger steamer on Lake Temiskaming until 1899, the Meteor provided a lifeline to the outside world for people on both sides of the lake. It ferried settlers and their belongings to their new homes; delivered the mail; carried freight, prospectors, hunters and fishermen, and tourists to the area; and allowed farmers and merchants to take their goods to market. William G. Trethewey was only one of many prospectors who found his way to the silver fields of Cobalt via the Meteor. After traveling from British Columbia to Toronto in April 1904 he purchased a prospector's license and equipment, and when the lakes were clear of ice, left by train for Temiskaming in May. He stayed the first night in North Bay before boarding the CPR to Mattawa and later the Meteor to Haileybury - a "hamlet of a few houses, a store, a post office, and one hotel.... In spite of the electric lights of the town not being in commission, I managed to find a place to sleep, thanks partly to Mr. McKinley [whom he had met on the Meteor]." An eight kilometre walk over a muddy spring trail brought the thirty-seven-year old to the Cobalt camp.

On a typical trip, the Meteor left Témiscaming in the late afternoon on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays following the arrival of the train. After stopping at several small settlements along the way, the steamer reached Ville-Marie around sundown. The next morning it left early for Haileybury, New Liskeard, and North Temiskaming before returning to Ville-Marie for the night. The following day the Meteor returned to the foot of the lake to begin again. Except for special excursions, the steamer did not operate on Sundays. The advertisements provide a more detailed look at the Meteor 's time table.

The Meteor was also a source of entertainment for the communities surrounding Lake Temiskaming. "If anything," wrote historian Richard Tatley, "the Meteor was probably unsurpassed as a recreation ship in Timiskaming." A variety of social groups rented the Meteor for dances, excursions, and the occasional church service. In July 1908, for example, the Anglican congregations in New Liskeard, Haileybury, and Cobalt chartered the Meteor for an excursion on Lake Temiskaming. Approximately five-hundred Anglicans set out for a day of children's races, picturesque walks, and games of cricket and soccer. The previous year, the Presbyterian Church, the Haileybury Yacht Club, the Methodist Church, the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Ville-Marie, and the Oddfellows were just a few of the groups that booked the Meteor for excursions. The steamship line placed advertisements in the local newspapers emphasizing the many attractions of a lake cruise - a visit to the old Mission; a run up the Montreal River; the scenic views, including the precipitous 61 metre high Devil's Rock; the dramatic views and vistas; and a moonlight cruise complete with a meal and dancing under the stars to a live orchestra. The mine manager of the Kerr Mining Company, Robert Livermore, wrote that one his family's favourite summer pastimes was a cruise aboard the Meteor on Lake Temiskaming, followed by a swim.
Here are some captains of the S.S. Meteor
1887: Charles Morin

1897-1904: John Patrick Redmond, Jr.

1906: Albert Gaul

1913-1923: McCarthy Burns

The following account in the The Algoma Missionary News describes the Anglican Bishop's visit to Lake Temiskaming in December 1890:
On the 16th September, 1890, the Bishop arrived at North Bay by the C.P.R., en route for Lake Temiscamingue, and took on board the Chaplain. They travelled along by rail as far at Mattawa, where they alighted, and went to the house of the Rev. Robert W. Samwell ....The following day they continued their journey up the Ottawa River. The first stage was by small steamboat with a scow attached to its side; and then when rapids stopped navigation, the boats were left behind, and all proceeded to portage in the easiest manner by means of a narrow-gauge one-horse tramway, the little rails of which were brought even with similar rails on board the scow by a little draw-bridge dock, and the flat-car with the baggage on the scow was drawn off by the horse, and on to the tramway. This tramway was built by the side of the rapids until navigation again opened, when another little steamboat with scow was in waiting to receive in similar manner the passengers and baggage-car. From Mattawa to the Long Sault at foot of Lake Temiscamingue is about forty miles, which composed the day's journey, and in that distance they made portages in the manner described, four times. The last portage, however, some six miles, differed from the others in that, instead of the horse, there were a little locomotive engine and two covered cars. Arrived at the head of the Long Sault and at Gordon Creek, they put up in the French [Canadian] boarding-house, and there awaited the return of the steamer Meteor, Captain Percy, which plies upon Lake Temiscamingue. To their great chagrin they found that she would not start up the lake until the day after the morrow.... It is to be feared that the Bishop, when he did retire, must have slept very badly that night, for from the bar-room right underneath ascended the noise and the horrible words, in the French language, common to drinking saloons, and suggestive only of darkness and eternal ruin... The next day, Thursday, they looked around at the beautiful scenery of the Long Sault and Gordon Creek, and thought of going to see the Kippewa also, some nine miles away, but decided there was grand scenery enough on the Ottawa and Temiscamingue for one trip.... The next morning they started on the good steamer Meteor to ascend Lake Temiscamingue. For many and many a mile it was narrow, and with banks rising abruptly and high. The Chaplain remarked that it was like some grand and beautiful river, perhaps the Rhine.... Just after dinner they arrived at the Hudson Bay Fort, but did not land or remain more than a few minutes. The Chaplain pointed out the buildings of the company at the Fort, and on the hill over it the picturesque little cemetery, where lie the remains of Father Laverlocher; and on the opposite side (Ontario), of the narrow channel, the now deserted Roman Catholic Indian Mission Station, with its neat wooden church, priest's house, hospital and nunnery, all empty, decaying, and silent. About three miles further up they arrived at Priests' Bay, where the Roman Catholic Church has a fine establishment, church, priest's house, convent, and hospital, all of red brick, and agent's house of stone, while stretching back for some miles in the Province of Quebec, there is a good well-to-do settlement of French Canadians. Here they parted from the Grey nuns with much regret, who were arrived at their journey's end. They then proceeded further up the lake, keeping on the Quebec side until they came to the silver mine, which is just on the shore, and now being fully worked. The Bishop and Chaplain landed, and the superintendent showed them all over the works and explained the process throughout. The Meteor then crossed the lake diagonally at its widest part to the Ontario shore, and landed the Bishop and Chaplain at Haileybury, the farm and home of Mr. Farr and his family. This was the goal of their journeying so far, and here they met Mr. Marsh, of Wycliffe College, who had been laboring on the lake for several weeks before, in most earnest and arduous mission work. He made Haileybury a centre, and from thence visited the numerous families, a great many of them belonging to the Church who had taken up farms on the Ontario shore.... That night the Bishop slept at Haileybury, while Mr. Marsh took the poor Chaplain in a little birch-bark canoe along the shore in the dark to Mr. Lawler's house, where they slept. These canoes are very easily upset, and so true to the Bishop's definition of their danger, for his Lordship remarked that a man must have his hair pretty evenly parted in the middle, or it would be enough to overbalance one of them. The next day, Saturday, the Bishop stayed at Haileybury, the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Farr, and all hands had a quiet restful time. In the afternoon Mr. Marsh and the Bishop manned the canoe, the former paddling in the stern, and his Lordship paddling in the bow, and they paid the Lawlers a visit to their great satisfaction. ... Then after dinner the Bishop bade good-bye to all, and proceeded on up the lake in Mr. Farr's large sailing-boat, the little canoe towed behind. The Bishop held the helm, Mr. Marsh managed the sails, and the Chaplain helped a bit in the bow, and looked gloomy and miserable, until rallied by his Lordship and made all smiles once more.... [After several days visiting the widespread congregation by bush trails and canoes they] all proceeded once more to board the Meteor for the return voyage. The first night they stayed at Priests' Bay, arriving about dark, and remaining there for the night, and all sleeping on board. That night they held a service in the state-room of the Meteor... The next morning the Bishop complained that his bed, or rather bunk, was as hard as the soft side of a plank, and for him very little sleep in consequence. They then went on to the Hudson Bay Fort, landing then and looking through the buildings and store; and inspected the colossal canoe and a young moose. This creature had been ill with a cold, and looked truly miserable, poised upon its four long legs, and with its heavy head and Roman nose, and the most woe-begone expression of face and bearing. They then steamed down the lake to the head of the Long Sault again, but not to the French boarding-house, as all hands slept on the Meteor. But here also the Bishop held a service on board, which was well attended, Captain Jones, of the steamboat Argus, and his crew, being also present; and surely the poor people there seldom get such a treat and spiritual happiness.... The next day, Wednesday, they returned in same order, tramway and steamboats, down the Ottawa to Mattawa and again enjoyed there the hospitality of the mission house. They then set out to the railway station, the Bishop for Sault Ste. Marie, the Professor for Lindsay, and the Chaplain for North Bay.
The Final Years

In 1910, the Temiskaming Navigation Company operated seven or eight steamers on Lake Temiskaming; two years later, however, the company's revenues had declined so much due to competition from more efficient transportation methods that it had to take out a $13,000 mortgage on the Meteor and the Temiskaming. The following year the head office returned to Temiscaming from Haileybury and cost cutting continued as railways assumed most of the steamers' transportation role. Since the completion of the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway to New Liskeard in 1905, and its connection to the National Transcontinental Railway at Cochrane three years later, steamers were no longer needed to take freight and passengers from Mattawa to the Ontario side of Lake Temiskaming. In addition, the completion of the Nipissing Central Railway Company's streetcar line in 1911 provided passenger service between Cobalt, Haileybury, and New Liskeard every 30 minutes. At approximately the same time, Cobalt, New Liskeard, Haileybury and the townships of Bucke, Dymond and Coleman petitioned the Mininster of Public Works for a macadam road between Cobalt and New Liskeard - and about 16 kilometres were macadamized in 1912, allowing greater truck access. That same year, a railway spur line linked the T&NO Railway with the Haileybury wharf.

The First World War further dampened enthusiasm for pleasure excursions and by 1915 the only passenger steamers left on the lake were the Meteor and the Silverland. In the spring of 1917 Temiskaming Navigation Company surrendered its charter and sold the Meteor, the Temiskaming and Silverland to Télésphore Simard, a Quebec MP and mayor of Ville-Marie, who represented a Ville-Marie syndicate.

As rail transport had not reached the Quebec side of Lake Temiskaming, lake steamers remained the region's life line to the outside world and the Meteor and the Temiskamingthus continued transporting freight and passengers to and from the east side of the lake for La Compagnie de Navigation Ville-Marie. For another six years Captain McCarthy Burns skippered the Meteor about Lake Temiskaming, alternating with the Temiskaming three times weekly. Unfortunately, the Meteor was at the opposite side of the lake when the great fire of 1922 destroyed Haileybury.

The Canadian Pacific Railway's decision to link Temiscaming with Ville-Marie by rail spelled the end of the Meteor's usefulness, and the steamer made its last run in 1923. Late in November 1926 the Meteor caught fire as it was being towed to Ville-Marie for the winter. She burned for 24 hours or so while crowds watched from the waterfronts at Haileybury and New Liskeard. Cut adrift, the Meteor went aground near the Old Mission, and lay on the gravel bottom over the winter. Subsequently, the steamship was savaged for its wood and steel strips until only the hulk remained. When she became a hazard, the Upper Ottawa Improvement Company dynamited the steamer's remains in June 1928. After 37 years of serving the communities on both sides of Lake Temiskaming, the S.S. Meteor was no more.

About Douglas Baldwin

Douglas Baldwin is the author of over 40 books and dozens of articles on Canadian history; he is a retired professor of history from Acadia University and now lives in Toronto. His interest in Cobalt began in 1975 and he has since written numerous papers on the story of Cobalt. His most recent book, Cobalt: Canada's Forgotten Silver Boom Town is a comprehensive history of Cobalt and hard rock mining in northern Ontario.

A few of his publications are: Abegweit: Land of the Red Soil, The Charlottetown Conference, Prince Edward Island: An Illustrated History, The Life of Nurse Mona Gordon Wilson.

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The Meteor began life in 1886 as La Minerve. Local shipwright Charles Morin built the steamer near Long Sault (South Temiskaming) for the Temiskaming Colonization Society. The double-decker, square-sterned steamer had a steel-frame hull and was planked in tamarack that was cut along the Blanch River. It was 104.6 feet in length, had a beam of 23.8 feet, a gross tonnage of 111.5, a 100 hp engine, and could move at 10 to 13 mph. The boiler used cordwood.

La Minerve was plagued with propeller problems and ran aground several times. When the steamer did so in front of Fort Temiskaming late in 1887 and damaged its propulsion plant the Temiskaming Colonization Society sold it to the Lumsden Steamboat Line. Lumsden towed the steamer to his shipyard at Opemican, rebuilt it, and renamed the steamer the S.S. Meteor. By July 1888 the new passenger vessel had a slimmer keel for greater speed, an open bow, a bank of cabins on the second deck, a round stern, measured 105 feet in length with a 23.8 beam, had a tonnage of 115.7, and was screw driven. It was licensed to carry 130 passengers. Note: the Opemican site is now part of a provincial park and the restauration of the site has was recently a major investment from the province of Quebec. You can learn more about the Opemican National Park by following this web link.

The Meteor underwent several modifications over the next 35 years. Between 1895 and 1897 the steamer was remodeled and enlarged at Opemican to accommodate the growing numbers of immigrants into the area. The steamer was lengthened by 25 feet (to 130.5), with a beam of 29 feet; had a tonnage of 203. 6; the new 165 hp engine could power the boat at speeds up to 18 mph; and could carry 305 passengers. Wood was still the preferred fuel. The remodeling enclosed the entire main deck and covered and enlarged the second deck. The bow provided plenty of room for storing baggage, freight, and livestock. Steam winches at the bow and stern could pull in the steel hawsers (thick cables) used to moor the steamer. Two rows of round-iron columns supported the upper deck. The Meteor was by far the most impressive steamer on the lake.

Historian Peter Fancy described the revamped Meteor: "Climb the main stairway to the new passenger deck. Elaborate paneling painted matte-white covers the entranceway walls. A long corridor with doors to cabins and washrooms stretches back towards the stern. Above runs a long skylight with narrow windows on the sides and shining brass light fixtures. Over the bulbs are milk glass tulip shaped shades. Two corridors, one on either side of the funnel trunk, lead forward into the main lounge. Here against the front edge of the funnel trunk rises a low platform stage with an upright piano. On both sides of the room and at the bow end run bench seats and backs. Along the top of the seatbacks, at neck level, is a continuous row of perforated openings for steam pipe heat and another sky light canopies the entire length. Electric candelabra hang from ceiling supports; smaller ones stud the white walls. Heavy canvas protects the polished hardwood floor. Grey-painted canvas covers the outside decks where passengers can lean against a varnished teak-wood railing." The Meteor had a five-foot flywheel, starboard water pumps for toilets and bathrooms, electricity and running water. With a lounge on the second deck for music, cards, and an observation area, the Meteor was well-named the "Palace steamer." The Meteor was the largest steamer on Lake Temiskaming.

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S.S. Meteor on Lake Temiskaming - Les Suites des Presidents' Suites

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The S.S. Meteor steamer played an important role in the development of the the Temiskaming region. The S.S. Meteor, was a passenger steamboat that operated on Lake Temiskaming during the late 1800's and early 1900's. The Meteor was an impressive machine, with a five-foot flywheel, electricity, running water, and a lounge on the second deck for music, cards, and an observation area.

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Originally 56 feet long, it was built in 1904 at Perth, Ontario. It was rebuilt in 1910 to 69 feet long. It first served as a passenger boat on Lake Temagami and later moved to Lake Temiskaming. It was lost in a storm there on November 11, 1915, which resulted in four deaths. The image above is believed to be the Aileen, but certain identification is difficult given the distance from the photographer.

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Snake Creek Rd, Mattawan, ON P0H, Canada

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Built in 1883 at Trois Rivieres, Quebec, it was 40 feet long. First owned by the Lake Temiskaming Colonization Railway, it was sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1897. It was abandoned in 1898, near Snake Creek, Lake Temiskaming. It carried passengers from Les Erables (now a ghost town under the water level) to La Montagne Rapids.

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This 99-foot steamship was built in Opemican, Quebec, and served as a Lake Temiskaming passenger vessel. It burned down on August 2, 1902.

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A 67-foot alligator tug, it was built in 1905 at Prescott, Ontario and served as a passenger boat for the Montreal River. It was condemned and left to founder in Lake Temiskaming sometime after 1912.

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Built at Lake St. Joseph in 1886, the Anne Marie was 38 feet long. It was wrecked in ice in Lake Temiskaming sometime after 1886.

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The Mink had a long history on the Ottawa River. First built in 1896 at 37 feet long, it was rebuilt to 51 feet in 1911. It was an alligator warp tug, and was able to function on both land and water. It mainly worked on the Quyon log boom on Lake Deschenes. It sank on October 31, 1945, when a storm suddenly hit and it was unable to be untied from the log boom it was attached to.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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Not much is known about this boat. It was 88 feet long and is officially recorded as a ferry, but other records show that it was a pleasure boat. It burnt in Lake Deschenes sometime after 1919.

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The sidewheel steamer Pontiac was the first to sail above Portage du Fort. It was 87 feet long. It burned on Chats Lake on July 7, 1908.

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Rideau Canal, Lock 38 - Davis, Davis Lock Road, Elgin, ON, Canada

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The Rideau Belle was the first luxury passenger steamer on the canal, with cherry wood paneling, sky blue ceilings, and green velvet curtains. It caught fire while in its winter quarters and was unsalvageable. However, the lockmaster at Chaffey's Lock salvaged some of the cherry wood and used it to build an outhouse.

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Originally 84 feet long, the Reliance was a sidewheel steamer. It was later expanded to 103 feet, after which it served as a towboat. It burnt down on August 19, 1896, somewhere along the Ottawa River.

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The Isleway was a 52-foot pleasure yacht, owned by Isleway Fish and Game. It burnt near Pembroke, though the date is uncertain. However, it appears in official records from 1892 to 1911.

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Cushing Island, Laurentian Valley, ON, Canada

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A 142-foot sidewheel steamboat, built in Pembroke, Ontario. It originally served as a passenger vessel, but later became a tug. It burned on May 30, 1874 in Allumette Lake, near Cushing Island.
Click the link to read a newspaper article about the Forest Queen's send-off.

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28 Feb 1967, Page 10 - The Ottawa Journal at Newspapers.com

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A 103-foot paddlewheel steamboat, it sailed the Montreal-Ottawa-Kingston triangle. It was built following the 'fiddleboat plan,' with a recessed area in the middle of the boat to house the paddles. It first sank in Merrickville in September 1844, then again in 1854 in Mud Lake, before it was destroyed by fire somewhere near Ottawa in 1868.

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A 47-foot paddlewheel alligator warp tug, this Beaver was the second ship of its name that was wrecked on the Ottawa River. This Beaver was built in 1899 and served the area around Temiskaming, Quebec. It was first burnt in 1906, and later fully destroyed in 1907. Interestingly, these 'alligator tugs' were able to travel on both land and water.

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Not much is known about this tug. It burnt on November 1, 1892, and its remains can still be found near Rideau Queen Rock. Watch the video to see a 2013 dive to the wreck. According to a plaque on the wreck, it was 49 ft x 15 ft x 58 ft, and had a tonnage of 23 gross, 19 net. Interestingly, this plaque says that it sunk on November 6, 1982, which contradicts newspaper reports of November 1.

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A steamboat of unknown length, the C. O. Kelly caught fire while at the Pembroke wharf. The fire broke out during the night, and only some of the crew were able to escape. The image above shows the C. O. Kelly approaching the Culbute Locks, which were used as winter dry docks for the C. O. Kelly and the John Regan.

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Records concerning the G H. Perley are complicated - different sources classify it as a steamboat or a tug, though all sources agree on its general records.

The steamboat (or tug) G. H. Perley was built in 1890 by J & R. Weir and owned by Upper Ottawa Improvement Co. It burnt on June 4th, 1895, just outside of Arnprior on Chats Lake, while towing timber on the Ottawa River.

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A 150-foot sidewheel steamer, it caught on fire near Allumette Island while on route from Fort William to the Allumette Rapids. It sunk on May 5, 1894.

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The Kitty Friel was a propeller barge, originally 91 feet long. It first burnt in 1873 in the St. Lawrence River, and was rebuilt to 99 feet. It burnt again in August of 1879 in the Rideau Canal. The 1879 burning is memorialized in a folk song by Tamarack - click the link to listen.

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Known as the "pride of the Ottawa River," this steamer was burnt on its voyage between Greenville (potentially Grenville) and Bytown (now Ottawa). It was later raised and rebuilt as the Phoenix.

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This 92-foot sidewheel steamer was built in Sorel, Quebec. It served as a tugboat on the lower Ottawa River, and burnt at its dock in New Edinburgh on March 8,1878.

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Built in 1951, this tugboat hauled logs along the Ottawa River before sinking in 1979. It was featured on the $1 bill, along with the Missinaibi. Click the link to read more.

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OWEN SOUND-The rugged little tugboat that sits outside the Owen Sound Marine & Rail Museum looks a little worse for wear.

But what's a broken window or two to a Canadian icon that graced the back of the Canadian $1 bill?

Built by Russel Brothers of Owen Sound in 1951, the Ancaster had a tough life hauling logs on the Ottawa River before it sank at the foot of Chauderie Falls in 1979. There it sat, submerged for three years before being raised in 1982 by Ontario Hydro to join in the 150th anniversary of the Rideau Canal Floating Parade.

The same year, the Ancaster and its Russel-built compatriot, the Missinaibi, took pride of place on the back side of the $1 bill. The picture on the bill shows two boats and a log boom on the Ottawa River; the boat to the right of centre, just below the Parliament buildings, is the Ancaster.

Plans to include the Ancaster and Missinaibi in a permanent historical display in Hull never came about. For nearly a decade it sat ignored in dry dock until 1991 when it was brought back to Owen Sound and placed outside the museum.

Inside the museum you get a glimpse of the once-bustling Owen Sound waterfront which was, at the turn of the 20th century, the busiest port on the Upper Great Lakes.

Through nautical and railway exhibits the museum tells the story of Owen Sound's role as the Gateway to the West, moving immigrants west to the Prairies and bringing grain east.

The exhibits include scale models of ships, steamers, trains, a dugout canoe, and shipbuilding tools. There are also interactive stations where you can practise your nautical knot-tying skills, learn Morse code or discover how to send messages by ship's signal flags.

The roof of the museum is now home to the Kennedy whistle, which was once the unofficial timekeeper for much of the city. For decades in the early 20th century the whistle was sounded at the beginning and the start of each work day at the Kennedy foundry that manufactured ships' propellers and turbines. The museum sounds the restored whistle twice daily at noon and 5 p.m.

The museum, which opened in 1985, is quite small, but the artifacts are rotated regularly. A new exhibit tells the story of the shipwrecks of Georgian Bay.

Over the years more than 100 ships have sunk or been battered and smashed to pieces by the strong autumn gales and storms that rage across the waters of Georgian Bay, says museum manager Mary Smith.

"Today smaller boats are lost out on the bay, but back then, there were a lot of larger ships on the bay and sadly, there were a lot of lives lost," says Smith.

The exhibit poignantly tells the stories of eight of the shipwrecks, including the Mary Ward, which sank near Collingwood in 1872 with a loss of eight lives. Also recorded is the loss of the Manasoo which sank north of Owen Sound in 1928 when the 117 cattle on board shifted to one side and caused the ship to capsize, with the loss of 16 human lives, and the Asia, which disappeared north of Owen Sound in 1882 with a loss of more than 120 lives.

Artifacts include a life ring and the boiler plate from the Manasoo, and the exhibit also includes early diving equipment, a lifeboat and scale models of several of the lost ships.

There are also some kid-friendly exhibits and a scale model steam train on a trestle track that winds its way around the ceiling.

Outside, kids love to climb onto the caboose transformed from a 1910 Grand Truck box car and take a peek inside the Ancaster - although the $1 bill that made it famous was out of circulation long before they were born
Roberta Avery is a freelance writer based in Meaford, Ont.

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Tales of sails, rails at Owen Sound Museum

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OWEN SOUND-The rugged little tugboat that sits outside the Owen Sound Marine & Rail Museum looks a little worse for wear. But what's a broken window or two to a Canadian icon that graced the back of the Canadian $1 bill?

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A propeller tugboat, it exploded somewhere on the Rideau Canal in September 1874. Not much is known about the tugboat.

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A 105-foot sidewheel steamer, it was originally built as a Rideau Canal passage boat but later served as a towboat. It burnt down somewhere in Ottawa (records unclear) in December 1862.

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A 100-foot long paddlewheel steamboat, the Lady Colborne caught fire at the Alymer wharf. To avoid setting the village on fire, it was set adrift and floated into Britannia Bay, where it later sank. Click the link to see a newspaper advertisement for passage on the Lady Colborne.

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A 160-foot paddlewheel steamer that burned at the wharf at Portage du Fort in 1877. As of 1982, its remains were still visible.

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A 112-foot sidewheel steamer, Maude sunk after collision with the Ottawan on the way to Montreal. Click on this link for more information of its sinking.

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A 139-foot sidewheel steamer,  its claim to fame was carrying Prince Albert on his visit down the Ottawa River. It was also the subject of a recent investigation into its final resting place by local author Andrew King and blogger Mike Kaulbars. Click these links [1: Ottawa Citizen], [2: Mike's blog, Part 1], [3: Mike's blog, Part 2] [4: Mike's blog, Part 3] to read about their search, and how they determined the Ann Sisson was residing in Britannia Bay. You can also retrace their steps, and find the wreck on Google Earth.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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A 95-foot paddle wheeler that was abandoned and sank in Ottawa. Later moved to the Ottawa Rowing Club.

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A 96-foot wooden schooner, formerly Ville de Vanier, that was abandoned. It can still be seen on Google Satellite, and is a popular fishing location..

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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The 56-foot tugboat caught fire and sank in Ottawa.

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A 78-foot ship that leaked and sank in Ottawa.

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A 100-foot wooden steamer, formerly 'Salaberry', that leaked and sank in Ottawa

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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The 103-foot tugboat caught fire and sank in Ottawa at the West exit of the 8 locks of the Rideau Canal, near Parliament Hill, on November 5, 1870. It was used on the Montreal-Ottawa-Kingston triangle, and was known as "a small uncomfortable light boat" (Bytown "Packet" 1846).

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The 95-foot barge leaked and sank in Ottawa at the West exit of the 8 locks of the Rideau Canal, near Parliament Hill. The Minnie worked as a sand barge for 60 years before sinking.

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The 104-foot steamer caught fire and sank in Ottawa. Click on the link for more information on its discovery.

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The Ottawa Journal, Monday, July 15,1974

There's treasure hidden in the depths of the Ottawa River but the treasure isn't gold it's history.

by WENDY WARBURTON, Journal Reporter

Andre Lamirande, an administrator with the Underwater Society of Ottawa and the Wheelhouse Maritime Museum, and his team of 18 scuba divers have been combing the river for 10 years in search of the remains of the Pierce Mansfield, a ferryboat which burned on the Ottawa River in 1896. Last week they found it, in Governor Bay behind the Prime Minister's Residence! And on Sunday they began the, long process of salvaging the china, and anything else that may have survived the 78, years in the watery grave.

Any salvage from the wreck will be donated to the Museum of Science & Technology for study in its future underwater marine section, Mr. Lamirande said. But finding many articles may not be easy. The 105-foot boat is lying in about 25 feet of water, her position marked by four red four white buoys about, 50 feet from the south shore. About 20 feet of her length is buried by silt. But the fire and the water's action have taken their toll. The Mansfield's original 32 ' foot width has been eroded to 20 feet and only two ribs and a small area of the original deck remain.

Mr. Lamirande said the prize find would be a giant steel mesh ball, which topped the steamship's smokestack to prevent sparks blowing onto the oak decks. The ball was characteristic of the wood burning boats which plied, the Ottawa at the turn of the century, but, there are few in existence today. Sunday's search, however, failed to turn up more than a few pieces of charred planking from the Mansfield's gunwales. 'The divers are studying the ship's position to determine the most likely places to find artefacts. Depending on what they find, the salvaging could take several months.

The hunt for the ' Mansfield's wreck began in 1964 when Mr. Lamirande, who, has salvaged 171 other shipwrecks in the Ottawa, and St Lawrence rivers and the Great Lakes, read the National Archives account of her sinking. Over the next 10 years and with the aid of more than 300 volunteer scuba divers, he searched the depths of both-sides of the river for her remains: Mr. Lamirande said on the advice of some old timers who said there was a carcass of a boat in the river, "extended the hunt into the huge swamps west of the Gatineau River. Volunteers covered every square inch of the area, sometimes walking up to their chins in mud, but found nothing. The discovery was finally made by divers Jean Trudel and Ron Laverty after "a lot of looking, a lot of research, "and a lot of luck."

While the Mansfield's painted name has long since washed off the sides, Mr. Lamirande said her measurements and position identify her. : After ferrying cargo and passengers between Gatineau Point and Edinburgh Wharf (behind the site of the present National Research Council building) for eight years, the Mansfield caught fire May 8, 1896 following an explosion. No one was injured in the blaze, but firemen arrived too late to save the burning vessel. The Fire "was attributed to sparks from the furnace landing in a pile of the wood shavings used for fuel. The boat was dragged from her mooring at the wharf, but the attaching rope broke and she became stranded near Governor's Bay, probably sinking later since the machinery on board has been removed, Mr. Lamirande said. The doomed ship joined eight other wrecks in the: three mile long stretch of water between Parliament Hill and Kettle Island.

Mr. Lamirande, who is writing a book on the history of navigation on the Ottawa River, said he feels ship wrecks are an important source of Canadian culture and history. "The artefacts and construction bring to light our heritage and history," he said. He said the sinking of the Mansfield had a far-reaching effect on the relationships between Ottawa and Hull. Without the ferry, cargo & trade between the two cities ground to a halt. Apparently the incident made the city fathers question the viability and reliability of ferry service, because four years later the first bridge over the Ottawa, the Alexandra was built.

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Mansfield - Ottawa Journal, July 15, 1974 (p21) - Maritime Affairs Committee

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The Ottawa Journal, Monday, July 15,1974 There's treasure hidden in the depths of the Ottawa River but the treasure isn't gold it's history. by WENDY WARBURTON, Journal Reporter Andre Lamirande, an administrator with the Underwater Society of Ottawa and the Wheelhouse Maritime Museum, and his team of 18 scuba divers have been combing the river for 10 years in search of the remains of the Pierce Mansfield, a ferryboat which burned on the Ottawa River in 1896.

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A wooden paddle steamer that sank in Ottawa. Very little is known about it.

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A 100-foot paddle sidewheeler that caught fire, exploded and sunk at dock in Gatineau. Click on the link for more information on its discovery.

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The Ottawa Evening Journal - July 13, 1964 (p21)

OTTAWA SKIN DIVERS locate Ship Sunk in Ottawa in 1890.

A cargo ship which sank in the Ottawa River after boilers exploded Sept 15, 1890, has been found-by skin-divers from the Underwater Society of Ottawa. The Ivy, a 76 ton, 100-foot wooden steamship, was discovered Sunday at 1 p.m. by eight divers. The wreck was located about 200 feet from Hull, in 15 feet of water, in front of Cartier Marina, between tbe Interprovincial end Cartier-Macdonald bridges. The boat was built in Montreal in 1874. It was used in forwarding trade from Grenville to Bytown. Crockery, spikes, part of the main keel and the main rib, the keel, 10 feet by 12 inches and weighing close to 5O0 pounds, were raised. Part of the upper deck was also brought up. Wreckage is scattered over 100 square feet.

HAMPERED BY VISIBILITY

The divers were hampered by visibility for only two or three feet at this depth. The salvage work is done voluntarily for the National Capital Commission as a centennial project. Andy Lamirande, president of the Underwater Society of Ottawa, told The Journal Sunday night "the NCC is considering a section of its Bytown Museum devoted to Ottawa River navigation. We are working to help establish it"

Two years of work at tbe National Archive have gone into digging up facts about navigation on the Ottawa. There were 32 shipwrecks on the river between and from 1832 to 1900. History of each ship is on file. Only four have been found so far. Before Confederation, said Mr. Lamirande there was no government inspection of boilers on steamships. Boiler explosions were a main cause of sinking ships as 2,027 vessels went through the Rideau Canal and on to Kingston in 1840.

(archive found by Victoria Edwards)

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Ivy - The Ottawa Journal, July 13, 1964 (p21) - Maritime Affairs Committee

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The Ottawa Evening Journal - July 13, 1964 (p21) OTTAWA SKIN DIVERS locate Ship Sunk in Ottawa in 1890. A cargo ship which sank in the Ottawa River after boilers exploded Sept 15, 1890, has been found-by skin-divers from the Underwater Society of Ottawa.

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The Glen Isle has a conflicting history, due to its three rebuilds. Most recently, it was a classed as a 105-foot schooner that caught fire and sank off Kettle Island, opposite Gatineau. Click on link for more information about its discovery. It was previously known as the Welshman, during which time it was rebuilt twice (the third being the Glen Isle).

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Glen Isle - Ottawa Journal, october 27, 1964 - Maritime Affairs Committee

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Ottawa Underwriter Society president Andre Lamerande told The Journal his fellow divers uncovered the wreck of S 100-foot ship in the Ottawa River opposite Gatineau. It was the last diving day of the season for the hunters. The hull of the 144-ton "Glen Isle" was discovered off the north shore of Kettle Island.

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A 99-foot wooden rear paddle wheeler steamer that  caught fire in front of the Rideau Canal in the Ottawa River and sank. It was relocated under the Ottawa Rowing Club wharf at the beginning of the 1980s. Only the hull can be seen. The Bruce was built on remains of the Islander's hull, which itself had a long history. Click on the link above for more detail about this story.

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In the November issue, we featured the famous Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River sidewheel passenger steamer ALGERIAN (04), (a) KINGSTON (I) (73), (b) BAVARIAN (74), (d) CORNWALL. One of the several fires which afflicted this ship occurred on June 11, 1872, when KINGSTON caught fire and was run ashore on Grenadier Island, above Brockville. The steamer's superstructure was destroyed and two persons lost their lives. Thanks to a member's assistance, we present in this month's photopage the only known actual photograph of KINGSTON. It shows her burned-out hull very shortly after the fire, and it is all the more fascinating in that, moored alongside her port quarter is the small sidewheeler BRUCE. As this also is the only known photograph of BRUCE, we thought we might try to write a history of this elusive steamer. What follows is the result, and we would be glad of any additional detail which our readers might be able to provide.

The history of BRUCE can be traced back to 1846 when, as (a) ISLANDER, she was built at Kelleys Island (once known as Cunningham's Island), Ohio, by Daniel Dibble. She was a sidewheeler and her hull, which was built of red cedar from the island, was about 100 feet in length and 17 feet in the beam. The "Lytle-Holdcamper List" (Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States. 1807-1868) indicates that she was of 73 Gross Registered Tons. Back when she was built, of course, there was no published register of U.S. shipping, for the first "Merchant Vessels" annual did not appear until 1867-1868. Lytle prepared his listing from the records of the Bureau of Navigation, as it was then called, but the available "official" information was sketchy at best. Complete dimensions were seldom recorded, and official registry numbers simply did not exist.

The Buffalo press reported on September 5, 1846, that ISLANDER had been towed by the big steamer TROY from the island to the R. B. Higgins Wharf at Sandusky for the installation of the engine which had been built for her by A. A. Camp. Unfortunately, we have no details concerning this engine or the steamer's boiler(s). ISLANDER most probably was a single-deck boat, with a simple "birdcage" pilothouse, a tall stack, a passenger cabin aft on the main deck, a high walking-beam or "gallows-frame", and huge radial paddlewheels in simple boxes.

ISLANDER apparently was built by Dibble for Datus Kelley (of the island) and, according to member Gordon Wendt's In The Wake of The WALK-IN-THE-WATER, she provided in 1846 the first recorded service to the islands in Lake Erie from Sandusky. Sailing from Kelleys Island, she ran through to Lower Sandusky (Fremont) and to Plaster Bed.

In those days of "ad hoc" navigation, accidents were frequent and ISLANDER had her share. A March 31, 1847, report in the "Cleveland Herald" noted that, in company with the steamer CHAUTAUQUE (also spelled CHAUTAUQUA, and built 1839 at Buffalo), ISLANDER was anchored off Kelleys Island, got caught in the ice, and drifted off. The passengers walked ashore over the ice, and ISLANDER was retrieved by another ship (unintelligibly identified as "the STATES"). Another "Herald" report stated that she had been towed into port on April 5. Then, on November 30, 1848, ISLANDER was reported to be ashore on the island. She was later refloated, although with considerable damage.

Gordon Wendt indicates that ISLANDER served her usual route through 1853, but was replaced in 1854 by COMET, a smaller steamer of only 46 tons (according to Lytle) which was built in 1854 at Sandusky. COMET apparently was more powerful than ISLANDER. We are not certain what ISLANDER did immediately after this change, but in 1857 she was in service between Detroit, Michigan, and Chatham, Ontario.

In July of 1857, ISLANDER was sunk in collision with the larger steamer PEARL, 251 tons, which had been built in 1851 at Newport, Michigan. ISLANDER was salvaged and was repaired at Detroit. According to a casualty list for 1857 which was published on January 25. 1858, by the "Buffalo Commercial Advertiser", ISLANDER suffered about $1,200 damage in the collision.

Lytle-Holdcamper does not show ISLANDER dropped from U.S. registry until 1859, but it is known that in 1858 she was operating from Goderich to Penetangore (Kincardine) and Saugeen (Southampton) under the command of Captain Duncan Rowan. The first steamer service to Kincardine was in 1856, when Rowan ran PLOUGHBOY on that route, and she was still running there in 1857. Rowan commanded ISLANDER in 1858 and 1859, and appears to have purchased her sometime during those years, for it is thought that he owned her by 1860.

Although ISLANDER continued on that route, Capt. Rowan himself was on the bridge of another boat in 1860, that being the 188-foot KALOOLAH, (a) KALOOLAH (57), (b) COLLINGWOOD (58), which had been built at Buffalo in 1852 and which in 1857 had become the first Canadian-flag steamer ever to operate on Lake Superior. Rowan also ran KALOOLAH on the east side of Lake Huron and, although he moved over to command VALLEY CITY in 1861 and 1862, KALOOLAH continued to operate in the area until August 21, 1862, when she stranded to a total loss while attempting to pull the schooner SIR CHARLES NAPIER off a shoal near the mouth of the Saugeen River at Southampton.

Meanwhile, the Goderich "Huron Signal" of July 21, 1858, carried an item that gives insight into ISLANDER'S service. "Str. ISLANDER, Capt. Duncan Rowan, running in connection with the Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway, will leave Van Every & Rumball's wharf every Monday and Thursday evening at 7 o'clock for Penetangore and Saugeen, calling at all intermediate ports. Will leave Saugeen for Goderich every Tuesday and Friday morning at 7 o'clock. Will leave Goderich for Sarnia and Port Huron every Tuesday and Friday evening at 7 o'clock, calling at Bayfield, arriving at Sarnia in time to connect with the river boats for Detroit, etc. Will leave Sarnia and Port Huron for Goderich, calling at Bayfield, every Wednesday and Saturday morning at 7 o'clock. For freight or passage, apply to Van Every & Rumball, Harbour Quay, Goderich." The advertisement was dated July 13, 1858, at Goderich.

On August 25, 1859, the Kincardine "Western Canadian Commonwealth" carried a similar notice, although by then the sailing times had been altered somewhat. On her northbound trip, ISLANDER was scheduled to call at "Penetangore, Port Head, Inverhuron, Malta (Baie du Dore), Port Elgin and Saugeen, calling at intermediate ports". It is hard to imagine what other intermediate ports there might have been, although the boat likely would stop wherever signalled and wherever there was sufficient water to permit a landing. Of those places, Port Head, Malta and Baie du Dore no longer exist at all*. ISLANDER was scheduled to connect at Sarnia on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. and on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., or on arrival, with RUBY (251 tons, built 1851 at Newport, Michigan) from Detroit. Once again, Van Every & Rumball were prominently mentioned, and it seems possible that they may have shared the ownership of ISLANDER with Capt. Rowan. In any event, we shall hear more of them as our story progresses.

However, ISLANDER was involved in an accident which very nearly proved to be her complete undoing. In March of 1861, ISLANDER was out on Lake St. Clair. We do not know for sure, but we might speculate that she had spent the winter at a shipyard in the Detroit area, and was returning to Goderich to take up her duties for the 1861 season. Be this as it may, ISLANDER'S cedar hull planking was cut through by the ice and she sank off what then was known as Grassy Island in the St. Clair Flats area at the lower end of the St. Clair River. The sinking was reported in the casualty list for 1861 which was published early in 1862 by the "Buffalo Commercial Advertiser". It would appear that no lives were lost in the accident.

Despite the serious damage which she had sustained, ISLANDER was salvaged and her remains were taken to Goderich, where the ship was completely reconstructed by Henry Marlton. She was renamed (b) BRUCE, in honour of the Bruce (Saugeen) Peninsula and Bruce County, whose ports she was intended to serve but, as far as we know, she was never assigned a Canadian official number. The Dominion of Canada, Department of Marine and Fisheries, List of Shipping for 1874 indicates that her length at that time was 100.0 feet, her beam 17.2 feet (hull only), her depth 7 .7 feet, and her tonnage 107 Gross and 87 Net. We have no reason to believe that there had been any major change in these measurements between 1862 and 1874.

The Goderich newspaper reported on Thursday, July 24, 1862, that BRUCE had been launched the previous Monday (July 21st). It was stated that her new engine had been fitted by Runciman of Goderich and that her boiler had been built by "Gartshore of Dundee". We would assume that the boilermaker was, in fact, the well-known John Gartshore, who operated a boiler works at Dundas, Ontario.

Over the years, there appears to have been confusion as to the origin of BRUCE. The Dominion List of Shipping never indicated that she had been anything but BRUCE, no doubt because of the great extent of the reconstruction of 1862, and many other sources failed to make the connection between ISLANDER and BRUCE. The Goderich press reports, however, serve to confirm what we know to be the case, as does the "Register of the Shipping of the Lakes and River St. Lawrence, 1864" which was compiled by Robert Thomas, General Inspector of the late Board of Lake Underwriters, and which was published at Buffalo. Thomas stated that BRUCE was registered at Montreal, and was constructed at Goderich in 1862, "built on bottom of Str. ISLANDER". Incidentally, an 1862 register also shows Montreal as BRUCE's port of registry, but the Dominion List of 1874 shows her home port as Goderich, even though she had long since departed the waters of Lake Huron by that time.

BRUCE was placed in service in 1862 by Thomas Van Every and George Rumball, of Goderich, and the completion of her rebuilding was timely indeed, for she was available to replace the lost KALOOLAH, which had passed into the ownership of the same parties in 1860. BRUCE ran up the lake from Goderich to Kincardine and Southampton, and also made regular trips down to Sarnia.

BRUCE was a pretty little steamer, designed to carry both passengers and general cargo, although her passenger accommodations obviously were less than palatial. We judge by the 1872 photo of her alongside KINGSTON, although it is possible that, by that time, BRUCE may have lost some of her cabin facilities for river service. Her main deck was closed in forward (the freight area) but it would appear that there was an open passageway around the aft part of the deckhouse behind the paddleboxes, where the main passenger cabin undoubtedly was located. The tall, octagonal pilothouse sat right on the promenade deck above, and the steamer's single tall mast rose immediately ahead of the pilothouse. The rest of the upper deck appears to have been completely open, except for a small shade deck over the aft portion of the promenade, and a small stack housing. The tall and thin stack, apparently well raked, was set not far back of the pilothouse.

On October 7, 1862, BRUCE managed to fracture one of her wheel shafts. She was taken to Kincardine for temporary repairs and then limped on up the lake to Southampton, using only one paddlewheel. Permanent repairs were then put in hand. The autumn of her first year in service was indeed eventful for the BRUCE, for the "Globe" of October 16, 1862, reported that the steamer had been caught in a major storm off Kincardine, and had been saved from going ashore through the use of a stout anchor and its heavy chain which had been salvaged from the wreck of KALOOLAH and placed aboard BRUCE. The newspaper carried a florid account of the incident.

The 1863 season was less eventful, and the only problem encountered by BRUCE (of which we are aware) was an engine breakdown on August 4th. The steamer was forced to lay up for a week at Goderich in order that the necessary repairs might be made. By this time, Capt. Duncan Rowan was once more in command of the ship, and it is possible that he may have taken over as master as soon as she was placed back in service in 1862.

The Goderich "Signal" reported on January 12, 1864, that BRUCE was being offered for sale by Van Every and Rumball, and that she was in good condition, having made 106 trips to Saugeen and 30 to Sarnia during 1863. Van Every & Rumball had begun to experience financial difficulties by this time, but it is not known whether the offering of BRUCE was a symptom of these problems or whether she was for sale in anticipation of the arrival on the scene of the 134-foot sidewheeler SILVER SPRAY which was built by Andrews in 1864 at Port Dalhousie. In fact, Capt. Rowan took command of SILVER SPRAY when she arrived on the east shore of Lake Huron, but it would seem that BRUCE operated for at least a portion of the 1864 season.

The Toronto "Globe" reported on March 14, 1865, that BRUCE was laid up at Goderich when Van Every and Rumball were unable to meet their mortgage payments, and that all of their holdings would be offered in a mortgage sale scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, 1865. In fact, BRUCE was acquired at the sale by John V. Detlov and Sons, Goderich, who apparently placed her back in service. There is a report that she later was owned by "Maby of Goderich" but we cannot comment upon the accuracy of that information. We do, however, know that BRUCE was running in 1865, for the Goderich "Signal" reported that she had sustained engine trouble on May 24th of that year.

With the advent of newer, larger and more efficient vessels, BRUCE was no longer required on the Lake Huron route, and by 1866 she was operating on Lake Ontario. There she ran a daily service between Belleville and Oswego, with calls at Kingston, Picton and Mill Point. It would appear that her running-mate on this service was the sidewheeler ROCHESTER (76), (b) HASTINGS (90), (c) EURYDICE (99), (d) DONNELLY, a 142-footer built in 1863 by Cantin at Montreal. It is known that the two boats ran together in 1867 and probably through 1868 as well. ROCHESTER was acquired by the Gildersleeve interests in 1869.

BRUCE was inspected at Kingston in 1868 and it was said that her owner at that time was D. S. Booth of Brockville. Further, it was reported that the BRUCE was used in that area as a ferry. The famous Prince Edward County marine historian Willis Metcalfe indicated that, on May 11, 1870, Calvin and Breck of Garden Island were engaged in trying to raise BRUCE, which had sunk in the river off Brockville. We know no other details of this occurrence other than the fact that the salvors were successful.

By 1873, ownership of BRUCE was passed to W. H. Comstock of Brockville and he was still shown as owner in the 1874 Dominion List. In 1873, the Eastern Ontario inspection division of the Department of Marine and Fisheries reported having inspected BRUCE for operation on the Rideau. Apparently Comstock had decided to put BRUCE into service on the Rideau River between Westport and Ottawa, and it is believed that he retained ownership of her after she entered this trade. Unfortunately, however, it did not last long, for BRUCE burned and sank in the Ottawa River at Ottawa during 1876. The 1877 Dominion List showed BRUCE registered to D. S. Booth, Brockville, but it is obvious that the government records were not current. We have no reason to believe that BRUCE did not burn in 1876 (although we do not have the actual date of the fire) or that Comstock was not her owner at the time.

There the story of ISLANDER/BRUCE would undoubtedly have ended were it not for one of those happy coincidences that develops occasionally. The hull of BRUCE did not disintegrate totally, and eventually the remains were discovered lying in the Ottawa River near the Chateau Laurier Hotel. The Santa Maria Society, formed by divers and others interested in conserving the marine environment of the area, conceived a plan to create an underwater park between the Macdonald-Cartier and Alexandra Bridges, the park to contain the wrecks of seven ships found in the locale. Over three years, the Society battled with five governments and thirty-three government agencies to secure final approval for the park plans.

The remains of BRUCE, the first ship placed in the park, were raised from their 106-year resting place in June 1982, and were moved to a nearby shallow cove. Then, on Saturday, August 7, 1982, they were taken on a short final trip to the park site. The August 9 issue of the "Ottawa Citizen" reported the final chapter of the story. "Transport Minister Jean-Luc Pepin sank a ship Sunday (the 8th) and came away laughing. 'My wife launched one yesterday and I've sunk one today', he said, safe in the knowledge that it wasn't the ship of state he had scuttled. Sheila Mary Pepin performed her duty at St. Catharines, but it was the Ottawa River that drew her husband for a resinking ceremony inaugurating the opening phase of an underwater park. By releasing hot air from some barrels, Pepin sent the hull of the 120 (sic) year-old steamship BRUCE to the bottom in front of the Ottawa Rowing Club near the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge."

We really shouldn't make light of the last moments above water of the remains of the venerable BRUCE, but this simply had to be the first time on record that the hot air of a Canadian politician (and especially a member of the particular government in power at that time) actually sank a ship! All in all, however, BRUCE would be best remembered not for this incident but rather for her many years of faithful service on Sandusky Bay and on the waters of the east shore of Lake Huron.

* * * * *

Ed. Note: We are particularly indebted to Ron Beaupre and Bill McNeil for their efforts in researching this unusual story, and to the T.M.H.S. Secretary for getting the project under way. We also wish to acknowledge the writings of Gordon Wendt, Patrick Folkes, and the late Willis Metcalfe and James M. Kidd.
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Scanner, v. 20, n. 4 (January 1988) : Ship of the Month No. 160 Bruce

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In the November issue, we featured the famous Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River sidewheel passenger steamer ALGERIAN (04), (a) KINGSTON (I) (73), (b) BAVARIAN (74), (d) CORNWALL. One of the several fires which afflicted this ship occurred on June 11, 1872, when KINGSTON caught fire and was run ashore on Grenadier Island, above Brockville.