Steamship Frontenac : first Canadian steamer on the Great Lakes
More than two centuries ago development of shipping on the Great Lakes, after the War of 1812, made tremendous advances. On the North shore of Lake Ontario, immigration of Loyalist and other settlers led to commercial expansion requiring transportation of goods and people. The development of steam engines led to their use in shipping and Upper Canada was not tardy in imagining that unreliable wind power was a hindrance to settlers' quality of life and wellbeing. Ernssttown (now Bath), a few miles West of Kingston, Ontario, led the way... The following [1] is adapted from E. A. Cruikshank, Chairman of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, in the Papers and Records of the Ontario Historical Society in 1926.
Notes on the history of shipbuilding and navigation on Lake Ontario up to the time of the launching of the steamship Frontenac, at Ernesttown, Ontario, 7th September, 1816
On this occasion it may not seem out of place to undertake a brief review of the early history of shipbuilding and ship navigation on Lake Ontario. The pioneer of both was the distinguished explorer, La Salle. He established the first shipyard on this lake at Fort Frontenac (Kingston), in 1678, nearly two centuries and a half ago. There he built four small sailing vessels, rigged as brigantines or barques, having a burthen of from ten to forty tons. The first of these, a vessel of only ten tons, which undertook the navigation of the lake, sailed from Fort Frontenac on 18 November, 1678, for Niagara, having on board the Sieur de la Motte, the adventurous priest, Louis Hennepin, and ten others, and accomplished the voyage in safety. In December of that year, La Salle and de Tonty followed in a brigantine of twenty tons, which, like the first steamship whose launch is commemorated by this monument, bore the name of Frontenac. The life of this small ship was short, for it was driven ashore and wrecked on 8 January, 1679, near the mouth of Old Orchard Creek, between twenty and thirty miles east of the Niagara River. Nine years later, in 1687, there were three small sailing vessels upon the lake, one of which, La Generale, was called a barque. When Fort Frontenac was abandoned in the following year, two barques were burned. When the fort was reoccupied in 1694, the hull of one of these was raised and repaired, and two years afterward, this vessel took Count de Frontenac from that place across the lake to Oswego. Little, if any, shipbuilding was carried on for thirty years, but in 1725, two small barques were built at Fort Frontenac and employed in conveying stone and other materials for the construction of a fort or castle at the mouth of the Niagara River, a part of which is still standing, built of Kingston stone. In 1733, one of these ships, probably from being built of green timber, had become so decayed as to be unfit for use and another was built to replace it at a cost of five thousand livres. Ten years later two small vessels were employed in the transportation of troops and supplies between Frontenac and Niagara. In 1743, the French Government had four ships on Lake Ontario, two of which, the St. Charles and St. François, were described as barques. In 1756, Montcalm’s journal gives the names of four armed ships on the lake, the Marquise de Vaudreuil of twenty guns, the Hurault of fourteen, the Lionne or Louise of six, and the St. Victor of four.
The British began to build at Oswego in 1755, when they launched the brig Ontario of forty feet keel and twelve guns, the sloop Oswego of five guns and ten swivels, and three schooners, one of them having a deck. One was named the George and another the Vigilant. Next year the brigantines London and Halifax, each of sixty feet keel, and the sloop Mohawk of 172 tons, were built there. But when the French took Oswego, 14 August, 1756, all these ships fell into their hands. When Bradstreet captured Fort Frontenac in 1757, he took nine vessels, which were said to be all the French possessed on the lake. Seven of them were destroyed and only two were carried off. The French about a year later established a shipyard at Pointe au Baril (Maitland, Ont.) where the barques Iroquoise and Outaouaise were launched in April, 1759. About the same time the British re-occupied Oswego and built there the sloops Onondaga and Missassaga and the schooner Murray. Two small sailing vessels were taken at Fort Niagara and at once fitted out for service. The views of Sir William Johnson as to the importance of gaining command of Lake Ontario are strongly stated in the following extract of a letter from him to William Baker, dated at his camp at Oswego, 28 September, 1759:
"We are building a Snow at Niagara will carry 10 six Prs. but for want of Ship Carpenters sufficient I fear she will not be finished timely to be of any Service this year. There is a very fine Harbour for building vessels of any Size at Niagara under the Command of the Fort and the greatest Quantity of the best Oack for that purpose I ever saw in any Part of the World. The Enemy have yet two very pretty vessels carrying 10 Guns each, so that they keep the Dominion of that Lake untill our Snow appears upon it, we must by all Means have and keep the Domn. of this Lake, wch. will not only gain to our Interest with proper Managemnt all the Nats. of Indns. living beyond and around them, but secure to us all the Conquests made this Campn. in this Quarter of the Country from whence the Strength and Wealth of Canada have chiefly flowed." [The Papers of Sir William Johnson, Vol. III., p. 140.]
After taking Fort Niagara, the British built at that place the snow Mohawk to carry sixteen guns, thus securing a considerable superiority of naval force. Both the French ships above mentioned were captured in 1760, the Outaouaise near Pointe au Baril and the Iroquoise at Isle Royale. They were both added to the British squadron, the former being renamed the Williamson, in honour of her captor, and the latter the Johnson. After the conquest of Canada the transportation of merchandise in sailing vessels was limited to the King’s ships as no other vessels of that description were permitted to navigate the lakes. Losses by wreck were frequent and serious, as there were no lighthouses or buoys to guide the mariner. The Williamson and one of the captured schooners were cast away in 1761; the Mohawk, Onondaga, and Johnson were lost in 1764. The schooner Brunswick, built in 1765 at Oswego, which continued in service until worn out by natural decay about 1778, was the only vessel launched to replace them in the next five years. The sloop Charity was built at Niagara in 1770 and was cast away in 1777. The schooners Hope and Faith were launched on Lake Erie soon after the completion of the Charity. The snow Haldimand was built at Oswegatchie in 1771 and the Seneca, of a similar rig, at the same place in 1777. Both were of a considerable size as they were intended to carry eighteen guns each. The small sloop Caldwell was built at Niagara in 1774. A return of the King’s vessels on Lake Ontario, dated 1 January, 1779, shows that besides these three ships there were two gunboats, rigged as luggers, and one, lateen-rigged. Another gunboat was built at Navy Hall, near Niagara, in 1779, and the snow Ontario, to carry sixteen guns, was launched there during the summer of 1780, but was lost with all on board on her first voyage in the following November. The large snow Limnade and the sloop Mohawk were built at Carleton Island in 1780 and 1781. An official return of government shipping, dated in January, 1785, contains the names of the following vessels with their tonnage: Limnade, 220 tons; Haldimand, 150; Seneca, 130; Mohawk, 50; Caldwell, 37. Two years later the senior officer reported that only the Limnade, 16; Seneca, 18, and Caldwell, 2, were in service, but that two schooners were being built, and a merchant schooner, the Lady Dorchester, was upon the stocks at Kingston. The new settlers had also some large boats or small sailing craft. On November 9, 1787, Lord Dorchester informed Lord Sydney that the whole of the merchandise sent to Niagara and Detroit and the furs shipped in return were carried in vessels owned and navigated by the Government. This was inconvenient and he recommended that merchants should be allowed to transport goods in their own or other private vessels, which should be properly registered and licensed. He was authorized to appoint superintendents of inland navigation and enact, with the advice and consent of the Council, an ordinance regulating it. Five superintendents were appointed by him, one of these being stationed at Cataraqui or Kingston and another at Niagara. The ordinance for promoting the Inland Navigation passed on 30 April, 1788, provided that "it shall and may be lawful for all his Majesty’s good and liege subjects trading to the Western-country by way of the great lakes, who shall have taken out the usual pass conformable to the law, to cause such of their effects and merchandise as shall be specified in the said pass, to be waterborne in any kind of vessel under the burden of ninety tons, if the same be built and launched in any part or place within his Majesty’s government, and all the owners of the bottom and cargo, and the captain, conductor, crew, and navigators, be his Majesty’s good and faithful subjects, and the said crew and navigators shall (since the first of May, 1783) have taken the oath of allegiance to his Majesty prescribed by law, or on doubt thereof, shall take the same before his embarking in such adventure." All such vessels were to be registered and obtain a pass or clearance. The power of prohibiting all such vessels at any future time from navigating the lakes or making any temporary regulations for their control was expressly reserved by the governor.
A special committee of the Council was appointed on 28 December, 1788, to bring information to the knowledge of the Government concerning the inland navigation and commerce, of which Hon. William Grant was chairman. Their first report stated that the only registered merchant vessel on Lake Ontario was the Good Intent of 15 tons, manned by three men, built at Fredericksburg in 1788. They further stated "that on the 8th of September, the Good Intent cleared out at Kingston for Quinti [sic], and again on the 24th from Kingston for Oswego but it does not appear from the superintendent’s report what her outward cargoes were constituted of. From Quinti [sic] she brought back to Kingston and entered Sept. 18th, 1,000 feet pine boards, 10 barrels pearl ashes, 1 1/2 tons hay." This is the first private venture on record.
The Lady Dorchester was launched and completed in 1789, and although nominally of ninety tons is said to have actually measured about 120. In March, 1794, another new ship called the Governor Simcoe was launched and registered at Kingston as the property of Todd & McGill and Richardson & Forsyth of Montreal and Hamilton & Cartwright and Joseph Forsyth & Co. of Kingston. The naval officer reported that she measured 137 tons or 47 more than was allowed by law for private vessels. He further stated that two small vessels were then being built, one at Kingston of about 50 tons, and the other at Niagara of about 60 tons. A schooner called the Onondaga and the gunboat Sophia had been added to the Government marine. The schooner Speedy, built soon after, was lost with all on board on the 7-8 of October, 1804.
A list of private vessels attached to a report by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe to the Lords of Trade, dated 1 September, 1794, contains the names of the Lady Dorchester and Governor Simcoe, each of 87 tons, owned by Hamilton, Todd, Ellice & Co., the schooner York, owned by Francis Crooks of Niagara; a sloop of about 40 tons, building near Kingston, and the Polly of about 20 tons building in the Bay of Quinty [sic]. In the Quebec Gazette, of 2 April, 1795, the new schooner Kingston Packet of seventy tons was advertised to sail from Kingston and other ports on Lake Ontario after the opening of navigation, and it was complacently remarked that this vessel was as large as some of Queen Elizabeth’s men-of-war that fought the Spanish Armada.
At the opening of the session of the Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada, on 27 January, 1803, Lieutenant-Governor Peter Hunter informed the Council and Assembly of the prospect of an increase of revenue from duties imposed on merchandise imported from the United States and recommended a revision of the customs law imposing such duties. An act was accordingly passed, laying the same duties on goods and merchandise imported from the United States as were paid on such goods and merchandise imported from Great Britain and other places, "and to provide a fund for the erection and repairing of Light Houses." The construction of lighthouses at Niagara, Kingston, and York was commenced soon after and was the first effort to ensure the safety of lake navigation. The Government vessels, from being built of green timber lasted only a few years and were replaced by others. These were the snow Duke of Kent, the schooner Duke of Gloucester, the brig Earl of Moira, launched 28 May, 1805; the brig Sir Sidney Smith, launched November, 1806; the ship Royal George, launched July, 1809, and the schooner Prince Regent, launched July, 1812. Apprehensions of a war with the United States were responsible for a considerable increase of force, the Royal George being much larger and stronger built than any vessel built before. All of these vessels except the Prince Regent, which was built at York, were constructed at the shipyard at Point Frederick at Kingston.
It is not easy to trace the progress of private shipbuilding on this lake in the first ten or twelve years of the nineteenth century, but a list has been compiled from the returns of ships paying duties at Niagara and York in 1811-12, with the names and tonnage of those entering those harbours. These were as follows:
Brig Ontario, 87 tons Schr. British Queen, 23
Brig Niagara, 55 tons Schr. Sophia, 25
Schr. Collector, 50 1/2 Schr. Lark, 26
Schr. Prince Edward, 77 Sloop Marianne, 36
Schr. Julia, 53 Schr. Experiment, 55
Schr. Fair American, 52 1/2 Sloop Enterprise, 21
Sloop Elizabeth, 48 Schr. Charles and Ann, 99
Schr. Governor Simcoe, 136 Schr. Lord Nelson
Schr. Lady Gore, 46 Sloop Republican, 17
Schr. General Hunter, 36 Schr. Mary, 51
Schr. Mary, 35 Schr. Eagle, 26
Schr. Two Brothers, 38
At least a third of these were sailing under the flag of the United States. Several of them were purchased and converted into ships of war in the subsequent contest for the command of the lake. The exigencies of the war gave an extraordinary impulse to the construction of warships, which constantly increased in size in the effort to secure naval superiority. A ship named the Wolfe was launched at Point Frederick, on 25 April, 1813; two large frigates were launched there on 14 April, 1814, the first named the Prince Regent, being nearly equal in size to Nelson’s famous flagship, the Victory. On 19 September, 1814, a first-rate ship of the line was launched, and on Christmas Day of that year a fine frigate, the frame of which had been sent out from England, was also launched. Work was begun upon a huge battleship which was to be named the Canada, and intended to carry 102 guns, but the conclusion of peace prevented her completion [Note: formally the St. Lawrence; she was in fact commissioned into service, sailed once Kingston, Niagara, Kingston, but never fired a gun "in anger". Ed.]. Besides these a flotilla of seventeen gunboats had been constructed for the protection of boat navigation between Montreal and Kingston, of which three were rigged as schooners, eight as luggers, and six as sloops. Nor was the U.S. navy less active and energetic in naval construction. Indeed a contemporary writer remarks that had not the advent of peace put an end to the contest, "there is no saying whether the building mania would not have continued until there was scarcely room on the lake for working the ships."
A great number of skilled carpenters and shipwrights were consequently brought to Kingston and Sackett’s Harbour, where some remained and sought civil employment in time of peace on both sides of the lake. Steamships had been successfully employed during the war on the St. Lawrence between Quebec and Montreal, on the Hudson between New York and Albany, and on Lake Champlain. This encouraged the principal merchants and shipowners of Kingston to undertake the construction of a similar vessel on Lake Ontario. Among those named by Canniff as shareholders were Joseph Forsyth, John Kirby, [---] Marsh, Thomas Markland, William Mitchell, Henry Murney, Lawrence Herchmer, and [---] Yeoman, "in fact, he adds, "all the principal men except the Cartwright family." The contract was let to two shipwrights, Henry Teabout or Trebout, and James Chapman, who had received their training under Henry Eckford, the noted Scotch superintendent of construction at the United States Government shipyard at Sackett’s Harbour. This place (Ernesttown), then a thriving village known as Finkle’s Point or Finkle’s Tavern, was selected as a suitable place for building, as Canniff states, from the gravelly nature of the shore. [2] Shipwrights and some necessary materials were brought from New York. On 17 February, 1816, at the meeting of the House of Assembly, it was moved by Mr. Ridout, seconded by Mr. Willson that a petition of sundry merchants of the towns of Kingston and York should be read. This was in the following terms:
"The Petition of the undersigned merchants and others humbly Showeth:
"That Your Petitioners are building a steamboat of fifty horse-power, for the purpose of transporting stores and merchandise from Prescott to Kingston, or any other place on the borders of Lake Ontario within this. Province.
"That this boat will also be fitted up in the best manner for the accommodation of passengers, and will possess all those advantages to be derived from a comfortable, secure, and speedy voyage, without dependence upon the winds. The expenditure necessary to complete the steamboat will be nearly twelve thousand pounds, and in case of any interference from foreign vessels of the same or any other description might be ruinous to many who hold shares.
"Your petitioners therefore pray that all foreign vessels navigating by steam or otherwise may be prohibited by law from carrying in any manner from one port within the waters of Lake Ontario to another Port within the same waters in this Province.
"And as Your Petitioners will, after the boat is completed, be still at a very great expense and as they have run much risk in venturing their capital for the public good and the improvement of water navigation, they also pray for a short term of years they may be favoured with an exclusive privilege to navigate by steam the waters from Prescott to Queenston within this Province."
It was dated at Kingston on 31st January, 1816, and signed by Thomas Markland and others. [3]
On March 12th a second petition was presented, which read as follows:
"The Petition of the undersigned, Merchants, Traders, Carriers, Mariners, and other Inhabitants of the said Province, Humbly Showeth,
"That it is with the deepest regret that Your Petitioners see the internal, agricultural, and carrying trade of this country daily diminishing, and the country drained of its specie by the great influx of articles for sale from the United States, and by its citizens engrossing the principal part of the carrying trade in its waters and across the lakes, in consequence of which Your Petitioners cannot help observing with the greatest concern that Lake Ontario becomes a nursery for American seamen, and that the marine interest of the country cannot increase while such carrying trade is principally carried on in foreign vessels.
"That it is a general rule in all countries that agricultural commerce, internal trade, and carrying goods, wares and merchandise from port to port on their own shores is confined as much as possible to subjects of their own.
"That good policy also requires that a check should be put to the introduction of so great a number of aliens into this country, particularly American Citizens, who are inimical to this Government in times of the most profound peace.
"That many articles are daily brought into this Province from: the United States duty free, which if taken into our Sister Province of Lower Canada would be either deemed contraband or pay a considerable duty, from which arises another abuse; that is, such contraband articles passing from the United States into this country and from thence into Lower Canada, the revenue of that Province is defrauded.
"That several subjects of His Majesty have purchased vessels from citizens of the United States for the carrying trade and will be ruined unless provision is made for them.
"We therefore pray that you would be pleased to take these representations into your most serious consideration, and be pleased to enact such laws as will tend wholly or in part to remove the grievances we labour under, among which we pray that it may be enacted that no goods, wares, or merchandise be transported from any port or place within the Province of Upper Canada to any other port or place within the same except in British boats, vessels, rafts or other craft.
"That all goods, wares and merchandise passing to and from any port or place within the Province of Upper Canada in any foreign boat, vessel, raft or other craft be liable to pay duties in like manner as if the same had been brought from the United States.
"That all goods, wares and merchandise of whatever description brought from the United States, be the same the growth and manufacture of the United States or of any other country, such goods, wares and merchandise, not being contraband, be dutiable in like manner as British Goods are dutiable in the United States.
"That all boats, vessels, rafts or other craft coming from the United States into this Province pay a tonnage duty for the use of this Province equal to the tonnage duty imposed upon British vessels entering their ports, exclusive of the Lighthouse tonnage duty.
"That more effectual means be taken to compel the masters of any boats, vessels, rafts or other craft coming into this Province from the United States to enter such boat, vessel, raft or other craft, at the Custom House where such boat, vessel, raft or other craft may arrive in Upper Canada.
"That no Hawkers, Pedlars or Petty Chapmen, not subjects of His Majesty, be permitted to travel through the Province.
"That all vessels above ten tons burden which have been bona fide purchased from citizens of the United States by subjects of His Majesty before the passing of this Act, be deemed British bottoms, provided such vessels have been regularly registered at some Custom House within this Province within —— days after such purchase." [4]
This petition was likewise dated at Kingston, January, 1816, and signed by Thomas Markland and others.
On March 15th Mr. Ridout introduced a bill to prohibit all foreign steamboats from entering any port or harbour in the province, and to incorporate the proprietors of the steamboat building in the Bay of Quinte, which was read a first time and ordered for a second reading on the following Monday, but was not further proceeded with.
An item in the Kingston Gazette describes the launching of the steamship as follows:
"On Saturday, the 7th of September, 1816, the steamboat Frontenac was launched at the village of Ernesttown. A numerous concourse of people assembled on the occasion. But, in consequence of an approaching shower, a part of the spectators withdrew before the launch actually took place. The boat moved slowly from her place, and descended with majestic sweep into her proper element. The length of her keel is 150 feet; her deck, 170 feet. Her proportions strike the eye very agreeably; and good judges have pronounced this to be the best piece of naval architecture of the kind yet produced in America. It reflects honour upon Messrs. Trebout and Chapman, the contractors, and their workmen; and also upon the proprietors, the greater part of whom are among the most respectable merchants and other inhabitants of the County of Frontenac, from which the name is derived. The machinery for this valuable boat was imported from England, and is said to be of an excellent structure. It is expected that she will be finished and ready for use in a few weeks. Steam navigation having succeeded to admiration in various rivers, the application of it to the waters of the lakes is an interesting experiment. Every friend to public improvements must wish it all the success which is due to a spirit of useful enterprise."
The estimated cost of building was £12,000, but the actual expenditure on this vessel before completion is stated to have exceeded £15,000. A model of the Frontenac is believed to be still in existence in private hands.
Subsequent issues of the Kingston Gazette supply some additional information. Under date of 24th May, 1817, it is stated that:
"Yesterday afternoon the steamboat left Mr. Kerby’s wharf for the dock at Point Frederick. We are sorry to hear that, through some accident, the machinery of one of the wheels has been considerably damaged, notwithstanding which, however, she moved with majestic grandeur against a strong wind. We understand she has gone to the dock, it being a more convenient place for putting in a suction pipe."
And on 3ist May, 1817:
"The steamboat Frontenac, after having completed the necessary work at the Naval Yard, left.this port yesterday morning for the purpose of taking in wood at the Bay of Quinte. A fresh breeze was blowing into the harbour, against which she proceeded swiftly and steadily, to the admiration of a great number of spectators. We congratulate the managers and proprietors of this elegant boat, upon the prospects she affords of facilitating the navigation of Lake Ontario, by furnishing an expeditious and certain mode of conveyance to its various ports."
Her commander, then, and, it is said, until she was destroyed, was Captain James McKenzie, formerly a master in the Royal Navy, who had accompanied Sir James Lucas Yeo to Canada in 1813, and served in his squadron until the end of the war, first in the Wolfe, and afterward in the Prince Regent.
It was probably on this cruise that her appearance caused some excitement among the inhabitants of the shores, and was the origin of the anecdote told of its effect on "Grandfather Gibson."
"The Frontenac had a high pressure engine and made a terrible noise when in motion; and although grandfather had helped to build many a large ship, yet he had never seen a steamboat. One day the Frontenac came puffing into the harbour. The old gentleman, hearing the noise, sprang to his feet, and asked what was making the noise; but when he got sight of the boat rounding Salt Point, making her way into the harbour and dropping anchor, he raised both hands to his head, exclaiming that the world was coming to an end, when we see a ship run without sails." [5]
On June 7th, 1817, the Kingston Gazette said:
"The Frontenac left this port on Thursday (5th) on her first trip for the head of the Lake."
John Howison, in his "Sketches of Upper Canada," describes her as:
"The largest steamboat in Canada, her deck is one hundred and seventy-one feet long, and thirty-two wide; she is seven hundred and forty tons burden and draws only eight feet of water when loaded. Two paddle wheels, each forty feet in circumference, impel her through the water when the wind is favourable [she] sails nine knots an hour with ease." [6]
When Sir Peregrine Maitland came to assume the administration of the government of Upper Canada he travelled in this ship from Kingston to York, and the Governor-General, the Earl of Dalhousie, who visited the province two years later, was a passenger in both directions.
John Goldie, in his diary, under date of 6th July, 1819, says:
"T saw the 70th regiment go on board the steamboat Frontenac for Kingston. This is the only Steamboat that sails between York and Kingston. She makes only three trips a month, leaving Kingston upon the first, eleventh, and twenty-first of each month. After touching at York she sails to Niagara and returns by the same route. This boat is a great deal larger than any other I have ever seen." [7]
The act of the Legislature passed in 1803 had imposed a lighthouse duty of three pence per ton on the actual admeasurement of every vessel entering the ports of Kingston, York, and Niagara. This the proprietors of the Frontenac considered to be unduly heavy on a vessel of her size, and on 11th February, 1818, Thomas Markland and twenty others petitioned the Assembly for a remission of this duty. No action on this petition was taken during the short session of the Legislature in February and March, 1818, which was hurriedly prorogued by the Administrator with its business unfinished, on account of discord between the Assembly and the Council.
At the autumn session of the same year another petition was presented to both Houses, which stated:
"That in undertaking the navigation of Lake Ontario by a Steam Vessel, Your Petitioners have embarked a large capital in an enterprise of very doubtful success. That this Vessel has already contributed essentially to the convenience, ease and comfort of travellers and the public generally, in facilitating the communication and in a manner shortening the distance between Ports naturally remote from each other as the experience of two seasons has rendered indisputably manifest. That though an improvement has thus been effected in the lake Navigation, productive of most important results to the Province at large, the prospects which Your Petitioners have of deriving individual advantage therefrom are distant and precarious. That besides the heavy capital (nearly sixteen thousand pounds) vested in the building and equipment of the vessel, and the current expenses attending the navigation, which, notwithstanding the strictest attention to economy, are necessarily great, Your Petitioners are also called upon by the Collectors at each Port of Entry to pay tonnage duty, in conformity with an Act passed in the forty-third year of His Majesty’s Reign to establish a fund for the erection and repairing of Lighthouses at certain points on the Lake; a tax which if exacted would fall beyond comparison more heavily on a Steamboat, of whose tonnage so great a proportion is occupied by the machinery, fuel, etc., than any other description of vessels. Your Petitioners therefore, relying with full confidence on the known justice and public spirit of Your Honourable Body, entreat that their case may be taken into consideration, and that by a repeal of the above-mentioned law, or by such modification of it as may be deemed expedient, you will exhibit your anxiety to promote the general welfare of the Province, and to cherish the spirit of private enterprise when it tends to the public improvement."
It was signed by Lawrence Herchmer, John Kerby, Peter Smith, and John Cumming as Managers, and dated at Kingston on 23rd October, 1818.
Its prayer met with a certain degree of favour and an act was passed at that session "to relieve Vessels propelled by Steam Power from paying the said duty on the space occupied by the engine, machinery and fuel."
The owners were not satisfied with this remission, and at the session of 1821, they asked to be relieved of the payment of lighthouse duty altogether and a bill was introduced to meet their wishes. This met with strong opposition. The bill was amended in committee; a division was taken on the motion to receive the report of the committee of the whole, which was carried by only two votes. The bill was read a third time, after a division, by a majority of two in a House of thirty members, and it was finally passed in the form of an act, "further to relieve vessels and small craft from the payment of lighthouse tonnage duty."
Their success in building and navigating the Frontenac soon encouraged the owners to undertake the construction of another steamship on the same stocks, which was given the name of the Queen Charlotte, and was employed in the transportation of passengers and goods between Kingston and Montreal, as announced in the advertisement given below, thus establishing steamship navigation from Montreal to Niagara:
"An Elegant Passage Boat will also leave Kingston every tenth day for Montreal, which will be fitted up in the most commodious manner and prevent any delay to passengers leaving the upper part of the lake in the Steam Boat Frontenac, it having been built for the purpose of leaving this place immediately after her arrival.
"These arrangements will take effect at the opening of the navigation, and be continued during the season.
THOMAS MARKLAND.
PETER SMITH.
LAWRENCE HERKIMER.
JOHN KIRBY.
WILLIAM MITCHELL.
Kingston, February, 1819." [8]
It is stated that after many years of service the Frontenac was burned by accident while on the lake near Niagara, but the date of this loss is not recorded. [9]
Her construction and employment on the lake marks the beginning of an important era in the history of the internal navigation of the country.
NOTES.
1. The most detailed description of the place about this time, that I have seen, is contained in a petition signed by Benjamin Fairfield and thirty others, praying for the incorporation of the village in front of the township of Ernesttown as a town by the name of Ernestville. It states that "the said Village has a good Harbour which is already established as a Port of Entry and Clearance, with commodious shipyard for the building of vessels, and a good safe shore for the construction of wharves for the loading and unloading of vessels. That from the situation of the said Village upon the Lake, and in relation to a populous and productive country around it, the produce of which will naturally be thence exported to market in exchange for goods, wares and merchandise there imported, it seems destined to be a place of very considerable commercial business. That it already contains an Episcopal Church, the Meeting place of a Presbyterian Congregation, although they have not yet a Church erected there, an Academy, a Post Office, a Social Library, Inns for the accommodation of Travellers, Stores and Shops and is increasing in buildings, population and business." This petition was presented to the Legislative Assembly on 4th March, 1818.
2. In a letter to Hon. John Wilson Croker, Secretary to the Admiralty, dated 21st May, 1814, written from the squadron at anchor off Sackett’s Harbour, Yeo praised Mackenzie in the highest terms.
"I beg leave to call their Lordships’ attention to a very worthy man and excellent officer, Mr. James Mackenzie, master of this ship," he wrote. "He has performed the duty of master attendant in Kingston yard, ever since I have been in this country, and tho’ Commissioner Wodehouse declared to me that with the whole strength of Halifax yard, he could not make the sails for the two new frigates, but would transmit my demand to England, yet Mr. Mackenzie, without the aid of any regular sailmaker, cut out all the sails and had them ready by the opening of the navigation tho’ I could not procure the canvas before the middle of February. He has also by a judicious arrangement and conversion of stores saved much to the public and without which this squadron could not have been equipped until the arrival of the supplies from England, which will not reach Kingston before July."