Steam Navigation

Appendices

I. Captain John Ericsson

The name and fame of the inventor of the screw propeller are less widely known in Britain than in America, and in neither country, perhaps, has full justice been done to his memory. As a mechanical genius, he was one of the most remarkable men of his time, and did much to promote the development of steam navigation.

Ericsson was born in the Province of Vermeland, in Sweden, in the year 1803. Coming to England in 1826, he entered into partnership with Braithwaite, a noted mechanician, in London, and there and then entered upon his remarkable career as an inventor. In 1836 he married Amelia, daughter of Mr. John Byam, second son of Sir John Byam. Accompanied by his wife, he came to the United States, arriving at New York, in the British Queen, November 2nd, 1839. His wife, however, soon afterwards returned to England, and during the rest of their lives, “by an amicable arrangement,” the Atlantic rolled between.

Before leaving England, Ericsson had already patented a number of his inventions. One of the first of these was a machine for compressing air, a discovery which has since proved valuable in the construction of long tunnels and in many other ways. The introduction of his system of artificial draught was the key-note of the principle on which rapid locomotion chiefly depends. He electrified London with his steam fire-engine, but the conservative authorities would not countenance “a machine that consumed so much water!” In 1829 he entered into competition with Robert Stephenson, when a prize of £500 was offered for the best locomotive. He came off second-best, but it was a feather in his cap that his locomotive, the Novelty, glided smoothly over the track at the amazing speed of thirty miles an hour! His experiments with hot air occupied much of his time, and not without valuable results. His forte, however, was in the construction of steam-engines, of which he designed a large number, introducing many new principles, some of which were destined to survive.

Ericsson’s first stroke of business in the United States made him famous. The Princeton war-ship (see page 69), built at the Philadelphia navy-yard under his direction, and fitted with his screw propeller, proved a great success, and gained him the favour and patronage of the government officials. Soon after the completion of the Princeton, he embarked in what he then accounted the greatest enterprise of his life—

The Caloric Ship “Ericsson.”

With the financial assistance of several wealthy friends in New York, Ericsson proceeded to build a large sea-going vessel, to be propelled by means of hot air. It was a costly experiment, involving an outlay of $500,000, the engines alone costing $130,000. The cylinders were 168 inches in diameter, with six-feet stroke. The machinery was in motion within seven months of the laying of the vessel’s keel. On her trial trip the Ericsson attained a speed of eight miles an hour, and subsequently as much as eleven miles an hour. The Ericsson was at once a success and a failure. She sustained the inventor’s theory as to the power of heated air, but so excessive was the temperature of the air required to develop the power, the cylinders were warped out of shape and some of the fittings were burned to a crisp. The costly experiment was consequently abandoned. The caloric engine was replaced by an ordinary steam-engine, and thus transformed the Ericsson earned her living for many years.

The “Monitor.”

This further product of Ericsson’s fertile brain is in the form of an armour-protected, semi-submerged steam vessel for war purposes, and first came prominently into notice in connection with the memorable contest which took place in Hampton Roads on the 9th of March, 1862, between the Merrimac and Monitor. The former was an old wooden vessel refitted by the Confederate Government at Norfolk navy-yard, and covered with protective armour to the water-line. The Monitor was a flat iron boat resembling a scow, with nothing visible above water save the flush deck, from the centre of which rose a massive iron tower containing two guns of heavy calibre. The “cheese-box,” as the Monitor was contemptuously styled, held her own against the Merrimac, which carried eleven guns. It was a drawn battle, but a victory for Ericsson, and resulted in many other steam vessels of this description being built for harbour and coast defence under his supervision.

John Ericsson died in New York on the 8th of March, 1889. Vide “Ericsson and His Inventions,” in Atlantic Monthly for July, 1862, and “John Ericsson, the Engineer,” in Scribner’s Magazine for March, 1890.

II. The Whaleback was invented and patented some years ago by Captain McDougall, of Duluth, a long-headed and level-headed Scotchman hailing from the famed island of Islay. The peculiarity of its construction consists in its elliptical form, combining strength of hull, cheapness of first cost and working, and large carrying capacity upon a light draught of water. Having no masts, the whaleback is entirely dependent on its steam-power, which in case of a breakdown or heavy weather renders the vessel helpless and unmanageable; but, on the other hand, it is contended that so long as she has sufficient water under her she is practically unsinkable. She has no deck to speak of, and consequently nothing to wash overboard save the waves, which play harmlessly over her arched roofing. Her hold is, so to speak, hermetically sealed. Though chiefly intended to carry freight, the capabilities of the whaleback as a passenger steamer have been satisfactorily tested. The Christopher Columbus, built on this principle, did duty as an excursion steamer at the Chicago World’s Fair, and is now plying regularly as a passenger boat between Chicago and Milwaukee—the largest excursion steamer, so it is said, in the world, “having a carrying capacity of 5,000, which number of persons she has comfortably transported on a number of occasions.” The steamer is 362 feet in length, has engines of 2,800 horse-power, and runs at the rate of twenty miles an hour. A considerable number of “whalebacks” are now engaged in the Upper Lakes grain and iron ore trade, all of them having been built by the Steel Barge Company at West Superior.

The above cut is a faithful representation of a type of steamer peculiar to the Upper Lakes, which, though somewhat odd-looking, is said to answer its purpose well as a grain-carrier.

The latest addition to the fleet is the biggest vessel of her class, and just now the largest grain-carrier on the lakes. This vessel, named after the inventor, Alexander McDougall, is 130 feet in length over all, 50 feet moulded breadth, and 27 feet in depth. Her double bottom is five feet deep, giving her a total water ballast capacity of 2,000 tons. Her displacement on a draught of 18 feet is about 10,000 tons, and she is able to carry the enormous cargo of 7,200 tons, equivalent to 240,000 bushels of wheat. She is built of steel, and has quadruple expansion engines. The only departure from the original whaleback in this instance is the substitution of the perpendicular stem for the “swinish snout” or “spoon bow,” which has called forth so many uncomplimentary remarks, and which is much in evidence in our cut.

In 1891 the whaleback Wetmore was the first of this class of vessels to bring a cargo of grain from the Upper Lakes to Montreal and continue the voyage to Liverpool, where she arrived safely on July 21st. From Liverpool the Wetmore sailed to the Pacific coast via Cape Horn, and while carrying a cargo of coal from Puget Sound to San Francisco she was disabled in a violent storm, went ashore, and was wrecked.

III. The Turret Steamship

The hull of the turret ship closely resembles that of the whaleback, but instead of the “spoon bow” it has the straight stem, and is further distinguished by a “turret deck,” so called, about one-third the width of the vessel and extending over its entire length, at a height of some five or six feet above the turn of the hull. This forms the working deck, and towering above it are the bridge, the cook’s galley, the engineers’ quarters, and other two-story erections, forming an unship-shapely tout ensemble of a most unprepossessing appearance; and yet, this is the type of steamship at one time seriously proposed by the contractors for the Canadian fast-line service! There are some thirty-five such vessels afloat in different parts of the world, all built at Sunderland, and most of them engaged in the coal trade, for which they are said to be well adapted.

The Turret Age, which plies between Sydney, C.B., and Montreal during the season of navigation, was built in 1893, and is owned by Messrs. Peterson, Tate & Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne. She is one of the largest of her class, being 311 feet in length, 38.2 feet in width, and 21.6 feet deep. She is propelled by a single screw, has a speed of eleven knots, and carries 3,700 tons of coal. Her capacious, unobstructed hold and continuous hatchway permit of loading and discharging cargo with marvellous rapidity, and she is said to be a fairly good sea-boat.

IV. Water Jet System of Propulsion

While Ericsson, Smith, Woodcroft and Lowe were busying themselves with experiments for perfecting the principle of the submerged screw as a means of propelling vessels through the water, another plan was being devised which, for a time, excited much interest, and was very nearly becoming a success. This was Ruthven’s water-jet propeller. It differed from Ericsson’s in the singular fact that the actual propeller was placed inside of the ship instead of on the outside. This propeller, in the shape of a fan-wheel with curved blades, was made to revolve horizontally and rapidly in a tank of water placed in the hold of the vessel, fed from the sea through openings in the hull. The power of the steam-engine was applied to expelling the water from this tank through curved pipes with nozzles, on either side of the ship. In proportion to the velocity with which the water was forced through these pipes into the sea below the water-line, an impetus in the opposite direction was given to the vessel. The nozzles were so constructed that they could be turned easily towards the bow or stern, as occasion required, for forward or backward motion. The first experiment with this appliance was made by Messrs. Ruthven, of Edinburgh, on the Frith of Forth, with an iron boat 40 feet in length, in 1843, when a speed of seven miles an hour was attained. The Enterprise, 90 feet long and 100 tons burthen, was built on this principle, and made her trial trip, January 16th, 1854, when she developed a speed of 9.35 miles an hour. This vessel was intended for the deep-sea fishing, and the jet-propeller was suggested in this case as being less liable to become entangled with the nets than the screw or paddle. The water-jet system was also tried on a Rhine passenger steamboat with some measure of success; but while the theory was upheld, it seems to have failed in practice, because the results in speed and in other respects were not proportioned to the working power and the consumption of fuel. See En. Britannica, 8th ed., vol. xx., p. 661.

V. The Cigar Steamboat

Experiments with this style of river craft have been frequent on both sides of the Atlantic without, however, being followed by substantial success. So long ago as 1835, the Rapid, consisting of two hollow cylinders, pointed at either end in cigar fashion, placed ten feet apart, with a large wheel between them in the centre, appeared on the Upper St. Lawrence, fitted with the steam-engine of the superannuated Jack Downing. Her first trip down the river was also her last, for, after many fruitless attempts to return, she was wrecked, and for a time abandoned. Eventually, she was towed, by way of the Ottawa and Rideau canals, to Ogdensburg, where she was refitted and plied for some time as a ferry boat. A very pretty specimen of a cigar-boat built of iron, with an elegant superstructure, the writer remembers having seen on the Clyde more than half a century ago, but as to its career and ultimate fate deponent sayeth not. A twin-boat steamer, reminding us of Patrick Miller’s first attempt at steam-boating, propelled, however, by side-wheels, may be seen any day during the season of navigation dragging its slow length along on the ferry from Laprairie to the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence, near Montreal.

VI. The Roller Steamboat

The reader is requested to put on his thinking cap before endeavouring to comprehend the brief reference now to be made to Mr. Knapp’s “Roller.” On the 8th of September, 1897, there was launched from the yard of the well-known Polson’s Iron Works Company in Toronto, an enlarged model of the strangest craft ever seen—a huge innovation upon all preconceived ideas of marine architecture. The exterior of the boat in question, if it can be called a boat, has all the appearance of a round boiler 110 feet long and 25 feet in diameter. The outer cylinder is built of one-quarter inch steel plates stoutly ribbed and riveted, and armed with a number of fins, or small paddles, the ends being funnel-shaped, with openings in the centre. This is made to revolve by means of two engines of 60 horse-power each, placed one at either end of the vessel. An inner cylinder similarly constructed, corresponding to the hold of a ship, remains stationary while the other is supposed to be rolling over the surface of the water, regardless of wind and waves, at railway speed. The modest calculation of the inventor is that a steam vessel so constructed of 700 feet in length and 150 feet in diameter, ought to cover the distance between New York and Liverpool in forty-eight hours! This model was built at a cost of $10,000. The results of the trial trip on Toronto Bay have not been made public.

VII. The “Turbinia.”

In June, 1897, there appeared on the Solent, at the time of the great Jubilee Naval Review, a steam vessel furnished with a novel method of propulsion, by which a speed far in excess of any previous record was attained. In the opinion of competent experts this new application of steam-power is likely to bring about in the near future a revolution in steam navigation. The following account of this phenomenal craft appeared in the Montreal Star:

“London, July 5th, 1897.

“The record-breaking 100-foot torpedo boat Turbinia has intensely interested the public here generally, and experts in marine engineering in particular. It is admitted that if the principle of the steam turbine invented by Charles Parsons and fitted in the Turbinia can be extended to large ships, it will mark the greatest revolution in mechanics since the invention of the steam-engine itself.

“Mr. Wolff, M. P. for Belfast, head of the famous firm of Harland & Wolff, of Belfast, and himself the designer of the White Star Liners, says:

“‘I saw the Turbinia at Spithead going nearly eight miles an hour faster than any vessel had ever gone before, and even then she was not being pushed to her full speed. She passed quite close to the Teutonic, on which I was. She dashed along with marvellous speed and smoothness.

“‘I must say, however, that I felt more secure on the Teutonic than I should have felt on the Turbinia, for you know they have not yet surmounted the difficulty of reversing the engine. She can go ahead forty miles an hour but can only reverse at less than four.

“‘If Parsons can make a similar turbine engine practicable for big craft with proper reversing power, he will open a new era in the history of steam motors. But, although he has carried the economizing of steam to a great pitch for a turbine engine, still from my observation the waste of both steam and fuel under his system, if applied on a large scale, would be almost fatal. That there is a big future before his turbine engine for launches and other small craft I do not doubt, provided that he can get over the reversing difficulty.’”

The Scientific American, in its issue of June 26th, 1897, says: “Nothing more startling has ever occurred than the wonderful runs which have recently been made by a little craft called the Turbinia, in which the motive power is supplied by a steam turbine of the Parsons type.”

Quoting from a paper read at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, by the Hon. Charles A. Parsons, the inventor of this new system, the advantages of the turbine system are thus summarized:

“(1) Greatly increased speed, owing to diminution of weight and smaller steam consumption; (2) increased carrying power of vessel; (3) increased economy in coal consumption; (4) increased facilities for navigating shallow waters; (5) increased stability of vessel; (6) reduced weight of machinery; (7) reduced cost of attendance on machinery; (8) reduced size and weight of screw propellers and shafting; (9) absence of vibration; (10) lowered centre of gravity of machinery, and reduced risk in time of war.

“The Turbinia is 100 ft. in length, 9 ft. beam, 3 ft. draught amidships, and 44½ tons displacement. She has three screw shafts, each directly driven by a compound steam turbine of the parallel flow type. The three turbines are in series, and the steam is expanded—at full power—from a pressure of 170 pound absolute, at which it reaches the motor, to a pressure of one pound absolute, at which it is condensed. The shafts are slightly inclined, and each carries three crews, making nine in all. The screws have a diameter of 18 in., and when running at full speed they make 2,200 revolutions per minute. Steam is supplied from a water tube boiler, and the draught is forced by a fan, mounted on the prolongation of the low pressure motor shaft, the advantage of this arrangement being that the draught is increased as the demand for steam increases, and also that the power to drive the fan is obtained directly from the main engines.

“Up to the present the maximum mean speed attained has been 32¾ knots, as the mean of two consecutive runs on the measured mile. These runs were made after about four hours’ steaming at other speeds, and the boat on the day of the trials had been fifteen days in the water. It is anticipated that on subsequent trials, after some alterations to the steam pipe, still higher mean speeds will be obtained.

“It is believed that when boats of 200 feet in length and upward are fitted with compound turbine motors, speeds of 35 to 40 knots may be easily obtained in vessels of the destroyer class, and it is also believed that the turbine will—in a lesser degree—enable higher speeds to be realized in all classes of passenger vessels.”

Referring to the difficulty of reversing the engines of the Turbinia, the Scientific American adds, that “by using a system of ‘butterfly’ reversing steam valves, a motor has been constructed in which the steam may be made to flow through the blades of the turbine in either direction, the whole horse-power of the engines being thus available for going astern.” Detailed drawings and descriptions of the Turbinia and the new motor may be found in the supplements of the Scientific American (New York) for June 26th, 1897, and March 12th, 1898.

Footnotes

1 “The Atlantic Ferry,” p. 175.

2 If my recollection serves me aright, there were not more than a dozen cabin passengers, and the only one of them who ventured aloft with me was my now venerable friend, Mr. Robert W. Graham, of the Montreal Star.

3 “Denis Papin,” by Henry C. Ewart, in Sunday Magazine, 1880, p. 316.

4 Mr. Symington’s account of his interview with Mr. Fulton, as given in the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” is as follows: “When engaged in these experiments, I was called upon by Mr. Fulton, who told me he was lately from North America, and intended returning thither in a few months, but could not think of leaving this country without first waiting upon me in expectation of seeing the boat, and procuring such information regarding it as I might be pleased to communicate.... In compliance with his earnest request, I caused the engine fire to be lighted up, and in a short time thereafter put the steamboat in motion, and carried him four miles west on the canal, returning to the point from which we started in one hour and twenty minutes (being at the rate of six miles an hour), to the great astonishment of Mr. Fulton and several gentlemen, who at our outset chanced to come on board. During the trip Mr. Fulton asked if I had any objection to his taking notes regarding the steamboat, to which I made no objection, as I considered the more publicity that was given to any discovery intended for the general good, so much the better.... In consequence he pulled out a memorandum book, and, after putting several pointed questions respecting the general construction and effect of the machine, which I answered in a most explicit manner, he jotted down particularly everything then described, with his own observations upon the boat during the trip.”

5 “The Story of Helensburgh,” 1894, p. 92.

6 These cuts, copied from Stanton’s “American Steam Vessels,” represent first class Mississippi and Ohio light-draught, high-pressure river steamers. The J. M. White, of 1878, was deemed “a crowning effort in steamboat architecture in the West.” She was 320 feet long and 91 feet in width, over the guards. Her saloons were magnificently furnished, and all her internal fittings of the most elaborate description. She carried 7,000 bales of cotton and had accommodation for 350 cabinpassengers. Her cost was $300,000. She was totally destroyed by fire in 1886.

7 “Our Ocean Railways,” p. 69.

8 Sufficient importance was attached to this matter to cause the two Houses of Parliament, in Ottawa, to order a brass tablet, commemorative of the event, to be placed in the corridor of the Library of Parliament. The tablet, of which a facsimile is presented in our frontispiece, was unveiled with fitting ceremony by His Excellency the Governor-General, on the occasion of the opening of the Colonial Conference, June 28th, 1894.—Vide: “The Journals of the Colonial Conference” (Appendix); “Journal of the House of Commons,” 1894; “Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada.”

9 Others say 10½ days.

10 Fry’s “History of Steam Navigation,” p. 182.

11 Encyclopedia Britannica, 8th Ed., Vol. xx, p. 657.

12 “Our Ocean Railways,” p. 75.

13 For at least a hundred and fifty years the Post Office Department had maintained a fleet of armed mail “packets.” They had stations at Dover, Harwich, Holyhead, Milford, Yarmouth and Falmouth, the last-named being the headquarters of the fleet. During the time of the American war, 1812-15, no fewer than thirty-two sanguinary battles were fought with American privateers by the Falmouth packets, which, in a majority of instances, successfully resisted their assailants.

14 Sir John Burns in Good Words for 1887, p. 261.

15 Fry’s “History,” p. 240.

16 The invention is claimed for Canada in Chapter X., under the heading of “New Brunswick.”

17 The St. Paul, St. Louis, Paris and New York have all been taken over by the United States Government and fitted up as armed cruisers, the names of the last two being changed to Harvard and Yale.

18 Fry’s “History,” p. 193.

19 The Germanic has since been overhauled and has now a set of triple expansion engines, making her a seventeen-knot boat. In July, 1895, she crossed from Queenstown to New York in 6 days, 23 hours, 45 minutes.

20 Fry’s “History,” p. 180.

21 A missionary of the Church of England, who ministered to a few poor fishermen at Terence Bay, at the imminent risk of his life put off to the wreck in a small boat and succeeded in saving the life of the first officer of the ship after all hope of further rescue had been abandoned, and when even the hardy fishermen forbade the rash attempt. Mr. Ancient had formerly been attached to the British navy, and during this heartrending scene acted the part of a hero in his efforts to save life and to relieve the sufferings of the survivors. Captain Williams was severely censured, and had his certificate suspended for two years.

22 This was written before the Hispano-American war began; since then several of these vessels have been employed by the United States Government with a change of nomenclature.

23 “U. S. A. Report on Navigation for 1896,” p. 104.

24 Last April the great Kaiser surpassed her previous record, making the voyage from New York to Southampton (3,065 knots) in 5 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes, showing an average speed of 22.35 knots per hour.

25 The “Bourgogne” Disaster.—Since the sinking of the Eutopia in Gibraltar Bay in 1891, no such marine disaster has occurred as that which recently befell the SS. Bourgogne—a, tragedy in some respects the most appalling that has ever been recorded. This vessel of 7,795 tons—one of the finest of the French line of steamers—sailed from New York for Havre on the 2nd of July, 1898, with a ship’s company, including passengers and crew, of 726 souls. Early on the morning of the 4th, when about sixty miles south of Sable Island, during a dense fog, and while running at the rate of some eighteen knots an hour, she came into collision with the British sailing ship Cromartyshire, of 1,554 tons, and in a very short time foundered, carrying down with her about 520 persons. Had it not been for her collision bulkhead the Cromartyshire must have sunk, too. As it was, she was badly damaged, but hove to all day in the hope of picking up survivors. In the meantime the Allan SS. Grecian came up to the scene of the disaster, the rescued passengers were taken on board, and the disabled ship was towed into Halifax harbour. The survivors were the purser of the steamship, three engineers, thirty of the crew, and 170 passengers—204 in all. Of the seventy-two ladies in the first cabin only one was saved. Captain Deloncle, commander of the Bourgogne, was a lieutenant in the navy, and a knight of the Legion of Honour, having under him a competent staff of officers who appear to have done what they could to save the lives of others. All of them went down with their ship into the sailor’s grave. The loss of life was appalling, but even more heartrending were the accounts given of the barbarous conduct of some of the steerage passengers and sailors in the terrible struggle for self-preservation.

26 Fry’s “History,” p. 309.

27 “Whitaker’s Almanack,” 1897, p. 543.

28 “Our Ocean Railways,” p. 119.

29 “Statistical Year-Book, 1896,” under Railways, p. 20.

30 The Duke of Wellington was 240.6 feet long, 60 feet beam, 3,826 tons burthen, and 2,500 horse-power. She was engined by Robert Napier & Sons, Glasgow, with geared engines and wooden cogs, and made 10.2 knots an hour on her trial trip in 1853. The Rattler, of 1851, was 179½ feet long, 32¾ feet beam, had geared engines of 436 horse-power, and attained a speed of 10 knots.

31 See also p. 90.

32 Based on a compilation by Captain W. H. Smith.

33 “Encyclopedia Brit.,” Vol. xvii., p. 581, 8th Ed.

34 The Angloman was wrecked on the Skerries, in the Irish Sea, in February, 1897. The crew were rescued, but the ship, with her valuable cargo and a large number of cattle, became a total loss, though fully covered by insurance.

35 The SS. Memphis, of the African Steamship Company, but employed by the Elder, Dempster Line, went ashore on the west coast of Ireland in a fog in November, 1896, and became a total wreck. Ten of the crew were drowned and 350 head of cattle.

36 The Manchester ship canal is 35 miles long, 120 feet bottom width, and 26 feet in depth. The docks at Manchester cover 104 acres and have five miles of quays. It was estimated to cost £10,000,000 sterling, but cost over £15,000,000 before it was completed. Arrangements are in progress by a Manchester syndicate for the establishment of a weekly line of steamships of 8,500 tons capacity, to be provided with cold storage and the most approved equipments for carrying live stock. The best modern appliances for loading and discharging cargo, grain elevators being included, are among the attractions which enterprising Manchester presents to the shipping trade of Canada.

37 “Montreal Board of Trade Report, 1897,” pp. 52, 88.

38 DIMENSIONS OF THE GREAT LAKES.

LAKES.	Length. (Miles.)	Greatest Width. (Miles.)	Depth. (Feet.)	Above Sea. (Feet.)	Area. (Sq. Miles.)
Ontario	180	65	500	247	7,300
Erie	240	80	210	573	10,000
Huron	280	190	802	581	24,000
Michigan ‡	335	88	868	581	25,600
Superior	420	160	1,008	601	32,000
‡ Lake Michigan lies wholly within the United States.

39 These figures refer exclusively to vessels belonging to the merchant marine of the United States on the Great Lakes and are taken from official reports.

40 Mr. C. H. Keep, in his report on the “Internal Commerce of the United States for 1891,” has given a graphic History of Navigation on the Great Lakes, and is our chief authority for these notes on the early American lake steamers.

41 Robertson’s “Landmarks of Toronto,” p. 847.

42 Bryce’s “Short History of the Canadian People,” p. 333.

43 Hugh McLennan’s “Lecture on Canadian Waterways, 1885.”

44 The setting-pole might be twenty-five feet long, heavily shod with iron at one end and at the other fitted with a rounded knob. This pole was dropped into the water at the bow of the boat, and the boatman having put his shoulder to the other end of it, facing the stern, and pushing with all his might, walked to the farther end, cleats being fastened to the deck to give him foothold. By the time he reached the stern the barge had advanced exactly its own length, when he withdrew the pole, dragged it to the bow and repeated the process. Two or three men on each side of the boat would be similarly employed, and so the barge dragged its slow length along, much after the fashion of the horse-boat, only that the horse tugged at a stationary post while the men pushed from it.

45 Kingsford’s “Canadian Canals” (Toronto, 1865) contains an elaborate history of the Welland and the financial difficulties that attended its construction. The Imperial Government seem to have contributed some £55,555 towards it, while stock was taken in the enterprise by individuals in the United States for £69,625, and by English capitalists, £30,137. The first vessels to pass through the canal are said to have been the schooners Ann and Jane and R. H. Boughton, in November, 1829. On the 5th of July, 1841, during the first session of the United Parliament of Canada, Lord Sydenham announced that Her Majesty had confirmed the bill for transferring the Welland to the Provincial Government.
Mr. McLennan states that the first Canadian vessel to pass through the Welland was the propeller Ireland, Captain Patterson.

46 The schooner Niagara, built by Muirs, of Port Dalhousie, was sent to Liverpool with 20,000 bushels of wheat about the year 1860. Captain Gaskin, of Kingston, built several sea-going vessels, one of which he took over to Liverpool himself and sold her there. But experience has proved that vessels suited to the navigation of the lakes will never be able to compete successfully with ocean steamships of 10,000 tons.

47 “Report of Dominion Railways and Canals, 1895,” p. 256.

48 “Montreal Board of Trade Report, 1897,” p. 70.

49 Vide page 26 of said Report.

50 “Buffalo Board of Trade Report, 1895,” p. 98.

51 “United States Deep Waterways Commission Report, 1896.”

52 “Chicago Board of Trade Report, 1895.”

53 “United States Deep Waterways Commission Report, 1896.”

54 “United States International Commerce Report, 1892,” p. 52.

55 For these notes on the Erie Canal the author is chiefly indebted to Kingsford’s “Canadian Canals,” Mr. Thomas C. Keefer, C. E., Ottawa, and the Superintendent’s “Report on Canals in the State of New York, 1896.”

56 The latest improvement in this direction is what is called the “Grain Sucker,” by which the process of loading and unloading cargoes of grain is accomplished with astonishing speed. The new appliance combines in its construction the main features of the ordinary elevator, and causes the grain to go through all the different movements above described, with this difference, that instead of the leg with the belt and bucket, the grain is elevated to the top of the structure on the principle of suction through a flexible pipe. The air being drawn off by pumps from the vacuum chamber, the grain is sucked up like water from a well. Machines of this kind, fitted with any number of these pipes that may be required, are used at the London docks, and are said to be capable of transferring wheat at the rate of a hundred and fifty tons an hour—Vide Strand Magazine for May, 1898.

57 “The steamship Bannockburn and consorts left Fort William on the 3rd instant loaded with 220,000 bushels of No. 1 hard wheat for Mr. W. W. Ogilvie’s mills. This is the largest shipment that ever left the port.”—Montreal Gazette, June 5th, 1896.

58 The weight that can be hauled by a locomotive depends largely on the gradients of the road traversed. Winnipeg and Fort William are nearly on the same sea level, but between them the line of railway ascends and descends some 800 feet, limiting the drawing power of a sixty-ton locomotive in certain sections to, say, 900 tons. On a level road a large American locomotive will easily draw sixty cars containing 1,000 bushels of wheat each, or a total weight of 3,000 tons. As with steamships, the tendency is to increase the size of the locomotive. There is this difference, however: the weight and power of the locomotive are limited by the strength of the rail upon which it travels.

59 Since these lines were written, three stationary elevators have been erected at Kingston—one by the Montreal Transportation Company, with a capacity of 800,000 bushels; one by the Moore Company, for 500,000 bushels, and one by James Richardson & Sons, for 250,000 bushels. The Prescott Elevator Company has erected one at Prescott of 1,000,000 capacity, and still another has been built at Coteau Landing in connection with the Canada Atlantic Railway system, with 500,000 capacity. All indications are that the enlargement of the St. Lawrence canals is confidently expected to result in a large increase in the Canadian grain trade and forwarding business. There are sixteen floating elevators in Montreal harbour, capable of handling from 4,000 to 8,000 bushels of grain each per hour.

60 The following paragraph, taken from the North-Western Miller for November 12th, 1897, doubtless reflects the opinion of the majority of Western grain dealers in the United States, with whom the feeling of sentiment for the “natural route” is of small account: “The steel barge Amazon left Fort William recently loaded with 205,000 bushels of Manitoba hard wheat for Buffalo, indicating that the Buffalo route is still at its best, and that the monster craft is cutting off the Montreal route as effectively as could be desired by any rival.”

61 We have good authority for quoting the rates of the summer of 1897 as follows: Duluth to Buffalo, 1½ cents per bushel; Buffalo to New York, by the Erie Canal, 3½ cents; New York to Liverpool, 5 cents; elevator charges, ⅞ of 1 cent; total, 10⅞ cents per bushel. Fort William to Kingston, 3½ cents; Kingston to Montreal, 2 cents; Montreal to Liverpool, 5¼ cents, including port charges; total, 10¾ cents per bushel. In 1857 the average rate by lake and canal on a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York was 25.29 cents per bushel; now it is less than 6 cents. The reduction in cost of transmission is due to improved methods of handling freight, deeper channels, larger vessels and more rapid conveyance.

62 Mr. John Ross Robertson’s “Landmarks of Toronto” (Toronto: 1896) contains an account of nearly all the steamboats that have plied on Lake Ontario and the Upper St. Lawrence from 1816 to 1895.

63 From notes by Rev. Professor Bryce, LL. D., of Winnipeg.

64 Mr. J. A. Thomson, Inspector of Steamboats for British Columbia, furnished the information contained in these notes.

65 Vancouver Island was at that time a British possession—leased to the Hudson’s Bay Company. When the lease expired, in 1859, the Island was made a Crown colony, and the old fort, with the large cattle farm attached to it, became the site of the beautiful city of Victoria, with its fine streets, electric railways, magnificent public buildings, palatial residences, a population of 23,000, and real estate valued at $20,000,000. The Island and British Columbia were made one Province in 1866, and entered the Dominion in 1871.

66 Since these lines were penned the rush to the Klondike has given an immense impetus to the steamboat business of British Columbia.

67 From notes by Rev. Robert Murray, Halifax.

68 The largest graving-dock in the world is said to be the one built for the Clyde Trust at Govan, on the Clyde, and recently opened. It is 880 feet long, 115 feet wide and has 26½ feet of water on the sill. The Clyde Trust are evidently looking ahead. There may be no ships of 850 feet in sight at the moment, but there is no telling how soon there will be. The Govan dock is ready for them. In the meantime it has been partitioned off into two parts by still gates, the outer division being 460 feet in length, and the inner, 420 feet.

69 Information furnished by Mr. Keith A. Barber, of H. M. Customs, St. John, N. B.

70 Information supplied by Mr. W. F. Hales, of Charlottetown.

71 By the kindness of Rev. Moses Harvey, D.D., of St. John’s.

72 “Statistical Year Book of Canada, 1896,” p. 280.

73 “Report U. S. Commissioner on Navigation, 1896,” p. 201.

74 “Report U. S. Commissioner on Navigation, 1896,” p. 127.