The dredge Nipissing, a steam yacht, the schooner William Jamieson and the steamer North King c1891
click here to enlarge the image

from the Port Hope Watchman  August 22, 1851
PORT HOPE HARBOUR COMPANY
It will be seen from the annexed Parliamentary report, which we copy from the Examiner, that the bill to increase the capital of the Port Hope Harbour Company, has been thrown out by the House. Mr Cameron of Cornwall moved that the House go into committee of the whole on the bill to increase the capital stock of the Port Hope Harbour Company on Wednesday next.

Mr Smith of Durham went over the document recently published by the house on the subject of this harbour, and said as the government had refused to take the work in hand, they ought to leave the town council and harbour company to settle the legal dispute now pending between them, and not by this bill indirectly to recognize the existence of the company, which was believed to have forfeited all right to its charter. The proposal to allow the company to expend £5000 was a recognition of the legal existence of the company, and so it would be regarded by the hon member for Cornwall when he came to argue the case before a Jury.

And yet the company admit that they have not fulfilled the conditions of their charter. This was admitted in their petition to this house, wherein they state that they have expended their capital in building store houses and piers, and dredging; they had made no harbour to afford protection to vessels. Yet they charge higher tolls than any other harbour on the lake. In one week they received £100; and in the year £3000; yet according to the estimate of the engineer of the value of the works they had expended only £5000. He mentioned these facts to show that they receive sufficient tolls to enable them to make a good harbour. The greater part of the stock is held by one family; the thing has become a perfect monopoly; and for 15 years they have not divided a penny among the stockholders, for the reason that the stockholders out of the family hold but little stock, and they do not think it worth their while to go into Chancery. The bill proposed a piece of special private legislation. He then read the professional opinion of Mr Wilson, who is employed as counsel for the town of Port Hope, as to the effect the bill would have, which he (Mr W) regarded as treating the company as an existing corporation; and this in spite of all provisions, for a company allowed to expend money is vested with power which cannot be exercised by a defunct corporation. Mr Smith concluded by moving that the bill be read this day three months.

Mr Cameron of Cornwall said the object of the member for Durham was to enable the town of Port Hope to obtain the property without paying a farthing for it. The opinion of Mr Wilson that had been read, he (Mr C) entirely dissented from.

In answer to the member for the town of Sherbrooke, Mr Smith explained that the time for finishing the harbour expired in 1844; that it not having been so completed, a suit had been commenced by the town to test the legal existence of the Company; which existence the bill before the house recognized and therefore unjustly interfered with a question which was now a subject of adjudication before the legal tribunals. He denied that the town of Port Hope desired to obtain the harbour without paying for it: they were willing to pay the value that may be put on it by arbitration. Mr Richards contended that the member for Cornwall had made out no case that should induce this house to legislate on a matter which was now a subject of adjudication before the courts. He thought under the circumstances the house ought not to recognize the existence of this company. It was absurd to say that the harbour would fall into hands of the town without its giving any compensation, if the Courts decided that the company had forfeited its charter.

The amendment was then put and carried—Yeas, 31; Nays, 21.



from 'History of the Great Lakes' by JB Mansfield  Published Chicago: JH Beers & Co 1899
Port Hope harbour is seven miles above Cobourg and twenty-three miles east one-half north of Darlington. The Port Hope Harbour & Wharf Co. was incorporated in 1829, and in 1832 obtained a loan from the government of $8,000. In 1852 this company sold the harbour to the town commissioners of Port Hope for $46,000. In 1864 authority was given to the Port Hope, Lindsay & Beaverton Railroad Co to acquire and hold the harbour.

In 1857 two rows of piers were extended into the lake to the 13-foot contour, and a basin was thus formed at their inner or northern extremity. The harbour was perfectly safe for vessels from any wind northeast or west, but not from wind from any other direction because of the swell that then entered the basin. A lighthouse was erected on the east pier.

Prior to Confederation the amount expended on this harbour by the government was $58,680, the works consisted of two piers, the eastern one extending 600 feet into the lake and the western one 480 feet. The width of the entrance was 104 feet, the piers reaching to the 13-foot contour at low water. There was a depth of 9 feet at the entrance to the harbour, which had an area of about three acres. In 1875/6 the western pier extended 150 feet and the eastern pier 120 feet, and the entrance was dredged to a depth of 13 feet. During the summer of 1882 the work of extending the eastern pier 100 feet more was commenced and considerable dredging also done. Up to June 30, 1882 the government had expended here $30,401.

In 1882 the east pier was completed and a contract was entered into for the construction of a breakwater from the west pier for $11,261. The west pier was completed by September, 1883.

The light here is called the Port Hope light and is about 110 feet from the extremity of the east breakwater, established in 1868.

(There was a light on Peter Rock, or Gull Island, three miles east by south from Port Hope, a fixed white light supported by an octagonal stone structure, established in 1844.)


from the Port Hope Watchman  Friday August 22, 1851
Collision on Lake Ontario—The schooner Col. Powers, of Oswego, commanded by Capt. Robert Miller, left this Port yesterday morning, loaded with lumber, bound for the Genesee River, and when about 30 miles out on the Lake, the brig Quebec, of Kingston, ran foul of the Col. Powers, and carried away her head sails and flying jib-boom, which rendered her unmanageable, and on returning to this Port for repairs, and nearing the shore, there was a heavy dead swell and no wind, which obliged Capt. Miller to throw out both anchors, which the vessel dragged and unfortunately went ashore this morning above the western pier of this harbour.

Capt. Miller informs us that the collision between his vessel and the Quebec was quite accidental, and attaches no more blame to the Captain of that vessel than he does to himself.

Captain Miller thinks that the Col. Powers can be got off in a day or two, without sustaining any material damage.


from the Guide  Saturday March 19, 1853
Launch of the New Schooner
On Tuesday last we witnessed the launch of the new schooner Admiral, owned by Messrs Bletcher, Wright & Harris. There were a great many persons assembled to see her go off, the more ambitious procuring for themselves places on the deck of the vessel. After some time spent in the necessary preparations, the supports were knocked away at about 5 o'clock, when she slid away into her destined element, with the grace and dignity of a young belle making her first entrance into a ball-room. The moment she began to move a tremendous cheer was raised, some of the most enthusiastic esconced behind a neighbouring shanty relieving their excited feeling by the simultaneous discharge of guns and hurrahs!

The schooner having been drawn close in shore, three times three were given by the persons on board in honour of the enterprising builders, and a supererogatory cheer just to show that their lungs were in no wise impaired by the previous exercise, after which there being nothing more to see, we turned our face towards home, breathing a wish that the gallant vessel whose debut we had just witnessed, might be as 'lucky' as if a good natured fairy had taken her under her especial care.


from the Guide  Saturday March 26, 1853
Our Harbour presents all the bustle of summer, last Sunday evening the large three masted Schooner, Indiana, from Oswego, with plaster, arrived here; and several Schooners are being loaded with pine lumber for Oswego. The fleet, which will be loaded, and ready for sea in a few days, will carry from fourteen to fifteen hundred thousand feet of Lumber. This is a pretty good beginning for the season's business. We understand that there will be between ten and twelve millions of feet sent from this Port the approaching season.

There is a new article of trade springing up this season, in the shape of Laths, which will soon be an item of considerable moment. We have noticed several waggons heavily loaded, pass down the street for the last fortnight, with sawed laths for the United States market. We shall be able at a future period, to give a fuller account of this new article of export.


from the Guide  June 3, 1854
The Launch of the New Vessel
On Saturday last, the 3rd inst, according to previous notice, the launch of this splendid vessel took place at the harbour in this town. A multitude of persons were assembled at each wharf, and as she glided off the stocks, the whoIe assemblage gave three hearty cheers for the Sarah Ann Marsh, (named after the third daughter of W S Marsh, Esq, of Hope, one of the owners). The 'colours' of the new vessel we understand were presented by Wm Bletcher, Esq, of this town.

Captain Jaynes, long and favourably known on the waters of Ontario, takes the command of the Sarah Ann.


from the Guide  July 8, 1854
ANOTHER NEW SCHOONER
We understand that it is the intention of Wm S Marsh, Esq, to commence the building of another schooner in a short time, and that he is now rafting Oak Lumber down the Lake for that purpose. The Lumber we observed is of the first quality, superior we think, to any we have ever seen. The new vessel is to be a three master and still larger than the Sarah Ann Marsh which was launched a few weeks ago, and at present is the largest vessel ever built in Port Hope. We hope the next enterprise Mr Marsh undertakes will be the building of a first class steamer to ply between Port Hope and Rochester, no doubt considerable stock would be taken in it by parties in town, if requisite. Perhaps Mr Marsh could be induced to alter his present intention of building a schooner and instead erect a steamboat, or he might be induced to undertake both at the same time.


from the Weekly Guide  Saturday September 23, 1854
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED
The Rochester Union says:- We are happy to learn that arrangements have been made for a daily line of steamers between this and the Canada ports across Lake Ontario. Tri-weekly steam communication is also to be opened with the Prince Edward District—a rich portion of the Province with which we have heretofore had no direct communication. Messrs. Bethune & Co., will next week place on the route with the Maple Leaf, the steamer Chief Justice Robinson, each leaving on the alternate day. The Maple Leaf will leave Rochester as heretofore, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, calling at Cobourg, Port Hope, and the other ports to Toronto. The Chief Justice Robinson will leave Rochester on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings, calling at Port Hope, Cobourg, Grafton, Ontario and a daily connection, without change of boats, to Port Hope and Cobourg. The arrangement will prove advantageous to all concerned.—
The people of Brighton, who have been so long endeavoring to get steam communication with Rochester, will now be accommodated. The Chief Justice is one of the staunchest sea-going steamers on the Lake, having been the winter boat from Toronto to Niagara. Though she is not among the fastest boats on the Lake, she is one of the safest.


Port Hope  Thursday December 4, 1856
The bodies of the two unfortunate men who were drowned yesterday in trying to save the crew of the Niagara, have been discovered this morning. One was found about one mile and a half east of the town; the other near Cobourg. An inquest is to be held this afternoon.

The vessel is a total wreck, and her timbers are strewed along for several miles.

A public meeting is to be called for the purpose of aiding the widow and orphans of the unfortunate Campbell, and to present the gallant volunteers who rescued the crew with a suitable testimonial.


from the Guide
Canoe tradition goes way back
If you think canoes are something new in Port Hope, get a load of this.

Earlier this week, longtime local historial Cal Clayton brought this excerpt from the Port Hope Times of about 1891 into the Evening Guide office:

'When the Port Hope boating club organized in 1869 and held its first regatta on Aug 19 of that year, the wharves were crowded with spectators of the various events. 'These included a sailing race for yachts. The pastime of boating reached its peak in 1887 with the formation of the Port Hope canoe club.

'There were reported to be 22 canoes owned in the town at that time. A commodore and vice-commodore were elected and a club flag devised to consist of a red burgee with white square in the centre containing the club 'totem' a dragonfly, with the letters PHCC in the corner of the square.'

Cal wonders if any of those old flags are still around in Port Hope cellars or attics. Does anyone have any clues?


Schooner Maria Annette at Port Hope harbour

from the Toronto Globe  Tuesday December 9, 1856
Real Heroism—The Wreck of the Schooner Niagara at Port Hope
The wreck of this vessel, on Wednesday last [Dec 3rd] was attended with loss of life under singular painful circumstances.

In endeavouring to make the harbour, she struck on the shoal to the east of it, and immediately careened over. It was blowing a terrific gale at the time, and the frost was so severe that every rope glistened like so much crystal. The hands first took shelter under the bulwarks on the quarter-deck, but these were soon carried away, and they were obliged to take to the mainsail boom, which was literally covered with ice. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were looking from the shore at Port Hope, about two hundred yards distant, at the painful and desperate struggle of the brave tars clinging to a spar as it was swayed about by the storm, and washed by the surf. At length, a jolly boat, with Capt Woods, of the Annie Maude, of Port Hope, in command, put out to rescue the freezing and surf-beaten crew. A cheer rose from every voice as the boat gained the deep water, and was gallantly cresting the waves to reach the schooner. But, after repeated and almost superhuman efforts to bring the boat alongside, she was obliged to abandon the attempt, lest she should be swamped, or dashed to pieces against the vessel. Tears dimmed every eye as the brave boat, which had again and again, until she was nearly filled with water, and was literally covered with ice, endeavoured to 'make fast,' was seen making for land. The poor sailors, who were motionless during the struggle of the boat to reach them, again waved their hands from the boom, for one last effort to save them.

The feelings of the hundreds of spectators at this time are wholly indescribable. In a short time, however, another boat with a fresh crew put out, amid cheers which strangely mingled with the wild storm. Gloriously did they mount the swells, which now threatened to sweep the poor sailors off the boom. Wave after wave they crested, as hearts beat high that witnessed them, and as hopes sunk and rose us they disappeared between, and anon rose above, the swells. At length they reached the schooner, and one vast cheer was heard as they made fast to the davits. The crew of the boat, with the exception of two men, climbed into the schooner to help the half frozen sailors off the boom. One was hauled down, but ere a second could be lowered a fearful swell almost hid the boat; another came and she disappeared; and the poor sailor, who bad been just handed down to what was his last hope of safety, was the only one of the three that was ever seen. He rose, struggled with the breakers, caught a rope, was hauled on the deck of the schooner, and was in a few minutes afterwards frozen to death. A cry of despair now rose from every one. The brave crew of the boat was added to the crew of the schooner; and wilder and wilder still raged the storm.

From a point of land above the schooner a scow was set adrift, in the slender hope that it might float to her. It stranded in a few seconds afterwards. From the Grand Trunk Wharf, which was to the windward, their best boat was also floated off, but its fate was like their hopes—it soon sunk.

At last a brave old skipper—honour to his name and to his heart—said he would make one more effort to save them, or he would perish in the attempt. Daring, desperate as was the resolve, his boat was manned by sailors and fishermen in a few seconds; and literally amid cheers and prayers, they pushed her into the boiling surf. The previous boats having been too small to live in the sea near the schooner, this last was a large and heavy boat; and for a long time it was one dead struggle to keep their own with her. She rose nobly to the waves: but she made little or no headway. Every nerve of the brave crew was strained, but they could only defy the storm; they could not gain upon it. At last, as the cries of the friends of those who were on board the schooner were growing wilder on the beach, and the poor sailors were seen freezing to the boom, there appeared a lull of a few seconds, and one vast effort brought the boat under the stern of the schooner.

A cheer rose from her crew. Men, women and children, as if they had all but one heart, broke out into a wild scream of ecstasy and hope on shore. The poor frost-bitten crew were safely handed down into the boat; and as she crested the waves and bore them triumphantly to the shore, it seemed as if all human sympathies were absorbed in one intense feeling of admiration of those who had behaved with all the generosity of sailors, and more than the nobility of most men.

The name of the captain who commanded the last boat was Stephen Woods, of the Annie Maude. He and his crew deserve far more than this trifling tribute to their heroism


from a Newspaper article  1858
THE PORT HOPE FLEET
Port Hope can lay claim to being one of the largest ship owning towns in the Province. Situated on a natural harbour of great security and being the outlet of a large and fertile tract of agricultural country, and of a region abounding in the best oak, elm, pine and other valuable timber, the attention of her wealthy men was early turned to ship building. The place afforded every facility for the construction of vessels. There was a sheltered basin in which to launch and fit them up, and within easy distance the best of materials to be converted by the skill of the shipwright into craft that 'walk the waters like a thing of life.' William Marsh, Esq, rendered himself noted as a ship-owner. Some of the finest vessels that plough these inland seas are his property. Three schooners owned in part by him, the Caroline Marsh, the Jane Ann Marsh and the Sarah Ann Marsh, all of the largest tonnage were engaged last season in the western trade and went into winter quarters in Chicago.The crews of the different vessels composing the fleet that wintered in our harbour are actively engaged in preparations for the Spring trade. The 'Yo heave O!' of the sailors falls musically upon the ear, and the eye follows those who are 'aloft' bending top-sails, and top-gallant sails, and giving every inch of rigging a thorough overhaul.

Among the vessels we notice the Annie Craig, Capt Mearns, owned by Mr R McIntyre. She has just received several coats of black paint, and with her jet black booms and gaffs has about as piratical a look as the craft with 'laking masts' so often mentioned by novelists of the Ned Buntline or Sylvanus Cobb school, as hovering around the West India Islands and on the Spanish Main.
The Enterprize, Capt Butler, owned by the energetic firm of Edsall and Wilson, Timber Manufacturers, will soon be ready for sea.
The Annie Maude, Capt Clark, owned by Mr D Ullyott is being painted and otherwise improved in appearance.
The Acorn, Capt Chisholm, owned by Mr R Mclntyre, has done a good deal of service, and from her appearance at present, will do much more.
The Trade Wind, Capt Wright, owned by Messrs T Turner, A Harris and Capt Wright, is a staunch vessel, and will soon be ready for business.
The Sarah, Capt J Braund, owned by T Turner and A Harris, is about ready for a cargo.
The John Wesley, Capt Alward, is now absent on her second voyage this season to Rochester. She took over lumber from Mr F Beamish, peas from Mr Rapalje, and sheep skins from Mr C Quinlan.
The Lindsay, Mr R Wallace, owner, left on Monday for Ogdensburgh with a full cargo of wheat.


Schooner HM Ballou in Toronto harbour

The HM Ballou was built in Oak Orchard, NY in 1867. By 1905 it was owned by E Goldring of Toronto, but Port Hope was its home port. It was sailed at one time by Capt John Goldring and later by Capt Alfred Thomas.

from the Oswego Daily Advertiser Times  Monday, Oct 12, 1868
Lake Captain Drowned Notice:- Captain J.B. Barrus, of the schooner H.M. Ballou, was lost overboard and drowned last Tuesday night, off Big Sodus. he was about 6 feet 2 inches tall, of 200 pounds weight, light mustache, no whiskers. He was dressed in a black frock coat, black velvet vest, Harris cashmere pants and white shirt. He also wore a silver watch and chain,and had about $200 in money on his person.
Should the body be found information immediately sent to H.C. Murray, Carlton, Orleans Co., N.Y., will be thankfully appreciated.

from the Milwaukee Library Scrapbook  July 13, 1900
Kingston, July 12:- The schooner H.M. Ballou, owned by Captain Smith, of Belleville, and engaged in the grain trade between the Bay of Quinte ports and Kingston, was capsized in a squall yesterday at South Bay. None of the crew were lost. The schooner was fairly lifted out of the water by the force of the wind.


from a Newspaper article  1876
FLEET OF PORT HOPE
The following are the vessels belonging to this Port, and owned principally by our townspeople—Barque Cavalier, Capt D Manson, owned by McArthur, Toronto; steam barge Lothair, Capt Casey, barge Corisande, Capt Yeo, schr Aurora, and scow J A Macdonald, all owned by Messrs Irwin & Boyd; steamer Norseman, Capt Crawford, owned by C F Gildersleeve, Kingston; schr Eliza Quinlan, Capt Braund, owned by Braund and E Philp; schr Great Western, Capt Henning, owned by G Strong & Hillyard; schr Caroline Marsh, Capt Caldwell, owned by Edmund Solomon Vindin; schr Mary Ann Lydon, Capt Casey, owned by John Lydon; schr Ariel, Capt Philips, owned by B Furguson; schr D Freeman, Capt Hadden, owned by the Wallace estate; schr Flora Carveth, Capt Fox, owned by J Carveth; schr Maria Annette, Capt Nixon, owned by R C Smith, Sr and R S Howell; schr Annie Minnes, Capt Clark, owned by R C Smith, Jr.; schr North Star, Capt J Alward, owned by the Alward estate; schr W T Greenwood, owned by S Lelean; schr Albatross, Capt Ham, owned by Hayden & Ham, schr Wanderer, owned by Capt Geo Wright; schr Lewis Ross, Capt J Philp, owned by G Wright and A Cochrane; schr Two Brothers, Capt Chisholm, owned by J Wright and A Cochrane; schr British Queen, Capt Wilson, owned by Philps; schr Eliza White, Capt Strickland, owned by Capt Janes and E Peplow; Tug Albert Wright, Capt Geo Wright, Jr, owned by Messrs Wright.

The following vessels are also owned in Port Hope, but have not wintered in the harbour—schr Flora Emma, traded this winter for the schr P Bennett, Capt Jos Braund, owned by Braund and Guy; schr Agnes Hope three-master traded for the Stevenson, Capt Clark, owned by Vindin and Clark; schr Garibaldi, for repairs at Oswego, Capt Uglow, owned by the Wallace estate.

The Eliza White, Capt Strickland, loaded by G B Salter with 7,664 bushels of barley, left here yesterday for Oswego and is the first departure of the season. The following vessels are expected to leave this week—the Great Western loaded with wheat, the Ariel and the Mary Ann Lydon, loaded with barley.


The two-masted schooner Ariel of Port Hope seen lying alongside a wharf in an unknown harbour was built at Quebec in 1867 and taken off the registry in 1907.  Maritime History of the Great Lakes

from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning October 30, 1879
THE HARBOUR.
The following vessels arrived at this port on the 25th, and up to Tuesday morning:—
Passenger steamers, Algerian and Norseman; freight steamer Lothair and barge Corisande; schooners Lewis Ross, Maria Annette, Eliza Quinlan, Two Brothers, Great Western, Flora Carveth, Mary Grover, Caroline Marsh, Rockaway, Guelph, Aurora and Agnes Hope.
On Saturday, the 24th, the following vessels cleared:—Eureka, loaded with barley; Caledonia, loaded with rye, and Ariel, loaded with wheat.
Oct. 28th.—Arrived—Schooner Octavia, and Steamer Norseman. Cleared—Great Western, Maria Annette and Caroline Marsh, all loaded with lumber.


from The Port Hope Times  Nov 20, 1879 page 2
The following were the arrivals at the harbour November 12: Schr. Cavalier, steam barge Lothair, barge Corrisande, schooners Caroline Marsh, Annie Craig, Hattie Howard, from Oswego; and tug Wm. Gardiner, Jr., barge Black Diamond, and the Norseman from Charlotte.


from The Port Hope Times  Nov 27, 1879 page 2
(from The Oswego Palladium newspaper)
WRECK OF THE HATTIE HOWARD
SHE GOES ASHORE AGAINST THE OSWEGO PIER
CAPTAIN BECKERS STATEMENT
About 11 o’clock Sunday forenoon the schooner Hattie Howard, from Port Hope with 271,000 feet of lumber, attempting to make this port in a stiff wester, and being partly full of water and heavily loaded on deck, refused to mind her helm and went ashore in the angle of the west pier, close to the lighthouse.

CAPT. BECKER'S STATEMENT
Capt. Schuyler Becker, who commanded the Howard, says that at noon Saturday he had aboard at Port Hope what he considered as large a cargo as the vessel would carry without running any risk, but he received a telegram from his owner, J. H. Lawrence, of this city, instructing him substantially to bring as large a cargo as she would carry. Being anxious to please Mr. Lawrence, he went to the dock and put aboard 40,000 more, making in all 271,000, her deck load being about ten feet high. The lumber was shipped by Vindin, of Port Hope, and consigned to J. K. Post & Co., of this city. The vessel set sail for Oswego at 6 p.m. Saturday with moderate weather.

The Captain says: "About one o’clock yesterday morning when we were about thirty miles from Port Hope, the wind came up with a squall from the westward; we hauled up for the south shore and the vessel commenced making water moderately; after making considerable water and being twice pumped she careened over so that we could not get water with the pumps; we made land at Big Sodus at 8.30 a.m. yesterday, when we squared away for Oswego; we again tried the pumps but could not get water; we opened up for the harbour, carrying four jibs and single reefed foresail, when within about two vessel lengths from the beacon light a very heavy puff struck and threw her over; she broached to and headed westward, running outside and west of the beacon light; with all the head sails and wheel hard up she was unmanageable and drifted sideways into the arm of the piers; when I saw she was unmanageable I ordered the anchors to be dropped, which, was done, but without avail; she struck on the boulders and pounded towards the pier; when the tug Melvin saw us drifting west of the pier, she came out and within 200 feet of us; she stood there a short time and I got lines ready thinking she would save us, as she might have done; I know she could; then she backed up to within 100 feet of us and there stood, coming no nearer, though we had lines ready to throw to her, and were afloat, drawing 10 feet. The tug Lyons also came out but did not try to assist us; I think the tugs might have saved us; the life saving crew came to our assistance in a very short time; lines were made fast to the main boom, tied around the bodies of the crew, one by one, the female cook first and myself last, and by the life crew and others we were hauled ashore."

Capt. Becker says he did not signal for a tug outside, because he thought he could make the harbour and supposed a tug would be lying near the piers to catch him if anything should happen. But he says no tug was there at the critical moment, they all appearing to be up in the harbour.

THE LIFE CREW AND OTHER ASSISTANCE
The watch at the life saving station saw the vessel's trouble, gave the alarm, and in a short time the life crew under Capt. Blackburn, launched a boat and assisted to rescue the crew of the vessel who were in a perilous condition, in quick time and without even wetting some of them. The cook was taken aboard the cutter Manhattan and kindly cared for, as were also the sailors. The crew, including the captain, numbered six and were mostly Oswego sailors. Later in the afternoon the life crew went aboard and took off the captain’s trunk, papers, nearly all the clothing and some furniture.

THE SCENE
The vessel drifted to within twenty foot of the west pier and settled on the bottom, heading westward, port side to the pier. With her sails flying and the sea dashing over her and scattering her deck load like so many chips, she made a wild picture. Hundreds of people went to see her during the day. There was some talk of an effort to pull her off and it was not undertaken.

GOING TO PIECES
Between five and six last evening the foremast went overboard and shortly after the starboard quarter dropped, the vessel’s timbers creaking aloud as she was furiously rocked to and fro. The mainmast next went over; the lumber was being washed over and the vessel commenced going to pieces. Nothing can be seen of the vessel or cargo to-day except the ruins, the hull and cargo being broken into kindling wood by the sea. A large number of men, women and children are to-day taking home the debris strewn along the piers for fire wood.

THE LOSS
Vessel and cargo are a total loss and both uninsured. The Howard was owned by J. H. Lawrence, Oswego; her tonnage was 256 tons; she was built at Port Huron by Fitzgerald & Co. in April, 1868, rated B 1—and was valued at $4,500—too high it is thought. A contract had been let for timber to rebuild her at this port during the coming winter. She was not insurable. J. K. Post owned 160m feet of the lumber, and Burnham & Blanchard of Fayetteville 50m feet. The lumber was worth about $4,000.—Oswego Palladium.

Note.—It has been reported to us that the remainder of the 271,000 feet of lumber, some 60,000 feet was owned by Mr. E. Vindin, and that his loss will be about $600.


The three-masted schooner Agnes Hope in Port Hope harbour 1878

from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning February 12, 1880
HARBOUR BOARD.
The Board Reduces the Salaries $350.
The Harbour Board met on Monday afternoon.
Present—Mr. Lewis Ross, in the chair; Col. Williams, Messrs. Garnett, Vindin, Peplow, Robertson, Benson and the Mayor.

ACCOUNTS.
The chairman read the report of the executive committee, recommending the payment of these accounts: Dingwall & Ross, $4.55; Gas Company $51.80. On motion the report was adopted.

THE LUMBER OVERLOADING.
The special committee appointed to enquire into the alleged lumber overloading, reported as follows: Your committee appointed to investigate the matter of lumber being shipped over the harbour in excess of the quantity called for by the bills of lading and consequently not paying proper tolls, beg leave to report, That we met in the council chamber on the 29th Jan., 1880, and after receiving the statements of three witnesses, we adjourned till the following day, when three other witnesses made statements, all of which were taken in writing by the secretary.

From the statements made your committee feel satisfied that more lumber has been shipped over the wharf than bills of lading were given for, or bills collected on, and also that the shippers were aware of the fact. That the system of shipping more lumber on vessels than bills of lading called for has existed for some years and your committee are of opinion that this system will be difficult to end, unless the lumber is measured in the interest of the harbour when loading on vessels.

We regret very much the difficulty experienced by us in obtaining information on the subject, captains of vessels and others evidently having some motive in refusing to assist the committee, while they admitted the advantage they would receive if the practice was stopped of carrying more lumber than bills of loading called for.
WM. GARNETT, Chairman.
PETER ROBERTSON.
E. PEPLOW.

On motion of Mr. Peplow the report was received, it being understood that the chairman report at next meeting what action the Midland Railway Co. intend to take to prevent the overloading of cars.

THE MUNICIPAL LOAN FUND.
The Mayor submitted a communication from the Bank of Commerce, relative to the interest overdue to the Bank of Commerce by the town on municipal loan fund account amounting to $64.92.

THE BOARD'S OFFICIALS
Mr. Garnett moved that the Harbour officials be re-engaged on the following salaries, and that the engagement shall continue during the pleasure of this board: Harbour Master, per annum, $1,000, he to furnish any assistance he might require as hitherto; Deputy Harbour Master $450; Secretary, $200;—such scale of remuneration to take effect from the 1st Jan., 1880.
The Mayor seconded the motion.

Mr. Hagerman said that on former occasions, when proposals were made such as this, his salary was put at $300, now it was put at $200.
Col. Williams said Mr. Garnett should move the resolution proposed by him last June, which had been lost upon a tie.

Mr. Peplow moved in amendment, seconded by Mr. Vindin, that Mr. Cochrane's salary be $1200; Mr. Janes, $550; and Mr. Hagerman's, $300, and that they hold office during the pleasure of the Board.

Mr. Benson said if they wished to secure the services of competent and trustworthy officials they must pay fair salaries. Mr. Cochrane, who had been in the service of the Board for 20 years, had handled as much as $30,000 per year, and there had not been a single complaint against him or even a suspicion. $1300 a year, therefore, was not too much to pay such a trustworthy and competent official. He was not in favour of reducing any of the salaries, but if it was the will of the board he would not object to a reduction of $100 in the case of Capt. Janes, who was certainly a valuable officer. Neither was he in favour of reducing the salary of Mr. Hagerman, but if the majority wished it he would be willing that $100 be the utmost limit of reduction. He did not consider that they should attach much weight to the outside agitation, inasmuch as those who bore the burden of taxation were not in any measure identified in the movement. Until the Board had some real and proper expression of opinion from the outside, the members of the Board should rely on their own judgment. If a vote were taken he would support the amendment, although his opinion was that no reduction should take place.

The Mayor said he was sure that if a vote of the ratepayers were taken he had no doubt three-quarters of them would vote for the reduction proposed, for he was certain the general opinion was that they were paying too much for harbour management.

Mr. Garnett concluded that if the present officials would not accept the reduced salaries there were plenty as good and honest men in Port Hope who would.

The chairman said if any change was to be made he would rather see the services of Capt. Janes dispensed with, than the other officials should be cut down.

Mr. Garnett said Mr. Cochrane did a considerable amount of work that should be done by others.

The amendment was put and carried: Yeas—Col. Williams, Messrs. Vindin, Peplow, Robertson, and Benson. Nays —Messrs. Garnett, and Randall.

THE TOLLS ON GRAIN.
A communication from Mr. Cluxton was read. Its purport was the reduction of tolls on wheat, etc.

On motion of Messrs Peplow and Randall, it was ordered that all grain loaded by the last day in April be charged ½ cent a bushel instead of 1 cent.

Before this motion was put, the Mayor said the town was losing by the high tolls charged.

Board adjourned


from The Times Thursday April 8, 1880
NAVIGATION NOTES
FRIDAY, APRIL 2.
The Agnes Hope, left with ice for Port Dalhousie on Thursday night.
The Mary Ann Lydon is bending her sails, and getting ready for a start next week.
Captain Tommy Uglow, Captain Jimmy Haddon's chum, will command the schooner Guelph.
The W. T. Greenwood departed from Oswego on Thursday night, with lumber, shingles, and cedar posts.

Several vessels passed up the lake this morning, in sight of Port Hope. They were supposed to be the Kingston ice fleet.

Captain Fred. Wilson, who last year sailed the schooner Maria Annette, will this year command the schooner W. J. Suffel of Port Burwell, recently bought by Smith & Co. of Port Hope for $9,000.

In the twenty-nine years ending with 1879 the Welland canal has opened fifteen times before the 16th of April, one year in March.

The barge Corisande of the Lothair's tow, was pulled off Colchester reef, Sunday morning. Capt. Frank Carter of the Hector, asked $400 for seven hours’ work, but Capt. Casey, of the Lothair, refused, offering $224, and no settlement was made.

The E. K. Hart, with lumber, left for Oswego Saturday morning.

The schooner, Nellie Hunter, of Cobourg, is having a new main gaft and new boom added to her rigging.

Capt. Chisholm took away on Friday night, a mate and three sailors to man the Mary, which has been fitted up at St. Catharines.

The scow John A. Macdonald has been sold by Messrs. Irwin & Boyd to Capt. Blanchard & Co. It will leave shortly for the Upper Lakes.

The tug rates are not expected to range differently from those of last year. From $3 to $5 will be about the average for towing rates here.

Port Hope Longshoremen, at a meeting held the other night, fixed their prices at 15 cents an hour for lumber and 20 cents for iron, coal, grain, etc. Captains of vessels are said to have agreed to these terms.

Port Colborne, April 3.—The schooner Maize arrived this evening from Toledo with 17,000 bushels of wheat for Ogdensburg. The cargo will be transhipped over the Welland railway. This is the first arrival of the season.

Belleville, April 3.—The ice still holds in the bay, and it is not likely that any of the schooners will leave here before Monday next. Mr. Rathbun’s tug tried to force a passage yesterday, but without success. The schooner, William Elgin, has been libelled for a claim against the vessel.

The national board of trade interviewed the Dominion Government with the view of having the tolls on the Welland and St. Lawrence Canals reduced. Sir Chas. Tupper said he thought that could hardly be done in the present financial condition of the country, but he would give the matter his best consideration.

On Monday there was a general breakup at this port, and nearly all the vessels in the harbour will begin to load with lumber. These schooners will commence to load on Monday: Caroline Marsh, Capt. Colwell; Ariel, Capt. Philp; Mary Ann Lydon, Capt. Edmunds; Marie Annette, Captain Heenan; Annie Minnes, Capt. Wakely; Cavalier, Capt. D. Manson, All of these vessels have secured good crews.

The tug Albert Wright was launched on Friday night, but not without a slight mishap. She was being launched broadside, and the men at the stern end slackened their rope too soon for the bow men. The consequence was that the Wright broke down the yard-ways, and fell sideways into the water. Jacks soon righted matters, and the Wright sailed all right shortly after dark.

MONDAY, APRIL 5.
The Caroline Marsh is loading lumber today.
The Albatross is having a new main mast put in.
The Annie Minnes sails tonight with lumber for Oswego.
The Maria Annette left this afternoon for Bath, where she will load with ice.
The Ariel is finishing loading grain. She will probably sail on Wednesday.

Capt. Janes' storm signal was up for the first time this season, Sunday night.

It is reported that a Canadian captain recently oflered to command a vessel for $1 a day.—Oswego Palladium.

There was a large attendance at the chancery sale of the D. Freeman and Garibaldi, vessels belonging to the Wallace estate, this forenoon in the town hall. The bidding was quite spirited, and the following good prices were received:-

The D. Freeman, to Arthur Downey, grain merchant, Napanee, for $2,340; Garibaldi, to R. C. Smith, jr , of Port Hope, for $2,400. The Master in Chancery, Mr. Weller, of Cobourg, conducted the sale.

St. Catharines, April 5.—Notice is given to-day that it is expected that the works connected with the southern part of the enlargement of the Welland Canal will be in a condition to admit of navigation being opened through to Port Colborne on Saturday, 1st of May next, or at the latest on Monday, 3rd May. If it is found possible to open a few days earlier than the time stated due notice will be given. Vessels drawing not more than seven feet of water can pass up the canal and through to Lake Erie by way of the fender to Port Maitland on and after Friday the 16th of April.

TUESDAY, APRIL 6.
The Caroline Marsh left for Oswego with lumber this afternoon.
The Lewis Ross is fitting out, and will be ready to sail about the end of the week.

Detroit, April 6.—The steam barge Balentine passed down this morning, being the first vessel through.

The Albert Wright has steam up for the first time this season, and will tow out the Caroline Marsh this afternoon.
The Annie Minnes did not leave as anticipated yesterday, owing to the fact that a portion of her lumber was on the smashed-up Midland train.

The steam barge Lothair and barge Corisande were part way through the ice in the straits of Mackinaw on Saturday. They are bound for Chicago.

The Garibaldi, which was sold to Mr. R. C. Smith, yesterday, has started to fit out. She is having a new main-mast, main-sail, galf-topsail, and jibs put in, which will make a very great improvement in her. She will be commanded by Capt. Chas. Wakely, who assumes his first mastership on this vessel this season. He is a good navigator, and has had considerable experience. He is the third new captain made at this port this spring—and they are all young men.


from the Times April 29, 1880
Wednesday, April 21
The Garibaldi had her main mast raised today.

The storm signal has been ordered down, and beautiful weather is expected

ARRIVALS:—Florence from Niagara, Great Western, Annie Minnes and Two Brothers, from Oswego; all light.

DEPARTURES—Lydon, with peas, for Kingston; W. J. Suffel, lumber for Oswego; Cavalier to Michigan; Annie Craig to Detroit.

THE SCHOONER GREAT WESTERN ROUGHLY HANDLED IN THE GALE
The schooner Great Western, Captain Thos. Crosby, with 139 cords of posts, and 155,000 shingles for E. Monen, of this city, sailed from Port Hope Thursday night. She encountered a gale and tried unsuccessfully to get into the port of Genesee. She was roughly handled, losing part of her cargo, her boat and considerable canvas, but arrived here shortly after noon today.

Captain Crosby reports that the schooner Flora Emma left Port Hope for Oswego, with lumber, shortly before he did. She has not arrived. The schooner Lewis Ross also left for Kingston. The schooners Bentley, Baltic and Dundee have left Toronto for Oswego, and are expected here to-night.—Oswego Palladium.

THURSDAY, April 22,
DEPARTURES—The Great Western for Oswego, lumber.

Navigation on the inland lakes is open, and timber and lumber moving fairly.
Oswego, 21: Arrived, Flora Emma, Caroline Marsh, Port Hope. Cleared—Flora Emma, Port Hope.

May 1st is still relied on as the day for the opening of the Welland Canal from Port Dalhousie to Port Colbome.

Arrivals—Mary, Aurora, Caroline. Marsh, from Oswego; Agnes Hope, from Farehaven. Norseman arrived with freight and several passengers.

Portsmouth, 21: Arrived—Schr. Ariel, Port Hope, with 4,650 bushels wheat, and 4,845 bushels peas; Flora Carveth, Port Hope, with 10,000 bushels wheat.

The tug Stranger left Port Huron on Thursday to relieve the schooner Home, ashore near Port Hope, but had to put back on account of the weather. She left again Friday.—Oswego Palladium.

So strong was the desire of Mr. J. Brockenshire, captain of the Nellie Hunter of Cobourg, to be free from the odium of supporting a 'scab' crew, that he drove all his men up from Cobourg to join the Seamen's Union at this port, there being no such organization in our sister town.


from the Times  Thursday Dec 21, 1880
LAKE ONTARIO NAVIGATION NOTES.
Kingston, Nov. 26.—A large fleet of vessels will winter here.

The schooner Annandale has been stripped, and will winter at Swift's wharf.

The schooner Eureka left last night for Bath, where she will load barley for Oswego at 5c.

Captain Donnelly took a look at the Garibaldi as he passed her yesterday, and thinks she will be a total loss. She is breaking up, and a big hole has been opened in her bow.

The schooner Eliza Quinlan ran into this harbour last evening. She was out in the gale of Wednesday night. The schooner will go into winter quarters here. She is laden with coal from Oswego to Port Hope.

Yesterday afternoon the seamen on board the schooner Flora Carveth consulted with Messrs. Smythe and Dickson in regard to the non-payment of wages, and as a result the vessel was seized. The sums due the sailors range from $75 to $292, and aggregate $1,126. The men have been paid nothing during most of the season. The Sheriff was last evening put in possession of the vessel, which is owned by Messrs. M. Gerow and Captain and Joshua Dodd. She is loaded for Oswego with 14,500 bushels of rye belonging to Messrs. James Richardson & Co., who have guaranteed the freight to the sailors if they will deliver the grain consigned, but they prefer an immediate settlement. The Captain and past owner of the vessel left on Wednesday for Trenton, but up to noon to-day had not returned. Before he went away, as an inducement to settle the men offered to throw $25 off each account.

Toronto, Nov. 25.—The W. J. Suffel arrived here yesterday with coal. She was among the fleet that had to run back, having lost her foresail and two jibs. She ran down to Kingston.

The Caroline Marsh arrived yesterday with coal. Capt. Colwell says they had got up outside the Island on that Saturday night, with so many more, when the gale struck them and carried away the mainsail, foresail, flying jib, and staysail. They got about and ran back to Kingston that night almost under bare poles.

The tug Neelon from Port Dalhousie started on Thursday from this port with the schooner Mary Everett to the rescue of the Guelph, on the beach below the piers at Frenchman's Bay. On reaching the Guelph the Mary Everett was run alongside, and a gang of twenty-five men went to work to discharge the coal from the Guelph. The weather was extremely favourable, and the work was not interrupted. About 160 tons were taken out when the Guelph was pulled off. The tug reached here about five o’clock yesterday morning, with both vessels in tow. The Guelph presents a sad picture. The bowsprit and all the forward gear are gone, having the bows of the vessel completely shattered. The fore-yard is broken, and one-half of it is hanging, like a disabled arm from the cross-trees. The vessel is sheeted in ice, the cabin being covered with ice. It is reported that Capt. Uglow is still in so precarious a condition that he cannot be removed to Toronto. Much sympathy is felt for him in his misfortune.

TORONTO.
The Suffel, Magdala, and Herbert Dudley are willing to load if they get paying rates to Oswego.

The Goldhunter came in yesterday minus her jibboom. She brought in coal, and is lying at the Queen’s wharf.

The Golden City has broken a channel through the ice from the Queen’s wharf to Yonge street, and will tow the Magdala, Caroline Marsh, S. & J. Collier, and Wanderer up to unload.

KINGSTON.
A vessel was offered 5c. for barley from this port to Oswego yesterday. It will be a bargain if the vessel can reach the elevator to get loaded.

The vessels coming into the harbour during the past week were so covered with ice that one would think that they had been on a voyage to the Arctic regions.

The schooner Annie Foster left for Oswego this morning with 5,700 bushels of barley.

The schooner Acacia, with lumber from Port Hope for Morristown, arrived this evening.

GENERAL.
The schooner Ocean Wave, which was attached by Constable Lewis on Monday for $110 damages to S. B. Robinson's marine railway, Oswego, was released Friday night by the owners of the schooner settling the amount. Mr. Robinson received $100 for his damages, and other creditors of the vessel whose claims had been handed in received $54. It is reported that the captain lost a few hundred dollars here since the vessel was attached and refused to go home until he found it. The mate took the vessel out to­day.

When the schooner Magdala got outside the Oswego piers last week on her last trip out, the order being given to make sail, the crew refused to pull a rope. After much coaxing the Captain induced two of them to help make sail, but the rest went into the forecastle and stayed there till the dinner hour, when they came up and made a rush for the table. The Captain refused to give them anything to eat, and did not give them any food for two days. The two who assisted to navigate the vessel were union men. One shipped in Buffalo and the other in the canal for $1.60 a day. Oswego Palladium, Nov 26.

The season is practically ended for sailing vessels in Lake Michigan.


Steamer Norseman rebuilt and renamed North King c1891

from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning April 20, 1882
NAVIGATION NOTES.
DEPARTURES.—
13th, schr. Garibaldi, lumber Oswego.
15th, Cuba, wheat for Prescott; steam barge D. R. VanAllen, lumber for Oswego; Caroline Marsh, wheat for Oswego; Aurora, Great Western, Fleetwing, Agnes Hope and Two Brothers, all lumber for Oswego.
18th, Erie Queen, lumber for Oswego; Plow Boy for Charlotte; Fred L. Wells, lumber for Oswego; Wave Crest, ties for Charlotte; Garibaldi, and Baltic, lumber for Oswego; Georgian, barley and lumber for Oswego.

ARRIVALS.—
13th, E. P. Young, D. R. VanAllen, Fleetwing, all light.
15th, Cuba, Toronto; Aurora, Two Brothers, Agnes Hope, M. A. Lydon, all light from Oswego; Great Western from Oswego.
16th, Wave Crest from Oswego; E. K. Hart from Charlotte; Caroline Marsh from Oswego; str. Norseman, Kingston; Garibaldi, Erie Queen, and Fred L. Wells, from Oswego; str. Georgian from Oswego; Plow Boy, Wilson; Baltic, Oswego.
18th, D. R. VanAllen from Oswego; str. Norseman, Charlotte.
19th, Caroline Marsh, Aurora, Two Brothers, Great Western, all from Oswego.

The Norseman took her first departure on Monday morning for Charlotte. She had on board some casks of liquor, 160 bags of peas, 3 horses, and 20 or 30 passengers. She arrives to-day again, with a load of trees from Charlotte.

Any quantity of lumber is coming in on the Midland, and being shipped.

A constable has been appointed at the docks by the Midland Railway.


from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning April 27, 1882
LOCALS.
Nothing new of importance has transpired at the docks since last issue. Loading and unloading lumber is the principal business. Boxes of trees are being shipped from Rochester, but nothing like the amount in former years.


from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning June 29, 1882
The mail steamer Corsican when passing Gull Light, early on Sunday morning, had the misfortune to break part of her machinery and thus become disabled. She was towed into Port Hope by the tug Albert Wright, and the steamer Corinthian on her way to Toronto about 4 o'clock Monday a.m., took her in tow to that city for repairs.
—Capt. Clarke, who is sailing on the upper lakes, is in town this week.


The Gull Light (1913) stood a little east of Port Hope. The submerged base it was built on is now called Peter Rock

from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning July 13, 1882
AROUND THE DOCKS
Bathing, so far, has not been very extensively indulged in. The water is still very cold.

Boating, although not unusually lively, is kept up with a fair degree of activity. Conditions this season have been most favourable for the enjoyment of this favourite and healthful recreation.A good deal of complaint is made concerning anchoring of small yachts in the centre of the stream just south of Mr. Cook's boat house. It gives a great deal of inconvenience in passing with boats and makes circumstances most favourable for frequent collisions.

Three or four vessels, owing to the present comparative slackness of the lumber trade, are unemployed. As soon as the green lumber begins to come in, they will enjoy their usual business activity.

The schooner with the load of stone necessary to sink the newly constructed portion of the west pier, came or was expected yesterday from Kingston. The rest of the stone needed will, we understand, be purchased in the vicinity of Port Hope, thus carrying out the policy all along pursued in the present work, of Port Hope for the Port Hopians.

In consequence of the stock of dry lumber in the north being, as is usual at this time of the year, about exhausted, there has been a considerable decrease in the amount exported. Still, comparatively speaking, the lumber trade is active, and will shortly be largely increased.


from the Port Hope Guide & Weekly News  Friday February 29, 1884
A Capt Harbottle was in town 3 or 4 days last week, examining and giving certificates to the masters and mates for this section. Below is a list of successful candidates.
Master's certificate - William R Wakely. Mate's certificate - Thomas Wakely.

from History of the Great Lakes Volume 2 by J B Mansfield  Published Chicago: J H Beers & Co 1899
Captain William R Wakely, owner and master of the schooner Antelope, of Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, is one of the best navigators on the Great Lakes, and one of the most popular, being proverbial for his genial, affable and courteous manner.

Our subject is a Canadian by birth, having first seen the light in 1854, at the place known as Cranberry Marsh, in the suburbs of Port Hope, Ontario, in which town he received his education. At the early age of eleven years, in 1865, he commenced sailing the lakes in the capacity of cook's mate, shipping out of Port Hope on the schooner Enterprise, and for two seasons he had charge of the galley, his excellent cooking earning for him a wide reputation on the lakes; while it is even recorded that several of the crew during his incumbency as 'chef' were thoroughly cured of chronic indigestion and dyspepsia, although he was three seasons on the Enterprise, during the last one serving before the mast, in other words as able seaman. In 1869 he shipped in the latter capacity on the schooner Otonabee, and remained thereon one season; next year he went before the mast on the brig Cavalier; following year shipped on the Annie Minnes, and was mate of her three seasons. On leaving the Annie Minnes, he went next year as sailing master on the schooner Little Kate, of Oakville, Ontario; from her, next season, he went as mate of the schooner W J Suffell; then took charge as captain of the schooner Wave Crest for five seasons, having bought an interest in her, which, however, he afterwards sold, and then retired from the lakes for six years.

In the fall of 1888 Captain Wakely recommenced sailing, shipping on the schooner Delaware, remaining on her during the following spring, and sailed her for two seasons, then going on the schooner Jamieson, which he sailed three years. From the Jamieson he shipped on the schooner Flora Carveth, and sailed her four years in a good coarse freight business. Making an advantageous 'deal', he in the spring of 1897 became owner of the schooner Antelope, and is now sailing her as captain, trading principally on Lake Ontario.

During his long experience as a mariner on the Great Lakes, in various capacities, Captain Wakely has on the whole met with good fortune. His principal mishap was when his schooner, Little Kate, went ashore on Snake island, near Kingston, Ontario. As she was loaded with peas, they had little difficulty in lightening her and towing her off, without the loss of any one on board. In fact, only one man in our subject's employ lost his life, a sailor named William Foster, who fell overboard in Oswego harbour, near the drawbridge, while lowering a boat, and was lost in the darkness. On another occasion, a seaman was struck by a sail and knocked overboard while he was out on the boom furling a jib; there was a pretty heavy sea on, and the vessel was pitching terribly, so watching his opportunity, the man, swimming for dear life in the water, grabbed the bobstays as the vessel pitched downward and climbed on deck. On yet another occasion, while our subject was captain of the Flora Carveth, a sailor was struck by lightning, and remained insensible for some time. Captain Wakely put into the nearest port and secured a physician, his prompt and humane action no doubt saving the man's life.

In 1876 our subject married Miss Delilah Gertrude Mix, of Port Hope, daughter of I N Mix and Martha Mix, and five charming daughters, all bright, intelligent and well educated, grace this union, named respectively: Annie Maud, Lilian Gertrude, Mabel Vernon, Rose Edith and Tressia Gipsy Pearl. They are great companions to their parents, and in the hot days of the summer months they ofttimes accompany their mother on a short cruise on their father's vessel.

In his political preference Captain Wakely has always been a strong Liberal, and has worked and voted in the ranks of the Reform party ever since he first got his franchise. In religious faith the entire family belongs to the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the young ladies being quite a power in the Port Hope church as well as social circles. The Captain owns one of the finest residences and other property in Port Hope, where the family is all held in the highest esteem.


The D Freeman aground near Oswego, NY 1888

from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning May 7, 1891
SAM. CORNISH FOUND DROWNED
The residents of Port Hope were shocked Sunday morning to hear that Sam. Cornish, an old sailor, well-known here and along the Lake, had been drowned in the harbour.

About half-past ten o'clock, Mr. R. F. Davey, while walking along the wharf, noticed a short distance below the storehouses, on the west side of the east pier, a man's hat floating on the water, and on his looking more closely was astonished to see the body of a man floating upright in the water. Mr. Davey at once notified the men on the Steamer Eurydice, who put out a boat, and without difficulty hauled the body out of the water. In the meantime Chief Douglas had been informed of the circumstance, and soon appeared on the scene in company with undertaker George, who took the body to his establishment, where it remained during the afternoon and was then removed to the house of friends.

Those who remember Samuel Cornish in his more prosperous days will be surprised and grieved to learn of his tragic end. He was a widower with one son and one daughter, both being married. Since the death of his wife he abandoned himself to drink, and during the last few days of his existence had been on a continual spree. His last jamboree terminated on Friday night, and on Saturday he was tolerably sober.

He was in fairly comfortable circumstances, and had been staying at the Royal Hotel, but was not there on Saturday night, and the authorities have not been able to discover where he spent what has proved to be the last night of his life.

About six o'clock on Sunday morning he was met by Mr. Voice going to the wharf. He sat down on the pier near the schooner Maria Annette (which was moored immediately alongside Messrs. Brown and Henning's coal sheds, on Mill street,) and remained there for an hour at least, during which time he was spoken to by several of the crew on the Eurydice, Thos. Burt, Geo. Gamble and other persons, who say he was quite sober but apparently in a pre-occupied state of mind. Nothing more was heard of him until he was found drowned about ten o'clock. His pipe and coat were found at the spot where he had been sitting by the vessel.

Cornish was in the 70th year of his age, and had been in low spirits for some time of late, and threatened to several persons, among them Capt. Henning and Chief Douglas, that he would commit suicide.

Whether he carried his threat into execution or whether he accidentally fell into the water and was drowned is impossible to decide. Some contend that suicide is the most probable solution of the mystery, but on the other hand Capt. Henning and those who are familiar with the scene and details of the affair think his death was accidental. Their view of the case is that the old man was endeavouring to 'straighten up' after his spree, and being restless either walked the streets all night or slept in a barn. In the morning they think he went to the wharf to have a quiet smoke, and after sitting by the schooner for a while he got down in the yawl boat to have a wash and in stooping over towards the water fell in. There are bruises on his face and hands which would give strength to this theory. There is however not the slightest ground for the suspicion of foul play.

The coroner, Dr. Corbett, was notified and after hearing the particulars concluded it was unneccessay to hold an inquest.


from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning May 7, 1891
$5,000 FOR PORT HOPE
The Estimates were brought down in the Dominion House of Commons on Monday, when a number of grants were made for public works, etc., throughout the Dominion, Port Hope being fortunate enough to be awarded $5,000 for repairs to the harbour. This shows Mr. Craig [T Dixon Craig] has not been idle while at Ottawa, and the valuable assistance given him by our late member, Mr. H. A. Ward, has no doubt aided in the procurement of so handsome a sum for the purpose named. Doubtless this is but a forerunner of other grants for new works, which the Government has in contemplation, with the view of making Port Hope harbour a thoroughly efficient harbour of refuge between Toronto and Kingston. As the sum has been given for the purpose of repairs it will likely go a long way towards putting the present docks in good order. We presume it is too early to ascertain if any further action has been taken by the Government in the direction of their assuming our harbour as a government work, but perhaps before the end of the session some definite conclusion may be arrived at. We are sure our citizens will join us in congratulating Mr. Craig on his first effort on behalf of his constituents.


from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning June 18, 1891
The initial visit of the Steamer North King was welcomed by several hundred citizens who gathered on the wharf at 9:30 Friday morning.

So much has been said of the numerous alterations and additions which have been made to the steamer since last season, that curiosity was rife as to what the old boat would look like under her new name and under her altered circumstances.

On the boat being made fast to the wharf, the spectators went aboard and strolled about the deck and cabin, on a general inspection trip.

The improvements have not yet been completed, so that a description of the North King as at present constituted would not do the good ship justice. The cabin, however, presents a vast improvement. The forepart of it has been enlarged and there is now every facility for moving about with ease and comfort. The staterooms have been refurnished and although not yet completed, it is evident that the proprietors of the boat are making this department all that it should be. New compound engines have been put in and also two boilers, which afford plenty of power for fast travelliug. Outside, the steamer looks remarkably well. Nicely painted, with flags gaily flying, she presented a good appearance. The most noticeable improvements on the outside are two smoke-stacks instead of one, and the new wrinkle in paddle-wheels which has been adopted. The boat is a fast mover, having made 9 miles in 34 minutes on a trial spin Friday morning.

Capt. Nicholson may well feel proud of his charge. He was presented by Mrs N. Hockin with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, in view of the auspicious occasion.


Steamer North King, formerly Norseman, rebuilt with twin stacks and renamed c1891

from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning August 6, 1891
THE NORTH KING
A Magnificent Floating Palace.
The Weekly Trips To the Thousand Islands.
[The North King, owned by the Lake Ontario Steamship Co., was outfitted at the dry dock of Davis & Son, Kingston, Ont. 1890-91]

Now that the North King has all her outfit complete, she is by long odds the finest, fastest and safest steamer on Lake Ontario. She is, indeed, a "palatial steamer," and has all the latest improvements. Up to within a few days, a number of workmen have been steadily engaged working on her, to get her in the best possible shape. They have done everything requisite for the comfort and safety of passengers, so that their presence and services are no longer required.

The electric light apparatus is now in running order, and the steamer at night presents a most brilliant appearance, while the change is greatly appreciated by the patrons of the route.

Sometime ago we gave a full description of the North King, but as everything was not completed at that time, the following particulars, though partly a repetition will be read with interest by the readers of THE TIMES.

She is 176 feet in length, 44 feet wide over the guards, 10 feet depth of hold, 8 feet between decks, and 10 feet high in upper saloon. The leading features of her construction are the result of the experience of Mr. Gildersleeve, the manager of the company, as to the requirements of the route; and the best experts have contributed in the carrying out of the details. The hull lines are by Capt. J. W. Pearce, of Evansville, Ind., engine proportions by Frank E. Kirby, Detroit, and feathering wheels by Messrs. Logan & Rankin, Toronto. She is sharp and high forward, and the leading idea in the shape of the hull has been to secure a vessel that would make her time in all weathers, and with the greatest comfort to passengers.

The hold below the main deck not being required for freight, is mainly devoted to strengthening. In addition to the usual watertight bulkheads and side strengthening, she is screw bolted throughout, and iron strapped from forward to aft between the planking and frames. Trusses are built the full depth of the hold and full length forward and aft between the sister keelsons, with top stringer bolted to the deck beams and posts every six feet, four knees at the corners between the posts meeting in the centre, each truss thereby forming a succession of knee arches. Similar trusses are built over the centre keelson forward and aft of the sister keelsons.

To prevent side strain there are double braces from gunwale to bilge across the hull every twenty feet, kneed at both and bolted together where they cross. Half sponsons are built outside the hull to protect the guards forward of the wheels, which also give increased stability and strength. It is believed this is the largest amount of strengthening as yet introduced into a wooden steamer.

She has a skeleton beam engine with cylinder 36 inches in diameter, and 10 feet length of stroke, with Steven's valve gear and drop cut of latest design. The paddle wheels are of the feathering type, 18½ feet-in diameter. The small diameter of the wheels, as compared with the leverage of the crank, is designed to give great speed of engine and consequent power. She has two return tubular boilers, one in front of the other, to distribute the weight, and placed face to face with seperate smoke stack to each. The power is estimated at 750 indicated horse power, and the speed at not less than 15 miles.

The feathering side wheel type of steamer, although more expensive, was decided on the best for passenger lake service, after careful consideration and consultation with the best experts in New York and Detroit. The extra width of the guards gives greater space for passenger accommodation, and the tremour and rolling are less than with either single or double screws. These considerations have caused the latest of the Long Island Sound and Upper Lake passenger steamers to be built of this type. The passenger steamers crossing the channels of the English coast are also still built with feathering paddles on account of the lesser vibration and rolling, although they have no guards and but little upper works.

The North King has ample freight room on the main deck, on each side and forward of the engine. Between the after gangways is the main saloon with office, baggage rooms, stairways, etc., and aft of promenade deck, is the upper saloon 136 feet in length, 14 feet wide aft and 20 feet wide forward of the engine. The forward portion from its greater width, comfortable sofas and spacious glass front is the favourite resort of the passengers. Dining tables are laid in the whole of the after, and part of the forward portions. Ladies' and gentlemen's toilet rooms are also in the upper saloon. On each side of the upper saloon, as far as the forward end of the engine, are double rows of state-rooms and in front of this a single row on each side. The outside promenades are in front of the upper saloon and also on the forward portion of the third or hurricane deck in the vicinity of the pilot house and texas. She is heated by steam and lit with electricity, with reserve oil lamps. Her life saving apparatus of boats, life rafts and life preservers are over the legal requirements.

Quite a number of excursions have taken place on the North King this season, and all have been delighted with the way she behaves in all kinds of weather.

Of course the great attraction among these excursions is the weekly one on Saturday nights to the Thousand Islands, and the increased facilities and elegance afforded by the North King leaves nothing to be desired in this most delightful Lake and River Excursion, and added to all, the route this year includes the marvelous scenery of the Bay of Quinte, and the Murray Canal, both of which are well worth seeing. The North King is the only steamer which makes the grand tour of all the Thousand Islands, including the wonderful 'Lost Channel,' 'Fiddler's Elbow,' and gives several hours at Alexandria Bay. The beauty of this trip is not so well-known on this side as it is on the south shore, from which a large number avail themselves of the trip every Saturday, some taking it in three or four weeks in succession, as being one of the most beautiful and healthful cheap trips within easy reach, involving but little loss of time.

The North King leaves Port Hope about 9:30 on Saturday night, reaches Kingston about 8 Sunday morning, leaves at 9 for Alexandria Bay, which she reaches about noon, and leaves on the return trip at 3 p.m., arriving in Charlotte on Monday morning about 7 and in Port Hope about 1 p.m. There is more fresh air in this trip than can be got out of any other occupying double the time, and involving more than double the expense. The fare for the round trip is only $2.50, so that the excursion is fairly within the reach of all.

Capt. C. H. Nicholson has become very popular during the time he has been on this route, his courteous manner, and the interest he takes in the comfort and pleasure of his passengers, making him a general favourite, while he shows his competency for the important position he holds by the skill with which he handles his steamer. The other officers are also well qualified for their respective positions, having been carefully selected, with the view of having the best and most competent men in every department. Mr. J. G. Johnston, the purser, is a hustler and performs his duties in a very pleasing manner. He is all over at all times aiding the Captain in doing everything for the comfort of the passengers. The mate, Mr. J. Jerrolds, is an excellent sailor, and is one of the most capable navigators on the lake. Mr. Thos. Milne, the chief engineer, is a first-class machinist, as well as engineer and the brightness of every part of the machinery indicates the pride with which he regards and looks after it. The tables, too, are in good and capable hands, while Mr. A. W. Stevenson has charge of them. His many years' experience enables him to choose the best of everything, and the viands are put on the table in a tasteful and tempting manner, while their quality cannot be excelled. As a Steward, Mr. Stevenson has many imitators but no equal on Lake Ontario. The state-rooms are large, comfortable, and well-lighted, so that all the luxuries of travel can now be had on the North King, and we trust the season may prove a very successful one financially, as well as otherwise, for Mr. Gildersleeve's enterprise is deserving of the most liberal patronage from the residents on both sides of the Lake.


from the Port Hope Weekly Times  Thursday morning October 22, 1891
HARBOUR NOTES
Business is very quiet at the Harbour. The heavy gales of the last week have retarded somewhat the progress of navigation.
The Dredge and tug Sir John are busily engaged in dredging out the harbour, to have it in readiness for the fall trade.
The Maria Annette, Capt. Henning, is loading barley for Oswego.
The Garibaldi has been laid up for the season.
The Wave Crest is tied at the dock.
Mr. R. C. Smith's yacht the Irene is undergoing repairs at the dry dock.
A large quantity of lumber, shingles, and cedar posts are piled on the dock.
The Steamer North King is making her regular trips.


Port Hope harbour 1893

from History of the Great Lakes by J B Mansfield Published Chicago: J H Beers & Co 1899
In 1882 the number of lives lost in these waters was 226; in 1883, it was 157; and in 1884, 160. Of the latter number 124 were lost at one time by the wreck of the steamship Daniel Steinman on the Atlantic coast, near Halifax. In November, 1882 the schooner Henry Folger was wrecked at Salmon Point, Lake Ontario, and eight persons drowned, all of whom, it was said, could have been saved had a lifeboat and crew been available. The Hon A W McLelan, who was then the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, and William Smith, the then Deputy Minister of Marine and Fisheries, both took a very active part in the matter and succeeded in organizing the nucleus of the present service under the authority of the government. Mr Smith was most strenuous in his efforts, making use of his Departmental staff and officers to get the several stations established and put in readiness to render service when required.

The first station equipped was that at Cobourg, which was established November 7, 1882. Daniel Rooney was the coxswain, and had a crew of six men. His salary was $75 per annum, and he was also paid $1.50 for each drill, the drills taking place twice each month during the season of navigation. The crew were each paid $1.50 for each drill. This station was, and is, equipped with a self-righting and self-bailing boat of the Dobbins pattern, which is 25 feet long over all, and eight feet beam. It cost $575 and was made at Goderich, Ontario. Mr Rooney has been the coxswain ever since the establishment of the station. He was paid, as a reward for saving the lives of two fishermen April 4, 1890, $22.

The station at Toronto was next established, March 1, 1883, William Ward being the coxswain appointed, who has held his position ever since. However, previous to the establishment of this government station there had been a voluntary life-saving crew on the island.

The next station established was that at Wellington, Ont in 1883, with Hugh McCollough, coxswain. The station at Poplar Point, Prince Edward county, Ont was next established with Leroy Spafford as coxswain. Port Rowan, Ont was the next point at which a station was established, October 19, 1883 with J W McCall as coxswain.

During the year 1885 it was decided by the government to invite tenders for the supply of twelve lifeboats, of a similar description to the self-righting and self-bailing boats placed in 1883 at Poplar Point and Wellington. Six of these twelve boats were built at Goderich, by William Marlton, and six at Dartmouth, NS by John Williams, at a cost, including outfit, of $575 each. These twelve boats, when completed, were located as follows: two on Sable island; and one each at Devil's island, Duncan's cove, Yarmouth and Scatarie, and one each at Cobourg, Collingwood, Goderich, Port Stanley, Toronto and Pelee island, the latter six being in the Province of Ontario.

After this action the first station established was that at Port Stanley, Ont, June 25, 1885 with William Berry, coxswain. The station at Collingwood was established September 2, 1885 with P Doherty as coxswain. The station at Goderich was established October 21, 1886 with William Babb as coxswain.

The station at Port Hope was established November 6, 1889 with C R Nixon as coxswain and a crew of six men.

Port Hope life saving crew 1911
cursor over or tap a face

from the Evening Guide  Friday April 27, 1928
TO ASK DEPARTMENT FOR GRANT FOR REPAIRS TO LOCAL HARBOUR
Local Board of Harbour Commissioners Conferred Thursday and Resolution Passed Whereby Grant is Asked in Supplementary Estimates For Harbour Repairs. At a meeting of the Port Hope Harbour Commissioners held at the Town Hall Thursday afternoon, a resolution was passed to ask the Department at Ottawa for a grant in the supplementary estimates for repairs to the Port Hope Harbour.

The lighthouse at the end of the eastern pier was recently washed away and the piers are in a very dilapidated condition. Those present at the meeting included: Chairman F. L. Curtis, Mayor R. J. Edmunds, Harbour Master Wm. Harvey, A. H. C. Long, W. J. B. Davison and J. H. Rosevear. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.

The following resolution was moved by A. H. C. Long and seconded by W. J. B. Davison and reads as follows:
WHEREAS during the recent storms on Lake Ontario the East Pier from the Lighthouse South, which constitutes the East side of the entrance to the Port Hope Harbour, has been completely demolished and washed away:
AND WHEREAS the remainder of the East Pier is in a dangerous condition and likely to be washed away by future storms, thereby completely wrecking the Harbour itself:
AND WHEREAS the Port Hope Harbour is administered by a Board of Harbour Commissioners, functioning without funds:
AND WHEREAS the Chairman of the Port Hope Harbour Board notified the District Engineer at Toronto of the destruction of the mouth of the Harbour, following which Engineers have been here to report to the Departments concerned:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Port Hope Harbour Commissioners be and is hereby requested to formally notify the Department of Public Works and the Department of Marine and Fisheries at Ottawa that if the Harbour is to be saved as a port of refuge for Northshore navigation, a recommendation from the said Departments be made to the Government for a special supplementary grant be made to cover the cost of the necessary repairs, which should be done at the earliest possible moment.

The Chairman announced that a representative of the Randolph McDonald Co. had asked him for the use of the vacant plant on the western side of the harbour. They were willing to pay a rental of $25 per month and asked for a ten year lease of the property.
It was moved by R. J. Edmunds, seconded by J. H. Rosevear that the secretary be instructed to acknowledge recipt of the letter from Randolph McDonald Co., dated April 20th, and to suggest that a conference be arranged between the Chairman of the Board and Mr. McDonald to discuss the matter of renting the harbour buildings on the east side of railway tracks on the Queen's wharf to said property.
Finance Report
J. H. Dehane, signs ...... $9.00
Thos. Garnett and Son ...... 22.00
Queen Insurance Co. ...... 12.53
Home Insurance Co. ...... 28.65
Port Hope Corporation, Debentures ...... 800.00
A. W. George, flowers ...... 10.00
Queen Insurance Co. ...... 12.53


from the Evening Guide Tuesday July 17, 1928
ONLY FOUR SAILING VESSELS OPERATE ON LAKE ONTARIO
Julia B Merrill Owned by W. H. Peacock & Co. of Port Hope Still Operating
Two schooners and two sloops comprise the only sailing vessels now operating on Lake Ontario, mariners state. All of them trade at Kingston. The schooner Lyman M Davis is owned by Captain Daryaw of Kingston and the schooner Julia B Merrill, formerly owned by Captain Daryaw, but now owned by W. H. Peacock and Company of Port Hope, and is used for the coal carrying trade. The two sloops are owned by Captain George and Arthur Sudds of Kingston.


Schooner Flora Emma

from The Daily Times  Wednesday July 18, 1928
JULIA B MERRILL THE ONLY SHIP NOW USING PORT HOPE HARBOUR, WHICH WAS ONCE NOTED FOR ITS 'FOREST OF MASTS'
What today seems to be an abandoned harbour, save for occasional ripples in the wake of sleek-running launches which ply their trade between Port Hope and the United States, was once a bustling hive of activity with many sloops and schooners claiming Port Hope harbour as their home port.

Vessels from all points recognised Port Hope harbour as a haven from the fury of the waves, and often sought the shelter of its piers on stormy nights, when Lake Ontario was lashed into a raging turmoil by a forty or fifty-mile-an-hour gale. That was back in 1881. In those days, Port Hope harbour was prosperous, with fine ships from all parts frequently occupying it. Freight handled in those days consisted of lumber and a little other merchandise. The central pier, where the Port Hope Sanitary Company now stands, was a maze of railway tracks and switches, where freight cars bearing their loads of lumber from the north country were unloaded.

Hundreds of willing hands were employed at the docks unloading these cars and loading the vessels, in fact, the docks were the main source of employment for the men of Port Hope. The Port Hope Sanitary Company, McCarthy Lace or Mathews Gravity plants were unheard of in Port Hope in those days, and the Nicholson File was practically the only industry in town, then operating on a small scale. Thus, the youth of Port Hope looked to the docks for employment, and usually found it, as there was always lots of work to be done there.

Schooners and sloops of all shapes and sizes were tied up along all sides of the harbour and along that side of the harbour which runs along the east side of the Mathews Conveyor plant. The depth of water along that side of the harbour at the present time is not sufficient to float a toy boat, but back in the 'eighteen eighties' the pride of many a sailor's heart cast anchor along that shore. The sands on which the Mathews Conveyor factory now stands, was once washed by the waters of Lake Ontario, which extended as far back as the old Sculthorpe elevator.

ALMA WRECK
Outstanding in the nautical history of the town is the wreck of the Alma, which foundered off the west beach over fifty years ago and went down with 250 tons of coal aboard. This ship is today buried beneath the sand underneath or in the adjacent vicinity of the Mathews Conveyor building. Efforts were made by local men some years ago to salvage the Alma, but being on a small scale, were fruitless.

The Nellie Theresa, one chilly November night, when Lake Ontario was lashed into a raging sea by the nocturnal gales, crashed against the extreme west pier and breakwater and was wrecked. The hulk is today also buried beneath the sands of the west beach.

Many old residents of Port Hope will remember such boats as the Marinette, Mary Ann Lydon, Oliver Mowat, sailed by Captain W H Peacock, of Port Hope; the Garibaldi, Three Brothers, Caroline Marsh, sailed by Captain W Colwill; the schooner Arthur, the Fisher, the Ottonabee, Arura, sailed by Captain W Strickland, of Port Hope; Great Western, Annie Minnes, Flora Emma, sailed by Captain Fox; Viana, Jesse Drummond, L D Bullock and the Mary Everett.

One of the best vessels that ever sailed into Port Hope harbour was the Emily B Maxwell, owned by Messrs W H Peacock and Ed Brown, Port Hope. Although not large vessels, the schooners carried an average load of 250,000 feet of lumber with 100,000 feet in the hold and 150,000 feet on deck.

LUMBER MAGNATES
When the lumbering trade was at its zenith in Port Hope, three most prosperous lumber merchants were Irvin and Boyd, Vindin, and Alonzo Spooner.

Five years ago the Oliver Mowat formerly owned by Captain W H Peacock, foundered in Lake Ontario, when she was rammed by another vessel and practically cut in two. Several lives were lost, and a considerable quantity of merchandise which she was carrying, went down, thus ending the career of another great old lake vessel.

The Garibaldi and the Three Brothers, which were once two of the finest vessels on the lake, saw years of service and finally began to deteriorate. When these vessels got beyond repair, they were left in the harbour near the Mathews Conveyor Company, to rot, and have in the course of time, sunk deep down into the sands, but a few of their 'ribs' may still be seen today.

FOUR SHIPS LEFT
Two schooners and two sloops comprise the only sailing vessels now operating on Lake Ontario, mariners state. All of them trade at Kingston. The schooner Lyman M Davis, is owned by Captain Daryaw, of Kingston, and the schooner Julia B Merrill, owned by W H Peacock and Co, is still used in the coal-carrying trade. The two sloops are owned by Captains George and Arthur Sudds, of Simcoe Island, near Kingston.

Captain Peacock bought the Julia B Merrill in Napanee, eight years ago and has made many trips from Oswego to Port Hope, carrying cargoes of coal. However, in conversation with Captain Peacock yesterday, The Daily Times was informed that the Julia B Merrill no longer carries coal for W H Peacock and Company, as they find it cheaper to buy coal by rail. Captain Peacock stated that they could get coal here by boat all right, but they could not find men to unload it.

Speaking of the old days, the Captain remarked that back in 1881, men clamoured for the job of unloading the vessels and did not consider it unusually hard work, but today, he stated, it is a hard job to get men to do this work for $1.00 an hour, which is practically three times the wages paid in the eighties.

Since the Julia B Merrill stopped trading in Port Hope, she has been working down near Picton and Kingston, and is still in charge of Captain W Peacock, Jr.

Port Hope harbour, once the pride of Ontario, and a mecca for mariners, has fallen into a state of dilapidation. The beacon lighthouse, which guided hundreds of vessels to safety, has toppled over into the lake, the end of the east pier has crumpled away, and the west breakwater is entirely gone. The west pier is rapidly following suit.


from the Evening Guide  Monday July 30, 1928
SEVERAL BOATS IN HARBOUR
Port Hope Had Numerous Week-End Visitors Who Came by Water
Saturday night we had quite a fleet visiting Port Hope.

Unfortunately we were unable to meet all the visitors but had the opportunity of speaking to Mr. Herbert Flinch and Jack Cader of Rochester who came over in a little speed boat from Nine Mile Point and were unable to proceed to Toronto, as they had intended, and had to await calmer waters for returning across the lake. They had a boat capable of over forty miles an hour and some of the panels were of most beautiful fir.

The Idler of Toronto dropped in on its return voyage from the foot of the lake. They had planned to go beyond Montreal but circumstances forced an earlier return than anticipated. Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Cuff and Miss S. Butt were on board and had a fine time in this port.

The sailing yacht Acadia of the R.C.Y.C., Toronto, and the Athene, of the Ontario Game and Fisheries Department were also docked here.

The Golden Arrow of Toronto brought the owner, Mr. J. Fletcher Rawlinson and wife, his father, Mr. Geo. Rawlinson of Toronto, and Miss Winnie Hulse of Ottawa, to visit friends and relatives in town, over the week end.


from the Evening Guide  Wednesday September 12, 1928
PIER REPAIRS ARE STARTED
Derrick Busy Pulling up Old, Rotted Timbers of East Pier
The work of repairing the east pier has been started and the crane is busily engaged in tearing up the planks and timbers so that the new material can be laid from the water line up. The timbers are so badly rotted that it is with the greatest ease the crane is able to tear the crib apart.

The "Wauketa" with the Government engineers who are supervising the work is now in port.


from the Evening Guide  Monday September 17, 1928
FINE YACHT WINTERING HERE
The Condor of the Mathews Steamship Lines To Be Stored Here
A great deal of interest centered around the harbour during the weekend when the beautiful yacht Condor of Toronto, sailed into port to be dismantled for the winter and several other crafts of less importance were about.

The Condor is a ship of lovely lines and wonderfully fitted and is the private yacht of the owner of the Mathews Steam Ship Company. It is 168 feet long and is said to be worth $250,000.

It is an oil burning steam ship capable of upwards of 25 miles an hour and carries a crew of sixteen in the fore part while the luxurious apartments in the after part comfortably accommodate a dozen.

The crew is today busy storing everything and when it is ready to be tied up for the winter the boat will be taken from the east harbour to the more sheltered western basin where the Julia B Merrill is now lying as well as several fast motor launches. It is expected that the Condor will be refitted for summer cruising next April and sail in May.

The Government yacht Wauketa which will be here for some time also stood out among our little fleet of ships with its graceful lines in the bright September sun.

Katherine Crane a forty-eight foot yacht owned by Major Bramfitt, of Toronto which had lain in port here three days proceeded toward Toronto Sunday, towing the thirty foot yacht Katie. Major Bramfitt brought both boats up from Gananoque where he put an engine formerly in No. 1 lifeboat Toronto into the larger craft. He had an adventurous times coming up alone first towing the larger boat but at Presqu'isle he got the engine of the big boat running as he found it difficult in the extreme running of the small boat and steering the larger as he is making the trip alone. After he had left the sheltered bay he ran into a storm and was forced to come into Port Hope harbour for three days.

During his brief visit he had to run into Toronto on business for one night and on returning found his locks pried and broken, his trunk entered, and several things stolen. Hence he has gathered a very bad impression of Port Hope. There have been some very annoying petty thefts in the water-front part of the town and apparently the recent warning to those apprehended and brought before the Magistrate has not had the desired effect. If the water-front boys continue to be pests they will perhaps be surprised to find themselves in the toils with stern punishment meeted out.

The Lark from Niagara Falls was also a week-end visitor in the local harbour.


from the Evening Guide  Monday September 20, 1928
RACING SLOOP IN HEAVY STORM
Four Men Aboard Nayada Were Helpless After Main-Mast Snaps in Storm
When the main-mast of the Nayada, crack racing sloop of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club snapped as a result of a heavy gale and plunged into the lake with the huge main-sail shortly after 7 p.m., Saturday, Bingley Benson, the skipper, well known in Port Hope, and three gentlemen friends, drifted helplessly for more than an hour at the mercy of a fast-running sea, some ten miles south-west of the Eastern gap.

Sighted in their helpless condition by some men aboard a passing yacht, who notified the life-saving station, Mr. Benson and his friends were rescued by Superintendent H. Lang of the life-saving station and his crew in the Helcdena.The Nayada was towed to its moorings.

The Nayada was in Port Hope Harbour on the 11th August, when Mr. Benson was returning to Toronto from the Regatta at Oswego, where he came in fourth in his class in the race from Cobourg there. Many admired the beautiful sloop as it lay in port here while Mr. Benson was visiting his sister, Miss C. E. Benson, Dorset Street. Mr. Benson's friends in Port Hope will be glad to learn of his happy escape and delighted that his boat was not lost.


from the Evening Guide  Friday November 23, 1928
CAPT. R. CRAWFORD VISITED FRIENDS
Former Captain of Norseman Called on The Guide Today
Captain Robert Crawford who sailed the Steamer Norseman when that boat made daily trips to Charlotte (Rochester N.Y.) about a half century ago called on The Guide today. The editor and the Captain had a very pleasant, though brief chat recalling the old times in Port Hope—our then bustling harbour where the steamer had difficulty in securing a berth for over night owing to the crowd of schooners, unloading coal and taking on lumber. Mrs. Crawford, formerly Miss Hickey, daughter of Mr. Hickey G.T.R. agent at Port Hope, who was driving with the Captain reminded him that they were due home at Kingston in ten minutes, "All right we'll make it" the Captain absent mindedly responded while we continued our reminiscences.

There are comparatively few in Port Hope now who lived here when Capt. Crawford commanded the Norseman. It is a great pleasure to the editor of The Guide to meet these old friends.


from the Evening Guide  1931
CHRISTMAS BOAT RACES AT HARBOUR
Older Local Residents Recall Boat Races Here In 1881
Many of the older residents of the town will recall the boat races at the Port Hope harbour on Christmas Day, 1881. In that year, the weather was very open, up until Christmas, practically the same as prevailed in the final months of 1931.

In those days, the local port was the scene of great activity and the harbour was filled with boats of all descriptions, plying in the coal, grain and other trade.

The report of the races taken from the files of The Evening Guide of 1881 is as follows:
There must have been a thousand spectators present to witness the boat races which were all well contested. For the first four mile race, there were six entries.
The Caroline Marsh's yawl under the charge of Captain Walter Colwell, with Richard Edmunds, Jr, Richard Edmunds, Sr, George Hunter and Patrick Dunn as crew, took the first prize.
The second prize was taken by the yawl of the Ida Walker under charge of John Breen, Capt Thos Cribbin, Robert Craig, John Lavis and Wm Roice comprising the crew.The third was carried off by the yawl of the M A Lydon, with D Early as Captain, Pat Connors, Ben Geyo, James Maxwell and James Gaffney as crew.
The yawl of the Maria Annette under charge of Wm Taff, Capt Charlie Nixon, James Edmunds, Wm Clemes and J Palmer took the fourth prize.
The fifth was taken by the Agnes Hope yawl, Fred Clarke, Capt Geo Robinson, Joseph Strickland, J Maxwell, Thomas McCauley.
The other prize was taken by the yawl of the steam barge D R Van Allan, James Edmunds, Sr as Captain, with W Johnston, Alex (Mc)Clemes, George Bennett and Noah Pethick.
Scull Race—5 Entries:
1. Thos Connors 2. Alex (Mc)Clemes 3. Fred Clark 4. Mark Wright 5. Fred Wilson.
Consolation—4 Entries:
1. Maria Annette 2. Agnes Hope 3. Mary Ann Lydon 4. Van Allan.
Sweep Stakes—2 Entries:
This race was won by Agnes Hope's yawl.
Everything passed off pleasantly, all being well satisfied. Much credit is due to Capt R Henning and E J W Burton for the carrying out of the program.


from a Newspaper article  1931
ERECT ANCHOR AS MEMORIAL
'Hook' From Julia B Merrill To Be Erected In Front Of Town Hall
As a memorial to a form of navigation that has fallen into the discard in the advance of more modern methods, the local chapter of the IODE have obtained the huge anchor from the Julia B Merrill, of Port Hope, last but one of the lake schooners, that will be burned as a crowd spectacle at Sunnyside on the night of June 30, and will place the anchor in a conspicuous spot on the lawn in front of the Town Hall.

A suggestion has been made that a bronze plaque bearing the names of the different captains who at one time lived in Port Hope, be placed on the anchor. The IODE are not considering the placing of a plaque on the anchor at the moment however.

The chapter is sincerely grateful to Mr Fred Sculthorpe, local garage proprietor who is arranging without charge to have the anchor placed in position. The anchor is now being painted and made ready and will likely be placed close to the memorial to Col. Williams in front of the Town Hall.


from the Evening Guide  March 11, 1931
SCHOONER SINKS LOCAL HARBOUR
Julia B Merrill Springs Leak And Sinks—Deck Only A Foot Above Water
The Julia B Merrill, three masted schooner owned by Capt W H Peacock, Port Hope and Arnold Wade, Picton, which has been tied up in Port Hope Harbour for the last five or six year's, sprung a leak over the weekend and sank to the bottom on the south side of the west harbour.

The vessel is the last but one of the schooners that a half century ago made Port Hope one of the busiest ports on the north shore. The only other schooner still afloat is owned in Kingston.

The vessel was purchased some twelve years ago by the above mentioned owners and was used until about six years ago in carrying coal from Oswego to Picton and Port Hope. She was built at Manitowoc on Lake Michigan about fifty years ago. Captain J H Peacock, who is associated with his son Captain W H Peacock in the coal business here, sailed the Great Lakes for 52 years and was a Captain for 40 years. He was master of the Oliver Mowat, which was sunk in a collision off the lower Ducks some years ago, for a period of seventeen years. He retired from the lakes in 1918.

During his regime as caplain he commanded seven different vessels, his last command on a vessel named The Arthur.
Captain J H Peacock, when asked by The Evening Guide today if the boat would ever be used again, replied rather wistfully, "she has done her bit." It is intended to raise the boat in the spring, said the captain.

The reason for the sinking of the craft is stated to have been due to the heavy wind on Sunday and Monday which created an undercurrent at the point where the schooner is tied up. The current kept forcing the boat against the ice along the side of the dock and finally dislodged some of the caulking. Immediately she was opened the craft started filling up and it was not until she was almost filled that the leak was discovered. To-day she is riding on bottom in ten feet of water with the decks scarcely a foot above the water line.


from the Evening Guide  June 1931
JULIA B MERRILL BOUND FOR DAVY JONES' LOCKER
Capt W H Peacock Will Sail Second To The Last Windjammer On The Great Lakes To Sunnyside Beach Where It Will Be Consumed By Fire
The Julia B Merrill, second to the last surviving 'windjammer' on the Great Lakes, which is at present riding at anchorage in the West Harbour, will make her last sail within the next few days. D M Goudy, manager of attractions at Sunnyside Beach, Toronto was in Port Hope on Tuesday and the schooner was purchased from Captain W H Peacock for the price of $350.00.

The historic craft will be taken to Sunnyside Beach and there will be laden with inflammable substances and on June 30th will be burned before the eyes of thousands of amusement seekers who throng the popular resort.

This spring the caulking of the boat became loosened by the constant hammering of the elements and sank on the south side of the harbour. She was raised and is now tied up near the coal sheds on the north side of the harbour.
The Julia B Merrill will leave its home port as soon as weather is favourable and must be delivered at Toronto on or before June 9th. In the interval which remains until her destruction, the boat will be shown at various points near Toronto, if present plans are carried out. Captain W H Peacock will be at the helm when the sails are unfurled for that last long voyage to Davy Jones' locker.

At the sound of the death knell of this famous old craft, an important link in navigation on the lakes will be severed. The schooner for over half a century has been identified with sailing and old timers will recall the time when Port Hope was one of the busiest shipping centres on the northern shore of Lake Ontario—the time when the harbour was thronged with boats shipping grain, coal and lumber.

The Julia B Merrill is the second to the last of the three-masted 'windjammers' in existence in these parts. The other boat is the Lyman Davis of Kingston. The local schooner is 130 feet in length and its spars are 120 feet in height. At the present time, there are only two masts on the schooner, the one at the stern having been dismantled some time ago.
Captain W H Peacock, together with his father, Captain J H Peacock, both of Port Hope, have long been connected with sailing, and are widely known amongst the nautical fraternity. The former is anxiously awaiting the day in the not too distant future, when the historic craft, with canvas flying, will sail out of the Port Hope harbour and disappear 'neath the western horizon, to meet her doom at Sunnyside.


The schooner Julia B Merrill was destined to be its own funeral pyre

from the Toronto Telegram (Schooner Days)  March 11, 1933
OUT O' PORT HOPE
by Robert W Johnson
When I was a boy at Port Hope, all my people were in the vessel business, and many a cruise I had in the good old schooner, W J Suffel, which they owned from about 1886 to 1889. They sold her when business got bad and my recollection is that some skipper sailing her too short-handed piled her up on the rocks at Oswego a year or two afterwards. My father always said that she was an exceptionally fine schooner and handled like a yacht and that he could sail her into any port in any weather with a couple of good men.

Port Burwell, on Lake Erie, was, as you say, a great centre for shipbuilding in the seventies, and when I came to St Thomas 30 years ago, I was much interested to meet people with names such as Suffel, Wrong, Youell, Emery and others, for these were names of vessels with which I had always been familiar, owned and sailed out of Port Hope. There were the W J Suffel, George Suffel, Clara Youell, W Y Emery, Vienna and many others with Port Hope on their sterns that had been built at Port Burwell. In addition there were many vessels that had been built at Port Hope as well as hailing from there.

You would want to go back further than my day to the time when my father sailed in the North Star, the Agnes Hope, the Fellowcraft, the Acacia, the Lewis Ross, the Ariadne and others that are only names to me. In those days out of Port Hope there were Capts Richard Clark of the Agnes Hope, John Strickland of the Aurora, Joe Philps, Bob Colwell, with E S Vindin, Jim Leverich, James Quinlan, Charles Smith and others in the lumber and barley business, as owners.

Later on I recollect Capt Bob Henning, of the Maria Annette, Big Jimmie Haddon, Bob Fox, George Robinson, who had the Mary Ann Lydon towards the end, and several more. Among them, particularly, Capt Walter Colwell with the good old Caroline Marsh. Many a trip I had in her with Capt Colwell and my father. She was then owned, I think, by Capt Vindin or possibly Jim Leverich, but was sold and they then took over the S & J Collier, a smaller boat, but a snug one. When in Oswego one day on the Collier the Caroline Marsh came down and went on the rocks at the old fort. Rugged old Walt broke down and cried when he saw her pile up. They got aboard the wreck and saved certain souvenirs, such as the ship's bell off the forecastle and took these back to Port Hope.

But the names of the vessels are clearer in my mind than those of the men, although I can never forget that one bearded skipper was nick-named Lousy Whiskers. Many captains wore whiskers then as a protection against the weather, and sailors were far from polite. The nick-names they bestowed upon their 'Old Men', as the captains were called, were more picturesque than pretty. I suppose to us boys the ships themselves were of more interest and we could stand on the high banks overlooking the lake and call them all by name as we saw them coming up the lake past the Gull Light three or four miles away.

Painted white with red bottom, white with green bottom, black with red bottom, green like the Aurora—with clipper bow like the Suffel or straight stem like the bluff, old Lydon—with two or three masts, with three or four jibs, with a main top-mast staysail as the Albacore carried, with square rigged foremast like the Lewis Ross and Erie Belle, sailed by Capt Daniel Manson, with a new jib here or topsail there that would be stll gleaming white amid their weathered or coal-dusty canvas. All were different and easily recognized by our sharp and eager eyes.

I can well remember when 20 or 30 vessels would be loading lumber at the same time in Port Hope harbour, with several others lashed along side, unable to get wharfage, waiting to take their places as soon as the others were loaded.

In the fall three elevators spouted barley into their holds and in November the men took chances with the owners and sailed for the big wages of $20 and sometimes $25 for the trip to Oswego and return. With luck the round trip would take only about 48 hours, but with a bad blow it would be run back to South Bay, there to gather hickory nuts and steal apples for three or four days under the lee of the point. When you speak of orchard robbing at Port Burwell, I must admit hooking peaches at Big Sodus, gathering chestnuts and hickory nuts at Charlotte and other similar escapades elsewhere.

Out of the long list that I used to know there come to my mind such additional names as the Jane Ann Marsh, Ariel, Wave Crest, Two Brothers, Annie Minnes, Ella Murton, Speedwell, Trade Wind, Ocean Wave, Undine, Augusta, Eliza Quinlan, Eliza White, L D Bullock, Lady MacDonald, Oliver Mowat, Picton, S & J Collier and few 'propellers' such as Rathburn's Resolute and Reliance out of Deseronto; the Shickluna, the Ocean, Persia and others. Then there were the R & O boats, the Corsican, Corinthian, Algerian and others and the good old Norseman, afterwards North King, which made daily trips to Charlotte.


Algerian paddle steamer

I remember a race up the lake to Toronto from Oswego and Charlotte after a week's blow one September about 1887, when a dozen or more coal-laden schooners, which had been sheltering from the gale, left the lower end of the lake together. In the Suffel we thought we were winning, having disposed of everybody ahead of us, but the Speedwell got a slant off Scarborough Bluffs which we missed half a mile farther out, and beat us in through the East Gap by a couple of hundred yards.

The Fellowcraft and British Queen are familiar names, but I think they were older. You speak of the round-sterned Delaware. I think it was the Wave Crest which was the sole round sterned boat in the Port Hope fleet. The Delaware was owned in Belleville. Do you remember when Gooderham's Oriole came back from Chicago with the big cup about 1888? I was in Toronto, and saw her triumphant entry with all her colors flying on that day. Frank Jackman was then the tug owner who did the harbour towing in Toronto Bay.

I have often heard my father speak of Captain Cuthbert's Countess of Dufferin, schooner-rigged yacht of Cobourg, and I remember we had what I thought at the time was a beautiful framed picture of her when I was a boy. Don't I wish I had it to-day!

I wish my father were alive to compare notes with you on these old days. He was in Chicago, I think with rails for some western road in his vessel out of Port Hope in 1871, in Quebec with timber later, and was one summer about 1887 freighting stone from Pelee Island to Toronto, which was then sawed into flags for sidewalks. At other times he took cargoes of salt to Chicago and picked up hickory and walnut lumber and stave bolts at Rondeau, Morpeth, Port Glasgow and other Erie ports. He carried western grain from the Northern Elevator at Toronto to Kingston, grain from Frenchman's Bay and Whitby to Oswego, moulding sand from Oswego to Hamilton, and coal from Fairhaven, Charlotte, Big Sodus and Oswego to various north shore ports. When in the Toronto trade, with grain for Mathews and coal for Rogers, the headquarters for news and mail was Capt. John Magann's, on the Esplanade, a regular sailors' post office, and I often wonder now at the changes in the Toronto water front since those days.

My father stuck to the Lake Ontario trade until about 1900, when railroad competition and the McKinley tariff had made it impossible for vessels to make a profit. To-day the once magnificent harbour of refuge at Port Hope is silting up and shelters only an odd gasoline launch or steam yacht, but on Lake Erie the harbours at Port Burwell and Port Stanley have been vastly improved because of the fishing industry and the daily trips of the coal ferries from Ashtabula and Conneaut.

You speak of the loss of the Blanche. Do you remember the little Ocean Wave which was found capsized down about the Ducks or South Bay after a summer squall? The captain's name escapes me just now, but he was a popular Port Hope man. I think he had only two or three of a crew and they were from 'Cat Hollow' or a Bay of Quinte port.

"I Guess I was the last one to see and talk to Capt. partner, Capt. Martin, of Cobourg, before the Ocean Wave was lost with all hands," Capt. Nelson Palmateer, of Cherry Valley, told The Telegram a few weeks ago. "We were in Trenton at the time in a vessel with my father and my uncle, and the Ocean Wave was finishing a deckload of headings for barrels, being already loaded to the hatches with lumber for Oswego. I borrowed their yawl boat to scull across the river and when I brought it back I said, half jokingly, "You'd better drydock your yawl boat, captain," for it was leaky and seemed in need of repairs.

"That's all right," said Capt. Brokenshire. "She'll do our turn. This is the last trip Martin and I are going to make. We've a good freight on this lumber and we'll pick up a load of coal in Oswego and go home with it to Cobourg, and settle down ashore for the rest of our days. We've been partners together through a good deal of weather, fair and foul, and we're going to be partners in comfort after this."

Half an hour later they had the last of the headings piled high above the bulwarks, and cast off their lines. The Ocean Wave steered down the Bay for Telegraph Narrows on the way to Oswego with her leaky yawl boat on the davits for her last voyage. She was a shapely little white hulled schooner, with a straight stem. She could carry about 7,000 bushels. She was a good vessel, but crank; that is, she didn't stand up well. The load they had in her made this fault worse—the headings on deck were heavier than the lumber below.

Something happened to her—a quick squall likely, throwing her on her beam ends. Neither Capt. Brokenshire nor Capt. Martin nor any of her crew were ever seen again after they sailed out into the lake.


Schooner Caroline Marsh, built by William Marsh in Port Britain, Ontario 1852, wrecked Oswego, New York 1890

from the Toronto Telegram (Schooner Days)  March 18, 1939
ONE TRIP OF THE CAROLINE MARSH
as told to C.H.J. Snider
Old Bob Colwell, as he was so long and so favourably known, sailed the Caroline Marsh for years for E. S. Vindin, of Port Hope, loading at the Vindin warehouse with grain or lumber for the south shore ports on Lake Ontario, and coming back with coal for Toronto or some of the Canadian harbours, or in ballast for Port Hope if no coal offered. Once he had to be left behind. James A. Craig, of Toronto, eighty now, and a ship carpenter in Port Hope, from boyhood, tells the story—

"There were ten of us in the Caroline Marsh that trip, and of the ten I'm the only one now living. It was in 1883 or 1884. We loaded lumber in Port Hope for Fairhaven, N.Y., till the boards were three feet high above the rail, for the Caroline Marsh was a grand carrier. She was bound for a little American port fifteen miles west of Oswego, where there was no labour to be had to unload her, Fairhaven being a small village far in from the lake, so Vindin asked some of us Port Hope fellows if we would make the trip to work the cargo as lumber shovers. I went in that capacity with Jim Sulair and Mike Curran. My brother, Albert, was a sailor in her, and so was George Robinson, who later sailed the Mary Ann Lydon, and got the Oliver Mowat ashore at Oshawa, a big fellow named Charlie Martin, and another named Bob Rankin. Walter Colwell, old Capt. Bob's son, was first mate, though he had captain's papers himself, and Tom Connors was second mate. And Louie White was the cook, a red-headed lass with a vocabulary to match her galley repertoire.

"We were all ready to go, but the Old Man was under the weather and couldn't get aboard. Vindin was anxious to have the Caroline Marsh on her way, for it was good working breeze and no time to be lost—it was the second of November—so, after a lot of walking up and down the wharf and looking for the captain to show up, he told young Walter to get her going.

"Up went the sails—the Caroline Marsh had new canvas for the fall—and out she went at 5 o'clock, as the day began to wane. The wind was easterly, and she worked short tacks down the lake, doing pretty well in spite of her high-piled deckload that forced us to tie lumber-reefs in the sails to swing them clear of the tophamper.

"On about 10 o'clock it freshened and blew hard from the east, and the sea made up quick and she began to jump. Her sails were new, but her running gear began to let go, and what with stranding halliards and parting topping-lifts we were soon in a mess, with the big sails dropped like falling circus tents on the deck-load and the jibs in rags, held together by their downhauls. The only sail that would stand was the fore staysail, and under that we let her run up the lake, thinking to get in under Toronto Point and ride out the east blow and refit.

"But by the time we were up off the Highlands of Scarboro the wind hauled round as it does so often in the fall and came howling out of the northwest. So around we came and staggered down the lake, and by dusk next evening, 24 hours after we started we were back off Port Hope again, well out in old Ontario.

"Old Capt Robt. Colwell had recovered by this time and stood watching us from a Port Hope hill, tearing his grey hair with concern, for the Caroline Marsh was like a daughter to him. He was more concerned for her than for his son, Walter.

"'She's met trouble, the poor lass,' he insisted, as he saw only the stay sail flying, 'but she'll bring them through all right if they only keep her off the land!'

"We kept her off the land all right, giving both shores of Lake Ontario a wide berth, but hanging on to the north one as long as we could and as far as we could, for it was to windward and kept the water smooth. But before midnight we were down off Presqu'isle Bluff, and the Prince Edward County shore was coming out ahead of us, so we would have to haul further out into the lake to clear it. And just then we had a vicious squall and our last hope, the staysail, blew into ribbons.

"Without any sail now to give her steerage way the Caroline Marsh fell into the trough of the sea and rolled fit to loop the loop. Louie's pots and pans raised Cain in the galley, and the stove fell to pieces, Louie herself rolled out of her bunk—she had been seasick and we hadn't had a meal since leaving Port Hope—and the deckload commenced to shift.

"'Up and shore it back, boys,' bawled Walter Colwell and his acting first mate, Tom Connors, 'or we'll never be able to look Vindin in the eye on pay day.' We jumped to the job, but it was worse than trying to clear Toronto streets of ice. That deckload walked from side to side and from aft forward and forward aft, and in half an hour 40,000 feet of it had gone overboard, never to return. We were lucky to get rid of it without it taking the crew with it or crushing anybody or tearing away the booms. The wind unloaded it as much as the water or the rolling of the ship, for it was blowing 60 miles an hour, and when she would a come stern to it would pick up loose boards and blow them off like shingles.

"Well, thank God, that's gone!" yelled Walter as the last bunch of planks floated off on a sea that burst aboard. "Now we've room to work, and we'll get some sail on her. If we don't she'll blow in on Wicked Point or Point Peter.'

"'And then both Vindin and Old Man will be madder'n the Port Hope undertakers at missing our funerals,' chipped in Tom Connors.

"We had sewn up some of the rip the jibs on the run down from the Highlands, and the sails were good enough if we could get them up. We daren't try reefing and setting the big sails, without our lifts and it blowing so hard. Some of the lads got aloft, though she was rolling so that she almost shot them out of the crosstrees, and they rove off new halliards where the old ones had gone, and after a lot of pulling we got the standing jib and the flying jib on her, and she paid off, out of the trough of the sea.

"Boy did she fly with those two small sails set! Every second we expected them to twist out of the bolt-ropes, but once they stopped shaking they were safe. They dragged like a team of mad bulls, their sheets whining on the belaying pins and showering sparks every time the chain pennants struck the headstays. It was the wildest night in the lake I had ever seen, and every mile we went the sea was mounting higher.

"Soon the red light on Wicked Point and the white light on Point Peter were in turn on our port quarter, and we had nothing to fear from the lee shore of Prince Edward. We were tearing for New York State at twelve miles an hour. Before five o'clock that morning—it was Thursday evening we started and this was now Saturday—we were off Fairhaven. Its fixed light was now shining, now dark, and we knew we couldn't go in. The seas were running higher than the lighthouse.

"So we kept her away for Oswego—Hobson's choice. The sea here was bigger than off Fairhaven. It was blotting out the red light on the outer end of the pier, though the lighthouse was twenty-five feet above water level. The first thing we saw was the bright light inside, on the lighthouse sixty feet high; and even it was drowned in spray from time to time. And we knew there was a regular Niagara whirl pool rapids spuming off the harbour entrance, with the Oswego River running out, the lake seas running in, and the backslap from the breakwater rushing against the east pier. 'We got to get more sail on her,' young Walter insisted.

"'She's got so much with them two jibs,' said Tom Connors, 'if she gets any more she'll jump the piers like a flying fish.' 'Get the fores'l on her,' roared the young captain. 'She's got to have so much sail on her forrad she can't broach to in the seas at the pierhead.'

"'Come on, boys,' shouted Tom Connors, 'give the fore throat-halliards hell!'

"We were very full-handed, and all tailed on to the ropes, and in spite of the wind and the rolling we walked the throat of the foresail up fourteen feet. Then we belayed and gave her the peak, steadying the gaff as it rose and flailed, by using the stout new downhaul as a vang. The new foresail bloated up like a bladder and fairly lifted the Caroline's bows out of the water.

"C-R-A-S-S-H-H-H!, something went right over our heads. We were too busy to guess what it was, for waves leapt up at us from all sides, like a sea of geysers exploding. We were in the swirl of the pier-heads, with river meeting lake and the hurricane for referee. The Caroline was a sweet steering thing, and with the tremendous pressure of her canvas she never faltered, but shot straight between the piers like a hunter taking a fence.

"'W-what was that?' asked big Charlie Martin, with the crash still echoing in our ears.

"'Reveille gun in Fort Ontario. Six o'clock,' snapped young Walter. 'Stand by your downhauls and halliards! Let go the fore throat! Ease away the peak! Downhaul that peak! Let them jibs run! Down with 'em! Down with 'em! Stand by both anchors, and give her the starboard one as soon as you can. Let go!'

"The anchors got her before she poked her jibboom into John S. Parson's ship chandlery at the bridge, up town. Even above the bridge the Oswego River was at times no lily pond. Then Tom Connors ran aft for the coal oil can and crammed the forecastle stove with broken plank-chips and soaked them well with oil. We were all perishing with the November cold, and the let-down after the excitement. But there was more, quick.

"We were all crowded in the boar pen. Tom struck the match and whoof! the flame blew him clear up the forecastle ladder and out of the fore-scuttle. He called back, 'Any of ye alive down there still? Check the damper, there's too much draught in this wind. And come up and get the yawlboat down, so's we can snaffle a scuttle or two of coal from the trestle before it gets too light.'

"The gale blew out by Sunday afternoon. We had everything all straightened up by then, and Louie was on her feet and making things hum. We sailed up to Fairhaven, and began to unload on Monday. We saw a fine field of what looked like watermelons (must have been citrons, from the time of year), and made a note of it for future use. Next night, unloaded and ready to sail, we sneaked across to the field and each man got the biggest watermelon he could under each arm and ran for the wharf and hid them under the sail covers in the dark. Next morning, out in the lake on the way home, we examined our prizes, and found everyone of us had picked two large pumpkins. Louie made us pies from some and the others we planted on the doorsteps of the leading citizens of Port Hope for a sailors' hallowe'en."


from John Syme 'Jack' Laurie reminiscence 2002
For some time, the Julia B Merrill, an old sailing ship, had been moored at the harbour, in somewhat derelict condition. Dick Woodcock had been hired as a watchman to safeguard the boat. At times we would visit him and he would regale us with old stories of his sailing days on the lake.

The Julia B Merrill was originally a three-masted vessel 120 feet in length. She spent her final commercial days in the 1920s under the command of Captain Peacock hauling anthracite coal from Oswego, New York, to coal dealers, primarily the Peacock and Patterson families. She was one of the last three-masted schooners on the Great Lakes, the others being the J T Wink, out of Goderich and the Lyman M Davis. While lying inactive at Port Hope's harbour, her stern-most mast had developed rot. For safety reasons it was removed.

At a later time, we learned that the Julia B Merrill, had been purchased by several Toronto entrepreneurs. These people were not interested in sailing the vessel but rather planned on creating a spectacle off Sunnyside Beach in Toronto by burning her. We thought our harbour friend, Dick Woodcock, the vessel watchman, would be devastated by this turn of events.

We proceeded to the inner basin to see Dick and were surprised to discover him alongside others preparing the schooner for the sail to her last resting place. As the Protestant Hill Gang watched the preparations, we witnessed a sad event. While the mainsail was being hoisted, an upper rope block broke away and released the mainsail. As it fell, it hit Dick a glancing blow in the head and knocked him unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he regained consciousness, but was told to remain in the hospital for several days for observation. Undeterred, Dick awoke before dawn the next day, got out of bed, donned his clothes and walked down to the Julia B Merrill's mooring spot. It was never his intention to miss the last sailing day of his beloved schooner.

Later we learned the details of the burning, on July 21, 1931, of the schooner Julia B Merrill. She was anchored off Sunnyside Beach in full sail and piled high with bales of straw, all of which were then doused with kerosene. She was then set afire. Sky rockets had been placed about the ship, and when ignited they flew off in all directions. The Julia B Merrill burned to the water line and ultimately sank. It was quite a spectacle to most who witnessed the scene. But to myself, Dick Woodcock, and the Protestant Hill Gang, the event marked the loss of an old friend. To us it seemed a sad ending to one of the last schooners to sail the Great Lakes. Three years later in June 1934, the Lyman M Davis met a similar fate. Presumably these two vessels lie near each other in their watery graves, laid there by ignominious fires.


from John Syme 'Jack' Laurie reminiscence 2002
Prohibition proved an interesting time around and upon the Great Lakes. It spawned many rum-running operations especially when the United States was legally 'dry' and Canada was legally 'wet.' US Prohibition commenced in 1919 and alcohol consumption there plummeted by fifty percent. Shortly thereafter, American 'speakeasies' appeared where illegal booze was sold. In the 1920s, road houses, flappers and jazz combined to make the decade the Roaring Twenties.

In Canada, during its flirtation with Prohibition, if you wanted a drink in Ontario in the Twenties, you had to obtain a doctor's prescription and then buy the booze at a government dispensary. The only other alternative was to visit a drug store and purchase a medicinal tonic. One of these tonics was named 'Dandy Bracer,' a liver and kidney cure. It was much sought after and was a good seller. Eventually the product was analyzed by a Government laboratory. It proved to be a mixture of sugar, molasses, bluestone (copper sulphate) along with a touch of tobacco juice. It was also 36% pure alcohol.

With Canada's 1927 legalization of distilleries and breweries, their products were sold to the public and to rum-runners. Port Hope's first provincial liquour store opened on May 16th. Lineups were a block long waiting for similar stores in Toronto to open. First day prices included three dollars for a quart of Seagram's VO rye whiskey, while the lowest priced sherry, Bright's Catawba, sold for forty-five cents a quart.

Port Hope was one destination for the products of these manufacturers in large quantities. Frequently cases of beer and liquour arrived in bonded railway box cars. These cars were unloaded at the harbour. Rum-runners hired youngsters on weekends to help transfer the beverages to the rum-running boats. This was a boon to the youngsters of Port Hope, including myself, who could earn as much as four or five dollars for the weekend. During the early Depression years this was a substantial payday. This new business was risky, but very profitable. It was also adventurous and dangerous.
Booze was smuggled via cars, airplanes, schooners and row boats. But mostly in this area, rum-runners used power boats for the illicit transportation business. It was rumoured that some US patrol boat operators were paid in cash or booze to look the other way while rum-runners were unloading their contraband cargo. Flouting the law was endemic on both sides of the border. Liquour and beer was often packed in gunny sacks with salt so that if the load had to be thrown overboard it would sink, whereas boxes and crates would float. After a time, the salt would dissolve and the gunny sack would rise to the surface of the water to be retrieved, and would then continue on its south-bound journey.

Local federal Customs Officers were always on hand during the unloading of the rum onto the rum-running vessels in order to check the count of the number of cases bound for export. Usually they gave export clearance to Cuba even though everyone knew the loaded contraband was destined for the south shore of Lake Ontario, some fifty-five to sixty miles distance. At this time Port Hope had a Harbour Master and one of his duties was to check each rum-running vessel leaving port and to assess a stipend of so much per case on behalf of the local harbour commission. These were always cash transactions and a receipt was issued to the rum-runners. The cash was then delivered to the proper municipal authority at the Town Hall.

The boat Mary H was a rum-runner operating from Port Hope harbour during these years. She was equipped with three Liberty engines from World War 1 Martin bomber airplanes. Each engine had its own drive shaft and propeller. Two of the engines were side-by-side, with the third in a central position in front of the other two. The steering wheel was immediately behind the front engine so the three engines literally surrounded the helmsman. All three engines were V12s, each generating about 450 horsepower. The exhausts were designed to operate both above and beneath the water. If exhausted above the water, a smoke screen could be deployed to confuse any attempt by the US Coast Guard to capture the boat. If exhausted below the surface of the water, the boat proceeded in relative silence.
Double rudders were used for steering and greater control, especially when the boat hit its top speed of 55 miles per hour. This speed was unusually fast at the time for such a large vessel, and it was a decided asset in outdistancing any enforcement personnel. The Mary H was reputed to be the fastest rum-runner on the Great Lakes. Often my friends and I would sit at the end of Port Hope's east pier in the dark of the night while the rum-runners were moving out of the harbour, apparently destined for Cuba. With the Mary H's exhaust being expelled underwater, the only noise that was audible was the swish of water as she nosed out of the harbour. Later, I had a more involved contact with the Mary H and other rum-runners.

The Mary H was not the only rum-runner operating from Port Hope at this time. There were a half dozen others. One of these was a speedy vessel as well which had been converted during World War 1 into a submarine chaser. Others were smaller high speed pleasure-type boats and were employed transporting smaller quantities of alcoholic contraband. The 'Sandpan', a shallow-draught boat was a little-used boat which was always moored at Gull Island lighthouse located in Lake Ontario a little east of Port Hope. This boat was driven by a 490 cubic inch Chevrolet automobile engine. If a bad storm, or the US Coast Guard, prevented a cargo from being unloaded on the American side, it was brought back to Gull Island. There it was unloaded onto the moored Sandpan. This was done so that the original vessel would not run afoul of Canadian laws which they would if they brought the booze back into Port Hope harbour. A retired Port Hope fisherman acted as a guard for the Sandpan's cargo.

With the repeal of the Prohibition Act in the United States in 1933, this interesting chapter in Port Hope's history ended, as did my peripheral, but legal, association with rum-runners!


W A Morris's steam yacht at the twine factory

from the Evening Guide  Tuesday January 10, 1928
Fifty Years Ago (1878)
Port Hope in the Early Days—A Glimpse into Town's Past
THE TWINE FACTORY
Consumers Cordage Co Ltd which has its head office at Montreal and factories at Montreal, Toronto, Brantford, LaChute, Quebec, St John and Halifax. The situation that this factory occupies is one of the most eligible and convenient in the town, being situated along side the harbour and having a siding of the Midland railway past its door, enables them to get in their supplies by boat and rail, and ship their manufactured goods with a minimum of labour.


The boiler and engine rooms at the twine factory

The machinery is designed exclusively for the manufacture of binder twine, and is of the latest, most improved pattern. Two boilers of 250 hp each supply steam to a 400 hp engine. The factory is equipped with an electric plant which is run by a high speed engine. This factory was specially built for the manufacture of binder twine and when run to its full capacity is capable of supplying nearly half the twine required for domestic use.

It gives employment to over 100 hands. Besides the factory there are two large storehouses for holding the raw and finished goods. Mr W H Brown is the manager of this branch.


The sprawling Eldorado/Cameco refinery, a cancer on the lungs of the town

Back in the day Port Hope benefitted from the commerce of the schooners and steamers that often crowded the docks at the harbour. W Arnot Craick and Harold Reeve tell of its beginnings—'...Port Hope was constituted a port of entry as early as 1819'—to the unhappy time when 'The McKinley Tariff of 1890 [48.5% of the value of the goods] shut out our lumber and grain from the American market, and the hey-day of the schooner was over.'

The harbour area once was the proper place for the corporations located there, but shipping activities ended long ago. It has potential as a public space for people to enjoy that won't be realised as long as the nuclear industry keeps its stranglehold on the waterfront—the lungs of the town. The area has been abandoned to an industry that should not be there, but goes on practicing ecocide in the middle of a town it has made into a radioactive waste dump.

Other municipalties on the Great Lakes, such as Chicago, have tried to make their waterfront a place for people.