The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

9. Sh ip of MAPLEHILL Whe n m a n y of t o d a y ' s y o u n g e r m a ri ne h i s t o r i a n s think of the ca na lle rs, a class of ship w h i c h m a n y of them ne ve r saw in op er a ti on , they tend to c o n s i d e r p r i m a r i l y those v e s s e l s built to the d i m e n s i o n s of the old canals d u r i n g the 1 92 0 s and 1930s. I ndeed, those were the y ea r s d u ri ng w h i c h the best k n o w n c a n a l - s i z e d l a k e r s were c on st r u c t e d , as the C a n a d i a n fleets s t r u g g l e d to u p d a t e the ir o p e r a t i o n s and r ep la ce ol der ve s s e l s as well as the m a n y c a n a l l e r s w h i c h h ad b e en lost d u r i n g W o r l d War One. Howe v e r , a g r e a t m a n y s t e e l - h u l l e d c a n a l le rs were built in the years bef or e the c o m m e n c e m e n t of the war, and in ma n y ways they were the most h a n d s o m e of the ca na l bo ats. They were constructed in the ye ar s be for e ma ssproduction became co mmo n, a nd the s t ea m e r s generally wer e designed i n di v i d u a l l y . For this r ea so n , they tend ed to have more d i s t i n c t i v e and g r a c e f u l li ne s tha n d id t he ir l ater c o u n t e rp ar ts , and they also were rathe r more s u b s t a n t i a l l y built. S om e of those c o m p l e t e d a r o u n d the turn of the c e n t u r y e n j o y e d e x t r e m e l y l o ng lives, s u r v i v i n g right up until the adven t of the l ar ge l o c ks of the n ew St. L a w r e n c e Seaway. In 1904, the B e r t r a m E n g i n e W o rks C o m p a n y Ltd. c o n s t r u c t e d at its T o r o n t o s h i p y a r d its H u l l 43, w h i c h w as a c a n a l - s i z e d stea mer built to B e r t r a m ' s own a c co u n t . (In o t h e r w o r d s , the ship was d e s i g n e d and built by the yard in the a n t i c i p a t i o n that she c o uld be sold to one of the C a n a d i a n lake o p e ra to r s w h e n she w as c o m p l e t e d . ) The s t e e l - h u l l e d bulk ca rri er was 2 4 6 . 0 feet in l e n g t h b e t w e e n p e r p e n d i c u l a r s ( 2 5 6 . 0 feet ov er all ), w it h a b e a m of 4 2 . 6 feet an d d e p t h of 1 5 . 0 feet. Her o r i g i n a l tonn age was 1603 G r os s and 1010 Net. She w a s p o w e r e d by a triple e x p a n s i o n engi ne w h i c h had c y l i n d e r s of 15 3/4, 25 a nd 42 i n c h e s d i a m e t e r and a stroke of 30 inches. S t e a m was p r o v i d e d by two S c o t c h b o i l e r s , 10 feet by 11 feet. All of the m a c h i n e r y was b ui l t for the v e s s e l by the shipyard. The s t e a m e r w as d e s i g n e d to c a r ry 7 0 , 000 b us h e l s of g r a i n w he n l oa d ed to full c a n a l d ra ft . To a s s i s t h er in h a n d l i n g ca r goe s o t h er than grain, she was f i t t e d w i t h six w h i r l y - t y p e deck cr an es of t h r e e - t o n c a p a c i t y each. Three c r a n e s w e r e f i t t e d on e a c h side of the spar deck, one set each abaft the first, t h i r d and f if t h h at c hes. The s h ip wa s l a u n c h e d on S a t u r d ay, Jul y 23rd, 1904, and her s po ns or was none o t h e r tha n Mrs. B e r t r a m . We have b e e n u n a b l e to f ind out a n y t h i n g about her, but we a s s u m e that Mrs. B e r t r a m was the wif e of the p r o p r i e t o r of the s h i p y a r d . In any e ven t, the st ea me r was c h r i s t e n e d H A D D I N G T O N , and she w as e n r o l l e d at T o r o n t o u n der O f f i c i a l N u m b e r C . 116764. Her o r i g i n a l registered o w n e r w as S . S. H a d d i n g t o n Ltd., and she e n t e r e d se rv ic e in S e p t e m b e r of 1904 u n d e r the m a n a g e m e n t of the w e l l - k n o w n J. and J. T. Mat he w s , of T o r o n t o , w h o s e v e s s e l o p e r a t i o n s later wer e c o n s o l i d a t e d un der the n a me of the M a t h e w s S t e a m s h i p C o m p a n y Ltd., Toronto. H A D D I N G T O N w as a v e r y g o o d - l o o k i n g canal ler , w ith a s l i g h t l y ra ked stem, a h a n d s o m e s h e e r to her deck, a n d a g r a c e f u l c o un te r st ern w i t h a p r o n o u n c e d u n d e r c u t of the hull. She h a d a full f o r e ca st le , wi t h a c l os ed steel rail for a bit m o r e t h an h a l f its l ength. At o p the f o r e c a s t l e was a texas cabin, w h i c h c o n t a i n e d the m a s t e r ' s o ffice and qu a r te rs , and in front of it was s i t u a t e d a small, r o u n d e d p i l o t h o u s e , w i t h seven large s e c t i o n e d w i n d o w s in its front. A n o p e n n a v i g a t i o n br id ge was lo c a t e d on the m o n k e y ' s i s la nd atop the p i l o t h o u s e , and the h e a v i l y r ak ed fo r em as t rose up out of the texas. An o p e n r a i l i n g r an d o w n b o th sides of the spar deck, and there was a c l os e d s te e l t a f f r a i l a r o u n d the af ter c a bi n and the fantail. The after ca bi n w as large, a nd ther e w a s a s l i g h t l y "in den te d" (na rrower) b o i l e r h o u s e at its f o r w a r d end. T h e r e w a s a wide o v e r h a n g of the boat deck a r o u n d all of the deckhouse, except the bo il er h o u s e , to pr ov id e sh elt er for the w a l k w a y a r o u n d the cabin. The tall and w e l l - p r o p o r t i o n e d funnel rose out of the M o n t h No. 185