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Canada, which was threatening to take over the Y o r k N ia g a r a crossing.9 W hen the Baldwins disposed of most of their stock two years later, new investors kept the Toronto on the Bay of Quinte. One year she was chartered to Archibald McDonell who fought Henry Gildersleeve (the captain and agent of the Sir James K em pt) in the newspapers.1 0 The battle heated up at Bath the following season when the small cannon used by the Toronto's crew to signal departures was fired at the Sir James K em pt. One of the K em pt's hands was bowled over by the charge.1 1 By 1832 she was in the hands of James G. Parker, a retired American mariner and Kingston merchant. Parker used the Toronto to keep a foothold in the competitive Bay of Quinte trade until his new steamer, the Kingston, was launched. Then, after the "metamorphosis" noticed by the Kingston Chronicle and Gazette, Parker moved the Toronto onto the Rideau Canal where, two years later, she was con verted into a barge.1 2 TO THE PUB L IC. Su b s c ri b e r hav ing o b t ai n e d His Majest y's L e t t e r s P ate nt fo r an i m pr ove me nt in N a v al Ar c hitec t u r e , as s p e c i fie d, a t t e s t e d , and duly r eg is te r e d, in t he C o u r t o f C h a n c e r y , Londo n, i n s u c c ession as follows: for I r e land, E n g l a n d , Scotland, the Colonies, and Pl a n ta tio ns ; e a c h s e p a r a t e and d i s t i n c t ; acqu ain ts th e pub lic o f U p p e r C a n a d a th at he has a p poin te d M r J. E w a r t his a ge nt, w it h full p o w e r to BuiId, grant L i c e n c es , and r e c e i v e a pr em i u m o f T h r e e Shillings C u r r c 'y . p e r T o n , Regi ste r T o n n a g e , o n ea c h L i c en c e so g r a n t e d , in t h r e e m on th s a l t e r being lau nch ed -- r. E w a r t ha v in g ha d an op p o r tu n i ty o f being fully a c q ua in te d w it h t he prin ci ple s and ma n n e r o f con struc tio n o f t he N e w System of Ship Building is he re b y r e c o m m e n d e d as being fully c o m p e t e n t to its E x e c u ti o n . An y in fri ng e m e nt o f t he right o f t h e s u b s c r i b e r will be pr os e c ute d as the L a w directs. M W . ANNESLEY York. U C J u n e 20 th , 1815 ad. re Annesley, "To th e Public". "Upper C a n a d a G a z e tte , 7 July 1825. In a similar ad v ertisem en t ru n n in g in th e M o n t r e a l G a z e tte , A nnesley ap p o in te d his son, W illiam A nnesley jr., his agent. W hen the Toronto's career is examined as a whole, it becomes evident that her only major failure had been her very first season, when she had, if only occasionally, run between York and Niagara. On May 25th, about a month after her launch, the Toronto set off on her first passage across Lake Ontario.1 3 She arrived in Niagara the same day and set off in return on the evening of May 27th. But, according to York's Customs officials, she did not return until June 7.1 4 Four days later she entered York again. Almost a m onth would pass before she successfully crossed a third time (July 6). Four more passages then followed in quick succession, the last times the Toronto would enter York that season. But was the hull the source of these problems? Not according to John Spread Baldwin, one of the exasperated investors. "... She makes a miserable hand of it, and all I believe for want of an Engineer [, E]very one that has seen an Engine or pretends to be a judge, says, it is good[. T]he Boilers however I believe are very leaky, &there is always something w rong.... W hen the Engine dos [sic] go prop erly, which it seems they cannot continue for more than an hour or two without something going wrong, the vessel [sic] goes at the rate of from 6 7 to 8 miles an hour." Could a skilled engineer be found in Montreal, Baldwin asked, who could master the baulky machinery?1 5 There is nothing in his account, and presumably in the opinion of his brother and fellow investor, Capt. Augustus Baldwin, R.N., to suggest that the Toronto's hull leaked too much or that she would not hold a course. The engine takes an equally prominent role in a con temporary account of her last attem pt to cross to York. "... [S]ome of her machinery got out of order - she re mained one day and two nights at the M outh of the [Niagara] River, and although there was a strong wind up the river during the period, she could not get up, till on the 2nd instant, she was towed up by the Q ueenston."16 In each of the following two seasons, there would be instances of mechanical breakdowns.1 7 Having concluded that the machinery and not the hull was the immediate source of the Toronto's problems, we are left wondering about the unusual nature of the design. A little research quickly reveals that a few other steam vessels were built to the same pattern during the years 1824-25. Musham describes the Chippewa, a ferry built in 1824 to run across the upper Niagara river as "being shaped like a muskmelon and built of layers of planks and without frames."18 The newspaper account of the launch of the Toronto credits her design to an "ingenious and scientific artist", Mr. Annesly [sic]. 1 9 Annesley had already left his name on a small Montreal area steam ferry launched in 1824, and reference to the Montreal press reveals his other credentials. Annesley's son, William Jr. had opened a small Montreal business selling mirrors and prints, while his father was still in the Irish port of Belfast securing British patents for "Certain Improvements in the Construction of Boats, Ships, and other Vessels."20 A steamboat using Annesley's patent had been completed on the Humber River in England, and a second was under construction in New York, when Annesley Sr. came to Montreal in the spring of 1824.2 1William Jr. had invested in a company building a steam ferry between Montreal and the south shore of the St, Lawrence. His father came up from Albany, New York, to build the hull for £480.2 2 Significantly, the W illia m Annesley (as it became known) was also described as being "the exact model of a canoe", just as Scadding had de scribed as being "the exact model of a canoe", just as Scadding had described the Toronto.23Its launch occurred 27