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CAPITAL RENEW AL AND EXPANSION The three vessels purchased from Hamilton's creditors formed the nucleus of a fleet which at its peak numbered thirteen. This expansion reveals much about the oppor tunities afforded a joint stock company for financing growth. The Passport, Kingston and Champion were acquired by means of a mortgage granted them by Hamilton's assignees, 34 If these vessels were to be secured before the beginning of navigation, speed was essential. Conse quently the purchase was made before the paid-up capital was sufficient to provide cash. To fill out their first line, the directors chartered the two other vessels used in the Mail Line the previous year, the Banshee and the New Era. W ith minority holdings in one and complete control of the other steamboat, company vice-president O. S. Gildersleeve may also have influenced this decision . 35 For the Canadian Inland Steam Navigation Company, chartering would only be a short term solution. Before long the decision had been made to replace those aging wooden vessels with new iron ones. Following the course charted by the Kingston, their iron hulls were fabricated in Glasgow shipyards, shipped to Canada and assembled in Montreal, And like the Kingston and Passport they were limited to the maximum dimensions of the St. Lawrence canal locks and designed to deserve the appellation `lux urious.' Four of this plan were built for the company: the Grecian in 1863, the Spartan in 1864, the Corsican in 1870 and the Bohemian in 1873,36 These displaced the wooden vessels on the company's central route, the Mail Line. Lack of evidence to the contrary suggests that they were paid for out of reserved earnings. Although upgrading the company's Mail Line fleet was a major priority, considerable attention was also given to expansion. The first move in this direction was the acquisi tion of the Magnet. 37 Apart from accounting for most of Milloy's shares in the firm, the M agnet represented a com m itm ent to the development of the resorts of the lower St. Lawrence. In the decade following the American civil war this trade thrived. Much of this was due to the patronage of many Canadians who, following the ex amples of the Governors General and politicians, flocked to the sea shore during the height of the summer.38 So prosperous was it in fact that despite the addition of a sec ond vessel, the company's boats drew opposition from BOHEMIAN Shooting the rapids of the St. Lawrence was one of the chief thrills of a cruise down the St. Lawrence right up to the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The Bohemian, built in Montreal in 1873, and later renamed Prescott, was destroyed by fire August 27,1909. (Archives of Ontario) 9