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7. Ship of the M onth - cont'd. steamers. They were built at To ro n t o by the Doty Engine Company, to designs by W. E. Redway. L a u nc he d on May 24, 1890, was MAYFLOWER, while PR IM RO SE foll owe d her into the water on June 28th. The new steamers were in tended p r i m a r i l y for service on the h e av il y t r a v e l led route from the Ferry Co m p a n y ' s docks at the foot of Yonge Street to H a n lan's Point, and they seem to have been successful on that run, al th o u g h there are p h o t o g r a p hs of them at this time showing Island Park d e s t i n a t i o n signs. We suspect that, from the time M A Y F L O W E R and PRIMR OSE ap pe ar ed on the scene, CA N A D I A N and SADIE ran more f r e qu en tl y on the run from Yonge Street to Island Park, w h i c h a t tr ac te d less pa sse nge r traffic during the ye ars when the Hanl an 's Point amusement park was in its glory. In fact, under the en ergetic d i r e c t i o n of its longtime manager, La wr enc e ("Lol") Solman (who a c t ua ll y gained compl ete control of the Ferry C o mp an y about 1915, and who also served as ma nag er of the Royal A l e xa nd ra The at re in its early years), the Toronto Ferry Co m p a n y also became operator of the amusement park at Ha nl a n ' s Point. Despite a major fire on August 10, 1909, wh ich de st r o y e d most of the park's attractions, including rides and the ballpark, and w h i c h finally, despite the best efforts of staff, guests and firemen, spread to and d e s t r o y e d the H ote l Hanlan, the amusement pa rk was rebuilt (without hotel) and thrived for many more years. The big new ballp ark m a i n t a i n e d Han la n' s Point as the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs of I n t e r n a t i o n a l League (Triple A) fame, and it was at this park that Babe Ruth hit the very first home run of his pr of es si on al career. But let us return to the story of CANADIAN. By 1894, she was in dire nee d of a complete ref ur bi sh in g, and so the Toro nto Ferry C o mp an y sent her off to the And rew s S h i p y a r d at Oakville, Ontario, along the n or th shore of Lake O n tario bet w e e n To ro n t o and Hamilton. The re c o n s t r u c t i o n must have bee n s u b stantial, be cause the steamer em er ge d aft er wa rd still r eg is te re d at Toronto but with an e n t i r e l y new o f f ic ia l number, 100761, and also wit h a ne w name, (b) THISTLE. Strangely, the r e c o n s t r u c t i o n caused a very significant change in THI ST LE 'S tonnage, and it d r o p p e d to 78 Gross and 68 Net. (These figures are con fi rm ed by the 1900 Re co rd of the A m e r i c a n Bureau of Shipping, our 1903 D o m i n i o n List and our 1908 Great Lakes Reg is te r [Bureau V e r i t a s ] . ) We cannot imagine how the tonnage could be so low on a vessel of TH IS TLE 'S overall size, and can only assume that it had s o me th in g to do with her fully open up pe r deck and the main deck that was also largely open and with no glass in its "wi n dows" down the sides. And just how the ap pe a r a n c e of TH IS T L E di ff er ed from that of CANADIAN, we do not know. C o n s i d e r i n g the rather "antique" appearance of THIS TLE as shown in our photograph, however, and also r e me mb er in g that she was a do ub le - e n d e r whe n o r ig i n a l l y built in 1882, we doubt that she was ph ys i c a l l y a l t e r e d to any si gnificant de gr ee in the reco nst ruc tio n. More likely, she was simply "renewed" as necessary. There c e r t a i n ly was no change in her machinery. A wor d of e x p l a n a t i o n is n e c e s s a r y c o n c e r n i ng the ex tr em el y rare p h o t o g r a p h of THI STL E w hi ch accompanies this feature. The image was found on a pos it iv e g l as s- pl at e transparency, 31 / 2 in ches square, which un d o u b t e d l y was made to be used as a "la nt er n slide" for p r o j e c t i o n purposes. The photo shows T H IS TL E inbo und at the Yonge Street f er ry docks on the old Tor on to wa te rf ron t, and in the ba ck g r o u n d can be seen the old F i s h er ma n' s Island and de so lat e s a n d bar area around the Ea stern Gap. It very likely was taken about 1898 and we have every re as on to believe that the p h o to gr ap he r was Galbraith, a local man who took n u m e r o u s views ar o u n d the har bo ur at that time. Note the large wo o d e n sign on T H I S T L E ' S upper deck rail, wit h the legend "Yonge Street to Island Park" i n s c r i b e d in d e c o r a t i v e lettering. We know of only one accident that befell THIS TLE in her lifetime. Du ri n g the m o r n i n g of Thursday, August 23rd, 1900, THI ST LE was bac ki ng out of the l a y