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annoyance will be caused either by the heat, or by the smell of the cooking. All in all, the OSPREY will bear favourable comparison with any of the regular Mail Line." The Merchants Line having decided to expand its interests beyond Lake Ontario, Aeneas, on the 25 April 1870, made it known that he was soliciting cargo for the ACADIA, sailing for the Upper Lakes on or about the 4 May. The ports of call listed, were Port Dover, Amherstburg, Windsor, Sarnia, Goderich, Kincardine, Owen Sound and Meaford. Again, on the 16 May, he placed an advertisement for the propeller EAST, Capt. Zealand, sailing under the Merchants Line banner, for Lake Erie ports, Goderich, Kincardine and Port Elgin. She was to call at Hamilton about the 20 May. This vessel had been built at Montreal in 1864 by Augustin Cantin. In July 1870, Aeneas was seeking cargo for the propeller MARY WARD, Capt. Kennedy, for Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Georgian Bay ports, including Bruce Mines. This vessel was originally named NORTH, and was a sister-ship of the EAST, being built by Cantin at Montreal in 1864. She had later burned and was rebuilt at Detroit in 1870, when she was renamed. She became a total loss in 1872, after stranding near Thornbury. The OSPREY arrived in Montreal on the 28 April, 1871 and was the first arrival from the Lakes. General cargo amounting to 300 tons awaited her at Montreal. The Merchants Line had dispatched the ACADIA to Chicago, as soon as the Welland Canal opened, and she took on a full cargo of flour, for St. Catharines. With the continuing success of the Merchants Line and its expansion into the Upper Lakes, came the demand for additional tonnage. More vessels were being brought into the fleet and during this particular period, from 1870 to 1875, shipbuilders at Kingston, Hamilton, Port Dalhousie, St. Catharines, Port Robinson and Chatham were busy with contracts for new vessels. The opening-up of the great American West, and the extension of railroads across that vast land, was creating much work for Great Lakes vessels. Millions of bushels of corn and other grains had to be moved eastward, as did thousands of tons of pork from Chicago's packing houses. Chicago and Milwaukee seemed the likeliest places for a vessel to pick up a profitable cargo. Aeneas MacKay was well aware that his old sidewheeler OSPREY was not the type of tonnage required in these new trades, and during 1871 he promoted, with enthusiasm and persistence, the idea of establishing a shipping company in Hamilton, which could participate with new vessels. In this he was successful. The new organization was called the Lake & River Steamship Company and the officers were, Adam Hope, president, John Harvey, sec. treas., John Crerar, solicitor and Aeneas D. MacKay, manager. Contracts were let for three propellers of the standard Welland Canal dimensions, two to Melancthon Simpson, whose yard was at Lock 5, in St. Catharines, and one to S. Andrews, Port Dalhousie. On 25 April 1872, the first of these new propellers was launched at Simpson's shipyard in St. Catharines, and named LAKE MICHIGAN. The Hamilton Spectator made note of the event in the following day's issue, with a dismally brief account that mentioned no names - no name of the builder, no names of interested people in attendance and not even the fact that she was built for a new Hamilton company. They were obviously taken to task for this display of ignorance, for, when the next hull was launched, the event was covered to the extent of almost one full column. On -12-