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competitors were getting more business from the Hamilton Street Railway. They applied for permission, from City Council, to moor a floating landing in the slip, and the Council, without considering the consequences, granted said permission. Subsequently, a scow, 45 feet long, was brought into the slip and chained to an iron spike, driven into the end of the roadway. The scow proved to be an obstruction to navigation, especially to MacKay vessels attempting to berth at the old James St. Wharf, on the east side of the slip. This wharf had been acquired by Aeneas MacKay, several years previously, and was used for coal, pig iron, and other bulk commodities. When R. O. tried to remove the mooring, he was prevented from doing so by Capt. McMeekin, of the ECLIPSE. R. O. then sought legal assistance, and the Police Magistrate ordered the obstruction removed. Another interesting vessel was using MacKay's Wharf at this time -the SOUTHERN BELLE - which was making twice-daily trips to Toronto. This steamer was the former ROTHESAY CASTLE, built at Renfrew in 1861 by Wm. Simons & Co. for service on the Clyde. In 1863 she was sold for service as a Confederate States blockade-runner and made at least two successful runs into Charleston. S. C. in 1864. On 3 October 1865, she arrived in Halifax and the following year, was brought to Lake Ontario. On the 17 August 1875. when approaching Toronto by way of the Eastern Gap, she ran on the boiler of the wrecked steamer MONARCH and sank. She was raised and rebuilt and in April 1876, was renamed SOUTHERN BELLE. She was an iron-hulled sidewheel steamer measuring 191.0 x 18.9 x 8.4 with tonnages of 427 gross and 162 net. She had two oscillating engines 40x52 inches, built by Wm. Simons & Co., driving wheels of the Clyde River feathering type. She was managed by David S. Keith, of Toronto. Business in 1879 was showing a definite improvement and the propellers of the Lake & River Steamship Co. were active. In August the LAKE ONTARIO had delivered 100 tons of rails at St. Catharines, for that city's new street railway, and in November, she had loaded a full cargo of grain, flour and apples at the Hamilton & North Western Ry. wharf, for Montreal. She was followed by the LAKE MICHIGAN, which took on 1,000 bbls. of apples at the same wharf. Good news for all vessel- owners was the Government's decision to build a new Welland Canal and increasing interest in the trade between Chicago, Milwaukee and Collingwood was beginning to attract their attention. In 1880, the propeller LAKE ERIE, of the Lake & River Steamship Co., as well as Capt. Fairgrieve's CANADA and COLUMBIA were placed on the Georgian Bay Transportation Company's service between Collingwood and Chicago. The captains appointed to these vessels were, respectively, Johnston, Kish and Malcolmson. The propeller CELTIC, Capt. Vaughan, arrived in Hamilton on Sunday, 23 May 1880 with general cargo from Montreal and Oswego, including 4,000 kegs of nails for Messrs. Wood & Leggatt, wholesale hardware merchants. This was the largest single shipment of nails ever loaded at Montreal. Passenger vessels using MacKay's Wharf this season, were the SOUTHERN BELLE, for Toronto, and the GENEVA and ECLIPSE, for the Beach and Oaklands. A special Civic Holiday excursion by the steamer EMPRESS OF INDIA sailed from MacKay's Wharf on the 18 August, under the sponsorship of the Committee of Management of Christs Church Cathedral. Queenston Heights was the destination. Two Hamilton-owned vessels were lost on Lake Ontario in 1880. The schooner NORTHMAN, owned by shipbuilder A. M. Robertson, and built by him 1876, foundered on or about the 16 April after sailing from Port Dalhousie with a cargo of corn for -18-